Abstract:
A television receiver having a security module fixing part for descrambling digital broadcast comprises at least a standby power mode for supplying power only to hardware, such as a remote control receiver (full standby), a standby power mode for supplying power also to a security module other than the hardware supplied with power in the full standby (partial standby), and a standby power mode for stopping supply of power only to a monitor at minimum (false standby) and has a standby power mode determination part for controlling presentation of images and electronic program guides to a user at startup.

Description:
[0001]     The present application is based on and claims priority of Japanese patent application No. 2005-242349 filed on Aug. 24, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a television receiver having a plurality of standby power modes.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     In the past, in order to reduce standby power, a television receiver has selected, according to the situation during a power supply off period, a standby power mode for supplying power only to minimum required hardware being required for receiving only remote control operations and the like from a user (hereinafter, ‘full standby mode’) and a standby power mode for stopping supply of power only to a monitor (hereinafter, ‘false standby mode’).  
         [0006]     Moreover, an I/F (interface) with a security card called a CableCARD module is required for a television receiver with a digital cable receiving function in North America in order to descramble cable TV programs. The receiver is required in the standards that it should maintain the communication with the CableCARD module so as to normally supply power to the CableCARD module even in the power supply off period and to acquire EMM (Entitlement Management Message) and the like even when the power supply of the CableCARD module is turned off. Accordingly, in North America, there are also ones comprising a standby power mode for supplying power also to hardware required for the communication with the CableCARD module (hereinafter, ‘partial standby mode’) together with minimum required hardware for receiving only remote control operations and the like from the above-mentioned user.  
         [0007]     As for conventional techniques of a power supply controller and a power supply control method of a video recording/reproducing device for receiving and recording/reproducing television broadcast, for example a power supply control method, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-150282 for acquiring present time when input by a user, for calculating the reservation time for power being turned on and the standby end time and storing them in a memory and for supplying power only to a predetermined portion of the device till the reservation time for standby is known.  
         [0008]     However, for example, when a television receiver is provided with an electronic program guide and a user sets to automatically display the electronic program guide at turning on of the power supply, and when a channel to be displayed first at turning on of the power supply requires a descrambling process by a CableCARD module, a startup from the above-mentioned full standby or the partial standby requires restarting in view of software. Accordingly, it takes time till displaying a program guide and programs after startup for both the full standby and the partial standby, thus making the user to feel inconvenient even though standby power can be reduced.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     A television receiving set having a security module fixing part for descrambling digital broadcast comprises at least a standby power mode for supplying power only to hardware, such as a remote control receiving part (full standby), a standby power mode for supplying power also to a security module other than the hardware to which power is supplied in the full standby (partial standby), and has a standby power mode determination part for preventing the presentation of images and electronic program guides to a user at startup from being too late.  
         [0010]     The set also selects the false standby power mode when it is required to automatically display the above-mentioned electronic program guide at the next startup in the standby power mode determination part.  
         [0011]     The set does not automatically display the above-mentioned electronic program guide at the next startup and it has the above-mentioned security module fixed thereon, and it selects the false electric power standby mode when the descrambling process is required for watching and listening to a channel to be presented to a user at the next startup in the above-mentioned security module while it selects the partial electric power standby mode when not required in the standby power mode determination part.  
         [0012]     Since the standby power mode is determined so as to prevent the presentation of images and electronic program guides to a user at startup from being too late, a weak point of ease of use by the user being impaired for restraining standby power is eliminated, thus making the standby power and the ease of use by the user to be in a good balance.  
         [0013]     When the automatic display of the electronic program guide is enabled, to turn down to the false standby for permitting the electronic program guide to be immediately displayed as the power supply being turned on means to pay attention to a will of the user desiring to quickly confirm the electronic program guide and the increase of ease of use surpasses shortcomings of the standby power being too large.  
         [0014]     When the automatic display of the electronic program guide is disabled, since the false standby or the partial standby is adabtably selected based on whether or not the descrambling process is required for watching and listening to the channel to be presented to the user at the next startup in the security module, the standby power can be reduced to the minimum with prioritizing the ease of use so as to immediately present desired images to the user. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a television receiver having a plurality of standby power modes according to the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating standby power mode selection according to the present invention; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating standby power mode selection according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     In the following, embodiments according to the present invention are described referring to the drawings.  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of a television receiver according to the present invention.  
         [0020]     A digital TV signal tuner part  102  has a VSB (Vestigital Side Band) demodulation part and a QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) demodulation part, receives a signal of either of ground wave digital broadcast or cable TV broadcast according to user&#39;s tuning directions, and takes out a desired MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) transport stream.  
         [0021]     A security module I/F part  109  controls input/output and the like of the MPEG transport stream into a security module  110 . The security module  110  is a PC card used for a conditional access processing of the cable TV broadcast called a CableCARD module in North America.  
