Channel selecting system

A channel selecting system comprising:

• a first tuner circuit which selectively receives one channel from a first broadcasting source in accordance with an indication signal indicating a channel to be selected and demodulates a video signal of the one received channel;
• a second tuner circuit which selectively receives one channel from a second broadcasting source in accordance with an indication signal indicating a channel to be selected and demodulates a video signal of the one received channel;
• a tuner selecting circuit for switching between the output from the first tuner circuit and the output from the second tuner circuit;
• a first channel selection indicating circuit for outputting to the first tuner circuit or the second tuner circuit indication signals which indicate a sequence of channels to be selected;
• a sub-frame image generating means which samples the video signals of each channel outputted from the first tuner circuit or the second tuner circuit in response to the indication signals from the first channel selection indicating circuit, said sub-frame image generating means taking one frame for each channel at intervals of a predetermined period and reducing the number of the horizontal scan lines in the frames, thereby producing a sub-frame image for each channel to be outputted as video information;
• a sub-frame image memory for storing the video information of each sub-frame image outputted from the sub-frame image generating means, at an address associated with the corresponding channel number received by the first tuner circuit or the second tuner circuit;
• an image processing means which forms for each of the first tuner circuit and the second tuner circuit, a polyhedral icon having faces each being constituted from a sub-frame image for a respective channel stored in correspondence to a respective address in the sub-frame image memory, and subjects the polyhedral icon to a three-dimensional image processing;
• a video image memory for storing the output from the image processing means;
• a rotation instructing means for instructing a rotation of the polyhedral icon corresponding to the first tuner circuit or the second tuner circuit to the image processing means;
• and
• a reception selecting means for selecting one of the polyhedral icons corresponding to the first or second tuner circuit and outputting instructions for switching to the tuner selection circuit.

A channel selecting system comprising:

• a tuning circuit configured to tune a particular channel and demodulate a video signal of the tuned channel;
• a first channel selection signal generating circuit configured to output to the tuner circuit indication signals for causing the tuner circuit to successively tune to each channel of a sequence of channels;
• channel image generating circuitry configured to generate respective images from the video signals of each channel of the sequence of channels tuned by the tuning circuit;
• icon image generating circuitry configured to generate a three-dimensional polyhedral icon for display on a display unit, the three-dimensional polyhedral icon having faces each of which is constituted by the image generated by the channel image generating circuitry for one particular channel of the sequence of channels;
• and
• a second channel selection signal generating circuit configured to be responsive to user inputs to select one of the channels whose image constitutes a face of the three-dimensional polyhedral icon.

A channel selecting method, comprising:

• successively tuning to each of a plurality of channels;
• generating respective images from video signals of each channel of the successively tuned channels;
• generating a three-dimensional polyhedral icon, the three-dimensional polyhedral icon having faces each of which is constituted by the image generated for one particular channel of the successively tuned channels;
• displaying the three-dimensional polyhedral icon on a display unit;
• and
• selecting one of the channels whose image constitutes a face of the three-dimensional polyhedral icon.