Radio broadcast receiving device and radio source switching method

Abstract

This radio broadcast receiver comprises an antenna for receiving a broadcast radio, an antenna for receiving an IP radio, and a switching determination unit for determining radio source switching from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other of these, the broadcast radio including a digital radio and an analog radio, the switching determination unit determining switching on the basis of analog quality information that indicates the reception quality of the analog radio.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a broadcast receiver. The broadcast receiver includes a first level determination means for determining whether or not a reception signal level of a broadcast wave from a currently selected broadcast station is equal to or higher than a first threshold. The broadcast receiver includes a second level determination means for determining whether or not a reception signal level of a broadcast wave from a currently selected broadcast station is equal to or higher than a second threshold, where the second threshold is smaller than the first threshold. The broadcast receiver includes an IP network connection determination means for determining whether or not a connection to an IP network is possible. The broadcast receiver includes a first permission determination means. The first permission determination means permits output of an IP broadcast from a currently selected broadcast station via an IP network when the determination of the first level determination means is positive, or when the determination of the first level determination means is negative and the determination of the second level determination means is positive and the determination of the IP network connection determination means is positive.

[0003] Patent Document 2 describes a broadcast receiving device. In the broadcast receiving device, when the reception level of a first standard broadcast falls below a predetermined threshold, the device calculates a delay time from the first standard broadcast to the second standard broadcast and starts delay processing on the audio data of the first standard broadcast, thereby synchronizing the output timing of the audio data of the first standard broadcast with the output timing of the audio data of the second standard broadcast. When there is no alternative station to which the first standard broadcast station can be switched, a threshold higher than the threshold used when there is an alternative station is used as the predetermined threshold to determine whether the reception level of the first standard broadcast falls below the predetermined threshold. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-258820 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-85223 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method that are capable of switching the radio source between IP radio and broadcast radio with high accuracy. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present disclosure provides a radio broadcast receiving device comprising an antenna for receiving broadcast radio, an antenna for receiving IP radio, and a switching determination unit for determining switching of a radio source from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other, wherein the broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio, and the switching determination unit makes the switching determination based on at least information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio and information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio.

[0007] The present disclosure provides a radio source switching method by a radio broadcast receiving device that receives broadcast radio and IP radio, wherein the broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio, and the radio broadcast receiving device is equipped with a switching judgment unit that judges switching of the radio source from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other, the radio source switching method having the steps of: a step of the switching judgment unit receiving information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio; a step of the switching judgment unit receiving information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio; and a step of the switching judgment unit making the switching judgment based on at least the information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio and the information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method that are capable of switching the radio source between IP radio and broadcast radio with high accuracy. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a radio broadcast receiving device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a radio broadcast receiving device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] A flowchart showing an example of a process performed when the radio broadcast receiving device of FIG. 1 determines whether to switch the radio source from HD SPS to IP radio. [Figure 4] A flowchart showing an example of a process performed when the radio broadcast receiving device of FIG. 1 determines whether to switch the radio source from IP radio to HD SPS of broadcast radio. [Diagram 5] A flowchart showing an example of a process performed when the radio broadcast receiving device of FIG. 2 determines whether to switch the radio source from IP radio to DAB or FM. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by a switching determination unit when the radio broadcast receiving device of FIG. 1 switches from broadcast radio to IP radio. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by a switching determination unit when the radio broadcast receiving device of FIG. 1 switches from IP radio to broadcast radio. [Figure 8] A conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which a stable timer for a digital radio is stopped. [Figure 9] FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by a switching determination unit when the radio broadcast receiving device in FIG. 2 switches from IP radio to DAB or FM. [Figure 10] A conceptual diagram illustrating the situation when the stable timer for DAB is stopped. [Figure 11] A conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which the stable timer for FM is stopped [Figure 12] Conceptual diagram illustrating the situation when the stable timer for DAB and FM is stopped DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] (Background to this disclosure) The radio broadcast receiving device switches between IP radio and broadcast radio, which one the user listens to, depending on the reception quality of the broadcast radio. In other words, the radio broadcast receiving device switches the radio source depending on the reception quality of the broadcast radio. When switching the radio source, conventional radio broadcast receiving devices determined the reception quality of the broadcast radio based on the reception state of the radio waves received via the antenna and tuner.

[0011] For example, in the case of SPS, which stands for Supplementary Program Service of IBOC broadcasting, the reception quality can only be judged by two values, whether the SPS signal is received or not, as a criterion for switching radio sources. Since there is a time lag of several seconds in judging the signal reception status, conventional radio broadcast receiving devices were not able to judge the reception status with high accuracy. Note that the accuracy of the reception status here refers to the resolution of the measurement value and the accuracy of the time delay, etc.

[0012] Furthermore, in the case of radio broadcast receiving devices that receive broadcast radio, including FM and DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast), it has not been possible to determine the reception conditions with a high degree of accuracy when switching radio sources.

[0013] Therefore, in the following embodiment, an example of a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method that determines whether to switch between IP radio and broadcast radio by taking into account the reception state of analog radio in addition to the reception state of digital radio will be described.

[0014] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings as appropriate, a detailed description will be given of an embodiment specifically disclosing a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method according to the present disclosure. However, more detailed description than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed description of already well-known matters or duplicate description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid the following description becoming unnecessarily redundant and to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. Note that the attached drawings and the following description are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

[0015] 1 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a radio broadcast receiving device 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The radio broadcast receiving device 10 is capable of receiving broadcast radio and IP radio. Broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the digital radio is HD SPS. HD SPS means a hybrid digital radio supplemental program service. The English term for HD SPS is Hybrid Digital Supplemental Program Service.

[0016] The radio broadcast receiving device 10 includes a broadcast radio receiving unit 101, a digital radio decoding unit 102, and an analog radio decoding unit 103. The radio broadcast receiving device 10 further includes an IP radio receiving unit 104 and an IP radio decoding unit 105. The radio broadcast receiving device 10 further includes a switching determination unit 106, a switching unit 107, and a speaker 108.

