Funai Electric Company Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Manabu Yamamoto

Yusuke Nishida

Yasuhiro Inui

Toshihiro Takagi

Kazuhiko Tani

Takahiro Katayama

Kazuhide Ishihara

Masanori Kawai

Takeshi Kokado

Moe Hamamoto

Hiroyuki Nakaya

Takahisa Honda

Junichi Matsunaga

There is provided a television broadcast program recording system including a television receiver and a recorder. The television receiver obtains a DST data indicating whether or not DST is currently applied, and detects a start and end of a DST application to a current time based on the obtained DST data. When the start or end of the DST application is detected, the television receiver transmits a newest electronic program list to the recorder. The recorder receives the electronic program list, and then compares a broadcast time data of a broadcast program in the memory with that included in the received electronic program list. As a result of this, when they are not identical with each other, the recorder changes the broadcast time data of the above broadcast program stored in the memory to the broadcast time data of the above broadcast program included in the electronic program list.

Television broadcast program recording system

In recording contents of received broadcast programs on an HDD, the starting of a new program is detected depending on whether or not there is a change of audience restriction information which is received together with the broadcast programs. Each time a change of the audience restriction information is detected, recording of information about a new program is started. In recording, the received audience restriction information and the title of the program created by a title creating function are recorded by associating them with the recorded content of the program. Accordingly, the operation by the user for creating and allocating respective titles of programs recorded on the HDD that is required after the recording is eliminated. In a displayed list of titles for programs recorded on the HDD, the title of any program under restriction, which is determined based on the audience restriction information recorded by being associated with the title, is not displayed.

Device and method for recording program broadcast signal as digital information

In a broadcasting receiver having a function to set and select an operation mode of the receiver for each user based on input by a plurality of users, the operation mode is selected for each user to make a user setting and stored in a memory in correlation with a predetermined input pattern of an operation key. When having received a user's input in the predetermined pattern, the receiver refers to the memory to select a user setting that corresponds to this input pattern, thus switching the operation mode. It is thus possible to identify the operation mode for each user in use by simple operations.

Broadcasting receiver having operation mode selection function

Provided is a communication terminal capable of establishing a P2P communication path with a communication terminal connected to a different private network. A communication terminal () transmits and receives messages to and from a server () via a router (), thereby examining a relay characteristic of the router (). When the examined relay characteristic of the router () is Port Reuse, the communication terminal () determines address information, which contains at least a port number of the communication terminal (), which port number is to be used for P2P communication with a communication terminal (), to be address information about the router. The communication terminal () exchanges the determined address information about the router () with the communication terminal (). Based on the exchanged address information, the communication terminal () establishes a P2P communication path with a communication terminal ().

Communication terminal, and communication method

A channel selection device of the invention used in a digital/analog broadcasting receiver, upon reception of a channel changing instruction sent from input device, tries to select a desired channel by referencing its VCT if it can find channel information in a memory and, if it could not find the desired channel and failed in channel selection, obtains the latest VCT to thereby select such a channel in the VCT that has the smallest sub-channel number in the same main channel or select such a channel that has the smallest sub-channel number in the same physical channel. Thus, if a channel specified in the channel changing instruction sent from the user has no broadcast therethrough and failed to be selected, an appropriate channel is selected automatically, thus avoiding a state that nothing is displayed on the display.

Channel selection device for use in digital/analog broadcasting receiver and digital/analog broadcasting receiver equipped with the same

In a digital recording device, image data recorded in a recording portion has its resolution decreased to be recorded in the recording portion when it is determined that the digital recording device is not being used. In other words, when it is determined that a power switch is turned off, a system portion allows an MPEG decoder to convert a bit stream of a program data at high definition recorded in a hard disk drive to image data at low resolution and allows an MPEG encoder to convert the converted image data at low resolution to a bit stream to be stored in the hard disk drive.

Digital recording device capable of converting and recording resolution of image data of digital television broadcast and recording method therefor

A receiving device used in a digital television includes an automatic storage section obtains the channel information on physical channels at which a program is broadcast, when the channel information contains any other physical channels therein, registers the physical channels thereof in a channel map, decides whether the physical channel which is switched has been registered in the channel map, and if the physical channel has been registered, not to detect whether a program is broadcast at the other physical channels. In this case, information of any other physical channel is present in a VCT, this other physical channel is registered in the channel map without detecting whether a program is broadcast at the channel. Therefore, the total number of the channels to be detected on whether a program is broadcast can be decreased, thus reducing the time for performing the automatic storage function.

