EP0409562A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Television receivers having a picture-in-picture function
Assignee: Sony Corp
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Filing: 1990-07-17
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-07-17
Abstract
Abstract Television receiving apparatus receives television signals broadcast over preselected broadcast channels by different television broadcast systems. A plurality of demodulators (27, 28) demodulate and concurrently display the television programme broadcast by the different systems. A processor (26) selects a broadcast channel to be demodulated by at least one of the demodulators (27, 28); and a detector (32) detects if television signals are being broadcast over the selected channel. If so, the sound carrier frequency derived from the broadcasted television signal is determined and the television broadcast system is identified as a function of that carrier frequency. A memory (33) stores an indication of the selected broadcast channel and the identity of the television broadcast system which uses that channel; whereafter the processor (26) is advanced to select yet another channel and to identify the system by which television signals are broadcast over that other channel. As this process continues, the memory (33) stores indications of channels which can be received and identities of the systems of those channels. Subsequently, desired broadcast channels together with the identities of the systems can be retrieved from the memory (33) to configure the respective demodulators (27, 28) in a manner compatible with those systems to enable the programmes which are broadcast over the retrieved channels to be demodulated and concurrently displayed, such as in a picture-in-picture format.
Inventors
- 👤 Tsutomu C/O Patents Division Arai
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 18:09
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N5/00; H04N5/44; H04N5/46; H04N5/445; H04N5/45; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/41; H04N21/426; H04N21/42607; H04N21/4263; H04N21/43; H04N21/431; H04N21/4312; H04N21/4316; H04N21/47; H04N21/485; H04N21/4852; H04N21/4858
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
222 words
Television receiving apparatus for receiving television signals broadcast over preselected broadcast channels by different television broadcast systems and including a plurality of demodulator means (27, 28) for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast by different television broadcast systems, the apparatus comprising: processor means (26) for selecting a broadcast channel to be demodulated by at least one of said demodulator means (27, 28); detecting means (32) for detecting if television signals are broadcast over the selected broadcast channel and, if so, determining a sound carrier frequency derived from said television signals to identify as a function of the determined sound carrier frequency the television broadcast system associated with said selected broadcast channel and by which said detected television signals are broadcast; memory means (33) for storing an indication of the selected broadcast channel and an identity of the television broadcast system associated therewith; means for advancing said processor means (26) to select another broadcast channel whereby an indication of said other broadcast channel and the identity of a television broadcast system associated therewith are stored in said memory means (33); and retrieval means (26) for retrieving from said memory means (33) broadcast channel indications and the identities of associated television broadcast systems and for controlling said plurality of demodulator means (27, 28) therewith for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast over said retrieved broadcast channels.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
222 words
Television receiving apparatus for receiving television signals broadcast over preselected broadcast channels by different television broadcast systems and including a plurality of demodulator means (27, 28) for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast by different television broadcast systems, the apparatus comprising: processor means (26) for selecting a broadcast channel to be demodulated by at least one of said demodulator means (27, 28); detecting means (32) for detecting if television signals are broadcast over the selected broadcast channel and, if so, determining a sound carrier frequency derived from said television signals to identify as a function of the determined sound carrier frequency the television broadcast system associated with said selected broadcast channel and by which said detected television signals are broadcast; memory means (33) for storing an indication of the selected broadcast channel and an identity of the television broadcast system associated therewith; means for advancing said processor means (26) to select another broadcast channel whereby an indication of said other broadcast channel and the identity of a television broadcast system associated therewith are stored in said memory means (33); and retrieval means (26) for retrieving from said memory means (33) broadcast channel indications and the identities of associated television broadcast systems and for controlling said plurality of demodulator means (27, 28) therewith for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast over said retrieved broadcast channels.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said demodulator means (27, 28) includes tuner means (5A, 5B) tunable to a broadcast channel selected by said processor means (26).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
103 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein each of said demodulator means (27, 28) further includes intermediate frequency (IF) means (15A, 15B) coupled to said tuner means (5A, 5B) for producing video IF signals from the television signals broadcast over the channel to which said tuner means (5A, 5B) is tuned; and said detecting means (32) comprises level detecting means for detecting the level of the video IF signals produced by a predetermined demodulator means (27, 28), whereby the channel to which said tuner means (5A, 5B) is tuned is detected as a broadcast channel as a function of the video IF signal level.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
105 words
Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) further includes sound intermediate frequency (SIF) means (23A, 23B) for producing sound IF signals from the television signals broadcast over the channel to which said tuner means (5A, 5B) is tuned; and said detecting means (32) additionally includes means for detecting the level of the IF signals produced by the SIF means (23A, 23B) included in said predetermined demodulator means (27, 28), whereby the sound carrier frequency of the television signals broadcast over said channel to which said tuner means (5) is tuned is determined as a function of the sound IF signal level.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
86 words
Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) includes a plurality of filter means (29A, 29B) each individually connectable between said tuner means (5A, 5B) and said IF means (15A, 15B) and each being tuned to a frequency f P established by a respective television broadcast system; and said detecting means (32) also includes filter select means for selecting one of said plurality of filter means (29A, 29B) in said predetermined demodulator means (27, 28) as a function of the selected broadcast channel.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
127 words
Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) further includes a plurality of audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B), each individually connectable to said SIF means (23A, 23B) and each being tuned to a frequency established by a respective television broadcast system; and said detecting means (32) further includes sound filter select means for sequentially connecting said audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B) to said SIF means (23A, 23B) in said predetermined demodulator means (27, 28) and selecting the one audio band-pass filter means (31a, 31B) which results in the sound IF signal having the largest detected level, and means for identifying the television broadcast system as a function of the frequency to which the selected audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B) is tuned.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
105 words
Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) includes a plurality of filter means (29A, 29B) each individually connectable between said tuner means (5) and said IF means (15A, 15B) and each being tuned to a frequency f p established by a respective television broadcast system; and said detecting means (32) further includes filter select means for sequentially connecting said filter means (29A, 29B) between said tuner means (5) and said IF means (15A, 15B) in said predetermined demodulator means (27, 28) and selecting the one filter means (29A, 29B) which results in the video IF signal having the largest detected level.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
127 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) further includes a plurality of audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B), each individually connectable to said SIF means (23A, 23B) and each being tuned to a frequency established by a respective television broadcast system; and said detecting means (32) further includes sound filter select means for sequentially connecting said audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B) to said SIF means (23A, 23B) in said predetermined demodulator means (27, 28) and selecting the one audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B) which results in the sound IF signal having the largest detected level, and means for identifying the television broadcast system as a function of the frequency to which the selected audio band-pass filter means (31A, 31B) is tuned.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
139 words
Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) includes: a plurality of filter means (29A, 29B) each individually connectable between the tuner means (5A, 5B) and the IF means (15A, 15B) of said demodulator means (27, 28) and each being tuned to a frequency established by a respective television broadcast system, and a plurality of audio band-pass filter means (31a, 31B) each individually connectable to the SIF means (23A, 23B) of said demodulator means (27, 28) and each being tuned to a frequency established by a respective television broadcast system; and wherein said retrieval means (26) includes selecting means for selecting a respective filter means (29A, 29B) and a respective audio band-pass filter means (31a, 31B) in each demodulator means (27, 28) in accordance with the television broadcast system identities retrieved from said memory means (33).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
36 words
Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said selecting means (26) includes manually operable read-out means (34) for reading out from said memory means (33) a respective television broadcast system identity for each demodulator means (27, 28).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) is operable to receive television signals broadcast by an inter-carrier television broadcast system.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each demodulator means (27, 28) is operable to receive television signals broadcast by a split-carrier television broadcast system.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 further including display means (9) for superimposing a television picture derived from one demodulator means (27, 28) on a television picture derived from another demodulator means (27, 28).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
52 words
Apparatus according to claim 13 further comprising loudspeaker means (11) for producing audible sounds derived from the broadcast channel demodulated by said demodulator means (27, 28), and means for supplying to said loudspeaker means (11) audio signals recovered from a broadcast channel by a selected one of said demodulator means (27, 28).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
218 words
Television receiving apparatus for receiving television signals broadcast over preselected broadcast channels by different television broadcast systems and including a plurality of demodulator means (27, 18) for demodulating video and audio signals from received television signals and for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast by different television broadcast systems, said apparatus comprising : microprocessor means (26) operative sequentially to select broadcast channels to be demodulated by at least one of said demodulator means (27, 28) to determine if television signals are being broadcast over each selected channel and, if so, to identify the television broadcast system associated with each channel over which television signals are being broadcast; memory means (33) for storing indications of the respective broadcast channels over which television signals are determined to be broadcast and identities of the television broadcast systems associated with those broadcast channels; parameter setting means included in each demodulator means (27, 28) for setting the operating parameters thereof compatible with a selected television broadcast system; and read-out means for reading out from said memory means (33) and supplying to a selected demodulator means (27, 28) a broadcast channel indication and a television broadcast system identity to set the operating parameters of said selected demodulator means (27, 28) such that television signals broadcast over the read out broadcast channel are demodulated and displayed.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
218 words
Television receiving apparatus for receiving television signals broadcast over preselected broadcast channels by different television broadcast systems and including a plurality of demodulator means (27, 18) for demodulating video and audio signals from received television signals and for concurrently displaying television programmes broadcast by different television broadcast systems, said apparatus comprising : microprocessor means (26) operative sequentially to select broadcast channels to be demodulated by at least one of said demodulator means (27, 28) to determine if television signals are being broadcast over each selected channel and, if so, to identify the television broadcast system associated with each channel over which television signals are being broadcast; memory means (33) for storing indications of the respective broadcast channels over which television signals are determined to be broadcast and identities of the television broadcast systems associated with those broadcast channels; parameter setting means included in each demodulator means (27, 28) for setting the operating parameters thereof compatible with a selected television broadcast system; and read-out means for reading out from said memory means (33) and supplying to a selected demodulator means (27, 28) a broadcast channel indication and a television broadcast system identity to set the operating parameters of said selected demodulator means (27, 28) such that television signals broadcast over the read out broadcast channel are demodulated and displayed.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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