[0017] The broadcast radio receiving unit 101 is connected to the antenna A1 and receives broadcast radio waves. The digital radio decoding unit 102 decodes the signal included in the radio waves received by the antenna A1 and transmits the decoded digital radio audio information to the switching unit 107. The digital radio decoding unit 102 also transmits digital quality information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio to the switching determination unit 106. The digital quality information is, for example, information indicating whether the digital radio has been decoded successfully. The analog radio decoding unit 103 decodes the signal included in the radio waves received by the antenna A1 and transmits analog quality information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio to the switching determination unit 106. The analog quality information is, for example, the signal level of the analog radio.

[0018] The IP radio receiving unit 104 is connected to the antenna A2 and receives IP radio. The IP radio decoding unit 105 decodes a signal included in the radio wave received by the antenna A2, and transmits the decoded IP radio audio information to the switching unit 107. The IP radio decoding unit 105 also transmits IP quality information indicating the reception quality of the IP radio to the switching determination unit 106. The IP quality information is, for example, information indicating the reception status of the IP radio. The information indicating the reception status of the IP radio is, for example, information indicating the presence or absence of sound interruptions in the IP radio. The information indicating the reception status of the IP radio may be, for example, information indicating the success or failure of decoding the IP radio. The information indicating the reception status of the IP radio may be a combination of two or more pieces of information.

[0019] The switching determination unit 106 determines whether broadcast radio or IP radio will be the radio source to be output based on at least one of the digital quality information, analog quality information, and IP quality information, and transmits information indicative of the determination result to the switching unit 107.

[0020] Switching unit 107 switches the radio source to either digital radio or IP radio, based on information indicating the determination result received from switching determination unit 106. Speaker 108 outputs digital radio audio or IP radio audio in accordance with the switching by switching unit 107.

[0021] 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a radio broadcast receiving device 10B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The radio broadcast receiving device 10B is another configuration example of the radio broadcast receiving device 10. The radio broadcast receiving device 10B is capable of receiving broadcast radio and IP radio. The broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the digital radio is DAB and the analog radio is FM. DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcast. The English abbreviation of DAB is Digital Audio Broadcast.

[0022] Radio broadcast receiving device 10B includes a DAB receiving unit 109, a digital radio decoding unit 102, an FM receiving unit 110, an analog radio decoding unit 103, and a digital / analog radio selecting unit 111. Radio broadcast receiving device 10B further includes an IP radio receiving unit 104 and an IP radio decoding unit 105. Radio broadcast receiving device 10B further includes a switching determination unit 106, a switching unit 107, and a speaker 108.

[0023] The DAB receiving unit 109 is connected to the antenna A3 and receives DAB radio waves. The digital radio decoding unit 102 decodes the signal contained in the radio waves received by the antenna A3, and transmits the decoded DAB audio information to the digital / analog radio selecting unit 111. The digital radio decoding unit 102 also transmits digital quality information to the switching determining unit 106. The digital quality information is, for example, a bit error rate (BER).

[0024] The FM receiving unit 110 is connected to the antenna A4 and receives radio waves of analog radio broadcasts. The analog radio decoding unit 103 decodes the signal contained in the radio waves received by the antenna A4 and transmits the decoded FM audio information to the digital / analog radio selecting unit 111. The analog radio decoding unit 103 also transmits analog quality information to the switching determining unit 106. The analog quality information is, for example, the signal level of the analog radio.

[0025] The digital / analog radio selection unit 111 selects either the DAB audio information or the FM audio information based on a predetermined criterion, and transmits the selected audio information to the switching unit 107 as broadcast radio audio information.

[0026] The IP radio receiving unit 104 is connected to the antenna A2 and receives IP radio. The IP radio decoding unit 105 decodes the signal included in the radio wave received by the antenna A2, and transmits the decoded IP radio audio information to the switching unit 107. The IP radio decoding unit 105 also transmits IP quality information to the switching determination unit 106.

[0027] The switching determination unit 106 determines whether broadcast radio or IP radio will be the radio source to be output based on at least one of the digital quality information, analog quality information, and IP quality information, and transmits information indicative of the determination result to the switching unit 107.

[0028] The switching unit 107 switches the radio source to either the broadcast radio or the IP radio, based on the information indicating the determination result received from the switching determination unit 106. The speaker 108 outputs the broadcast radio sound or the IP radio sound in accordance with the switching by the switching unit 107.

[0029] Note that the manner of the radio source switching process performed by the switching unit 107 shown in Fig. 1 or 2 is not limited to instantaneous switching. For example, the manner of switching by gradually changing the ratio while mixing the first radio source and the second radio source is also included in the radio source switching process performed by the switching unit 107. Here, instantaneous switching refers to instantaneous switching from the first radio source to the second radio source.

[0030] The mixing of the first radio source and the second radio source will be described more specifically, assuming that the first radio source is broadcast radio and the second radio source is IP radio. For example, at a first time point, the proportion of broadcast radio in the output is 100%. At a second time point, the proportion of broadcast radio is 70% and the proportion of IP radio is 30%. At a third time point, the proportion of broadcast radio is 30% and the proportion of IP radio is 70%. At a fourth time point, the proportion of IP radio is 100%. The switching unit 107 may switch the radio source while changing the proportion of the first radio source and the second radio source, for example, as described above.

[0031] The switching unit 107 may vary the ratio between the first radio source and the second radio source either discretely or continuously.

[0032] In the above, it is assumed that the first radio source is broadcast radio and the second radio source is IP radio. However, the first radio source may be IP radio and the second radio source may be broadcast radio. Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in more detail using flowcharts, conceptual diagrams, etc., but in the following, the switching of the radio source includes not only instantaneous switching but also a mode in which the first radio source and the second radio source are mixed and switched at a gradually changing ratio.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed by the radio broadcast receiving device 10 of FIG. 1 when determining to switch the radio source from HD SPS to IP radio.

