JP5598381B2 - Signal processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal processing device in a system capable of exchanging information by performing bidirectional communication between devices, such as a video signal processing device in a stereoscopic video signal processing system using shutter-type glasses, for example. About.

In a system in which an operation is instructed by communication from a first device to a battery-driven second device, when the first device performs a main part of management of the operation content of the second device, The battery capacity of the second device may vary greatly depending on the instructions of the first device.
For example, as one of the stereoscopic video processing systems that have been put into practical use in recent years, left and right images are alternately displayed in a time-division manner on a display device, and left and right glasses are synchronized with the left and right images displayed on the display device. There is known a method of viewing stereoscopic video by viewing through liquid crystal shutter glasses that open and close alternately. In the method using shutter-type glasses, it is desirable not to attach a cable for signal reception or power supply to the shutter-type glasses in order to increase the degree of freedom in viewing by the viewer. Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-5904) describes that a battery is mounted on shutter-type glasses. Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-265863) describes a reduction in electric power when the shutter-type glasses are battery-driven.

  In a stereoscopic video processing system, a liquid crystal television or the like may be used as a display device. In a display system such as a liquid crystal television, an improvement in responsiveness is demanded. For example, in order to improve responsiveness, the number of frames to be displayed is not a normal 30 (60) frames / second but a double speed of 60 (120 ) One that is driven at a frame rate of 120/240 frames / second or a quadruple speed has been put into practical use. In addition, stereoscopic video processing systems and stereoscopic video content compatible with liquid crystal televisions that can be driven at high speed have been put into practical use. However, since not all 3D image processing systems support high frame rates, 3D image content can be broadcast from TV broadcast stations in combination with those that do not support high frame rates or DVDs. It can be considered to be distributed in the market as package media such as Blu-ray Disc (BD). Therefore, in this case, the stereoscopic video processing apparatus needs to switch the frame rate according to the specification of the stereoscopic video content to be processed, and similarly, it is also necessary to switch the frame rate (opening / closing cycle) of the shutter-type glasses that open and close synchronously.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-5904 JP-A-8-265863

  In a system in which an operation is instructed by communication from a first device to a battery-driven second device, when the first device performs a main part of management of the operation content of the second device, Since the battery capacity of the second device varies depending on the instruction of the first device, it is difficult to predict how much the battery capacity of the second device is necessary when performing a predetermined operation.

  For example, in a stereoscopic video processing system that uses shutter glasses, when the shutter glasses are powered by a battery built into the glasses, the user may directly check the battery capacity while viewing the stereoscopic video with the glasses attached. Can not. For this reason, there is a problem in that the shutter-type spectacles suddenly do not open and close during viewing and the stereoscopic video cannot be viewed because the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles is lost. In addition, since the power consumption of shutter glasses greatly depends on the frame rate at which the shutter is opened and closed, if the frame rate changes depending on the content to be processed, what is the battery capacity of the shutter glasses to view the desired content It is difficult for the user to predict whether it is necessary.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem. For example, a three-dimensional image that allows a user to easily recognize whether or not the battery capacity of shutter-type spectacles is sufficient for the playback time of content to be viewed. In a system in which an operation is instructed by communication from a first device to a battery-driven second device, such as a video processing device, and a predetermined operation is performed as the first device, the operation of the second device It is an object of the present invention to provide a signal processing device that allows a user to easily recognize how much battery capacity of a second device is required when the first device performs the main part of content management.

The present invention provides the following signal processing apparatus (a) in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art.
(A) A signal transmission / reception device (100) that reproduces a video signal at a predetermined frame rate, and a liquid crystal shutter-type eyeglass device that switches between video signals at a predetermined frame rate, communicates with the signal transmission / reception device and is driven by a battery ( 200), and a signal processing device as the signal transmission / reception device in the signal processing system including a receiving unit (114) for receiving battery capacity information of the liquid crystal shutter type eyeglass device , and a video at a predetermined frame rate A battery capacity of the liquid crystal shutter type eyeglass device required for reproduction is calculated from a signal processing unit (110) for reproducing a signal, predetermined frame rate information in the signal processing unit, and time information of a video signal to be reproduced. calculating section (120), and the battery capacity calculated by the calculating unit, and the information of the battery capacity received from the liquid crystal shutter glasses device Comparing unit to compare the (116), on the basis of the result of comparison in comparison section, the display signal generation unit for the liquid crystal shutter using the eyeglass device generates a display signal indicating the viewable time (122), A signal treatment device comprising:

According to the signal processing device of the present invention, in the system in which the first device instructs the operation to the battery-driven second device through communication and performs a predetermined operation as the first device, the second device The user can easily recognize how much the battery capacity of the second device is necessary when the first device performs the main part of the management of the contents of the operation.
In addition, according to the stereoscopic video processing system to which the signal processing device of the present invention is applied, the user can easily recognize whether or not the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles is sufficient for the playback time of the content to be viewed. be able to.

