Abstract:
A data reproduction apparatus is adapted to receive a first piece of caption information including a first piece of control information for displaying a caption on the screen of a television receiving set and a second piece of caption information including a second piece of control information for displaying the caption in a language different from that of the first piece of caption information, the apparatus comprising a controller for displaying the first and second pieces of caption information simultaneously without overlap by modifying the value of at least either of the first and second pieces of control information.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-224859, filed Jul. 25, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving system for receiving digital television broadcasts typically by way of a satellite. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data reproduction apparatus and a data reproduction method for reproducing a caption to be superimposed that is transmitted by a character broadcasting system. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As is well known, digital television broadcasting has started recently and it is now possible for viewers not only to view and listen to televised broadcasts but also acquire various transmitted data by means of a digital television receiving set adapted to receive such data. 
     With a digital television broadcasting system, the caption transmitted by character broadcasting that is to be superimposed on a television program is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen of the television receiving set showing the television program. As far as this patent document is concerned, the expression of “character broadcasting” refers to both data broadcasting and broadcasting of characters/captions to be superimposed. 
     Currently, a caption to be superimposed in a plurality of languages is transmitted by data broadcasting and the viewer can select one of the languages and display the caption of that language as superimposed on the corresponding television program. 
     Meanwhile, it is expected that television broadcasting stations will offer a large variety of television programs than ever in the coming years. Then, a caption may need to be superimposed in a plurality of languages simultaneously. 
     However, when a caption is superimposed in more than one languages simultaneously, it may be displayed in an overlapping manner. Then, it will be difficult for the viewers watching the program and reading the caption to correctly recognize and understand it. 
     Known techniques relating to captions to be superimposed include those disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-65295 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-234016. However, these documents do not describe anything about dissolving the above identified problem that arises when displaying a caption in a plurality of languages simultaneously. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above described circumstances, it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a data reproduction apparatus and a data reproduction method that make it possible to change the size and the position of the area for displaying character information so that a caption may be superimposed in a plurality of different languages simultaneously. 
     According to the present invention, in an aspect thereof, the above object is achieved by providing a data reproduction apparatus comprising: 
     an input section receiving a first piece of caption information including a first piece of control information for displaying a caption on the screen of a television receiving set and a second piece of caption information including a second piece of control information for displaying the caption in a language different from that of the first piece of caption information; and 
     a controller displaying the first and second pieces of caption information simultaneously without overlap by modifying the value of at least either of the first and second pieces of control information. 
     In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a data reproduction method comprising: 
     a reproducing reprocuding a first piece of caption information including a first piece of control information for displaying a caption on the screen of a television receiving set and a second piece of caption information including a second piece of control information for displaying the caption in a language different from that of the first piece of caption information; and 
     a controlling displaying the first and second pieces of caption information simultaneously without overlap by modifying the value of at least either of the first and second pieces of control information. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the invention, illustrating a digital television receiving set to which the embodiment is applied; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of pieces of control information to be used for displaying a caption by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic illustration of the block on the screen of a television receiving set for displaying a caption without compression by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic illustration of the normal mode of operation for displaying a caption without compression by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart of the operation of displaying a caption in the normal mode without compression by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic illustration of the compression mode of operation for displaying a caption by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  when the size and the position of the area for displaying the caption are changed; 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart of the operation of displaying a caption when the size and the position of the area for displaying the caption are changed; 
         FIG. 8  is schematic illustration of the screen of a television receiving set when the size and the position of the area for displaying a caption are automatically defined; 
         FIG. 9  is schematic illustration of the screen of a television receiving set when the size and the position of the area for displaying a caption are manually automatically defined; 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic illustration of a mode of operation for displaying a caption both in Japanese and in English simultaneously by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic illustration of another mode of operation for displaying a caption both in Japanese and in English simultaneously by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the invention, illustrating a digital television receiving set to which the embodiment is applied; and 
         FIG. 13  is a flow chart of the operation of displaying a caption in a plurality of languages simultaneously by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 12 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Now, the present invention will be described in greater detail by referring to the accompanying drawing that illustrates preferred embodiments of the invention.  FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the invention, illustrating a digital television receiving set to which the embodiment is applied. More specifically, RF (radio frequency) signals are supplied to the tuner  11  of the digital television receiving set and one of the supplied signals is selected (tuned in) for display. 