[0034] The switching determination unit 106 determines whether the digital radio reception status is good. This determination is made based on the digital quality information received by the switching determination unit 106 from the digital radio decoding unit 102. For example, if the digital quality information is information indicating whether the digital radio has been decoded successfully, the switching determination unit 106 determines that the digital radio reception status is good if the digital radio has been decoded, and determines that the digital radio reception status is not good if the digital radio has not been decoded (St101). If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the digital radio reception status is good, for example, if the digital radio has been decoded (St101: Yes), the process proceeds to step St102. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the digital radio reception status is not good, for example, if the digital radio has not been decoded (St101: No), the process proceeds to step St104.

[0035] In step St102, the switching determination unit 106 determines whether the analog radio reception conditions are good or not. This determination is made based on the analog quality information received from the analog radio decoding unit 103. For example, if the analog quality information is the analog radio signal level, and the numerical value indicating the analog radio signal level falls below a predetermined threshold continuously for a certain period of time, the switching determination unit 106 determines that the analog radio reception conditions are not good. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the analog radio reception conditions are not good (St102: NO), the process proceeds to step St104. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the analog radio reception conditions are good (St102: YES), the process proceeds to step St103.

[0036] When the process transitions to step St103, the digital radio reception is good, and the analog radio reception is also good. Therefore, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching to IP radio is not necessary, and does not cause the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source. Therefore, the broadcast radio continues to be output from the speaker 108. Then, the process returns to step St101.

[0037] In step St104, the digital radio reception condition is not good, or the analog radio reception condition is not good. Therefore, the switching determination unit 106 determines that the broadcast radio output cannot be continued, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to the IP radio.

[0038] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed by the radio broadcast receiving device 10 of FIG. 1 when determining to switch the radio source from IP radio to HD SPS of broadcast radio.

[0039] The switching determination unit 106 determines the reception status of the IP radio (St201). This determination is made based on the IP quality information received from the IP radio decoding unit 105. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the reception status of the IP radio is good (St201: good), the process proceeds to step St202. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the reception status of the IP radio is somewhat poor (St201: somewhat poor), the process proceeds to step St203. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the reception status of the IP radio is poor (St201: poor), the process proceeds to step St208.

[0040] The following are examples of criteria for judging the reception status of the IP radio in step St201. A good reception status means, for example, a situation where there is no sound dropout in the IP radio. A somewhat poor reception status means, for example, a situation where there is some sound dropout in the IP radio, but the user can listen to the IP radio without returning to the broadcast radio. A poor reception status means, for example, a situation where the IP radio cannot be decoded for a certain period of time or more. The above criteria are merely examples, and a person skilled in the art may use criteria other than the above to judge the reception status of the IP radio.

[0041] In step St202, the switching determination unit 106 determines whether or not it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio (St202: YES), the process proceeds to step St204. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that it is not possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio (St202: NO), the process proceeds to step St205.

[0042] The following is an example of a criterion for determining whether or not switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is possible in step St202. The switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is possible, for example, when digital radio decoding can be performed continuously for a certain period of time and a value indicating the reception quality of analog radio exceeds a first threshold value α for a first period of time. The value indicating the reception quality of analog radio is, for example, a value of the signal level of analog radio.

[0043] In step St203, the switching determination unit 106 determines whether or not it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio (St203: YES), the process proceeds to step St206. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that it is not possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio (St203: NO), the process proceeds to step St207.

[0044] The following is an example of a criterion for determining whether or not switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is possible in step St203. The switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is possible, for example, when digital radio decoding can be performed continuously for a certain period of time and the value indicating the reception quality of analog radio exceeds the second threshold value β by a second time width. The value indicating the reception quality of analog radio is, for example, the value of the signal level of analog radio. Note that the second threshold value β is, for example, equal to or less than the first threshold value α. The second time width may be equal to or shorter than the first time width.

[0045] In steps St204 and St206, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is possible, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to broadcast radio. In step St208, since the reception conditions of the IP radio are poor (St201: poor), the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching should be made from IP radio to broadcast radio, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to broadcast radio. Note that the audio information output when the radio source is switched to broadcast radio may be a mixture of analog radio audio information and digital radio audio information in a certain ratio.

[0046] In steps St205 and St207, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio is not possible, and does not allow the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source. Therefore, the output of IP radio from the speaker 108 continues. Then, the process returns to step St201.

[0047] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed by the radio broadcast receiving device 10B of FIG. 2 when determining to switch the radio source from IP radio to DAB or FM.

[0048] The switching determination unit 106 determines whether the IP radio reception status is good (St301). This determination is made based on the IP quality information that the switching determination unit 106 receives from the IP radio decoding unit 105. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the IP radio reception status is good (St301: YES), the process proceeds to step St302. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the IP radio reception status is not good (St301: NO), the process proceeds to step St309.

[0049] The following are examples of criteria for judging the IP radio reception status in step St301. A good IP radio reception status means a situation where there is no sound dropout in the IP radio, or a situation where there is some sound dropout in the IP radio but the user can listen to the IP radio without returning to the broadcast radio. A bad IP radio reception status means a situation where the IP radio cannot be decoded for a certain period of time or more. The above criteria are merely examples, and a person skilled in the art may use criteria other than the above to judge the IP radio reception status.

[0050] In step St301, the switching determination unit 106 determines the IP radio reception status as one of two options, "good" or "not good." However, similar to step St201 in FIG. 4, the switching determination unit 106 may determine the IP radio reception status as one of three options, "good," "slightly bad," and "bad."

[0051] In step St302, the switching determination unit 106 determines whether the digital radio reception conditions are good. This determination is made based on the digital quality information that the switching determination unit 106 receives from the digital radio decoding unit 102. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the digital radio is DAB, so the following description will be given taking DAB as an example. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the DAB reception conditions are good (St302: YES), the process proceeds to step St305. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the DAB reception conditions are not good (St302: NO), the process proceeds to step St303.

