Patent Publication Number: US-2007098085-A1

Title: Audio/video signal processor with storage function

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention generally relates to an audio/video signal processor with storage function, and more particularly to an audio/video signal processor capable of storing TV signal for enabling a user to view and record the TV program simultaneously, and the user may also view and record the TV programs in a different host end at anytime and from anywhere.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      The development of the TV set is from initially black-n-white CRT TV, color CRT TV to the present digital TV and plasma TV. Nowadays, the display quality of the TV is better with better resolution, contrast and colors. The number of the TV channels has increased from a few to more than a hundred, and the TV signal transmission is also being upgraded to digital TV signal.  
      The present TV signal displaying methods, regardless of analog or digital, are in particular play mode, for example the display being connected to a signal receiver/transmitter using a signal cable for receiving the video and audio signal to play on the display. The computer display has to be connected to the computer to display the information stored in the computer. However, the computer display has different purpose along with the new development, in that, the user can have an on-time and online video signal connection via the web camera when the computer connects to the far end signal through the internet. Accordingly, the computer display has more purposes than before. When the computer display can play the far end video signal, the computer display can be used as a TV display. However, the design of the computer display is different from that of the TV display, and also the programs for receiving and transmission, and execution of the audio and video signals are different as well. Therefore, the user has to connect a TV box or the TV card to convert the TV audio/video signals into the signals suitable for the computer in order to view the TV programs on the computer display.  
      Generally speaking, users work or study in the daytime, and also the user may have to work or study in the nighttime, and it may not be possible to stay tuned to the TV the whole day for watching the favorite programs. At times when the favorite TV programs are played while the user is busy dealing with other work, the user has to record the programs using a recorder. The conventional recorder includes, for example, tape recorder and tape, are inconvenient to carry and occupying a lot of space. Besides, the tape recorder must be stored at places where the humidity is low and free from the magnetic field. The user may also use the computer to record TV programs in the hard disk if the computer display is used to display the TV programs, however, the computer hard disk occupies the computer source, and the recorded file has to be compressed into the smaller file.  
      Therefore, how to overcome defect of the conventional art is an important issue for the manufacturers in the field.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      According to an aspect of the present invention, a signal receiver is provided to receive and transmit a external TV signal to a signal processor for demodulation thereof. Next, an encoder/decoder is adopted for encoding/decoding the demodulated TV signal and then transmitting the encoded/decoded TV signal to a host end for playing as well as storing the TV signal in a memory. Thus, the user can simultaneously view and record the TV programs anytime and without missing any parts of the favorite TV program.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, a connection portion may be connected to an external storage device to enable the user to switch to the external storage device for recording. Thus, when the memory capacity of the external storage device is insufficient, the user only has to change to another external storage device to continue recording without deleting the recording in the external storage device. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of audio/video processor according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is an operation procedure of the audio/video processor according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is an operation procedure of the audio/video processor according to a second embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a audio/video processor according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , an audio/video processor  2  of the present invention comprises a signal receiver  21 , a signal processor  22 , a decoder/encoder  23 , a transmission interface  24  and a memory  25 .  
      The signal receiver  21  is adopted for receiving an external TV signal  1 , and can be comprised of a radio frequency receiver or a coaxial cable connector.  
      The signal processor  22  is electrically connected to the signal receiver  21 , and the signal processor  22  is adopted to demodulate the TV signal  1  transmitted by the signal receiver  21  to separate the TV signal  1  from a carrier. The signal processor  22  can be a single chip processor or a multi-chip processor.  
      The decoder/encoder  23  is electrically connected to the signal processor  22  and is adopted to decode/encode the demodulated TV signal  1  to restore the TV signal  1  into a playable digital signal.  
      The transmission interface  24  is adopted to transmit the decoded/encoded TV signal  1  from the decoder/encoder  23  to a host end  3  for playing.  
      The memory  25  is adopted to store the decoded/encoded TV signal  1  from the decoder/encoder  23 , and may be comprised of a non-volatile memory, a flash memory or a hard disk.  
      The above transmission interface  24  can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI), a MINI-PCI, a MINI-CARD, a personal computer memory card international association (PCMCIA), a peripheral component interconnect express (PCI-Express), a express card USB or any other transmission interface with equivalent function. The above-examples are used for only illustrating the embodiment of the transmission interface  24  and not for limiting the scope of the present invention, and it should be understood that any variation of the above-examples are still construed to be within the scope of the present invention.  
      Furthermore, the TV signal  1  can be a digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T), a digital video broadcasting cable (DVB-C), a digital video broadcasting handheld (DVB-H), a digital video broadcasting satellite (DVB-S), an advanced television systems committee (ATSC), an integrated services digital broadcasting terrestrial (ISDB-T), a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB-T) or an analogue TV signal. The above-examples are used for illustrating the embodiment of the TV signal  1 , and it should be understood that any variation of the above-examples are still construed to be with the scope of the present invention.  
      To operate the audio/video signal processor  2  of the present invention, first, the signal receiver  21  is adopted to receive the external TV signal  1 . Because the TV signal  1  is transmitted by the carrier, and therefore, the TV signal  1  is transmitted to the signal processor  22  from the signal receiver  21  to separate the TV signal  1  from the carrier. Next, after the TV signal  1  is being separated from the carrier, it is converted by the decoder/encoder  23  into a digital multimedia-playing format or a digital multimedia streaming image format, and then the converted TV signal  1  is transmitted to the memory  25  for storage. When a user wishes to view the TV signal  1  stored in the memory  25 , the decoder/encoder  23  retrieves the TV signal  1  from the memory  25  and transmits the TV signal  1  via the transmission interface  24  to the host end  3  for playing on a monitor  31 .  
