Station selector

(12) United States Patent

Maeda

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

US006529246B1

(io) Patent No.: US 6,529,246 Bl (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 4,2003

(54) STATION SELECTOR

(75) Inventor: Osamu Maeda, Osaka (JP)

(73) Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd., Daito (JP)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/220,346

(22) Filed: Dec. 24, 1998

(30) Foreign Application Priority Data

Dec. 26, 1997 (JP) 9-011323

(51) Int. CI.7 H04N 3/24; H04N 5/50

(52) U.S. CI 348/570; 348/569; 348/634;

348/731; 348/732

(58) Field of Search 348/569, 570,

348/731, 732, 734, 906, 633, 634, 635;

H04N 5/50, 3/24

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

3,984,828 A * 10/1976 Beyers, Jr. 345/144

4,214,273 A * 7/1980 Brown 345/440.2

4,405,946 A * 9/1983 Knight 348/554

4,536,797 A * 8/1985 Mature- et al 358/183

5,103,314 A * 4/1992 Keenan 358/193.1

5,287,172 A * 2/1994 Lee 348/635

5,299,010 A * 3/1994 Nakazawa et al 348/731

A station selector having a function of displaying a channel number on a screen. In the station selector, while channels are being switched through a remote control unit or the like, an OSD IC circuit is not operated and a selected station screen is displayed each time on a television set connected to an RF output terminal. Then, when the channel switching is completed and a synchronizing signal is output from a Y/C/A IC circuit, the actually selected station screen is displayed, then the OSD IC circuit is operated for displaying the channel number on the screen. When no synchronizing signal is output from the Y/C/A IC circuit, the OSD IC circuit is operated for displaying the channel number on a blue back.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets

1

STATION SELECTOR

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a station selector installed in a video cassette recorder (VCR), a television set or the like, and more particularly to a station selector having a function of displaying a channel number on a screen. 10

2. Description of the Related Art

Some video cassette recorders have a function of displaying a channel number on a screen of a television set or the like connected to a video output terminal of the video cassette recorder. In the internal configuration of this type of 15 video cassette recorder, a typical circuitry (corresponding to a station selector) for selecting a broadcasting station in response to the operation of a remote control unit and displaying the selected channel number on a screen is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,946. 20

In the disclosed technique, if the user uses a remote control unit to switch a channel, the selected channel number is superposed on the screen and a program on the selected channel (station) appears on the screen in a predetermined time. 25

However, in the above conventional circuit, when the user switches channels rapidly, only channel numbers are displayed on the screen and programs on the channels being switched are not displayed on the screen; the user may be 3Q worried that the normal receiving operation may not be performed and it is pointed out that the operability is poor in this point. However, if the channel number display is not performed, the user does not see what channel appears on the screen, and the operability becomes poor in this point. 3J

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a station selector improved so as to enable the user to easily know the receiving operation during channel switching 40 while the channel number display is performed.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a station selector comprising: a channel setting section for selecting a broadcasting station; a tuner section for extracting a broadcasting station signal 45 from an antenna signal; a conversion section for converting a received signal output from the tuner section into a video signal; a synchronizing signal separation section for extracting a synchronizing signal from the video signal output from the conversion section; an on-screen display control section 50 to which the video signal output from the conversion section is input for displaying a text, a figure, a symbol, or a uniform-color background on a screen; and a control circuit section for controlling the tuner section and the on-screen display control section based on a station selecting signal 55 input through the channel setting section and the synchronizing signal input from the synchronizing signal separation section, wherein if a station selecting operation is being performed, the control circuit section displays a selected station screen of the video signal output from the conversion 60 section without operating the on screen display control section, and if the station selecting operation has been completed and the synchronizing signal is input, the control circuit section displays a selected station screen of the video signal output from the conversion section, then operates the 65 on-screen display control section for displaying a channel number on the selected station screen.

2

Further, there is provided a station selector comprising: a channel setting section for selecting a broadcasting station; a tuner section for extracting a broadcasting station signal from an antenna signal; a conversion section for converting a received signal output from the tuner section into a video signal; a synchronizing signal separation section for extracting a synchronizing signal from the video signal output from the conversion section; an on-screen display control section to which the video signal output from the conversion section is input for displaying a text, a figure, a symbol, or a uniform-color background on a screen; and a control circuit section for controlling the tuner section and the on-screen display control section based on a station selecting signal input through the channel setting section and the synchronizing signal input from the synchronizing signal separation section, wherein the control circuit section includes on-screen display operation inhibiting means for determining that a station selecting operation is being performed to place the on-screen display control section in a nonoperation mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing an embodiment of the invention and is a block diagram of a station selector installed in a video cassette recorder; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program executed in a control circuit section of the station selector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, there is shown a preferred embodiment of a station selector of the invention with a video cassette recorder as an example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a station selector installed in a video cassette recorder. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program executed in a control circuit section of the station selector.

The video cassette recorder here taken as an example records and reproduces video signals on a magnetic tape (not shown) and is provided with an external video input terminal (V-IN) and an external antenna input terminal (ANT-IN) as external input terminals and also a video output terminal (V-OUT) and an RF output terminal (RF-OUT) as output terminals.

A video machine such as a video disc player is connected to the external video input terminal (V-IN) and a VHF broadcasting antenna is connected to the external antenna input terminal (ANT-IN). A television set or the like is connected to the video output terminal (V-OUT) or the RF output terminal (RF-OUT).

The video cassette recorder is provided with a station selector for selecting a broadcasting station in response to the operation of a remote control unit or the like and for displaying the selected channel number on a screen of the television set connected to the video output terminal (V-OUT) or the RF output terminal (RF-OUT).

As shown in FIG. 1, the station selector has a basic configuration comprising a remote control unit 10 (corresponding to a channel setting section) for selecting a broadcasting station and the like, a tuner section 20 for extracting a broadcasting station signal from an antenna signal input through the external antenna input terminal (ANT-IN), a conversion section 30 for converting a received signal output from the tuner section 20 into a video signal, a Y/C/AIC circuit 50 having a function (as a synchronizing