[0052] The following is an example of a criterion for determining the DAB reception status by the switching determination unit 106 in step St302. The DAB reception status is good when, for example, the bit error rate is smaller than a predetermined threshold. The DAB reception status is not good when, for example, the bit error rate is larger than a predetermined threshold. The above criteria are merely examples, and a person skilled in the art may use criteria other than the above to determine the DAB reception status.

[0053] In step St303, the switching determination unit 106 determines whether the analog radio reception conditions are good or not. This determination is made based on the analog quality information that the switching determination unit 106 receives from the analog radio decoding unit 103. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the FM reception conditions are good (St303: YES), the process proceeds to step St304. If the switching determination unit 106 determines that the FM reception conditions are not good (St303: NO), the process proceeds to step St308.

[0054] The following is an example of a criterion for determining the FM reception status by the switching determination unit 106 in step St303. The FM reception status is good when, for example, the FM signal level is greater than a predetermined value. The FM reception status is not good when, for example, the FM signal level is less than a predetermined threshold. The above criteria are merely examples, and a person skilled in the art may use criteria other than the above to determine the FM reception status.

[0055] In step St304, the switching determination unit 106 judges whether it can be estimated that the DAB reception conditions will improve. If the switching determination unit 106 judges that it can be estimated that the DAB reception conditions will improve (St304: YES), the process proceeds to step St306. If the switching determination unit 106 judges that it cannot be estimated that the DAB reception conditions will improve (St304: NO), the process proceeds to step St307. How the switching determination unit 106 specifically judges whether it can be estimated that the DAB reception conditions will improve will be described later.

[0056] In step St305, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to DAB is possible, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to broadcast radio. Here, the broadcast radio is DAB. In step St305, the reception conditions of the IP radio are good, but the reception conditions of the DAB are also good, so the radio source is switched to DAB. This is because listening to IP radio requires packet communication charges, and therefore it is more economical for the user to listen to DAB if it is possible to listen to it.

[0057] In step St307, the switching decision unit 106 decides that switching from IP radio to FM is appropriate, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to broadcast radio. Here, broadcast radio is FM. The process of step St307 is performed when the reception conditions of IP radio and FM are good, but the reception conditions of DAB are not good. When the process proceeds to step St307, it cannot be estimated that the reception conditions of DAB will become good, so the radio source is switched to FM, which has good reception conditions.

[0058] In step St309, since the reception condition of the IP radio is not good, the switching judgment unit 106 judges that it is necessary to switch from the IP radio to the broadcast radio, and causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source to the broadcast radio. Note that the broadcast radio here is either DAB or FM, which has better audio reception quality. The switching judgment unit 106 may determine whether the audio reception quality of DAB or FM is better, based on the digital quality information received from the digital radio decoding unit 102 and the analog quality information received from the analog radio decoding unit 103.

[0059] In steps St306 and St308, the switching determination unit 106 determines not to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio, and does not cause the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source. Therefore, the output of the IP radio from the speaker 108 continues. Then, the process returns to step St301. The process of step St306 is performed when the reception conditions of the IP radio and FM are good, and the reception conditions of the DAB are not good. When the process proceeds to step St306, it can be estimated that the reception conditions of the DAB will be good, so the switching determination unit 106 continues the output of the IP radio without causing the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source in order to wait for the reception conditions of the DAB to become good. On the other hand, when the process proceeds to step St308, the reception conditions of both the DAB and FM are not good, so the switching determination unit 106 continues the output of the IP radio without causing the switching unit 107 to switch.

[0060] As a modified example of the process example shown in Fig. 5, a mode without providing step St304 is also conceivable. In the modified example, when the switching determination unit 106 determines in step St303 that the FM reception conditions are good (St303: YES), the process may proceed directly to step St307, and the radio source may be switched from IP radio to FM.

[0061] Fig. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by the switching determination unit 106 when the radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 switches from broadcast radio to IP radio. Fig. 6 shows a graph (a) for digital radio and a graph (b) for analog radio, with the horizontal axis representing time and the vertical axis representing audio reception quality. Fig. 6 also shows a bar (c) indicating whether the radio broadcast receiving device 10 outputs audio for broadcast radio or IP radio. The horizontal axis of the bar (c) represents time, as in the graphs (a) and (b).

[0062] Graph (a) for digital radio corresponds to the digital quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 from digital radio decoding unit 102. Graph (b) for analog radio corresponds to the analog quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 from analog radio decoding unit 103. Note that in graphs (a) and (b) in Fig. 6 and subsequent figures, either the digital radio reception quality or the analog radio reception quality may appear first.

[0063] As shown in graph (a), the reception quality of digital radio takes two values, high and low. For example, when SPS broadcasting can be received, the reception quality is high, and when SPS broadcasting cannot be received, the reception quality is low. In the radio broadcast receiving device 10, if the radio source is immediately switched to IP radio when the reception quality of broadcast radio becomes low, switching between broadcast radio and IP radio is frequently performed, which is inconvenient. Therefore, a certain time lag may be provided when switching. For example, if the reception quality of digital radio does not improve even after a certain time has passed since the reception quality of digital radio became low, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from broadcast radio to IP radio should be performed. The certain time is, for example, 2 seconds. This time lag may be similarly provided for analog radio. In FIG. 6, the time lag is expressed as a reception quality confirmation period. In graph (a), the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from broadcast radio to IP radio should be performed based on the reception quality of digital radio at the time of point P1.

[0064] However, when the only criterion for judgment is the reception quality of digital radio, as described above, the reception quality of digital radio takes only two values ​​and there is a time lag, so it is desirable to know the reception status of broadcast radio with higher accuracy. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the reception status is judged using the reception quality of analog radio.