     The selected RF signal is output from the tuner  11  and fed to separator  12 , which separates the television broadcast program component and the caption character information component of the RF signal. Of these, the television broadcast program component is then fed to AV (audio video) decoder  13 , which divides the received television broadcast program component further into the video component and the audio component and decodes them. The video component is fed to display controller  14 . 
     On the other hand, the caption character information component fed from the separator  12  is supplied to caption decoders  15 ,  16  for decoding. The decoded caption character information component is also fed to the display controller  14 . The two caption decoders  15 ,  16  are adapted to concurrently decoded the caption character information component in respective languages. 
     Then, upon receiving operation-related information from an operation unit  17  that may be a remote control unit, the display controller  14  processes the data fed from the AV decoder  13  and the caption decoders  15 ,  16  in such a way that the images they represent may be displayed on the screen of monitor  18 . If necessary, the display controller  14  compresses and/or synthetically combines the data before the images are displayed on the screen of the monitor  18 . 
     In the case of data broadcasting for transmitting captions to be displayed, the values of six major items as shown in the uncompressed column in  FIG. 2  are made to accompany the information on the language to be displayed of the caption and transmitted as control information for the digital television receiving set. 
     The display controller  14  of the digital television receiving set obtains the character codes indicating the types of the characters to be displayed from the character code data decoded by the caption decoders  15 ,  16  along with the above described various pieces of control information and causes the monitor  18  to display the caption, using characters of the specified types, on the basis of the outcome of its operation of analyzing the control information. 
     Now, the control information will be described in greater detail by referring to the “item” column and the “uncompressed” column in  FIG. 2 . Firstly, the “display area” shown in Item  1  specifies the area for displaying a string of characters on the screen of the monitor  18  in terms of horizontal length Xa and vertical length Ya. 
     The “display start position” shown in Item  2  specifies the start position, or the upper left corner, of the display area on the screen of the monitor  18  in terms of horizontal position Xb and vertical position Yb. Then, the “specification of character forming dot” shown in Item  3  specifies the size of the characters to be displayed in terms of horizontal length Xc and vertical length Yc. 
     Then, the “specification of character spacing” shown in Item  4  specifies the space Xd separating adjacent characters and the “specification of line spacing” shown in Item  5  specifies the space Yd separating adjacent lines. Finally, the “display block” shown in Item  6  specifies the display area of each character including the space separating adjacent characters and the space separating adjacent lines as specified in Items  4  and  5  respectively in terms of horizontal length Xe and vertical length Ye as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     When the normal mode of operation for displaying a caption is required, the display controller  14  operates to display the caption in a manner as shown in  FIG. 4  on the screen of the monitor  18  according to the specifications shown in the uncompressed column for the above six items. 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of the operation of displaying a caption in the normal mode without compression by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . Note that  FIG. 5  illustrates only the operation of displaying the caption output from the caption decoder  15  and that of displaying the caption output from the caption decoder  16  is omitted because it is similar to the former operation. 
     As the operation is started (Step S 1 ), the display controller  14  specifies in Step S 2  Xa and Ya for the caption display area on the basis of the transmitted data it has already acquired. Then, the display controller  14  specifies in Step S 3  Xb and Yb for the display start position on the basis of the transmitted data it has already acquired. 
     Thereafter, in Step S 4 , the display controller  14  receives the character code data obtained from the caption decoder  15 . If the received character code data contains data for the caption display area and the display start position, the display controller  14  re-specifies the display area Xa, Ya and the display start position Xb, Yb it specified in Steps S 2  and S 3  respectively. 
