TELEVISION RECEIVER

• US 20100225813A1
• Filed: 11/10/2009
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nozue, Manabu, HIRONO, Takao
• Granted Patent: US 8,300,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/554
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43635 HDMI
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4436 Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/63 Generation or supply of power specially adapted for television receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver

Abstract

A television receiver cuts power supply to its built-in device which is overlapped with that of the external unit connected to the television receiver for reducing power consumption to cope with diversification of the external unit. The television receiver includes the tuner which receives a television broadcast signal, an external unit connection portion which connects the external unit with the HDMI cable, the HDMI process unit which acquires unit information data from the connected external unit to transmit video/audio data, and the power supply circuit which supplies power to the tuner. If the HDMI process unit determines that the connected external unit includes the same function as the tuner, the control unit allows the power supply circuit to stop power supply to the tuner.

Claims

1. A television receiver for receiving a television broadcasting comprising:

a tuner which receives a television broadcast signal to select a channel;

a video/audio process circuit which generates a video/audio signal by processing the broadcast signal of the selected channel;

an external unit connection portion which connects an external unit using a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable;

an HDMI process unit which acquires unit information from the connected external unit, and communicates with the external unit with respect to video/audio data;

a power supply circuit which supplies power to the tuner; and

a control unit which controls the HDMI process unit and the power supply circuit,

wherein when the HDMI process unit determines that the connected external unit has the same function as that of the tuner, the control unit allows the power supply circuit to stop the power supply to the tuner.

2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein when the HDMI process unit determines that the connected external unit includes a function other than the tuner, the control unit allows a user to select one of the tuners of the television receiver and the external unit, and allows the power supply circuit to stop the power supply to the tuner of the television receiver when the user selects the external unit.

3. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the HDMI process unit acquires a logical address indicating a type of the unit as unit information of the external unit to determine whether or not the unit includes the same function as that of the tuner.

4. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of devices including a monitor, a speaker, an HDD and a DVD in addition to the tuner, and a power supply circuit which supplies power to the device individually,

wherein when the HDMI process unit determines that the connected external unit has the same function as that of the device, the control unit controls the power supply circuit to stop supplying power to the device which has the function overlapped with that of the external unit.

5. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of devices including a monitor, a speaker, an HDD and a DVD in addition to the tuner, and a power supply circuit which supplies power to the device individually, wherein:

when the HDMI process unit determines that the connected external unit has the same function as that of the device, the control unit allows a user to select one of the devices of the television receiver and the external unit with the same function; and

when the user selects the external unit, the control unit controls the power supply circuit to stop supplying the power to the device with the function overlapped with that of the external unit.

6. A television receiver comprising:

a receiver unit which receives information data from an external unit connected to the television receiver with respect to a type of the external unit; and

a power supply control unit which determines whether a predetermined function of the external unit is overlapped with that of the television receiver based on the information data with respect to the type of the external unit, which have been received by the receiver unit, and stops supplying power to an element of the television receiver to execute the predetermined function when the predetermined function is overlapped.

7. The television receiver according to claim 6, wherein the element to execute the predetermined function is a tuner which receives a television broadcasting.

8. The television receiver according to claim 6, wherein:

the external unit is connected to the television receiver with a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable; and

a logical address of the external unit specified by the HDMI is used as the information data which represent the type of the external unit.