         [0022]     When a digital program of the cable TV broadcast is selected and if the security module  110  is fixed, the MPEG transport stream is sent out to the security module  110  via the security module I/F part  109 . When the security module  110  is not inserted or ground wave digital broadcast is tuned in, the stream is sent out to a descrambling part  103  directly.  
         [0023]     The security module  110  determines the watching and listening propriety of the tuned-in cable TV program according to the user&#39;s contract information in the EMM transmitted from a cable station, and if it can be descrambled, scrambling to the corresponding program is canceled for the input MPEG transport stream.  
         [0024]     When a program needs a copy control, the security module  110  newly gives scrambling to the MPEG transport stream so that a raw MPEG transport stream should not be illegally robbed from the security module  110  to the descrambling part  103 . After processing in such a way, the MPEG transport stream is sent out to the descrambling part  103  via the security module I/F  109 .  
         [0025]     The descrambling part  103  cancels scrambling for the copy controls of the MPEG transport stream by the above-mentioned security module  110 , and an MPEG decoding part  104  performs demultiplexing processes and AV decoding processes of MPEG.  
         [0026]     An analog TV signal tuner part  105  demodulates ground wave analog broadcast programs or analogue broadcast programs of cable TV broadcast according to user&#39;s tuning directions.  
         [0027]     An AV encoding part  106  performs AV encoding processes for outputting images and sounds in response to AV demodulation signals from the MPEG decoding part  104  and the analog TV signal tuner part  105  and sends out the signals to a monitor  107  and a speaker  108 , and the images and sounds come out with the monitor  107  and the speaker  108 .  
         [0028]     A CPU  111  controls entirely using the programs and data stored in a memory  112 .  
         [0029]     A remote control light receiving part  113  receives remote control signals, and a sub-CPU  114  analyzes the remote control signals for controlling a power supply circuit  115  and for communication with a CPU  111 .  
         [0030]     A power supply circuit  115  supplies power/stops supply of power so that it may have the following three standby power modes at the time of power supply off.  
         [0000]     (a) Full standby: to supply power only to the minimum required hardware, such as a remote control reception part and the like (to stop power supply to hardware enclosed with dotted lines  116 ).  
         [0031]     (b) Partial standby: to supply power also to hardware required for the communication with the security module  111  in addition to the minimum required hardware, such as a remote control receiving part and the like (to stop power supply to hardware enclosed with dashed lines  117 ).  
         [0000]     (c) False standby: to stop power supply only to a monitor and a speaker (to stop power supply to hardware enclosed with chain lines  118 ).  
         [0032]     An electronic program guide is provided to a receiver  101 , and it has a function for automatically displaying the electronic program guide at the time of power supply on (hereinafter, automatic guide display function) and can set up whether or not the function is enabled with a menu.  
         [0033]     Selection of the standby power mode at the time of remote control power supply off follows the flowchart of  FIG. 2 . The false standby will be selected if the automatic guide display function is set to be effective at S 201 . It is because it can be said that inconvenient for the user would be enormous due to requiring considerable time till displaying the guide after starting up in the full standby or partial standby, and the false standby, which permits immediate displaying of the guide, would be more preferable even though the false standby requires largest standby power.  
         [0034]     If the automatic guide display function is set to be disabled at S 201 , it will be determined whether or not a security card is equipped at S 202 . The full standby is chosen if the security card is not equipped. Since standby power would be smallest accordingly and a guide display and descrambling processes are not required, the images and sounds can be immediately presented to the user, thus avoiding making the user to feel inconvenient.  
         [0035]     The partial standby is selected if the security card is equipped at S 202 . Since it conforms to the constraint in the standards that power should be normally supplied to a security card even at the time of power supply off and serves to reduce power consumption and it is prevented that the CPU power is taken to the automatic guide display function at the time of startup, scrambling can be cancelled in little time even when a channel after startup is of a scrambled program of cable TV and the program can be presented to the user.  
         [0036]     Selection of the standby power mode at the time of remote control power supply off may follow the flowchart of  FIG. 3 . The same numerals are given to the same steps as in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0037]     When the security card is equipped at S 202 , it is determined whether or not a security module is required for watching and listening to the channel at the next startup at S 301 . Since ground wave digital broadcast and analogue broadcast of ground waves or cable TV can be watched and listened to without a security module, the partial standby is selected, while the false standby is selected since a security module is required for digital broadcast of cable TV.  
         [0038]     Although standby power would be larger accordingly, after startup, all the programs including scrambled digital broadcast of cable TV can be immediately displayed, thus eliminating inconvenient to the user.  
         [0039]     Since programs without scrambling can be watched and listened to without a security module even though it is of digital broadcast of cable TV, it is also possible to lead to the partial standby by adding this condition to S 301 .  
         [0040]     Moreover, since as for hardware enclosed by  116  shown in  FIG. 1 , for example a CPU  112 , a descrambler part  103 , and an MPEG decoding part  104  may be assembled into one chip, it may vary with actual hardware configurations.