Television apparatus having speech recognition function, and method of controlling the same

A method of controlling a television apparatus equipped with speech recognition function which comprises a dictionary containing classifications by category,

• said method comprising:
• a speech recognition step of receiving speech and recognizing a unit of language included in said speech;
• a judging step of judging whether said television apparatus can operate under the current operation mode in accordance with said unit of language;
• a search step of retrieving, from within said dictionary, other unit of language which belongs to the same category as said unit of language and which can make the television apparatus operate, when it is not possible for said television apparatus to operate in accordance with said unit of language;
• and
• an operation step of operating in accordance with said other unit of language, when said search unit retrieves said other unit of language.

A television apparatus having speech recognition capability and capable of operating under a terrestrial mode and a satellite mode, said apparatus comprising:

• a remote controller decode unit for decoding a code transmitted from an infrared remote controller;
• a speech recognition unit for recognizing units of language uttered by a user and wherein said speech recognition unit decodes the unit of language;
• a UV tuner for receiving a video/speech signal in a terrestrial mode;
• a UV program information data acquiring unit for acquiring UV program information data from the UV tuner;
• a UV program information data accumulating memory for accumulating UV program information data;
• a satellite tuner for receiving video/speech signals from satellite broadcasting;
• a satellite program data acquiring unit for acquiring satellite program information data from the satellite tuner;
• a satellite program information data accumulating memory for accumulating satellite program information data;
• a video/speech input switching unit for switching modes between the UV tuner and the satellite tuner;
• a speaker for outputting a speech signal from the video/speech input switching unit;
• a video signal processing unit for processing a video signal from the video/speech input switching unit;
• an event managing unit for receiving an instruction, said instruction comprising a code from the remote controller decode unit or a unit of language from the speech recognition unit, wherein the event managing unit judges the origin of the instruction and the type of instruction;
• a television control unit that controls the mode in which the television apparatus operates, and wherein said television control unit controls said television apparatus so as to operate the apparatus in accordance with the instruction when the managing unit judges that the television apparatus can operate under a current operation mode in accordance with the instruction, and the television control unit also controls the television apparatus to not operate the apparatus under the current operation mode when the event managing unit judges that the television apparatus cannot operate under the current operation mode in accordance with the instruction;
• a dictionary containing classifications by category;
• and
• a search unit that retrieves from the dictionary other units of language that belong to the same category as said unit of language and which can make the television apparatus operate when it is not possible for said television apparatus to operate in accordance with the unit of language as applied to the current mode of operation, and wherein said search unit retrieves said other unit of language, and said television control unit functions such that said television apparatus is allowed to operate in accordance with said other unit of language.