US 8,429,698 B2Granted

Digital broadcast transmission device and digital broadcast reception device

AssigneePanasonic Corporation

InventorsYoshikazu Hayashi, Kazuya Ueda, Makoto Sekitoh, Ippei Kanno, Tomohiro Kimura, Masahiro Hamada

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Abstract

A digital broadcast transmission device generates channel combination information associating a plurality of physical channels. The digital broadcast transmission device divides a bit stream into a plurality of bit streams, the bit stream including program-related information having added thereto channel combination information, and transmits the divided bit streams on the plurality of physical channels, respectively. A digital broadcast reception device selects the plurality of physical channels using a plurality of front ends based on the channel combination information, and demodulates broadcast waves received on the plurality of physical channels, respectively. The digital broadcast reception device combines bit streams obtained from the demodulation, and outputs the combined bit stream. The digital broadcast reception device also simultaneously transmits a light bit stream on a different single physical channel, the light bit stream being a bit stream smaller in amount of information than the combined bit stream.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A digital broadcast reception device for receiving a digital broadcast signal transmitted from a transmission device, the digital broadcast signal representing a bulk program, a non-bulk program, and control information, the bulk program being a broadcast program subjected to bulk transmission using a plurality of physical channels, the non-bulk program being a broadcast program transmitted using a single physical channel, the control information including at least identification information identifying whether a transmitted broadcast program is the bulk program or the non-bulk program and bulk-channel information indicating physical channel numbers of the plurality of physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, wherein

on at least one of the physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, a lower-layer program is subjected to hierarchical transmission, the lower-layer program being the same in program material as the bulk program and different in video standard from the bulk program,
the digital broadcast reception device comprising:
a plurality of tuners;
operation reception means for receiving a predetermined operation from a user;
channel selection instruction means for, based on the operation received by the operation reception means, causing the tuners to select physical channels specified by the user;
bulk channel detection means for detecting, based on the control information, whether or not the bulk program is transmitted on the physical channel selected in accordance with the channel selection instruction means;
tuner usage detection means for, when the bulk channel detection means detects that the bulk program is transmitted, detecting usages of the plurality of tuners;
receivability determination means for detecting, based on the detection result of the tuner usage detection means, whether or not, among the plurality of tuners, a sufficient number of tuners are available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for bulk transmission of the bulk program detected by the bulk channel detection means;
and
program reproduction means for, when the receivability determination means determines that a sufficient number of tuners are available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for the bulk transmission, performing a process of reproducing the bulk program detected by the bulk channel detection means and for, when the receivability determination means determines that a sufficient number of tuners are not available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for the bulk transmission, performing a process of reproducing the lower-layer program subjected to hierarchical transmission with the bulk program.

7 more elements

A digital broadcast reception device for receiving a digital broadcast signal transmitted from a transmission device, the digital broadcast signal representing a bulk program, a non-bulk program, and control information, the bulk program being a program subjected to bulk transmission using a plurality of physical channels, the non-bulk program being a program transmitted using a single physical channel, the control information including at least identification information identifying whether a program that is broadcast is the bulk program or the non-bulk program and bulk-channel information indicating physical channel numbers of the plurality of physical channels forming the bulk program,

the digital broadcast reception device comprising:
a first tuner and a second tuner, each for receiving the digital broadcast signal by selecting a predetermined physical channel;
broadcast type determination means for determining, based on the control information, whether a program that is being transmitted as the digital broadcast signal received by the first tuner is the bulk program or the non-bulk program;
bulk program search means for searching information about the bulk program that is being broadcast or that is to be broadcast;
channel selection control means for controlling channel selection operations performed by the first tuner and the second tuner;
and
program reproduction/output means for, based on the digital broadcast signal transmitted on the physical channel selected by at least one of the first tuner and the second tuner, reproducing the bulk program or the non-bulk program and for outputting the reproduced program to a screen, wherein:
when the broadcast type determination means determines that the program that is being transmitted on the physical channel selected by the first tuner is the bulk program, the channel selection control means, based on the bulk-channel information, causes the first tuner and the second tuner to select the plurality of physical channels forming the bulk program, combines the digital broadcast signals received by both tuners, and outputs the combined broadcast signal to the program reproduction/output means;
and when the broadcast type determination means determines that the program that is being transmitted on the physical channel selected by the first tuner is the non-bulk program, the channel selection control means outputs to the program reproduction/output means the digital broadcast signal obtained through the first tuner, causes the bulk program search means to search for the physical channels on which the bulk program is being broadcast, and causes the second tuner to select one of the physical channels searched for by the bulk program search means.