[0065] The analog radio reception quality shown in graph (b) of FIG. 6 is not a binary value but a continuous value. Therefore, for the analog radio reception quality, a link threshold that is a criterion for switching the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio, and a link back threshold that is a criterion for switching the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio are set. Usually, the link back threshold is set to a higher value than the link threshold. In the illustrated example, when the analog radio reception quality falls below the link threshold and continues to fall below the link back threshold for a certain period of time, that is, at the time at point P2, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from broadcast radio to IP radio should be performed based on the analog radio reception quality.

[0066] It should be noted that it takes some time from when switching determination unit 106 determines that broadcast radio should be switched to IP radio until the IP radio audio is actually output from speaker 108. Therefore, the output audio actually switches from broadcast radio to IP radio at the time of point P3, which is after point P1 or point P2 in bar (c) of Fig. 6.

[0067] Fig. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by the switching determination unit 106 when the radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 switches the output audio from IP radio to broadcast radio. Fig. 7 shows a graph (a) for digital radio and a graph (b) for analog radio, with the horizontal axis representing time and the vertical axis representing audio reception quality. Fig. 7 also shows a bar (c) indicating whether the radio broadcast receiving device 10 outputs audio for IP radio or broadcast radio. The horizontal axis of the bar (c) represents time, as in the graphs (a) and (b).

[0068] Graph (a) for digital radio corresponds to the digital quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 from digital radio decoding unit 102. Graph (b) for analog radio corresponds to the analog quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10 of Fig. 1 from analog radio decoding unit 103.

[0069] As explained in FIG. 6, as shown in graph (a), the reception quality of digital radio takes two values, high and low. In the radio broadcast receiving device 10, if the radio source is immediately switched to broadcast radio when the reception quality of broadcast radio increases, the switching may be performed before the reception quality of broadcast radio stabilizes, which is inconvenient. Therefore, a stable timer of a certain period of time may be set as a waiting time when switching. For example, if the reception quality of digital radio does not decrease even after a certain period of time has passed since the reception quality of digital radio increased, the switching determination unit 106 determines that the broadcast radio has stabilized and that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio should be performed. The certain period of time is, for example, 5 minutes. This stable timer may be set in the same way for analog radio. The stable timer may be set, for example, between 3 and 20 minutes. The value of the stable timer may be a fixed value, or may be a value that the user can change as appropriate.

[0070] When switching decision unit 106 determines whether to switch the radio source based only on the reception quality of digital radio, as shown in graph (a), switching decision unit 106 determines that the radio source should be switched from IP radio to broadcast radio at point P1, which is when five minutes on the stable timer have elapsed since the reception quality improved. Note that it takes a certain amount of time from when switching decision unit 106 determines that it should be switched from IP radio to broadcast radio until the broadcast radio sound is actually output from speaker 108. Therefore, when switching decision unit 106 determines whether to switch the radio source based only on the reception quality of digital radio, the output sound actually switches from IP radio to broadcast radio at time P6, which is slightly later than the time at point P1, as shown in bar (c).

[0071] However, even if the digital radio reception quality, expressed as a binary value, remains high, the analog radio reception quality, which is a continuous value, may fluctuate, as shown in graph (b). Therefore, the switching decision unit 106 decides to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio based on not only the digital radio reception quality but also the analog radio reception quality.

[0072] The analog radio reception quality shown in graph (b) of FIG. 7 is not a binary value but a continuous value. Therefore, for the analog radio reception quality, a link threshold that is a criterion for switching the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio and a link back threshold that is a criterion for switching the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio are set. Usually, the link back threshold is set to a higher value than the link threshold. In the illustrated example, when the analog radio reception quality continues to exceed the link back threshold for a certain period of time after it exceeds the link back threshold, that is, at the time at point P5, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to broadcast radio should be performed based on the analog radio reception quality. The certain period of time may be set as a stable timer. The certain period of time is, for example, 5 minutes.

[0073] Here, as described above with reference to FIG. 4, the case where it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio in step St202 means that the digital radio can be decoded continuously for a certain period of time in the broadcast radio, and the value indicating the reception quality of the analog radio exceeds the first threshold value α by a first time width. The certain period of time for decoding the digital radio corresponds, for example, to the stable timer in graph (a) of FIG. 7, that is, 5 minutes. The first threshold value α corresponds, for example, to the link back threshold in graph (b) of FIG. 7. The first time width corresponds, for example, to the stable timer in graph (b) of FIG. 7, that is, 5 minutes. That is, in step St202, the switching determination unit 106 determines that the radio source can be switched from IP radio to broadcast radio at the time of point P5. As a result, the audio output actually switches from IP radio to broadcast radio at a time a little after the time of point P5, which is not shown in the figure.

[0074] The same applies to step St203 in Fig. 4. In step St203, a case where it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio means a case where digital radio decoding in broadcast radio has been possible continuously for a certain period of time, and the value indicating the reception quality of analog radio has exceeded the second threshold value β for a second time width. Since the second time width is shorter than the first time width, the value corresponding to the stable timer in graph (b) is set to shorter than 5 minutes.

[0075] Here, an example of setting the stable timer will be described. The measurement of the stable timer for analog radio shown in graph (b) of Fig. 7 may be stopped when the reception quality of the analog radio falls below the link back threshold for a predetermined time. The predetermined time is, for example, 10 seconds.

[0076] An example of setting the stable timer will be described in more detail below, assuming that the fixed time is, for example, 5 minutes and the predetermined time is, for example, 10 seconds. At the time of point P2 in the graph (b) of FIG. 7, the reception quality of the analog radio exceeds the link back threshold. Therefore, at the time of point P2, measurement of the stable timer for the analog radio is started. However, at the time of point P3, the reception quality of the analog radio falls below the link back threshold. When 10 seconds have passed since the reception quality of the analog radio fell below the link back threshold, measurement of the stable timer for the analog radio is stopped. Then, at the time of point P4, the reception quality of the analog radio exceeds the link back threshold again. Therefore, at the time of point P4, measurement of the 5-minute stable timer for the analog radio is started again.

