Patent Publication Number: US-2006020985-A1

Title: Portable device for watching tv programs

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a portable device, and more particularly, to a portable device for watching TV programs.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Recently, video/audio media, especially TV systems and radio systems, play an important role in human recreational lives. Therefore, many manufactories try to improve quality of video/audio systems.  
      A TV program or a radio program today is live broadcasted. Thus, programs are normally shown at specific times. If one wants to watch a specific TV program but he or she is being occupied by other business, he or she will miss it. To solve the problem, recording technology was developed.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which illustrates a TV system  2  according to the prior art. TV system  2  comprises a display  4 , a recording system  6 , and an antenna  8 . The antenna  8  and the recording system  6  are connected to the display  4 . The antenna  8  receives an electro-magnetic input signal and passes it to the display  4 . The display  4  transforms the received signal into a video signal and displays it on the display. In addition, the input signal may also be delivered to the recording system  6  so that the input signal is stored and can be played at a later time.  
      However, the recording technology is not completely satisfying. People prefer to watch some live programs, like sports games or important news, immediately rather than watch them after the results are known. As for news about bad weather, like storms or typhoons, the situation should be monitored whenever and wherever. Therefore, while it may be desirous to bring a TV set with someone, a conventional TV set is too huge to take.  
      In addition, prior art recording methods have some disadvantages. If the show time of one program is not properly predicted, the TV recording system is not properly set up, or there are some problems in the TV recording system, the program would not be recorded.  
      Finally, a conventional TV signal is analog signal, so the recording system  6  records and stores the analog signal, which is not suitable for long-term preservation. For the latest digital solution for a TV system, a digital signal is received and stored. However, the stored data is stored directly from the received digital signal without being compressed, resulting in large amounts of data. Therefore, a portable device for watching TV programs and for decoding the received data into suitable codes for storage is needed.  
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
      It is therefore an objective of the claimed invention to provide a portable device for watching TV programs in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.  
      According to the claimed invention, a portable device for watching TV programs comprises a receiving module for receiving an input signal; a first decoding module connected to the receiving module for decoding the input signal and outputting a first decoded signal; an encoding module used to encode the signal and comprising an input for receiving a signal and an output for outputting a digital signal; a storing module connected to the output of the encoding module, the storing module being used for storing the digital signal output from the encoding module; and a displaying module connected to the first decoding module for transforming the first decoded signal or a second decoded signal output from the first decoding module into an audio/video signal and displaying the audio/video signal.  
      These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a TV system according to the prior art.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates a portable device for watching TV programs according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  illustrates another portable device for watching TV programs according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which illustrates a portable device  10  for watching TV programs according to the present invention. The portable device  10  comprises a receiving module  12 , a first decoding module  14 , an AD converter  16 , an encoding module  18 , a displaying module  20 , a second decoding module  22 , a storing module  24 , and an output port  26 . The receiving module  12  is used to receive an input signal, which is an audio/video signal, such as RF signals received by a TV antenna or FM/AM radio signals in the preferred embodiment of the invention. The transmitted signals are usually encoded or modulated, so the signals after received should be sent to the first decoding module  14  for decoding.  
      If the receiving module  12  receives an analog signal, the analog signal should be transformed to a digital signal by the AD converter  16  for subsequent data processing. The encoding module  18  comprises two inputs and two outputs. One input of the encoding module  18  is connected to one output of first decoding module  14  and receives the decoded signals from the first decoding module  14 . The encoding module  18  encodes the received decoded signals by the first decoding module  14 . The other input of encoding module  18  is connected to the output of the AD converter  16  for receiving and then decoding the output digital signals of the AD converter  16 . The encoding module  18  is to decode the input digital signal to another format more suitable for storage. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the encoding module  18  uses an MPEG4 encoding method.  
      One of two outputs of the encoding module  18  is connected to the storing module  24  and the other output is connected to the output port  26 . The storing module  24  is used to store the data encoded by the encoding module  18 . The output port  26  is used to output the data in the storing module  24  to other apparatuses or systems. For example, the output port  26  may pass the stored data to a computer. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the output port  26  is a USB port.  
      The displaying module  20  is connected to the first decoding module  14  and the second decoding module  22  for displaying the decoded signals of the first decoding module  14  and second decoding module  22 . The displaying module  20  can be an LCD, a monitor, a display of a PDA, or a speaker. In the portable device for watching TV programs according to the present invention, there are two types of programs provided for users. The first type of program is received from a wireless RF signal by an antenna and then directly decoded by the first decoding module  14 . The first type of program is live displayed. The second type of program is stored in the storing module  24  and decoded by the second decoding module  22 . The second type of program is displayed after it is recorded. Therefore, the first decoding module  14  is used to transform the signal received by the receiving module  12  into the audio/video signal for displaying, and the second decoding module  22  is used to decode the compressed codes in the storing module  14  into the signal for displaying.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  illustrates another embodiment of the portable device for watching TV programs  30  according to the present invention. The portable device for watching TV programs  30  comprises a TV tuner  32 , an image decoder  34 , a selector  36 , an AD converter  38 , an MPEG4 encoder  40 , a RAM  42 , a memory  44 , a display  46 , a CPU  48 , an output interface  50 , a USB port  52 , and transmitter  54 . The TV tuner  32  is used to select a frequency band of an image signal and receive it. The image decoder  34  is to decode the output signal of the TV tuner  32  and pass it to the MPEG4 encoder  40 . The selector  36  connected to the AD converter  38  is used to choose an audio or a video signal sent to the AD converter  38  so that the audio or the video signal is transformed to a digital signal in the AD converter  38 . The digital signal can be directly used for displaying on the display  46  or be encoded by the MPEG4 encoder  40 . The MPEG4 encoder  40  is used to compress data into MPEG4 code. The RAM  42  is a buffer for the MPEG4 encoder  40 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 3 , the MPEG4 encoder  40  is additionally connected to the memory  44 , the CPU  48 , the output interface  50 , the USB port  52 , and the transmitter  54 . The memory  44  is used to store the encoded data from the MPEG4 encoder  40 . The encoded data can be delivered to other systems or apparatuses for data sharing through the USB port  52 , the transmitter  54 , or the output interface  50 .  
      In the prior art, when some important news should be monitored whenever and wherever, it was often necessary to bring a TV set along with someone, but a conventional TV set is too huge to conveniently take. As for the recording method, if the show time of one program is not properly predicted, the TV recording system is not properly set up, or there are some problems in TV recording system, the program would not be recorded completely or correctly. Furthermore, a recording system of a conventional TV records and stores the analog signal, which is not suitable for long-term conservation. For the latest digital solution of a TV system, the data amount is too large for practical storage. Compared to the prior art, the portable device for watching TV programs in the present invention comprises a receiving module, a decoding module, an encoding module, a storing module, and a displaying module that can be utilized to watch TV as well as record programs in any place and at any time. Therefore, the portable device of the present invention has the advantages of providing an easier way to watch TV and record programs.  
      Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.