Television receiver with picture-in-picture function displays titles of reduced screen programs

• US 5,978,046 A
• Filed: 12/19/1997
• Issued: 11/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shintani, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): HSIA, SHERRIE Y
• Application Number:
  US08/995,405
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 348/563, 348/564, 348/565, 348/566, 348/567, 348/569, 348/584, 348/586, 348/588, 348/589, 348/598, 348/599, 348/600, 348/468, 348/476, 348/478, 348/482, 348/484, 348/477
• US Class Current: 348/589
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• 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 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

In a television receiver having a function of picture-in-picture, a character caption on a sub-screen is displayed at an easy-to-see position to enable the content of the sub-screen to be easily understood while looking at the main screen, wherein when either one or multiple sub-screens are displayed in the main screen, the character caption corresponding to the displayed sub-screen is displayed at a proper position to the main screen or on a position displaced from the main screen, it may also be displayed with a character having a shade or displayed with a blanched character or the like, thereby even while watching the main screen, the content of the sub-screen projected may easily be understand through the character caption.

Claims

1. A television receiver for displaying a plurality of image signals from a plurality of image sources simultaneously on a screen, said television receiver comprising:

selecting means for selecting a first image signal from said plurality of image signals and a corresponding audio signal;

an audio processing circuit for processing said audio signal corresponding to said selected first image signal; and

character caption processing means for processing a character caption corresponding to a second image signal and for displaying said character caption simultaneously with said plurality of image signals, wherein said character caption processing means processes a plurality of character caption corresponding to said plurality of image signals with the exception of said first image signal and displays each of said plurality of character captions in a predetermined position of said screen.

2. A television receiver for displaying a plurality of image signals from a plurality of image sources simultaneously on a screen, said television receiver comprising:

selecting means for selecting a first image signal from said plurality of image signals and a corresponding audio signal;

an audio processing circuit for processing said audio signal corresponding to said selected first image signal;

character caption processing means for processing a character caption corresponding to a second image signal and for displaying said character caption simultaneously with said plurality of image signals; and

means for changing colors of outer contours of said plurality of image signals with the exception of said first image signal, wherein said character caption processing means displays a color of said character caption with the same color as a corresponding one of said contours.

3. An image signal processing method for processing and displaying a plurality of image signals from a plurality of image sources simultaneously on a screen, comprising the steps of:

selecting a first image signal of said plurality of image signals from said plurality of image sources;

processing and outputting an audio signal corresponding to said selected first image signal;

processing a character caption corresponding to a second image signal of said plurality of image signals from said plurality of image sources;

displaying said processed character caption simultaneously with said plurality of image signals;

processing a plurality of character captions corresponding to said plurality of image signals with the exception of said first image signal; and

displaying each of said plurality of character captions in a predetermined position of said screen.

4. An image signal processing method for processing and displaying a plurality of image signals from a plurality of image sources simultaneously on a screen, comprising the steps of:

selecting a first image signal of said plurality of image signals from said plurality of image sources;

processing and outputting an audio signal corresponding to said selected first image signal;

processing a character caption corresponding to a second image signal of said plurality of image signals from said plurality of image sources;

displaying said processed character caption simultaneously with said plurality of image signals;

changing colors of outer contours of said plurality of image signals with the exception of said first image signal; and

displaying a color of said character caption with the same color as a corresponding one of said contours.