Television apparatus and control method thereof

• US 8,776,123 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2009
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Fujinaka, Yuuka, Aratani, Shuntaro, Maruyama, Kazuna, Sakakima, Eito, Ukawa, Satoshi, Hanamitsu, Satoshi, Mito, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malangone, Carmine
• Application Number:
  US12/578,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20100095327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 725/41, 725/44, 725/52, 725/61
• US Class Current: 725/41
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• 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 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection
• 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

A television apparatus includes a plurality of receiving units. The television apparatus includes a first receiving unit configured to receive a channel which broadcasts a program whose video image is displayed on a display unit, a second receiving unit configured to receive a plurality of channels while the video image is being displayed, a program information management unit configured to store genre information about programs broadcasted on the plurality of channels, and a control unit configured to determine a periodic check order of receiving the plurality of channels based on the genre information about the programs read by the program information management unit and to control the second receiving unit to periodically check and receive the plurality of channels according to the periodic check order.

Claims

1. A television apparatus including a plurality of receiving units, the television apparatus comprising:

a first receiving unit configured to receive a channel which broadcasts a program whose video image is displayed on a display unit;

a second receiving unit configured to receive a plurality of channels while the video image is being displayed;

a program information management unit configured to store genre information of programs broadcasted on the plurality of channels; and

a control unit configured to determine a periodic check order and a periodic check frequency of receiving the plurality of channels based on the genre information of the programs read by the program information management unit and to control the second receiving unit to receive the plurality of channels sequentially according to the periodic check order,

wherein the control unit redetermines the periodic check order and the periodic check frequency of receiving the plurality of channels in response to a change of a configuration of the video image being displayed.

2. The television apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a face extraction unit configured to extract face information from still image data captured from video data of programs on the plurality of channels received by the second receiving unit;

a thumbnail management unit configured to generate thumbnail image data of the programs from the still image data from which the face information has been extracted and program title information of the channel; and

a program table generation unit configured to generate an electronic program table data using the thumbnail image data.

3. The television apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the thumbnail image data is generated, using still image data which includes face information of a person which is most frequently extracted by the face extraction unit.

4. The television apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit changes the periodic check order so that a channel which broadcasts a program from which the face extraction unit did not extract the face information comes at the top of the periodic check order.

5. The television apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the periodic check frequency so that the periodic check frequency is higher when genre information of a program is information indicating at least one of a drama, a movie and a variety show than when genre information of a program is information indicating music.

6. The television apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit does not select the channel when a program being broadcasted on the channel is scheduled to end within a predetermined time from a current time.

7. The television apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the periodic check frequency so that the periodic check frequency is lower when genre information of a program is information indicating at least one of news and a sport than when genre information of a program is information indicating music.

8. The television apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change of the configuration of the video image being displayed is a change of the program.

9. The television apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether the configuration of the video image being displayed has been changed,

wherein the control unit redetermines, in a case where the determination unit determines that the configuration of the video image being displayed has been changed, the periodic check order and the periodic check frequency of receiving the plurality of channels.

10. A method for controlling a television apparatus which includes a plurality of receiving units, the method comprising:

displaying on a display unit a video image of a program on a channel received by a first receiving unit;

receiving on a second receiving unit a plurality of channels while the video image is being displayed;

storing genre information of programs broadcasted on the plurality of channels; and

determining a periodic check order and a periodic check frequency of receiving the plurality of channels based on the genre information of the programs,

wherein the second receiving unit receives the plurality of channels sequentially according to the determined periodic check order,

wherein the determining step redetermines the periodic check order and the periodic check frequency of receiving the plurality of channels in response to a change of a configuration of the video image being displayed.

11. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

extracting face information from still image data captured from video data of programs on the plurality of channels received by the second receiving step;

generating thumbnail image data of the programs from the still image data from which the face information has been extracted and program title information of the channel; and

generating an electronic program table data using the thumbnail image data.

12. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the thumbnail image data is generated, using still image data which includes face information of a person which is most frequently extracted by the extracted step.

13. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the determining step changes the periodic check order so that a channel which broadcasts a program from which the face extraction unit did not extract the face information comes at the top of the periodic check order.

14. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the determining step determines the periodic check frequency so that the periodic check frequency is higher when genre information of a program is information indicating at least one of a drama, a movie and a variety show than when genre information of a program is information indicating music.

15. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the determining step does not select the channel when a program being broadcasted on the channel is scheduled to end within a predetermined time from a current time.

16. The method for controlling a television apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the determining step determines the periodic check frequency so that the periodic check frequency is lower when genre information of a program is information indicating at least one of news and a sport than when genre information of a program is information indicating music.