     Then, in Step S 5 , the display controller  14  determines if the character code data obtained from the caption decoder  15  contains one or more than one character codes or not. If the character code data contains no character code (NO), it proceeds to Step S 9 , where it determines if there is a character code data not input from the caption decoder  15  yet or not. It returns to Step S 4  if there is a character code data not input yet (YES), whereas it terminates the operation (Step S 10 ) if there is no code data not input from the caption decoder  15  yet. 
     It, on the other hand, it is determined in Step S 5  that the character code data contains one or more than one character codes (YES), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 6 , where it executes a processing operation of selecting various parameters for drawing characters. More specifically, it specifies punctuation codes for the specified character codes and also horizontal and vertical sizes (Xc, Yc) of characters. 
     Additionally, in Step S 6 , the display controller  14  specifies character spacing (Xd) for characters and also line spacing (Yd) for lines of characters. Still additionally, it specifies the color of the characters to be displayed, the color of the background of the characters, the color between the foreground and the intermediary and the color between the background and the intermediary. Then, it specifies various attributes of the display including the use or nonuse of boundary lines for the characters to be drawn, the use or non use of underlines, the use or nonuse of parentheses, the use or nonuse of polarity inversions and the use or nonuse of flashing effect. If boundary lines are used, the color to be used for drawing the lines is also specified. 
     Furthermore, the display controller  14  specifies the position for drawing characters in the coordinate system. More specifically, it determines if the block of the character to be drawn firstly is out of the display area or not. If the former is found within the latter, the values specified for the operation originating point is held unchanged. If, on the other hand, the former is found outside the latter, display controller  14  re-specifies values (Xf, Yf) for the operation originating point after proceeding to the next line. 
     Then, in Step S 7 , the display controller  14  executes the operation of drawing characters on the basis of the parameters specified in Step S 6  and proceeds to Step S 8 , where it shifts the position for drawing characters in the coordinate system (Xf, Yf) before proceeding to Step S 9 . If the position (Xf, Yf) is found outside the display area, then, the display controller  14  specifies values (Xf, Yf) for the operation originating point after moving to the next line before proceeding to Step S 9 . 
     Now, the operation of controlling the size and the position of the area for displaying a caption so as to make them variable will be described below. This control operation is realized by the display controller  14  as it carries out certain predetermined arithmetic operations on the specified values of the items of the control information it has acquired from the caption decoders  15 ,  16  according to a request from the operation unit  17 . 
     For example, the “½ compression” column in  FIG. 2  shows the values of the items obtained by halving the specified respective values. More specifically, the “display area” shown in Item  1  specifies the area for displaying a string of characters in terms of horizontal length Xa/2 and vertical length Ya/2. 
     The “display start position” shown in Item  2  specifies the start position of the display area in terms of horizontal position Xb/2 and vertical position Yb/2. 
     Then, the “specification of character forming dot” shown in Item  3  specifies the size of the characters to be displayed in terms of horizontal length Xc/2 and vertical length Yc/2. Then, the “specification of character spacing” shown in Item  4  specifies the space Xd/2 separating adjacent characters and the “specification of line spacing” shown in Item  5  specifies the space Yd/2 separating adjacent lines. Finally, the “display block” shown in Item  6  specifies the display area of each character respectively in terms of horizontal length (Xc/2)+(Xd/2) for Xe and vertical length (Yc/2)+(Yd/2) for Ye. 
     In this way, it is now possible to reduce the area for display the caption on the screen of the monitor  18  to ½ both in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction and shift the display position. 
       FIG. 6  shows an area for displaying the caption defined by reducing its original size to ½ both in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction and the start position of the display area from the original (Xb, Yb) to (Xb′, Yb′). 
       FIG. 7  shows a flow chart of the operation of the display controller  14  for reducing the size of the area for displaying the caption to ½ both in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction and shifting the display position. 