[0077] On the other hand, in the case of digital radio shown in graph (a) of Figure 7, the variable indicating reception quality itself has hysteresis, so if the reception quality of the digital radio deteriorates even for a short period of time, the measurement of the stable timer for the digital radio is stopped.

[0078] FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which the measurement of the stable timer for digital radio is stopped. The vertical and horizontal axes of graph (a) in FIG. 8 are the same as those of graph (a) in FIG. 7, and the vertical and horizontal axes of graph (b) in FIG. 8 are the same as those of graph (b) in FIG. 7. First, referring to graph (b) for analog radio, the measurement of the stable timer for analog radio starts at the time of point P2, and the reception quality of analog radio is determined to be stable at the time of point P5. Here, the reception quality of analog radio falls below the link-back threshold at point P3. However, the reception quality of analog radio exceeds the link-back threshold again at point P4. Since the time from point P3 to point P4 is less than the predetermined time of 10 seconds, the measurement of the stable timer for analog radio is not stopped at the time of point P3.

[0079] Next, let us look at graph (a) for digital radio. At point P6, stable timer measurement for digital radio begins. However, before the fixed time of 5 minutes has elapsed, at point P7, the reception quality of digital radio deteriorates. As a result, stable timer measurement for digital radio is stopped at point P7. At point P8, the reception quality of digital radio improves, so stable timer measurement for digital radio is started again at point P8. At point P9, the fixed time of 5 minutes has elapsed, and it is determined that the reception quality of digital radio is stable.

[0080] 4, the switching determination unit 106 determines that it is possible to switch from IP radio to broadcast radio at the time of point P9. As a result, the output sound actually switches from IP radio to broadcast radio at a time shortly after the time of point P9 (not shown).

[0081] Fig. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a determination made by the switching determination unit 106 when the radio broadcast receiving device 10B in Fig. 2 switches from IP radio to DAB or FM. Fig. 9 shows a graph (a) for DAB and a graph (b) for FM, with the horizontal axis representing time and the vertical axis representing reception quality. Fig. 9 also shows a bar (c) indicating whether the radio broadcast receiving device 10B outputs IP radio audio or DAB or FM audio. The horizontal axis of the bar (c) represents time, as in the graphs (a) and (b).

[0082] Graph (a) for DAB corresponds to the digital quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10B of Fig. 2 from digital radio decoding unit 102. Graph (b) for FM corresponds to the analog quality information received by switching decision unit 106 in radio broadcast receiving device 10B of Fig. 2 from analog radio decoding unit 103.

[0083] As shown in graphs (a) and (b), the reception quality of both DAB and FM takes continuous values. Therefore, a link threshold, which is a criterion when switching from DAB or FM to IP radio, and a link back threshold, which is a criterion when switching from IP radio to DAB or FM, are set for the reception quality of DAB and the reception quality of FM, respectively. Usually, the link back threshold is set to a higher value than the link threshold. In the illustrated example, when the reception quality continues to exceed the link threshold for a certain period of time after exceeding the link back threshold, the switching determination unit 106 determines that switching from IP radio to DAB or FM should be performed. This certain period of time is expressed as a stable timer in FIG. 9. The certain period of time is, for example, 5 minutes. If the radio source is switched to DAB or FM immediately when the reception quality of DAB or FM becomes high, the switching may be performed before the reception quality of DAB or FM becomes stable, which is inconvenient, so this stable timer is provided.

[0084] Note that the measurement of the stable timer for DAB and FM may be stopped when the reception quality falls below the link back threshold for a predetermined time, for example 10 seconds, as described above with reference to graph (b) of Figure 7.

[0085] When the switching decision unit 106 decides to switch the radio source based only on the reception quality of DAB, as shown in graph (a), at the time of point P4, when the reception quality of DAB increases and five minutes of the stable timer have elapsed since the time of point P1, the switching decision unit 106 decides that the radio source can be switched from IP radio to DAB. This corresponds to step St302 in FIG. 5. Here, at the time of point P2, the reception quality of DAB falls below the link-back threshold. At the time of point P3, the reception quality of DAB exceeds the link-back threshold again. Since the time from point P2 to point P3 is less than the predetermined time of 10 seconds, the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is not stopped at the time of point P2.

[0086] As shown in graph (b), at point P8, when 5 minutes of the stable timer have elapsed since the FM reception quality increased at point P5, the switching decision unit 106 decides that the radio source can be switched from IP radio to FM. This corresponds to step St303 in FIG. 5. Here, at point P6, the FM reception quality falls below the link-back threshold. At point P7, the FM reception quality exceeds the link-back threshold again. Because the time from point P6 to point P7 is less than the predetermined time of 10 seconds, the measurement of the stable timer for FM is not stopped at point P6.

[0087] If it is estimated that the DAB reception condition will be good at point P8 (step St304: YES), the switching judgment unit 106 does not cause the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source from IP radio to FM. Therefore, the output of IP radio is continued (step St306). Then, at the time of point P4 when the DAB reception condition actually becomes good, the switching judgment unit 106 causes the switching unit 107 to switch the radio source from IP radio to DAB (steps St302 and St305). In the example of FIG. 9, as shown in the graph (a), at the time of point P8, the DAB reception quality is maintained high for a certain period of time after the DAB reception quality exceeds the link-back threshold at point P1, so the switching judgment unit 106 judges that it can be estimated that the DAB reception condition will be good. The certain period of time is, for example, half the time set as the stable timer. It should be noted that it takes some time from when the switching determination unit 106 determines that the radio source should be switched from IP radio to DAB or FM until the DAB or FM audio is actually output from the speaker 108. Therefore, as shown by bar (c), the switching determination unit 106 waits a predetermined time from the time at point P4 before switching the radio source from IP radio to DAB.