Receiving device for use in digital television

In a receiver, when a channel is registered on the channel map, the receiverregisters the channel by the unit of a physical channel, and when a channel is deleted from the channel map, the receiverdeletes the channel by the unit of a sub-channel. A common user has a tendency of watching most of a plurality of sub-channels contained in one physical channel and a tendency of not watching a portion of the plurality of sub-channels which the user does not like.

Receiver

When a viewer does not make a request for displaying a menu screen, a CPU inserts a closed caption signal into LINEof a video signal and outputs the video signal to an analog television receiver. When the viewer changes the setting of the apparatus, the CPU performs so as to output a menu image, to generate a closed caption erase signal, and to insert the closed caption erase signal into LINEof the video signal. Thereafter, output of the menu image is continued until the menu erase signal is received or reception of digital broadcast signal is terminated and in the meanwhile, the closed caption signal is not output.

Digital broadcast receiving apparatus

A digital broadcasting receiver that uses a channel map containing broadcast information such as channel numbers and virtual channel numbers is described. When a user selects a certain digital channel number, a control unit consisting of a CPU makes a search as to whether or not the number exists in the channel map. If the number does not exist, 'No Signal' notice is displayed on a display and if the user selects a scan instruction then, the entire range of frequency band of the broadcasting signal is scanned. If a signal that corresponds to the digital channel number exists, its broadcast is received. Therefore, a search is possible even when the user knows only a virtual channel number and the digital channel number entered by the user is not registered in the channel map.

Digital broadcasting receiver

In a television receiving apparatus, a receiving apparatushas storage means for storing a voice output switching tableregistering a voice setting recordhaving the voice output format associated with the broadcasting language of the received digital broadcasting in a control unitEvery time the switching operation of the voice output format is made, the voice setting recordis selected in the registered order. Also, the receiving apparatusoutputs a voice signal with the language and the voice output format based on the selected voice setting recordfrom an output portionAccordingly, the broadcasting language and the voice output format of the digital broadcasting being received can be switched by single operation, resulting in enhanced operability.

Television receiving apparatus

In a channel selection device of the invention used in a digital/analog broadcasting receiver, in instructing changing a channel, either one of the UP/DOWN key pair or the RIGHT/LEFT key pair can be used to change a main channel while changing the other pair to change a sub-channel. Thus, by using the keys distributed between the main channel and the sub-channels, a correlation can be given between the key operations and the channels' hierarchical construction to thereby facilitate the changing and selection of the main channels and the sub-channels in the hierarchical construction in digital/analog broadcasts.

Channel selection device used in digital/analog broadcasting receiver

In a broadcast receiving system for receiving the digital broadcast, when the selection of 'channel selection menu' is inputted by the user, the channel information stored in a memory is read to decide whether the configuration of a sub-channel is identified during the current operation, and a descriptor 'x' is assigned to the sub-channel not identified to be made displayed in the channel information list on &#x201c;channel selection display,&#x201d; thereby distinguishing it from other channels. This allows the channel whose sub-channel cannot be identified to be OSD displayed distinguishing it from other channels such as for analog broadcast and the like.

Broadcast receiving system with function of on-screen displaying channel information

In a broadcast receiving system for receiving the digital broadcasting, when the selection of 'channel addition/deletion menu' is inputted by the user, received broadcasting signals are decoded to obtain collectively the channel information of the digital/analog broadcasting. This channel information is compared with channel information made stored in a memory to distinguish the channel having suspended from the channel having been resumed, and the distinguished information is made OSD displayed for each channel. The user operates an input device to select a desired channel, and inputs an instruction of the channel addition/deletion with an addition button or a deletion button to update the data stored in the memory. In this way, the display of the channel information of the digital/analog broadcasting transmitted from the same or the same-system broadcasting station is made displayed continuously and mixedly, thereby making it possible for the user to understand visually a transition in channel configuration.

In a digital broadcast receiver, an MPUhas a configuration for detecting the number of subchannels and the numbers of the subchannels which a received main channel has from control data received and switching to a subchannel with the minimum number when the number of subchannels changes and switching to a subchannel with the minimum number of the residual subchannels when the numbers of the subchannels received run out and displaying the numbers of the received main channel and the subchannel on a display

Growing community of inventors

Mukou, Japan

Manabu Yamamoto