Television tuner for control of directivity of antenna

• US 7,663,704 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2009
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Onomatsu, Takehiro, Yamamoto, Kazuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Natnael; Paulos M
• Application Number:
  US12/412,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20090180037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 327 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 348/732
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/205 providing an omnidirectional coverage turnstile aerials H01Q21/26
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/30 varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array H01Q3/2605, H01Q3/2658, H01Q3/2682, H01Q3/44 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

Disclosed is a television tuner for receiving television broadcast signals with an antenna, which is equipped with an auto-scan unit that causes a channel storing section, which stores a receiving channel at the time when the signal condition from a tuner section matches the predetermined signal condition, to automatically store the receiving channel, wherein the auto scan unit detects switches among the receiving channel sequentially in the tuner section to detect the signal condition, and, after signal condition is detected for every channel, performs a variable directivity control for the antenna, resulting in an increased auto-scan execution speed.

Claims

1. A television turner for control of directivity of an antenna, comprising:

a directivity control section that outputs an electric signal to select a directivity of the antenna, the directivity control section includes;

plurality of directional antennas coupled with a plurality of phase shifter circuits, with a phase shifter circuit of the plurality of phase shifter circuits controlling a phase shift amount of a signal input from a directional antenna of the plurality of directional antennas and delaying a phase of the signal according to a bias voltage output from the television tuner to control the directivity of the directional antenna for any direction, and for generating a directivity value;

a tuner section that receives television broadcast signals in a predetermined band from the antenna and outputs an intermediate frequency (I/F) signal;

a signal condition detector section that detects a signal condition of the I/F signal, with the signal condition based on a channel number of a channel and directivity value;

if a frequency signal of the I/F signal is a digital frequency signal, the signal condition is determined by detecting a bit error rate;

if the frequency signal of the I/F signal is an analog signal, the signal condition is determined by detecting an AGC voltage output;

a channel storing section that stores the channel number of the channel and the directivity value of the directional antenna as a channel select data if the signal condition of the I/F signal is commensurate with a predetermined signal condition;

if it is determined that the channel select data is stored, a video signal control processing is executed to display an image, after which, it is determined if an auto-scan start command has been input;

if it is determined that the channel select data is not stored, it is determined if the auto-scan start command is input;

if it is determined that the auto-scan start command is input, the auto scan processing is executed;

the auto-scan processing includes;

the directivity value of the antenna set to a first directivity value using phase shifter circuits;

the tuner section receiving data that corresponds with a first channel number for setting the channel to the first channel number;

the signal condition detector section detecting the signal condition of the I/F signal output form the television tuner based on the set channel number and the directivity value;

determining if the detected signal condition is commensurate with the predetermined signal condition;

if the detected signal condition is commensurate with the predetermined signal condition, the channel storing section storing the set channel number and the set directivity value as the channel select data, after which, it is determined if the set channel number exceeds a predetermined channel number;

if it is determined that the set channel number is less than the predetermined channel number, incrementing the set channel to a higher channel number, and detecting the signal condition based on a newly set channel number;

otherwise, determining if the set directivity value is less than a predetermined directivity value;

if it is determined that the set directivity value is less than the predetermined directivity value, incrementing the directivity value and resetting the channel to the first channel number.

2. A television turner for control of directivity of an antenna, comprising:

a directivity control section that outputs an electric signal to select a directivity of the antenna, the directivity control section includes;

plurality of directional antennas coupled with a plurality of phase shifter circuits, with a phase shifter circuit of the plurality of phase shifter circuits controlling a phase shift amount of a signal input from a directional antenna of the plurality of directional antennas and delaying a phase of the signal according to a bias voltage output from the television tuner to control the directivity of the directional antenna for any direction, and for generating a directivity value;

a tuner section that receives television broadcast signals in a predetermined band from the antenna and outputs an intermediate frequency (I/F) signal;

a signal condition detector section that detects a signal condition of the I/F signal, with the signal condition based on a channel number of a channel and directivity value;

if a frequency signal of the I/F signal is a digital frequency signal, the signal condition is determined by detecting a bit error rate;

if the frequency signal of the I/F signal is an analog signal, the signal condition is determined by detecting an AGC voltage output;

a channel storing section that stores the channel number of the channel and the directivity value of the directional antenna as a channel select data if the signal condition of the I/F signal is commensurate with a predetermined signal condition;

if it is determined that the channel select data is stored, a video signal control processing is executed to display an image, after which, it is determined if an auto-scan start command has been input;

if it is determined that the channel select data is not stored, it is determined if the auto-scan start command is input;

if it is determined that the auto-scan start command is input, the auto scan processing is executed;

the auto-scan processing includes;

the directivity value of the antenna set to a first directivity value using phase shifter circuits;

the tuner section receiving data that corresponds with a first channel number for setting the channel to the first channel number;

the signal condition detector section detecting the signal condition of the I/F signal output form the television tuner based on the set channel number and the directivity value;

determining if the detected signal condition is commensurate with the predetermined signal condition;

if the detected signal condition is commensurate with the predetermined signal condition, the channel storing section storing the set channel number and the set directivity value as the channel select data, after which, it is determined if the set channel number exceeds a predetermined channel number;

if it is determined that the set channel number is less than the predetermined channel number, incrementing the set channel to a first higher channel number and determining if the first higher channel number is stored in the channel storing section;

if it is determined that the first higher channel number is stored in the channel storing section, incrementing the first higher channel number to a second higher channel number, with the signal condition detector section detecting the signal condition based on the second higher channel number and the set directivity value;

if it is determined that the first higher channel number is not stored in the channel storing section, the signal condition detector section detecting the signal condition based on the first higher channel number and the set directivity value;

if it is determined that the set channel number is not less than the predetermined channel number, determining if the set directivity value is less than a predetermined directivity value;

if it is determined that the set directivity value is less than the predetermined directivity value, incrementing the directivity value and resetting the channel to the first channel number.