It is a figure which shows the example of a three-dimensional video signal processing system. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a stereoscopic video signal processing system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of a signal processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of OSD display. It is a figure which shows another example of OSD display. It is a figure which shows another example of OSD display. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the three-dimensional video signal processing system based on Embodiment 2. FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a stereoscopic image processing system using liquid crystal shutter glasses. The stereoscopic video processing system includes a signal processing device 100, liquid crystal shutter-type glasses 200 that open and close a shutter in synchronization with left and right video signals forming a stereoscopic video, and a display device 300. The signal processing device 100 sends a video signal to the display device 300 via a video cable or the like. In addition, it is preferable that the display device 300 is configured to be able to transmit information on frame rates that can be supported by the display device 300 from the signal processing device 100. The display device 300 is a device that can display an image, for example, a liquid crystal television, and is separate from the signal processing device 100 in the figure, but may be integrated. The shutter glasses 200 incorporate a small battery 210 such as a rechargeable lithium ion battery as a power source, and the signal processing device 100 and the shutter glasses 200 can communicate bidirectionally by infrared rays, RF signals, or the like.

  The signal processing device 100 processes the stereoscopic video in a time-sharing manner, causes the display device 300 to alternately display the left-eye video and the right-eye video in a time-division manner, and simultaneously sends a timing signal extracted from the processing signal to the shutter glasses 200. . The liquid crystal shutter glasses 200 alternately open and close the left and right shutters based on the received timing signal. With this operation, the viewer views the left-eye video and the right-eye video alternately with the left eye and the right eye, respectively, and recognizes it as a stereoscopic video.

(Embodiment 1)
The configuration of each unit will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a stereoscopic video processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A common number is assigned to a common part with FIG.
The signal processing device 100 includes a tuner unit 102, a recording medium playback unit 104, a recording / playback unit 106, an additional information analysis unit 108, a signal processing unit 110, a frame rate determination unit 112, a status signal reception unit 114, a comparison unit 116, and a display device. The frame rate detection unit 118 includes a required battery capacity calculation unit 120, an OSD generation unit 122, an OSD synthesis unit 124, a timing signal transmission unit 126, and a video signal transmission unit 128.

  The tuner unit 102 receives and decodes the broadcast signal, and sends the decoded signal to the additional information analysis unit 108. The recording medium reproduction unit 104 has at least one of functions for reproducing a disk medium such as a DVD or a Blu-ray disc (BD), a memory recording medium, a tape recording medium, or the like. Send to. The recording / reproducing unit 106 includes an HDD or the like, and has a function of recording and reproducing a signal including a stereoscopic video signal, and sends the reproduced signal to the additional information analyzing unit 108. Note that the signal processing apparatus 100 does not need to include all of the tuner unit 102, the recording medium playback unit 104, and the recording / playback unit 106, and may have at least one of them.

The additional information analysis unit 108 analyzes the display time and the corresponding frame rate of the program to be viewed from the signal received from the tuner unit 102, the recording medium playback unit 104, or the recording / playback unit 106, and the analysis result is used as a frame rate determination unit. The received signal is sent to the signal processing unit 110.
The status signal receiving unit 114 receives a signal including data related to the battery capacity from the shutter-type spectacles 200 and sends data related to the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles to the comparison unit 116.
The display device corresponding frame rate detection unit 118 detects the corresponding frame rate of the display device 300 from the signal received from the display device 300, and sends the detection result to the frame rate determination unit 112.

The frame rate determining unit 112 determines the frame rate for displaying the program to be viewed from the corresponding frame rate information of the program to be viewed and the corresponding frame rate information of the display device in the procedure described later, and the signal processing unit 110. To the required battery capacity calculation unit 120.
The required battery capacity calculation unit 120 calculates the battery capacity (required battery capacity) necessary for the shutter-type glasses to view the program to be viewed from the frame rate information for displaying the program to be viewed and the display time information. To the comparison unit 116.
The comparison unit 116 compares the battery capacity information of the shutter-type eyeglasses 200 received from the state signal reception unit 114 with the necessary battery capacity information received from the required battery capacity calculation unit 120, and sends the comparison result to the OSD generation unit 122. The OSD generation unit 122 generates an OSD signal corresponding to the received comparison result and sends it to the OSD synthesis unit 124.

