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1. i US005253067A United States Patent m9 11 Patent Number 5 253 067 Chaney et al 4 Date of Patent Oct 12 1993 54 CHANNEL LABELING APPARATUS FOR A 4 980 766 12 1990 Viadkov rem 358 22 TELEVISION RECEIVER WHEREIN 5 191 423 3 1993 Yoshida 358 191 1 GRAPHICS AND TEXT LABELS MAY BE SELECTED FROM A PREPROGRAMMED FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS LIST 0391656 10 1990 European Pat Off 1 268368 10 1989 Japan 75 Inventors John W Chaney James E Hailey both of Indianapolis Ind OTHER PUBLICATIONS Pages 45 46 of the user Manual for the NEC N968U Article entitled Bold New Gear by M Fleischman Video Magazine Apr 1989 pp 36 39 and 54 55 73 Assignee Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc Indianapolis Ind 21 Appl No 807 469 Service Manual for Grundig television receiver CUC 22 Filed Dec 16 1991 2400 Primary Examiner James J Groody I ZITE N 0 3 us me a IM ee LA Assistant Examiner John W Miller S CL eee reete 1 UH Attorney Agent or Firm Joseph S Tripoli Peter M 58 Field of Search 358 191 1 192 1 193 1 Emanuel Thomas F Lenihan 358 194 1 183 22 188 57 ABSTRACT 56 References Cited It is herein recognized that it is desirable that a televi U S PATENT DOCUMENTS sion receiver provide preprogrammed labels for many A widely used television networks The user has only to 4 600 918 7 1986 Belisomi et al 340 711 selec2. and amplification before being applied to a speaker assembly 136 Tuner controller 104 generates the tuning voltage and bandswitching signals in response to control signals applied from a system control microcomputer uC 110 The terms microcomputer controller and micro 10 5 25 30 40 45 50 60 65 2 processor as used herein are equivalent It is also recognized that the control function of microcomputer 110 may be performed by an integrated circuit espe cially manufactured for that specific purpose i e a custom chip and the term controller as used herein is also intended to include such a device Mi crocomputer 110 receives user initiated commands from an infrared IR receiver 122 and from a local keyboard 120 mounted on the television receiver itself IR receiver 122 receives IR transmissions from remote control transmitter 125 Microcomputer 110 includes a central processing unit CPU 112 a program memory ROM 114 and stores channel related data in a ran dom access memory RAM 116 RAM 116 may be either internal to or external to microprocessor 110 and may be of either the volatile or non volatile type The term RAM is also intended to include electrical ly erasable programmable read only memory EE PROM 117 One skilled in the art will recognize that if volatile memory is utilized it may be desirable to use a suitable form of standby power to prese
3. sizes on the screen FIG 3a shows a television receiver 300a having a screen 310a showing a video image with the logo a 35 40 45 50 55 65 4 television network displayed in the upper right corner Data corresponding to this logo is stored in ROM and generated by OSD and GRAPHICS PROCESSOR unit 140 The procedure for associating a graphics logo with a television channel is the same as that given above for selecting a text label That is the user steps through a list of preprogrammed text labels until he finds the proper one for example NBC Upon selecting NBC controller 110 causes OSD and GRAPHICS PROCES SOR unit 140 to substitute a preprogrammed graphics logo if one exists in memory for the corresponding text label A constructed and tested version of the invention includes 108 preformed labels and memory space for 19 user entered labels What is claimed is 1 A television receiver comprising means for entering data in response to operation by a user memory means for storing data representative of a preprogrammed label contro means coupled to said memory means for reading said data from said memory means and on screen display and graphics generator means cou pled to said control means for producing text char acter video signals and graphics video signals for display said text character and graphics video signals corresponding to said stored data said control means associating said stored data rep
