Broadcast receiving apparatus and broadcast receiving method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10171191-B2
Application number	US-201715725427-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2017
Priority date	Oct 14, 2016
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A broadcast receiving apparatus includes a reception unit, sound controlling unit, and determination unit. The reception unit receives a signal of an analog broadcast and a signal of a digital broadcast having the same broadcast content. The sound controlling unit performs, when an output of the broadcast receiving apparatus switched into the analog broadcast from the digital broadcast, a switching control of switching the output into the analog broadcast from the digital broadcast so that an acoustic characteristic of the output digital broadcast gradually approaches an acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast based on a reception intensity of the signal of the analog broadcast. The determination unit determines, after the sound controlling unit starts the switching control, whether or not the switching control performed by the sound controlling unit is to be continued, based on reception state of the signal of the digital broadcast.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A broadcast receiving apparatus comprising:
a processor programmed to:
receive a signal of an analog broadcast and a signal of a digital broadcast having a same broadcast content;
perform, when an output of the broadcast receiving apparatus is switched into the analog broadcast from the digital broadcast, a switching control of switching into an acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast from an acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast so that the acoustic characteristic of the output digital broadcast gradually approaches the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast based on a reception intensity of the received signal of the analog broadcast; and
determine, after the switching control is started and in a middle of gradual switching from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast to the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast, whether or not the started switching control is to be continued, based on a reception state of the received signal of the digital broadcast.

2. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to perform, when the reception intensity of the signal of the analog broadcast is equal to or less than a predetermined start threshold, the switching control, regardless of the subsequent reception intensity, such that the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast gradually approaches the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast at a predetermined ratio.

3. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to determine, in a case where the switching control of switching from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast is started and then the reception state of the signal of the digital broadcast recovers within a predetermined time interval, that the switching control is not to be continued, and determine, in a case where the reception state does not recover within the predetermined time interval, that the switching control is to be continued.

4. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:
estimate a buffer continuation time interval of the digital broadcast based on a history of the reception state of the signal of the digital broadcast, and
determine, in a case where the switching control of switching from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast is started and then the estimated buffer continuation time interval is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold time interval, that the switching control is not to be continued, and determine, in a case where the buffer continuation time interval is within the threshold time interval, that the switching control is to be continued.

5. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to perform, when performing the switching control of switching from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast, the switching control by taking a time interval that is longer than a time interval for performing a switching control for switching from the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast.

6. A broadcast receiving method comprising:
receiving a signal of an analog broadcast and a signal of a digital broadcast having a same broadcast content;
performing, when an output of a broadcast receiving apparatus is switched into the analog broadcast from the digital broadcast, a switching control of switching into an acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast from an acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast so that the acoustic characteristic of the output digital broadcast gradually approaches the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast based on a reception intensity of the received signal of the analog broadcast; and
determining, after the switching control is started and in a middle of gradual switching from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast to the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast, whether or not the started switching control is to be continued, based on a reception state of the received signal of the digital broadcast.

7. The broadcast receiving method according to claim 6 , wherein the performing of the switching control includes performing, when the reception intensity of the signal of the analog broadcast is equal to or less than a predetermined start threshold, the switching control, regardless of the subsequent reception intensity, such that the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast gradually approaches the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast at a predetermined ratio.

8. The broadcast receiving method according to claim 6 , wherein the determining includes determining, in a case where the switching control from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast is started and then the reception state of the signal of the digital broadcast recovers within a predetermined time interval, that the switching control is not to be continued, and determining, in a case where the reception state does not recover within the predetermined time interval, that the switching control is to be continued.

9. The broadcast receiving method according to claim 6 , further comprising: estimating a buffer continuation time interval of the digital broadcast based on a history of the reception state of the signal of the digital broadcast, wherein the determining includes determining, in a case where the switching control from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast is started and then the estimated buffer continuation time interval is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold time interval, that the switching control is not to be continued and determining in a case where the buffer continuation time interval is within the threshold time interval that the switching control is to be continued.

10. The broadcast receiving method according to claim 6 , wherein the performing of the switching control includes performing, when performing the switching control from the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast, the switching control by taking a time interval that is longer than a time interval for performing a switching control for switching from the acoustic characteristic of the analog broadcast into the acoustic characteristic of the digital broadcast.

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ten Ltd
• Denso Ten Ltd

Inventors

• Terashima Yuya
• Nakano Kenichi

Classifications

• H04H2201/18

  in band on channel [IBOC] · CPC title

• H04H20/106 Primary

  Receiver-side switching · CPC title

• H04H20/30

  by a single channel · CPC title

• H04H20/47

  specially adapted for stereophonic broadcast systems · CPC title

• H04H20/08

  among terminal devices · CPC title