The signal processing unit 110 converts the signal received from the additional information analysis unit 108 into a format to be displayed on the display device at the frame rate determined by the frame rate determination unit 112, and sends the signal to the OSD synthesis unit 124. The signal processing unit 110 generates a timing signal for opening and closing the shutter-type glasses in synchronization with the frame timing of the left and right video signals, and sends the timing signal to the timing signal transmission unit 126. The timing signal transmission unit 126 encodes and transmits the received timing signal according to a communication method with the shutter-type glasses 200.
The OSD synthesis unit 124 synthesizes the OSD signal received from the OSD generation unit 122 with the video signal received from the signal processing unit 110 and sends the synthesized signal to the video signal transmission unit 128.
The video signal sending unit 128 sends a video signal, and the sent video signal is input to the display device 300 and displayed.

The shutter glasses 200 include a timing signal receiving unit 202, a liquid crystal shutter driving unit 204, a left eye shutter 206L, a right eye shutter 206R, a battery 210, a battery capacity detecting unit 212, and a state signal transmitting unit 214.
The timing signal receiving unit 202 receives the timing signal transmitted from the timing signal transmitting unit 126 of the signal processing device 100. The timing signal receiving unit 202 decodes the received timing signal and sends it to the liquid crystal shutter driving unit 204. The liquid crystal shutter drive unit 204 operates the left-eye shutter 206L and the right-eye shutter 206R according to the received timing signal. The left-eye shutter 206L and the right-eye shutter 206R are alternately opened and closed in accordance with the display timing of the left and right images displayed on the display device 300.

The battery 210 is a power source for driving the shutter glasses 200, and is a small battery such as a rechargeable lithium ion battery. The battery capacity detection unit 212 detects the capacity of the battery 210. Specifically, it detects the capacity by detecting the difference between the power supply voltage and the current voltage when charging or replacing, or in some cases a voltage drop curve or current consumption, or measuring the capacity characteristics of the battery with a temperature sensor. I do.
The battery capacity detection unit 212 converts the detection result into data and sends it to the state signal transmission unit 214. The status signal transmission unit 214 encodes and transmits the received data according to a communication method with the signal processing apparatus 100.

Hereinafter, the flow of signal processing will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the signal processing apparatus.
In step S1, additional information indicating that the user made a broadcast program viewing reservation through the tuner unit 102, set a playback disc in the recording medium playback unit 104, or displayed a playback list on the HDD of the recording / playback unit 106. If the analysis part 108 detects, it will progress to step S2.
In step S <b> 2, the display device corresponding frame rate detection unit 118 detects the corresponding frame rate of the display device 300 and sends the detection result to the frame rate determination unit 112. The signal processing apparatus 100 is connected to the signal processing apparatus 100 from the display apparatus 300 because the cable for transmitting information from the display apparatus 300 to the signal processing apparatus 100 is not connected or the display apparatus 300 originally does not have a function of outputting information on the corresponding frame rate. When the information about the corresponding frame rate cannot be received, the display device corresponding frame rate detection unit 118 determines that the corresponding frame rate of the display device 300 is one type of default value (for example, 30 frames / second).

In step S3, the additional information analysis unit 108 detects the corresponding frame rate of the program to be viewed.
When the program to be viewed is a broadcast signal, the corresponding frame rate is detected from the EPG information. In the case of a program recorded on a recording medium or a recording / reproducing unit, a corresponding frame rate is detected from information regarding specifications added to a program signal. In any case, when the corresponding frame rate information cannot be detected, the additional information analysis unit 108 determines that the corresponding frame rate of the program to be viewed is only one type of default value (for example, 30 frames / second).

  In step S4, the additional information analysis unit 108 calculates a settable frame rate from the corresponding frame rate information of the display device 300 and the corresponding frame rate information of the program to be viewed, and the calculated result is the frame rate determination unit 112. Send to. The frame rate can be set to a rate corresponding to both the display device and the program to be viewed. For example, the corresponding frame rate of the program to be viewed is four types of 30 frames / second, 60 frames / second, 120 frames / second, and 240 frames / second, and the corresponding frame rates of the display device are 30 frames / second, 60 frames / second. In the case of two types of seconds, the settable frame rates are two types of 30 frames / second and 60 frames / second.