4. Patent Oct 12 1993 Sheet 4 of 5 5 253 067 FIG 3a U S Patent Oct 12 1993 Sheet 5 of 5 5 253 067 USER S LABEL A FIG 3b 5 253 067 1 CHANNEL LABELING APPARATUS FOR A TELEVISION RECEIVER WHEREIN GRAPHICS AND TEXT LABELS MAY BE SELECTED FROM A PREPROGRAMMED LIST This invention concerns television receivers having a channel labelling function BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many modern television receivers include a channel labelling feature in which a user is asked to enter a suitable label for each channel This may be done by selecting individual letters from a running display of letters or by entering letters from an alphabetical key board on a remote control unit Such a channel labelling feature is known from for example RCA CTC 140 type television receivers manufactured by Thomson Consumer Electronics Incorporated Indianapolis Ind Unfortunately this process can take an inordinate amount of time and patience on the user s part given that modern cable television services may deliver as many as 125 channels SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is herein recognized that it is desirable that a televi sion receiver provide preprogrammed labels for many widely used television networks The user has only to select the proper channel and then select a correspond ing preprogrammed label from a list in order to associ ate the channel and label In one embodiment the pre programmed label is a graphically formed l
5. nting to enter a label for channel 11 To modify the label the user highlights the LABEL line by using the and keys of remote control unit 125 to move up and down through the menu and by selecting the label line by pressing its SELECT key Then user then presses the and keys to step through a prepro grammed list of labels FIG 2b shows the prepro grammed label NBC If the user desires to enter the preprogrammed label NBC he simply presses the SE LECT key of remote control unit 125 If on the other hand the user cannot find an appropriate prepro grammed label then he steps through the list until he finds the label YOU ENTER Upon selecting the YOU ENTER label the user may enter his own label by pressing the and SELECT keys of remote con trol unit 125 until he has spelled the desired label To further illustrate this point FIG 2c shows a user entered label USER S LABEL and FIG 3b shows the user entered label displayed on the screen 310b of a television receiver 310a 20 25 OSD and GRAPHICS PROCESSOR unit 140 of 30 FIG 1 includes the capability of producing high reso lution graphics for display on the screen of picture tube assembly 158 under control of controller 110 Control ler 110 communicates with OSD and GRAPHICS PROCESSOR unit 140 via a digital control bus 131 One of the capabilities of OSD and GRAPHICS PRO CESSOR unit 140 is the ability to generate graphics logos or service marks of various
6. ogo or ser vice mark of the television network BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG 1 is a block diagram of a portion of a television receiver suitable for implementing the invention FIGS 2a 2c are illustrations of screen displays pro duced in accordance with the invention FIGS 3a and 3b are illustrations of channel labels displayed on screen DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Referring to FIG 1 a television receiver includes an RF input terminal 100 which receives radio frequency RF signals and applies them to a tuner assembly 102 Tuner assembly 102 selects and amplifies a particular RF signal under control of a tuner controller 104 which provides a tuning voltage via a wire 103 and band switching signals via signal lines represented by the broad double ended arrow 103 to tuner assembly 102 Tuner assembly 102 converts the received RF signal to an intermediate frequency IF signal and provides an JF output signal to video VIF and sound SIF ampli fier and detector unit 130 VIF SIF amplifier and de tector unit 130 amplifies the IF signal applied to its input terminal and detects the video and audio information contained therein The detected video information is applied as one input of a video processor unit 155 The other input of video processor unit 155 is connected to an on screen display and graphics processor circuit 140 The detected audio signal is applied to an audio proces sor 135 for processing
7. re sentative of a preprogrammed label with a televi sion channel in response to data input by a user 2 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said prepro grammed label is a network logo or service mark 3 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said prepro grammed label comprises text characters 4 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a portion of said data entered by said user is data representative of an alternative text label