      Hereinafter, the procedure of storing the TV signal  1  in the memory  25  according the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with referring to  FIG. 1  and  2 .  
      At step  100 , the signal receiver  21  receives and transmits the external TV signal  1  to the signal processor  22 .  
      At step  101 , the signal processor  22  demodulates the TV signal  1  and separates the carrier from the TV signal  1 , and then transmits the demodulated TV signal  1  to the decoder/encoder  23 .  
      At step  102 , the decoder/encoder  23  encodes/decodes the demodulated TV signal  1  and converts into a playable TV signal  1 .  
      At step  103 , the decoder/encoder  23  transmits the encoded/decoded TV signal  1  to the memory  25  for storage.  
      Thus, to proceed the video processing, first, the signal receiver  21  is used to receive the external TV signal  1 . Because the TV signal  1  is transmitted by the carrier, and therefore, the TV signal  1  is transmitted to the signal processor  22  from the signal receiver  21  to separate the TV signal  1  from the carrier. The TV signal  1  separated from the carrier is then converted by the decoder/encoder  23  into a digital multimedia-playing format or a digital multimedia streaming image format and then transmitted via the transmission interface  24  to the host end  3  for playing on the monitor  31 . Meanwhile, the host end  3  can proceed the image processing to the TV signal  1 , for example, the image synthesis, the image modification, the filtering, the purifying, the sharpening, the editing, the audio processing and so on, and then the processed TV signal  1  is transmitted back to the decoder/encoder  23  via the transmission interface  24  to the memory  25  for storage. The storage format of the memory  25  is a digital multimedia-playing format or a digital multimedia streaming image format, for example, MPEG layer  2  (MP 2 ), MPEG layer  3  (MP 3 ), MPEG player  4  (MP 4 ), real media variable bitrate (RMVB), real media (RM), advanced streaming format (ASF), windows media audio (WMA) and audio/video interleaved (AVI). The above-examples are only used for illustrating the embodiment of storing the TV signal  1  into the memory  25  by the decoder/encoder  23 , and it is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and it should be noted that any equivalent may be used to achieve the purpose of present invention shall be construed to be within the scope of the present invention.  
      Hereinafter, the procedure of storing the TV signal  1  in the memory  25  according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with referring to  FIG. 1  and  3 .  
      At step  200 , the signal receiver  21  receives and transmits the external TV signal  1  to the signal processor  22 .  
      At step  201 , the signal processor  22  demodulates the TV signal  1  to separate the carrier from the TV signal  1 , and then transmits the demodulated TV signal  1  to the decoder/encoder  23 .  
      At step  202 , the decoder/encoder  23  encodes/decodes the TV signal  1  to convert the TV signal  1  into a playable TV signal  1  and then transmits to the transmission interface  24 .  
      At step  203 , the TV signal  1  is transmitted to the host end  3  via the transmission interface  24 .  
      At step  204 , the host end  3  plays the TV signal  1  on the monitor  31  and proceeds the images processing.  
      At step  205 , the host end  3  transmits the proceeded TV signal  1  back to the decoder/encoder  23  via the transmission interface  24 .  
      At step  206 , the decoder/encoder  23  receives and transmits the proceeded TV signal  1  to the memory  25  for storage.  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , the decoder/encoder  23  is electrically connected to a connection portion  26 , and the connection portion  26  is connected to an external storage device  27 . The TV signal  1  received by the signal receiver  21  is demodulated and encoded/decoded by the signal processor  22  the decoder/encoder  23 , and then stored into the external storage device  27  via the connection portion  26 . Thus, the user can carry the external device  27  storing the TV signal  1  and share with other users. The connection portion  26  can be a receiving portion or a slot with specification such as the institute of electrical and electronic engineers standard bus interface 1394 (IEEE1394), the recommended standard-232 (RS-232), the universal serial bus (USB), the serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) or the small computer standard interface (SCSI). The external storage device  27  can be a portable stick with specification such as the institute of electrical and electronic engineers standard bus interface 1394 (IEEE1394), the recommended standard-232 (RS-232), the universal serial bus (USB), the serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) or the small computer standard interface (SCSI), or the compact flash memory card (CF card), the memory stick memory card (MS card), the multi media memory card (MC card), the smart media memory card (SM card) or the secure digital memory card (SD card).  
      The signal processor  22  can be a signal chip processor or a multi-chip processor. Alternatively, the signal processor  22  can be a digital signal processor, an analogue signal processor or a signal processor with demodulation function. The above examples are for purpose of only illustrating the embodiment of signal processor  22  and are not intended for limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be understood that any signal processor with equivalent function shall be construed to be within the scope of the present invention.  
      Accordingly, the present invention has at least the following advantages.  
      1. The present invention allows the TV signal  1  to be stored in the memory  25  so that the user may be able to carry and/or view anywhere/anytime.  
      2. The user may carry the audio/video processor  2  and connect to a TV or a computer to view the TV signal  1  stored in the memory  25 , and the stored TV signal  1  may also be shared with other users.  
      3. The audio/video processor  2  can be connect to a host end  3  through the transmission interface  24  to proceed the image processing for providing better effect according to the user&#39;s requirement. Besides, the proceed TV signal  1  can be transmitted back to the memory  25  for storage so that the user may be able to view anytime and at any places, or share the stored TV signal  1  with other users.  
      While the invention has been described in conjunction with a specific best mode, it is to be understood that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations in which fall within the spirit and scope of the included claims. All matters set forth herein or shown in the accompanying drawings are to be interpreted in an illustrative and non-limiting sense.