Patent Publication Number: US-2007103592-A1

Title: [method of synchronously receiving digital and analog television signals]

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a method of synchronously receiving digital and analog television signals, and more particularly to a method of synchronously receiving digital and analog television signals and simultaneously or separately playing or storing the signals.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      In recent years, digital technology is well developed and integrated circuit is extensively used, and thus digital signal processing has become very popular. As the multimedia industry develops, the electronic technology drastically advances and the personal computer becomes popular, our society is filled with information. The growth of digital televisions is fast and the construction of digital transmission stations built by related manufacturers is completed, and thus the coverage of digital signals becomes broader and broader. Related industries develop as the user population increases. Unlike traditional television signals, the digital television provides very high-resolution performance as well as diversified applications, so that users can enjoy many additional functions.  
      However, the present digital and analogy televisions are in a coexisting stage, and both digital and analog televisions provide different entertaining effects. However, users can only choose to receive either one of the analog television signals and the digital television signals for the playback on a computer through a video device (such as a television card or a television box). The traditional way does not allow users to choose both of the analog and digital television signals since most of the present signal transmissions use the Direct Show specified by Microsoft as the communication interface, and the Direct Show only provides one channel for transmitting television signals. Therefore, when the digital television signals are transmitted through the channel, the analog television signals cannot be transmitted. On the other hand, when the analog television signals are transmitted through the channel, the digital television signals cannot be transmitted. So, the users can only save or play one type of the television signals, but cannot simultaneously play or save both the digital and analog television signals. As a result, the adaptability to the types chosen by users is limited.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in vies. It is therefore the main objective of the present invention to use a plurality of standard open interfaces and a specific interface installed in a driver to separately receive digital television signals and analog television signals and send these signals to a tuner, such that the tuner can simultaneously receive the digital television signals and the analog television signals for users to simultaneously or separately saving and playing the signals. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of using the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , a method of synchronously receiving digital and analog television signals of the present invention is installing application software  1 , a direct show  2 , a driver  3  and a tuner  4  in a host end; wherein the application software  1  can simultaneously receive digital and analog television signals.  
      The direct show  2  is established by Microsoft, which is standard software architecture between the application software  1  and the driver  3 . The direct show  2  is comprised of a plurality of COM elements  21 , and one of the COM elements  21  is a dedicated television signal.  
      The driver  3  installs a plurality of standard open interfaces  31  and a specific interface  32  therein.  
      The tuner  4  installs an analog television tuner  41  and a digital television tuner  42 , and the analog television tuner  41  and digital television tuner  42  can receive digital or analog signals transmitted from the driver  3 .  
      If the present invention is in use, one of the digital television signal and the analog television signal received by the application software  1  will be sent to the standard open interface  31  through the COM element  21  of the dedicated television signal in the direct show  2  and then transmitted from the driver  3  to the analog television tuner  41  or the digital television tuner  42 , and the other type of television signals will be sent directly to the specific interface  32  of the driver  3  and then from the driver  3  to the analog television tuner  41  or the digital television tuner  42  corresponding to the television signal, so that the analog television tuner  41  and the analog television tuner  42  of the tuner  4  can simultaneously receive the analog and digital television signals.  
      Further, when the television signal received by the standard open interface  31  is the analog television signal, the specific interface  32  will receive the digital television signal. On the other hand, when the television signal received by the standard open interface  31  is the digital television signal, the specific interface  32  will receive the analog television signal.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the analog and digital television signals received by the analog television tuner  41  and the digital television tuner  42  are captured respectively by an analog video capture  51  and a digital video capture  52  of a capture device  5 , so as to simultaneously or separately display an analog television screen and a digital television screen. The analog television signal and the digital television signal captured by the analog video capture  51  and the digital video capture  52  can be saved simultaneously or separately.  
      Further, the host end could be a notebook computer or a desktop computer.  
      The method of synchronously receiving digital and analog television signals in accordance with the present invention can overcome the shortcomings of the prior art, since the invention uses the specific interface  32  installed in the driver  3  that allows the digital television signal and analog television signal received by the application software  1  to be simultaneously transmitted to the standard open interface  31  of the driver  3  through the direct show  2  and directly sent to the specific interface  32  of the driver  3 . Therefore, the analog television tuner  41  and the digital television tuner  42  can simultaneously receive the digital and analog television signals for users to simultaneously or separately save and play the signals.  
      A method of synchronously receiving digital and analog signals has been constructed with the features of  FIG. 1 ˜ 2 . The method of synchronously receiving digital and analog signals functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.  
      Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.