     Note that  FIG. 7  illustrates only the operation of displaying the caption output from the caption decoder  15  and that of displaying the caption output from the caption decoder  16  is omitted because it is similar to the former operation. 
     As the operation is started (Step S 11 ), the display controller  14  modifies in Step S 12  (Xa, Ya) for the caption display area specified on the basis of the transmitted data it has already acquired to (Xa′=Xa/2, Ya′=Ya/2). Then, the display controller  14  modifies in Step S 13  (Xb, Yb) for the display start position specified on the basis of the transmitted data it has already acquired to (Xb′, Yb′). 
     Thereafter, in Step S 14 , the display controller  14  receives the character code data obtained from the caption decoder  15 . If the received character code data contains data for the caption display area and the display start position, the display controller  14  re-modifies the display area and the display start position it modified in Steps S 12  and S 13  to (Xa′, Ya′) and (Xb′, Yb′) respectively. 
     Then, in Step S 15 , the display controller  14  determines if the character code data obtained from the caption decoder  15  contains one or more than one character codes or not. If the character code data contains no character code (NO), it proceeds to Step S 19 , where it determines if there is a character code data not input from the caption decoder  15  yet or not. It returns to Step S 14  if there is a character code data not input yet (YES), whereas it terminates the operation (Step S 20 ) if there is no code data not input from the caption decoder  15  yet. 
     It, on the other hand, it is determined in Step S 15  that the character code data contains one or more than one character codes (YES), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 16 , where it executes a processing operation of selecting various parameters for drawing characters. More specifically, it specifies punctuation codes for the specified character codes and modifies the horizontal and vertical sizes (Xc, Yc) of characters to (Xc′=Xc/2, Yc′=Yc/2). 
     Additionally, in Step S 16 , the display controller  14  modifies the character spacing (Xd) to (Xd′=Xd/2) for characters and also the line spacing (Yd) for lines of characters to (Yd′=Yd/2). Still additionally, it specifies the color of the characters to be displayed, the color of the background of the characters, the color between the foreground and the intermediary and the color between the background and the intermediary. Then, it specifies various attributes of the display including the use or nonuse of boundary lines for the characters to be drawn, the use or non use of underlines, the use or nonuse of parentheses, the use or nonuse of polarity inversions and the use or nonuse of flashing effect. If boundary lines are used, the color to be used for drawing the lines is also specified. 
     Furthermore, the display controller  14  specifies the position for drawing characters in the coordinate system. More specifically, it determines if the block of the character to be drawn firstly is out of the display area relative to the values (Xf, Yf) defined for the operation originating point or not. If the former is found within the latter, the values specified for the operation originating point is held unchanged. If, on the other hand, the former is found outside the latter, display controller  14  re-specifies the modified values (Xf′, Yf′) for the operation originating point after proceeding to the next line. 
     Then, in Step S 17 , the display controller  14  executes the operation of drawing characters on the basis of the parameters specified in Step S 16  and proceeds to Step S 18 , where it shifts the position for drawing characters in the coordinate system (Xf, Yf) before proceeding to Step S 19 . If the position (Xf, Yf) is found outside the display area, then, the display controller  14  modifies the values (Xf, Yf) specified for the operation originating point after moving to the next line to (Xf′Yf′) before proceeding to Step S 19 . 
     With the above operation, it is now possible to modify the size and the position of the area for displaying the caption. Then, it may be so arranged that, if the television program turned in by the viewer is compressed and displayed, the embodiment automatically computes the start position (Xb′, Yb′) for drawing characters for the caption by referring to the lower left corner of the screen. Then, the caption is displayed at an optimal position on the screen as shown in  FIG. 8 . 
     Alternatively, it may be so arranged that the start position (Xb′, Yb′) is manually defined by means of the operation unit  17  so that the caption display area may be moved to any place on the screen. When, the caption display area is manually defined, it is shown by dotted lines as shown in  FIG. 9  to indicate that the operation of manually defining the caption display area is going on. 
