Patent US1235095A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0267020A2
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Television channel selection apparatus employing multi-picture display
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
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Filing: 1987-11-04
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-11-04
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus for selecting one of a number of television channels is operable to be set in a mode whereby an array of miniature pictures corresponding to the respective channels is displayed, with each channel being sequentially selected for a predetermined interval during which image data for the selected channel are repetitively written into one of a set of regions (42 to 50) of a one-field memory, with the entire memory contents being continuously and repetitively read out, whereby the picture for the selected channel appears as a moving picture while those of the other channels are static. The apparatus can then be set in a normal operating mode, with the channel selected at the time of mode changeover being thereafter held fixedly selected and a normal display picture produced.
Inventors
- 👤 Yoshikazu Kageyama
- 👤 Mineo Mino
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 05:42
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/47; H04N21/485; H04N5/00; H04N5/222; H04N5/262; H04N5/2624; H04N21/482; H04N5/44; H04N5/50
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
316 words
A channel selection apparatus manually operable for selecting one of a plurality of television channel signals, to derive a video signal to be supplied to television picture display means having a display screen, the apparatus comprising: television signal receiving circuit means coupled to receive said plurality of television channel signals, for selecting and demodulating one of said channel signals to produce a first video signal; memory means capable of storing data representing at least one field of said first video signal and; control circuit means for controlling said receiving circuit means and said memory means, operable to selectively establish a normal operating mode of said apparatus in which one of said channel signals is fixedly selected by said television signal receiving circuit means and said first video signal is directly transferred to said display means to thereby display a corresponding television picture, and a multi-picture display operating mode in which data stored in said memory means are continuously read out and converted to a second video signal which is transferred to said display means, to display a corresponding television picture; characterized in that during operation in said multi-picture display mode, said plurality of television channel signals are sequentially selected by said receiving circuit means during respective time intervals of fixed duration, and in that during each of said time intervals, data derived from said first video signal, representing a television picture in compressed form, are repetitively written into said memory means during a plurality of successive fields of said first video signal, said data being written concurrently with said continuous read-out operation, whereby a miniature display picture corresponding to a currently selected one of said channels is displayed by said display means in the form of a moving picture, while miniature display pictures corresponding to the remainder of said channels are displayed in the form of respective static pictures said miniature display pictures forming said multi-picture.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
316 words
A channel selection apparatus manually operable for selecting one of a plurality of television channel signals, to derive a video signal to be supplied to television picture display means having a display screen, the apparatus comprising: television signal receiving circuit means coupled to receive said plurality of television channel signals, for selecting and demodulating one of said channel signals to produce a first video signal; memory means capable of storing data representing at least one field of said first video signal and; control circuit means for controlling said receiving circuit means and said memory means, operable to selectively establish a normal operating mode of said apparatus in which one of said channel signals is fixedly selected by said television signal receiving circuit means and said first video signal is directly transferred to said display means to thereby display a corresponding television picture, and a multi-picture display operating mode in which data stored in said memory means are continuously read out and converted to a second video signal which is transferred to said display means, to display a corresponding television picture; characterized in that during operation in said multi-picture display mode, said plurality of television channel signals are sequentially selected by said receiving circuit means during respective time intervals of fixed duration, and in that during each of said time intervals, data derived from said first video signal, representing a television picture in compressed form, are repetitively written into said memory means during a plurality of successive fields of said first video signal, said data being written concurrently with said continuous read-out operation, whereby a miniature display picture corresponding to a currently selected one of said channels is displayed by said display means in the form of a moving picture, while miniature display pictures corresponding to the remainder of said channels are displayed in the form of respective static pictures said miniature display pictures forming said multi-picture.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
60 words
A channel selection apparatus according to claim 1, and further wherein said control circuit means functions such that when a transition from said multi-picture display mode to said normal operating mode is executed, one of said channel signals which was currently selected at the point in time of said transition is thereafter held continuously selected by said receiver circuit means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
178 words
A channel selection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 in which said control circuit means comprises: a manually actuatable operating switch; an operation control circuit responsive to actuations of said operating switch for producing a plurality of command signals to selectively establish said normal operating mode and said multi-picture display operating mode; sync separator means for deriving sync signals from said video signal produced from said television signal receiving circuit means and; memory control means operating in synchronism with said sync signals in response to command signals issued from said operation control circuit, and functioning immediately following a transition from said normal operating mode to said multi-picture display mode to execute write-in to said memory means of data representing substantially the entirity of a single field of said first video signal, and to thereafter, during each of said time intervals of fixed duration, detect portions of said video signal which contain only image information exclusive of sync signal information and execute write-in in compressed form of successive ones of said video signal portions to said memory means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
67 words
A channel selection apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3 in which operation of said memory means is controlled by said control circuit means such that data corresponding to said television channels are stored in respectively predetermined regions of said memory means, whereby said miniature display pictures corresponding to said channels are respectively positioned in specific predetermined regions on said display screen of said display means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
82 words
A channel selection apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of television channel signals for supply to a television picture display means, which apparatus has a normal operating mode in which a selected channel signal is supplied and a multi-picture display mode in which signals are supplied for a array of miniature pictures corresponding to respective channels, one such picture being a moving picture, the others being stationary pictures, and the picture which is moving being sequentially selected from among the pictures.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
82 words
A channel selection apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of television channel signals for supply to a television picture display means, which apparatus has a normal operating mode in which a selected channel signal is supplied and a multi-picture display mode in which signals are supplied for a array of miniature pictures corresponding to respective channels, one such picture being a moving picture, the others being stationary pictures, and the picture which is moving being sequentially selected from among the pictures.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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