8. rve its contents when the receiver is turned off Microcomputer 110 operates from a source of standby power 145 and controls a source of operating power 150 via a control line 151 for selectively applying power to the remainder of the television receiver Mi crocomputer 110 also includes a timer 118 Microcom puter or controller 110 generates a control signal for causing tuner control unit 104 to control tuner 102 to select a particular RF signal in response to user entered control signals from local keyboard 120 and from infra red IR receiver 122 Tuner 102 produces a signal at an intermediate fre quency IF and applies it to a processing unit 130 com prising a video IF VIF amplifying stage an AFT circuit a video detector and a sound IF SIF amplify ing stage Processing unit 130 produces a first baseband composite video signal TV and a sound carrier signal The sound carrier signal is applied to an audio signal processor unit 135 which includes an audio detector and may include a stereo decoder Audio signal processor unit 135 produces a first baseband audio signal and applies it to a speaker unit 136 Second baseband com posite video signals and second baseband audio signals may be applied to VIDEO IN and AUDIO IN termi nals from an external source The first and second baseband video signals TV are coupled to a video processor unit 155 having a selec tion circuit not shown Under control of controller 110 an on
9. screen display processor 140 generates character signals and graphics signals and applies them to a sec ond input of video signal processor 155 for inclusion in the processed video signal Electrically erasable pro grammable read only memory EEPROM 117 is cou pled to controller 110 and serves as a non volatile stor age element for storing autoprogramming channel data and user entered channel data The processed video signal at the output of video signal processor unit 155 is applied to a Kine Driver Amplifier 156 for amplification and then applied to the guns of a color picture tube assembly 158 for display The processed video signal at the output of video signal processor unit 155 is also applied to a Sync Separator unit 160 for separation of horizontal and vertical drive signals which are in turn applied to a deflection unit 170 The output signals from deflection unit 170 are applied to deflection coils of picture tube assembly 158 for controlling the deflection of its electron beam The 5 253 067 3 television receiver described thusfar with the exception of OSD and GRAPHICS PROCESSOR 140 is known for example from the RCA CTC 140 color television manufactured by Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc Indianapolis Ind The invention will now be described with reference to the remainder of FIG 1 the menu displays of FIGS 2a 2c and the screen displays of FIGS 3a and 35 FIG 2a shows a menu screen called up by a user wa
10. t the proper channel and then select a correspond 4 706 121 11 1987 Young ing preprogrammed label from a list in order to associ 4 821 102 4 1989 Ichikawa et al ss ate the channel and label In one embodiment the pre EIS reed E MM rer programmed label is a graphically formed logo or ser 4 872 054 9 1989 Gray et al 358 140 Vice mark of the television network 4 914 517 4 1990 Duffield 358 191 1 4 959 720 9 1990 Duffield et al PIE 358 191 4 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets Sheet 1 of 5 5 253 067 Oct 12 1993 U S Patent UOSSIIOUAOHIIN TOHINOO CHYVOBAIM Ge cel W901 Slt OIL 0L 091 m YLL H YOLVHYdIS WEE e ONAS ONIIVHAdO LINN TOHINOO HINNI Addis YIMOd A8Q0NVIS u0SS390ud SAIHAVHI ONY OSO u0SS390tld WNOIS OAGIA u3l3l dV UIAIHO INDI CINVE COL GI Su0193130 KAlaW3SSv DEI YOSSIIOHd ONY SHIIANIdINY YINNL 9 NI di pi TWNOIS OIONV AIS ONY JIA COL cel T 001 NIOIODV NIO3QIA U S Patent Oct 12 1993 Sheet 2 of 5 5 253 067 CHANNEL MEM CHANNEL SCAN LIST 200a SAP PARENT CTRL LABEL ERASE LABEL DONE FIG 2a CHANNEL MEM CHANNEL SCAN LIST SAP PARENT CTRL LABEL ERASE LABEL DONE FIG 2b U S Patent Oct 12 1993 Sheet 3 of 5 5 253 067 CHANNEL MEM CHANNEL 11 SCAN LIST IN SAP OFF 200c PARENT CTRL OFF LABEL USER S LABEL ERASE LABEL DONE FIG 2c U S
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