[0088] On the other hand, if it cannot be estimated that the DAB reception conditions will be good at the time of point P8 (step St304: NO), the switching decision unit 106 decides that the radio source should be switched from IP radio to FM at the time of point P8. The switching decision unit 106 waits for a predetermined time from the time of point P8, and then switches the radio source from IP radio to FM.

[0089] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is stopped. The vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 10 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 9, and the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 10 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 9. As can be seen in the graph (a) for DAB, the reception quality of DAB falls below the link-back threshold from the time at point P2. When a predetermined time of 10 seconds has elapsed from the time at point P2, the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is stopped. Since the reception quality of DAB exceeds the link-back threshold from the time at point P3, the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is started again at the time at point P3.

[0090] FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which the measurement of the stable timer for FM is stopped. The vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 11 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 9, and the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 11 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 9. As can be seen in the graph (b) for FM, the reception quality of FM falls below the link back threshold from the time at point P6. When a predetermined time of 10 seconds has elapsed from the time at point P6, the measurement of the stable timer for FM is stopped. Since the reception quality of FM exceeds the link back threshold from the time at point P7, the stable timer for FM is started again at the time at point P7.

[0091] FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a situation in which the stable timers for DAB and FM are stopped. The vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 12 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (a) of FIG. 9, and the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 12 are the same as the vertical and horizontal axes of the graph (b) of FIG. 9. As can be seen in the graph (a) for DAB, the reception quality of DAB falls below the link-back threshold from the time at point P2. When a predetermined time of 10 seconds has elapsed from the time at point P2, the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is stopped. Since the reception quality of DAB exceeds the link-back threshold from the time at point P3, the measurement of the stable timer for DAB is started again at the time at point P3. As can be seen in the graph (b) for FM, the reception quality of FM falls below the link-back threshold from the time at point P6. When a predetermined time of 10 seconds has elapsed from the time at point P6, the measurement of the stable timer for FM is stopped. Since the reception quality of FM exceeds the link back threshold from the time at point P7, measurement of the stable timer for FM is started again at the time at point P7.

[0092] 10 and 12, the timing at which the switching determination unit 106 determines that the radio source should be switched from IP radio to DAB or FM is the same as the timing described above with reference to FIG.

[0093] In Fig. 11, the time at point P8 is later than the time at point P4. At the time at point P4, 5 minutes, which is the stable timer for DAB, has elapsed. Therefore, if the switching determination unit 106 determines whether to switch the radio source based only on the reception quality for DAB, the radio source will be switched from IP radio to DAB at the time at point P4 (see steps St302 and St305 in Fig. 5). However, if the switching determination unit 106 determines whether to switch the radio source using both the reception quality for DAB and the reception quality for FM, the radio source will be switched from IP radio to, for example, DAB at the time at point P8.

[0094] Summary of the Disclosure The contents of the present disclosure can be expressed as follows: <Appendix 1> A radio broadcast receiving device includes an antenna for receiving broadcast radio, an antenna for receiving IP radio, and a switching determination unit for determining switching of a radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. Broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio. The switching determination unit makes a switching determination based on analog quality information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source between broadcast radio and IP radio with high accuracy.

[0095] <Appendix 2> In Supplementary Note 1, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When the switching determination unit determines that the analog radio reception conditions are good based on the analog quality information, it causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio when the analog radio reception conditions are good.

[0096] <Appendix 3> In Supplementary Note 1, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When the switching determination unit determines that the analog radio reception conditions are good based on the analog quality information, it causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio when the analog radio reception conditions are good.

[0097] <Appendix 4> In Supplementary Note 2, when the switching determination unit determines that the analog radio reception conditions are good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio when the analog radio reception conditions are good.

[0098] <Appendix 5> In Supplementary Note 1, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When the switching determination unit determines that the analog radio reception conditions are poor based on the analog quality information, the switching unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio when the analog radio reception conditions are poor.

[0099] <Appendix 6> In Supplementary Note 2 or Supplementary Note 4, when the switching determination unit determines that the analog radio reception conditions are not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio when the analog radio reception conditions are not good.

[0100] <Appendix 7> In Supplementary Note 1, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When digital radio of the broadcast radio is selected as the radio source and the switching determination unit determines based on the analog quality information that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from digital radio to IP radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from digital radio to IP radio when digital radio is selected as the radio source and the reception condition of the analog radio is not good.

[0101] <Appendix 8> In any one of Supplementary Note 2, Supplementary Note 4, and Supplementary Note 6, when digital radio of broadcast radio is selected as the radio source and the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from digital radio to IP radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from digital radio to IP radio when digital radio is selected as the radio source and the reception condition of the analog radio is not good.

[0102] <Appendix 9> In Supplementary Note 1, the switching determination unit makes a switching determination based on digital quality information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio and analog quality information. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to make a radio source switching determination based on the digital quality information in addition to the analog quality information.

[0103] <Appendix 10> In Supplementary Note 9, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. The switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio when it determines that the digital radio reception conditions are not good based on the digital quality information, or when it determines that the digital radio reception conditions are good but the analog radio reception conditions are not good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from broadcast radio to IP radio when the digital radio reception conditions are not good, or when the digital radio reception conditions are good but the analog radio reception conditions are not good.

[0104] <Appendix 11> In Supplementary Note 9, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When the switching determination unit determines that the digital radio reception conditions and the analog radio reception conditions are both good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, it causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio when the digital radio reception conditions and the analog radio reception conditions are both good.

[0105] <Appendix 12> In Supplementary Note 10, when the switching determination unit determines that the digital radio reception conditions and the analog radio reception conditions are both good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio when the digital radio reception conditions and the analog radio reception conditions are both good.

