Patent Publication Number: US-2007121018-A1

Title: Digital television with transfer function

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The invention relates to a digital television and, more particularly, to a digital television with transfer function.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      A typical television can only receive and process video data, and display the video data processed on a screen. In order to record the video data in a multimedia computer, the typical television has to be connected with the multimedia computer. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the connection configuration includes a one-to-two video splitter  30 , a television  10  and a multimedia computer  20 . The television  10  and the multimedia computer  20  have the respective tuners  11  and  21 .  
      The splitter  30  splits the video data into two parts, and one is received by the tuner  11  of the television  10  while the other is received by the tuner  21  of the multimedia computer  20 . The television  10  uses a decoder  12  to process the data received and then displays the data processed on a screen  13 . The multimedia computer  20  uses a CPU  22  to process the data received and then stores the data processed in a storage medium  23 . The storage medium  23  can be a hard disk, CD-R, tape, or the like. The multimedia computer  20  can send the video data to the television  10  or other display  40  through a connection line. However, in the configuration of  FIG. 1 , the television  10  can only receive a single video data (namely, the video data either from the television  10  or the multimedia computer  20 ), which, in addition to the tuners  11  and  21  and the splitter  30 , requires the operation of implementing the splitter  30  and associated lines, so as to increase the load to a user.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved device to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the invention is to provide a digital television with transfer function, which can store video data sent by the digital television without equipping a video storage with additional video data extractors such as a television card and a tuner.  
      Another object of the invention is to provide a digital television with transfer function, which can reduce the load to a user without the operation of implementing the splitter and associated lines.  
      According to a feature of the invention, a digital television with transfer function is provided. The digital television includes a digital television tuner, a digital television controller, a command input device and an input/output connector. The digital television tuner receives a digital television signal and demodulates the signal received to thus produce a transport stream. The digital television controller is connected to the digital television tuner and has a decoder and an encoder. The digital television controller receives the transport stream and uses the decoder to decode the transport stream received to thus output a decoded video data stream. The command input device is connected to the digital television controller in order to receive an instruction. The input/output connector is connected to the digital television controller in order to output an encoded video data stream or an external data. When the instruction received by the command input device is an video store output instruction, the encoder encodes the decoded video data stream to obtain the encoded video data stream, and the output connector outputs the encoded video data stream.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of connection of a typical television and a multimedia computer;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a digital television with transfer function according to the invention; and  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of connection of a digital television with transfer function and a multimedia computer according to the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      In this embodiment, a digital television with transfer function is provided, which uses buttons on a panel or an infrared remote control to encode video data stream when an video store output instruction is entered, and uses an input/output connector to output the video data stream encoded.  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a digital television  200  with transfer function according to the invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the digital television  200  includes a digital television tuner  210 , a digital television controller  220 , a command input device  230 , an input/output connector  240  and a screen  250 .  
      The digital television tuner  210  receives a digital television signal for demodulation and thus produces a transport stream. The transport stream can be an MPEG2, MPEG4 or H.264 transport stream.  
      The digital television controller  220  is connected to the digital television tuner  210 . The digital television controller  220  has a decoder  221  and an encoder  222 . The digital television controller  220  receives the transport stream and decodes the received stream through the decoder  221  to thus output a decoded video data stream. The screen  250  is connected to the digital television controller  220  to thereby display the decoded video data stream. The screen  250  can be an LCD panel or a CRT.  
      The command input device  230  is connected to the digital television controller  220  in order to receive an instruction. The command input device  230  can be buttons implemented on a panel of the digital television  200 , or an infrared receiver to receive an instruction sent by an infrared remote controller.  
      The input/output connector  240  is connected to the digital television controller  220  in order to output or receive a video data stream. The input/output connector  240  can be an Ethernet, USB, IEEE-1394, Wi-Fi transceiver.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of connection of the digital television  200  with transfer function and a multimedia computer  300  according to the invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the multimedia computer  300  uses its input/output connector  310  to connect the input/output connector  240  of the digital television  200  to thereby form a communication channel for receiving an encoded video data stream output by the digital television controller  220 .  
      When the input/output connector  240  is an Ethernet, USB, IEEE-1394 or Wi-Fi transceiver, the input/output connector  310  is an Ethernet card or chip, a USB transceiver chip, an IEEE-1394 transceiver chip, or a Wi-Fi transceiver chip respectively.  
      When a user wants to record a received television program, the user can send avideo store output instruction through the buttons on the panel or an infrared remote control. The command input device  230  sends the video store output instruction to the digital television controller  220 . The digital television controller  220  uses the encoder  222  to encode the decoded video data stream output by the decoder  221 , and uses the input/output connector  240  to output the encoded video data stream.  
      The multimedia computer  300  receives the encoded video data stream through the input/output connector  310 . The CPU  320  processes the encoded video data stream and converts it into avideo file in a storable format. The video file corresponding to the encoded video data stream is stored in the storage medium  330 .  
      When the multimedia computer  300  is to play the video file stored in the storage medium  330 , the CPU  320  reads the video file out of the storage medium  330  and encodes it into a receivable format by the digital television  200 . The video file after encoded into the receivable format is output to the digital television  200  through the input/output connector  310  for playing on the screen  250 .  
      As cited, the inventive digital television with transfer function can receive and process the video data, and display the video data processed on the screen. In addition, the video data can be sent to an video recorder through the input/output connector Display, which can save the additional cost of implementing a television card or tuner in an video storage equipment and simplify the system configuration without the operation of implementing the one-to-two video splitter and associated lines.  
      Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.