6 more elements

the digital broadcast reception device comprising:
a plurality of tuners, each for receiving the digital broadcast signal by selecting a predetermined physical channel;
bulk channel detection means for detecting, based on the control information, whether or not the bulk program is transmitted on one of the physical channels selected by the plurality of tuners;
program reproduction means for, based on the detection result of the bulk channel detection means, switching a reproduction process mode between a first reproduction process mode and a second reproduction process mode, the first reproduction process mode reproducing the bulk program from the digital broadcast signals received by causing the plurality of tuners to select the plurality of physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, the first reproduction process mode outputting the reproduced bulk program, the second reproduction process mode reproducing the non-bulk program from the digital broadcast signal received by causing a single tuner among the plurality of tuners to select the physical channel on which the non-bulk program is transmitted, the second reproduction process mode outputting the reproduced non-bulk program;
and
at least one output section for outputting to a predetermined screen or a predetermined storage medium the bulk program or the non-bulk program output from the program reproduction means, wherein:
when the bulk channel detection means detects that the bulk program is transmitted on one of the physical channels selected by the tuners, the program reproduction means switches the reproduction process mode to the first reproduction process mode;
and when the bulk channel detection means detects that the bulk program is not transmitted on one of the physical channels selected by the tuners, the program reproduction means switches the reproduction process mode to the second reproduction process mode.

5 more elements

on at least one of the physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, a lower-layer program is subjected to hierarchical transmission, the lower-layer program being the same in program material as the bulk program and different in video standard from the bulk program,
the digital broadcast reception device comprising:
at least one tuner for receiving the digital broadcast signal by selecting one of the physical channels;
bulk channel detection means for detecting whether or not the bulk program is transmitted on the selected physical channel;
program reproduction means for, based on the detection result of the bulk channel detection means, switching a reproduction process mode between a first reproduction process mode and a second reproduction process mode, the first reproduction process mode reproducing the lower-layer program from the digital broadcast signal received by selecting, among the plurality of physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, the physical channel used for the hierarchical transmission of the lower-layer program, the first reproduction process mode outputting the reproduced lower-layer program, the second reproduction process mode reproducing the non-bulk program from the digital broadcast signal received by selecting the physical channel on which the non-bulk program is transmitted, the second reproduction process mode outputting the reproduced non-bulk program;
channel storage means for storing therein a physical channel number of the physical channel that is selected by the tuner;
and
an output section for outputting to a predetermined screen or a predetermined storage medium the lower-layer program or the non-bulk program output from the program reproduction means, wherein:
when the reproduction process mode is the second reproduction mode and the bulk channel detection means detects that the bulk program is transmitted, the program reproduction means, after storing in the channel storage means the physical channel number of the physical channel that is selected at that time, selects the physical channel used for the hierarchical transmission of the lower-layer program, and switches the reproduction process mode to the first reproduction process mode;
and when a broadcast of the lower-layer program ends, the program reproduction means selects the physical channel number stored in the channel storage means, and switches the reproduction process mode to the second reproduction process mode.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/671,158Filed 30 Jul 2008
Priority: JP 2007-2009961 Aug 2007
Published: US 2010/0199301 A15 Aug 2010
Granted: 23 Apr 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification14 codes

H04H 20/28
Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast: arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
H04H 20/33
Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information: by plural channels
H04N 21/235
Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware: processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of…
H04N 21/2362
Assembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. transport stream, by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, e.g. inserting a URL…:…