Television set having a multiple-division screen

• US 5,969,769 A
• Filed: 03/31/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hamadate, Shunichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sajous, Wesner
• Application Number:
  US08/829,422
• Time in Patent Office: 932 Days
• Field of Search: 348/564, 348/565, 348/566, 348/567, 348/568, 348/569, 348/570, 348/563, 348/732
• US Class Current: 348/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

According to the preset mode instructions from the operating part 111, data of a plurality of channels to be included in the search screen are input from the operating part 111. These channel data are transferred to the second channel selection controlling part 109 for storage. When preparing, a search screen, these stored channel data are used for constituting a search screen, which is displayed on the displaying part 112. The channels desired or frequently watched by the user alone are searched and their images are displayed on the multiple-division screen as still pictures.

Claims

1. A television set having left and right divisional screens which can display an ordinary image on the one screen and a multiple-division screen for searching on the other screen comprising:

operating means for providing preset mode instructions and search instructions and inputting channel information;

first channel selection means for selecting and receiving the broadcasting signal of the ordinary image by said input channel information from said operating means;

first compressing means for compressing the signal of the ordinary image selected by said first channel selection means in the horizontal direction;

setting means which can be preset so as to select desired channels among a plurality of channels by the operation of said operating means when a preset mode is set by said operating means and display video data of each selected desired channel at a respective desired display position among a plurality of display positions in the multiple-division screen;

first storage means for storing information of a plurality of channels set by said setting means;

second channel selection means for searching and selecting among the plurality of channels stored by said first storage means one by one according to the search instructions from said operating means;

second storage means for compressing the video signals of the channels selected by said second channel selection means and storing them as the multiple-division video data;

synthesizing means for synthesizing the compressed data of the ordinary image from said first compressing means and the multiple-division video data as the search screen read from said from second storage means so that they are presented on the left and right sides of the display screen; and

display means for displaying the synthesized video data from said synthesizing means as the two-screen signal;

wherein said setting means comprises;

character generating means for generating a menu screen to input the information of the channels to be set for each sub-screen of the multiple-division screen;

second compressing means, when setting channels corresponding to each sub-screen of the multiple-division screen from said menu screen by using said operating means, for compressing the video signals obtained for such set channels by channel selection executed by said second channel selection means and outputting them as the reduced video data; and

synthesizing means for superimposing the reduced video data from said second compressing means on the menu screen from said character generating means and for obtaining the checking image corresponding to the set channel.