     If the caption display area is moved automatically or manually and made to partly go out of the screen, the display controller  14  forces the caption display area to stay on the screen. 
       FIG. 10  shows a caption displayed both in Japanese JP and in English ENG simultaneously on the screen of the monitor  18 . In this case, the caption character information component for Japanese is decoded by the caption decoder  15  and supplied to the display controller  14 , while the caption character information component for English is decoded by the caption decoder  16  and supplied to the display controller  14 . 
     Then, the caption in Japanese JP is not compressed and displayed at the proper position on the screen by the display controller  14  on the basis of the control information for displaying the caption transmitted by data broadcasting, whereas the caption in English ENG is compressed horizontally and vertically to ½ and moved to an upper left position on the screen. Then, the caption in Japanese JP and the caption in English ENG are displayed simultaneously without overlapping each other. 
     The frame enclosing the display area for the caption in Japanese JP and the frame enclosing the caption in English ENG may be shown in different colors and/or the characters of the caption in Japanese JP and those of the caption in English ENG may be shown in different colors. 
       FIG. 11  is a schematic illustration of another mode of operation for displaying a caption both in Japanese JP and in English ENG simultaneously on the screen of the monitor  18  by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . In this case, the television program tuned in by the viewer is compressed and displayed and the caption in Japanese JP is also compressed and displayed within the image of the television program, whereas the caption in English ENG is also compressed and displayed outside the image of the television program. 
       FIG. 12  is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the invention, illustrating a digital television receiving set to which the embodiment is applied. In  FIG. 12 , the components similar to or same as those of  FIG. 1  are denoted respectively by the same reference symbols. A translation processor  19  is connected to the display controller  14 . The translation processor  19  has a functional feature of converting the character codes of a caption in Japanese into those in English. 
       FIG. 13  is a flow chart of the operation of the display controller  14  for displaying a caption in a plurality of languages simultaneously by means of the embodiment of  FIG. 12  comprising the translation processor  19 . Referring to  FIG. 13 , as the operation is started (Step S 21 ), the display controller  14  determines in Step S 22  if the tuned in program is accompanied by a caption or not. If the program is not accompanied by a caption (NO), the operation is terminated (Step S 29 ). 
     If it is determined that the turned in program is accompanied by a caption (YES), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 23 , where the number of language used for the caption is equal to one or not. If the number is not equal to one (NO), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 24 , where it carries out a processing operation for displaying the caption in the selected more than one languages before terminating the operation (Step S 29 ). 
     If, on the other hand, the number if equal to one (YES), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 25 , where it determines if the language of the caption is Japanese or not. If the language is not Japanese (NO), the display controller  14  moves to Step S 24 . If, on the other hand, the language is Japanese (YES), the display controller  14  proceeds to Step S 26 , where it carries out a processing operation for displaying the caption in Japanese. 
     Thereafter, the display controller  14  controls the translation processor  19  to cause it to convert the character codes of a caption in Japanese into those in English in Step S 27  and proceeds to Step S 28 , where it displays the character codes in English as caption in English simultaneously with the caption in Japanese at a position that does not overlap the position of the latter before terminating the operation (Step S 29 ). 
     With this arrangement, if the caption is broadcast only in Japanese by character broadcasting, the caption in Japanese can be translated into English and the caption in English can be displayed simultaneously with the caption in Japanese. 
     While the embodiment of  FIGS. 12 and 13  is described in terms of translating the caption in Japanese into English and displaying the caption in English, it may be appreciated that the caption may be translated into one or more than one desired languages when corresponding translation means are provided. 
     While the present invention is described above by way of two preferred embodiments adapted to display a caption transmitted by way of digital television broadcasting, the present invention is by no means limited thereto and can be used to display a caption in a plurality of languages simultaneously on a program stored in a DVD (digital versatile disc) with the caption.