Television signal receiver and mobile phone equipped with the same

• US 7,502,074 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2005
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Katayama, Takahiro, Miyagawa, Tatsuo, Takagi, Toshihiro, Narita, Shusuke, Inui, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Natnael; Paulos M
• Application Number:
  US11/176,378
• Publication Number:
  US 20060009258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 348/559, 348/560, 348460-462, 348467-468, 348/552, 348/553
• US Class Current: 348/559
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• 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 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4448 for frame-grabbing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/60 for the sound signals

Abstract

A television signal receiver comprises a tuner, a decoder, a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image, a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium, and a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound. Since the television signal receiver is configured to generate a shutter sound when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, it can inform a user about storage of a captured image in the first storage medium without causing video images of a television program to be partly hidden from view. Further, since the television signal receiver is capable of generating the variety of shutter sounds, it can provide a user with various kinds of information by varying the shutter sound to be generated.

Claims

1. A television signal receiver comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound, the selected shutter sound depending on an amount of storage available in the first storage medium; and

successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent frame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.

2. A television signal receiver comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound, wherein the sound generating circuit selects a shutter sound depending on a format of video signals stored as a captured image.

3. The television signal receiver according to claim 2, further comprising successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent frame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.

4. A television signal receiver comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound; and

successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent fame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.

5. A mobile phone equipped with a television signal receiver, comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound, the selected shutter sound depending on an amount of storage available in the first storage medium; and

successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent frame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.

6. A mobile phone equipped with a television signal receiver, comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound, wherein the sound generating circuit selects a shutter sound depending on a format of video signals stored as a captured image.

7. The mobile phone according to claim 6, further comprising successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent frame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.

8. A mobile phone equipped with a television signal receiver, comprising:

a tuner that receives television signals;

a decoder that extracts video signals from the television signals received by the tuner;

a first storage medium that stores a frame of video signals extracted by the decoder as a captured image;

a second storage medium that stores sound data representing a variety of shutter sounds to be generated for informing a user that a captured image has been stored in the first storage medium;

a sound generating circuit that, when a captured image is stored in the first storage medium, selects a shutter sound among the variety of shutter sounds represented by the sound data stored in the second storage medium and generates the selected shutter sound; and

successive capture means for, when successively storing captured images in the first storage medium, calculating a difference value between a frame of video signals stored in the first storage medium and a subsequent frame of video signals, and storing the subsequent frame of video signals in the first storage medium if the calculated difference value exceeds a predetermined value.