In step S5, the frame rate determining unit 112 determines the display frame rate. Usually, it is determined to be the highest frame rate among settable frame rates.
At this time, the display frame rate may be determined in consideration of the contents of the program to be viewed. For example, if the program you are trying to watch is a fast-moving video such as sports, set it to the highest frame rate, and if it is a low-motion video such as landscape video, set it to a low frame rate. Set. Since there are few visual merits by displaying an image with little motion at a high frame rate, the power consumption of the shutter glasses can be saved by setting the display frame rate low for an image with little motion.

In step S <b> 6, the additional information analysis unit 108 detects the playback time of the program to be viewed and sends the detection result to the necessary battery remaining amount calculation unit 120.
When the program to be viewed is a broadcast signal, the playback time is detected from the EPG playback time information or the broadcast start time information and the end time information. When a program recorded on a recording medium or a recording / reproducing unit is reproduced, the reproduction time is detected from information on specifications added to the program signal.
In step S <b> 7, the required battery capacity calculation unit 120 uses shutter-type glasses to view the program to be viewed from the frame rate information received from the frame rate determination unit 112 and the playback time information received from the additional information analysis unit 108. The amount of power required for the calculation is calculated and the calculation result is sent to the comparison unit 116.

In step S <b> 8, the status signal receiving unit 114 detects the battery capacity of the shutter glasses 200 from the status signal received from the shutter glasses 200.
In step S9, the comparison unit 116 compares the required battery capacity information received from the required battery capacity calculation unit 120 with the battery capacity information of the shutter glasses received from the state signal reception unit 114, and generates an OSD corresponding to the comparison result. The OSD generation unit 122 is controlled as described above.

  An example of OSD display will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows an example of OSD display when the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles is sufficient. FIG. 4A shows an example in which information is displayed in characters, and FIG. 4B shows an example in which information is displayed with an illustration. FIG. 4A shows that the playback time is 120 minutes and the display frame rate is set to 60 frames / second. The numerical values displayed as the glasses 1 to 4 capacity indicate how many minutes the glasses can be driven with the current battery capacity when the display frame rate is set to 60 frames / second. Here, the glasses 2 with the largest capacity can be driven for 600 minutes, and even the glasses 4 with the smallest capacity can be driven for 180 minutes, so that the glasses 120 to 4 can be viewed without any problem with the glasses 1 to 4. .

  FIG. 4B is an example displayed with an illustration. The playback time and the display frame rate are displayed in characters, but the battery capacity is displayed in an illustration. Indicates that there are many. The arrow indicating the required capacity indicates the battery capacity required for driving for 120 minutes under the condition of a playback frame rate of 60 frames / second. Even the glasses 4 with the smallest battery capacity have a battery capacity that exceeds the required capacity, so that a 120-minute program that is going to be viewed can be viewed without problems.

  FIG. 5 is a display example in the case where there is shutter-type eyeglasses with no battery capacity. For comparison, FIG. 5 shows that the battery capacity of the shutter-type glasses and the playback time of the program to be viewed are the same as those in FIG. 4, and only the display frame rate is twice the 60 frames / second shown in the example of FIG. In this example, 120 frames / second is obtained. When the shutter-type spectacles increase the frequency of opening and closing the shutter, the power consumption increases in accordance with the frequency of opening and closing. Therefore, comparing FIG. 4A and FIG. 5A, FIG. 4A shows FIG. On the other hand, the time displayed as the battery capacity of each spectacle is halved. For this reason, the driveable time with the glasses 4 with the smallest battery capacity is 90 minutes, and it is expected that the battery capacity will be exhausted before the 120-minute program playback ends. Therefore, the display part of the glasses 4 is a display opposite to black and white. Comparing FIG. 4B and FIG. 5B, the power consumption increases in FIG. 5B, so the position of the arrow indicating the required capacity is shifted to the right with respect to FIG. 4B. Thereby, it can be recognized that the battery capacity of the glasses 4 is less than the required capacity.

  As described above, by displaying the battery capacity of the shutter glasses corresponding to the conditions of the program to be viewed on the display device, the viewer can see how much battery capacity of the shutter glasses remains, It is possible to recognize in advance whether or not the program to be viewed can be viewed without any problem.

Returning to FIG.
When the broadcast program viewing reservation time comes in step S11, or when the user gives a playback instruction to the recording medium playback unit or recording / playback unit, the OSD generation unit 122 stops generating the OSD, the OSD disappears, and the program is played back. Start. At this time, an OSD for prompting the viewer to wear the shutter glasses may be generated and displayed before the reproduction is started.