[0106] <Appendix 13> In Supplementary Note 9, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception conditions of the digital radio are good based on the digital quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception conditions of the digital radio are not good and the reception conditions of the analog radio are good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from IP radio to analog radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio when the reception conditions of the digital radio are good, and to switch the radio source from IP radio to analog radio when the reception conditions of the digital radio are not good and the reception conditions of the analog radio are good.

[0107] <Appendix 14> In Supplementary Note 9, the radio broadcast receiving device includes a switching unit that switches the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other. The switching determination unit switches the radio source from IP radio to digital radio when it is determined that the reception conditions of the digital radio are good based on the digital quality information. The switching determination unit switches the radio source from IP radio to analog radio when it is determined that the reception conditions of the digital radio are not good and the reception conditions of the analog radio are good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, and when it is not estimated that the reception conditions of the digital radio will become good. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to switch the radio source from IP radio to digital radio when the reception conditions of the digital radio are good, and to switch the radio source from IP radio to analog radio when the reception conditions of the digital radio are not good and the reception conditions of the analog radio are good, and when it is not estimated that the reception conditions of the digital radio will become good.

[0108] <Appendix 15> In Supplementary Note 14, if the switching determination unit determines based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information that the digital radio reception conditions are not good but the analog radio reception conditions are good, and if it is estimated that the digital radio reception conditions will improve, it waits for a predetermined time before switching the radio source from IP radio to broadcast radio. This allows the radio broadcast receiving device to wait for a predetermined time until the digital radio reception conditions improve, when the digital radio reception conditions are not good but the analog radio reception conditions are good, and it is estimated that the digital radio reception conditions will improve, before switching the radio source from IP radio to broadcast.

[0109] <Appendix 16> The radio source switching method includes the steps of receiving information indicating digital radio reception quality, receiving information indicating analog radio reception quality, and determining whether to switch the radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio to the other based on the information indicating the digital radio reception quality and the information indicating the analog radio reception quality. Broadcast radio includes digital radio and analog radio. This allows the radio source switching method to switch the radio source between broadcast radio and IP radio with high accuracy.

[0110] Although the radio broadcast receiving device and the radio source switching method according to the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the drawings, it goes without saying that the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications, corrections, substitutions, additions, deletions, and equivalents within the scope of the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the components in the various embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined within the scope of the invention.

[0111] This application is based on a Japanese patent application (Patent Application No. 2021-030901) filed on February 26, 2021, the contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. [Industrial Applicability]

[0112] The present disclosure is useful as a radio broadcast receiving device and a radio source switching method that can switch radio sources between IP radio and broadcast radio with high accuracy. [Explanation of symbols]

[0113] 10, 10B Radio broadcast receiving device 101 Broadcast radio receiver 102 Digital radio decoding section 103 Analog radio decoding section 104 IP radio receiver 105 IP radio decoding section 106 Switching decision unit 107 Switching section 108 Speaker 109 DAB receiver 110 FM receiver 111 Digital / analog radio selection section A1~A4 Antennas

Claims

1. An antenna for receiving broadcast radio including digital radio and analog radio; An antenna for receiving IP radio; a switching determination unit that determines switching of a radio source from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other; a switching unit for switching the radio source from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other; Equipped with The switching determination unit is when determining that the reception status of the digital radio is good based on digital quality information indicating the reception quality of the digital radio, causing the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the digital radio; when it is determined that the reception condition of the digital radio is not good and that the reception condition of the analog radio is good based on analog quality information indicating the reception quality of the analog radio and the digital quality information, and when it is not estimated that the reception condition of the digital radio will become good, causing the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the analog radio; Radio broadcast receiving equipment.

2. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the broadcast radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

3. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the digital radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

4. when the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the digital radio; 3. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 2.

5. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the broadcast radio to the IP radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

6. when the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the broadcast radio to the IP radio; 5. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 2 or 4.

7. When the digital radio of the broadcast radio is selected as the radio source and the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the digital radio to the IP radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

8. when the digital radio of the broadcast radio is selected as the radio source and the switching determination unit determines that the reception condition of the analog radio is not good based on the analog quality information, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the digital radio to the IP radio.

7. A radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 2, claim 4 or claim 6.

9. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception conditions of the digital radio are not good based on the digital quality information, or when the switching determination unit determines that the reception conditions of the digital radio are good but the reception conditions of the analog radio are not good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, it causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the broadcast radio to the IP radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

10. When the switching determination unit determines that the reception conditions of the digital radio and the analog radio are both good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, it causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the broadcast radio.

2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

11. when the switching determination unit determines, based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, that the reception conditions of the digital radio and the reception conditions of the analog radio are both good, the switching determination unit causes the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the broadcast radio; 10. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 9.

12. The switching determination unit: when it is determined that the reception condition of the digital radio is good based on the digital quality information, causing the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the digital radio; when it is determined based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information that the reception condition of the digital radio is not good and the reception condition of the analog radio is good, causing the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the analog radio; 2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

13. The switching determination unit is when it is determined based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information that the reception condition of the digital radio is not good and that the reception condition of the analog radio is good, and when it is estimated that the reception condition of the digital radio will become good, waiting for a predetermined time, and then causing the switching unit to switch the radio source from the IP radio to the broadcast radio; 2. The radio broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1.

14. receiving digital quality information indicative of a reception quality of a digital radio; receiving analog quality information indicative of a reception quality of an analog radio; a determination step of determining whether to switch a radio source from one of broadcast radio and IP radio, which include the digital radio and the analog radio, to the other; a switching step of switching the radio source from one of the broadcast radio and the IP radio to the other; having When it is determined in the determining step that the reception condition of the digital radio is good based on the digital quality information, the switching step switches the radio source from the IP radio to the digital radio; If it is determined in the determining step that the reception condition of the digital radio is not good and the reception condition of the analog radio is good based on the analog quality information and the digital quality information, and if it is not estimated that the reception condition of the digital radio will become good, the switching step switches the radio source from the IP radio to the analog radio; How to switch radio sources.

Images