In step S12, the additional information analysis unit 108 determines whether or not the program has ended.
If the program has not ended (S12 / no), the process proceeds to step S13, and the status signal receiving unit 114 detects the battery capacity of the shutter-type glasses 200. In step S14, the comparison unit 116 determines whether or not the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. If the battery capacity is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value (S14 / yes), the process proceeds to step S15, and the OSD generation unit 122 Instructs the viewer to generate an OSD for alerting the viewer. FIG. 6 shows an OSD display example when the battery capacity of the shutter-type eyeglasses becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold during reproduction. FIG. 6 (a) is an example indicated by letters, and shows that the battery capacity of the glasses 4 is only 10 minutes while the playback time still remains 90 minutes. FIG. 6B shows an example with an illustration, and shows that the battery capacity is less than the required capacity.

If the battery capacity is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold value in step S14 (S14 / no), no OSD is generated and the process returns to S12. If it is determined in step 12 that the program has ended (S12 / yes), the process proceeds to S16 and the flow ends.
As described above, when the capacity of the shutter-type glasses is about to run out during playback, the viewer is notified by OSD display, prompting the user to replace the battery or charge the battery. Can be prevented from being lost.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a stereoscopic video processing system according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the battery capacity information of the shutter glasses is sent from the state signal receiving unit 114 to the frame rate determining unit 112. In the second embodiment, as a reference for determining the display frame rate of a program to be viewed, the battery capacity of the shutter glasses 200 is further referred to in addition to the contents described in the first embodiment. Specifically, the operation in step S5 described in the flowchart of FIG. In the first embodiment, the frame rate determining unit 112 has determined the highest frame rate among the settable frame rates, but in the second embodiment, the battery capacity information of the shutter-type glasses is newly added as a reference for determining the frame rate, When the battery capacity of the shutter-type spectacles is sufficient, the highest frame rate is determined from among the settable frame rates, and when the battery capacity is low, the frame rate is determined to be the lowest among the settable frame rates.
When the battery capacity of the shutter glasses is small, the power consumption of the shutter glasses can be reduced by setting the frame rate low so that the shutter glasses can be used for a long time.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, when the first device is a game machine main body and the battery-powered second device is a remote controller for operating the game machine, communication from the game machine is possible. When instructing the operation, the scene changes depending on the progress of the game, and there are scenes where the output from the remote control to the game machine may be less depending on the set level, mode, or scene, and the output from the remote control to the game machine must be increased , You may not be able to proceed to the next scene after clearing the scene.
Even in such a case, there is a minimum time for clearing the scene depending on the scene and a minimum output information for the game machine from the remote control. Based on this information, the necessary battery of the remote control Capacity can be estimated. By comparing the battery capacity of the remote control to the user, the user is in the middle of the scene by displaying an indication that the battery capacity is insufficient to clear the current scene or the next scene. It is possible to avoid situations such as having to end the game. The battery here may be a primary battery, a secondary battery, or a fuel cell. The battery capacity means the battery capacity of the battery and is not construed in a limited manner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Signal processing apparatus 108 Additional information analysis part 110 Signal processing part 112 Frame rate determination part 114 State signal receiving part 116 Comparison part 118 Display apparatus corresponding | compatible frame rate detection part 120 Required battery capacity calculation part 122 OSD production | generation part 200 Shutter type spectacles 212 Battery Capacity detector 214 Status signal transmitter 300 Display device

Claims (1)

A signal processing system comprising: a signal transmission / reception device that reproduces a video signal at a predetermined frame rate; and a liquid crystal shutter type eyeglass device that switches the video signal at a predetermined frame rate, communicates with the signal transmission / reception device, and is driven by a battery. A signal processing device as the signal transmitting / receiving device in
A receiving unit for receiving information on a battery capacity of the liquid crystal shutter type eyeglass device ;
A signal processing unit for reproducing a video signal at a predetermined frame rate ;
A calculation unit for calculating a battery capacity of the liquid crystal shutter-type eyeglass device necessary for reproduction from predetermined frame rate information and time information of a video signal to be reproduced in the signal processing unit;
A comparison unit that compares the battery capacity calculated by the calculation unit with information on the battery capacity received from the liquid crystal shutter-type eyeglass device ;
Based on the result of comparison in the comparison unit, a display signal generation unit that generates a display signal indicating a viewable time using the liquid crystal shutter type eyeglass device ;
A signal treatment device comprising:

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