FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for automatically adjusting settings of a
television. In particular the invention deals with automatic adjustment of volume and
other settings like brightness, contrast etc of a television based on the content being
displayed.
Although the invention herein described is mainly in respect of a television, it should be
understood that similar method can be applied to other devices like personal media
players, digital photo frame, PC or other similar devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Systems and methods are known for establishing television settings. US Patent 7,009,
659 B2 discloses a method and a system which focus on the time and geographical
location where the audio / video characteristics of the content to be broadcast can be
predefined by the user based on the time of the day, day of the week, date of the year,

geographical location or location of the display device relative to a reference point. The
system disclosed is capable of learning from the viewing pattern of the user and if the
video / audio characteristics are set to the same value at a particular time of the day, the
system will link every day that value to that time of the day. However, for adjusting the
settings the system does not consider the content being displayed and the parameters
are not changed depending on the content being shown in the particular channel at that
point of time.
US Patent 5, 446, 505 describes a system and method where time tuned video and audio
can be obtained from the television with an audio / video signal adjusting circuit. The
system allows the user to select a 'program mode' (type of content like movie, sports) for
the program that the user intends to view on a television, based upon which the system
adjusts different video / audio characteristics of the content to be broadcast so that the
video / audio quality of the content is the best that is possible. The user can select the
program mode with the help of the mode selection key present on the remote control for
operating the television.

This document also does not consider the content being displayed and does not change
the parameters automatically depending on the content being shown in the
particularchannel at that point of time. This gives only about having different preset
settings by the user. The user needs to manually select any one of the available settings.
This will be applied to all channels regardless of the channel number and its contents.
Thus, there is a need for automatically adjusting the television settings based on the
content being displayed to a viewer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to automatically adjust the audio / video
settings of a television like volume, brightness, color, etc., based on the content being
displayed.

Thus in a preferred embodiment of the present invention it relates to a method for
automatically adjusting settings of a television based on content being displayed
comprising the steps of: configuring the television to desired levels of settings based on
content type; selecting a particular channel the user wishes to view; and automatically
adjusting the television settings based on the selected channel / content to corresponding
levels of settings configured for the selected channel.
BREIF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The invention can now be described in detail with the help of the figures of the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 shows an example of a content type and corresponding setting levels.
Figure 2 shows in flow-chart for operation of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As shown in Figure 1, the user can set the settings level for different types of programs
e.g. for music, he can set it at level 60 for volume, 80 for contrast, 75 for color
temperature and 90 for bass. Similarly for sports, he can set the settings to 45-90-80-65
respectively.
As shown in Figure 2 in one embodiment of the invention, to start with the user switches
his television on and he goes to auto configure option for volume. He is shown a list of
content type available as in Figure 1. He can configure the volume level for each content
type. He is shown advanced auto configure settings. User can do similar settings for
other parameters of the television like brightness, contrast, color etc. When the
particular channel / content comes on the television (at a particular set time or
otherwise), the parameter is automatically adjusted. Depending on the setting, as the
language of the audio stream, the volume will be changed automatically. Depending on
the content that is currently coming on the stream the parameter will be changed
automatically. The display panel can be switched OFF depending on the content playing
/ channel.

Television users can configure the volume and other settings based on the content type
so that the settings will automatically switch depending upon what kind of program user
is watching. User can configure the settings based on the combination of the time of the
day and its contents, for example, the ambient noise is low at night, so the user can
configure the settings such that volume of sports channel will automatically come down
at night. Similarly the brightness of the channel can also decrease at night. On the other
hand when a music channel is watched it may be needed to automatically set to higher
level at the same time. A combination of content type, time of the day (or day of the
week, date of the year etc.) can be used to configure the settings. All the settings of the
television can be changed. Turning off the sound / display panel and other controlling of
television can also be done depending on content as well as time or its combination.
DTV signal has lot of information about the program being broadcast like program ID
program information, whether it's a movie, music or any other program. A user may
want to adjust his television settings automatically based on what the user is watching.

For example, if one is viewing a music channel, he may want to adjust the volume higher
than while viewing a news channel. The signal may also contain the name of the channel
and a user can pre-define the volume level for each channel. So as soon as the user
switches channel to say a movie channel, the volume of the channel will change to the
level defined by the user for movie channel.
The invention can also look at the EPG data of the signal and then automatically adjust
the television settings depending on the program that is running. The language
information can also be looked into and the changes can be made automatically in the
audio setting depending on the language. For instance if the audio stream is in Hindi we
can set a different volume level than when the audio stream is English. The invention
can be used to turn on / off the display panel depending on the content / channel. For
example when the user switches enables the panel OFF on music channel, when any
music channel is selected the display panel will be automatically turned off. Similarly the
woofer can be turned ON whenever a music and the audio can be muted depending on
the channel / content.

Similarly, the adjustment can be made to brightness, contrast, color any other parameter
of the television. The combination can be combined with other inputs like time of the
day and the stream / channel information / contents can be used to adjust the display /
audio parameters.
The contents can be identified by analyzing the DTV stream or from the information
provided by the signal. The invention can be extended to any display device with
appropriate modification. The information can also be provided by the teletext / content
of an analog television.

WE CLAIM
1. A method for automatically adjusting settings of a television based on content
being displayed,comprising the steps of:
- configuring the television to desired levels of settings based on content
type;
- selecting a particular channel the user wishes to view; and
- automatically adjusting the television settings based on the selected
channel / content to corresponding levels of settings configured for the
selected channel.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said configuration of the television
based on channel type / content comprises specifying by user the desired levels
of settings for brightness, contrast, color, display panel ON / OFF, sound ON /
OFF or any other volume and bass.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the levels of television settings can be
configured on the basis of the channel / content as well as the time of the day, or
a combination thereof.
4. The method as claimed in the preceding claims, wherein the desired levels of
television settings can be preset by the manufacturer.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein content of the channel is taken from
the channel name, channel ID, language, EPG, etc.
6. A method for automatically adjusting settings of a television based on content
being displayed, substantially as herein described and illustrated in the figures of
the accompanying drawings.

The main object of the present invention is to automatically adjust the audio / video
settings of a television like volume, brightness, color, etc., based on the content being displayed.
Thus in a preferred embodiment of the present invention it relates to a method for
automatically adjusting settings of a television based on content being displayed comprising the steps of: configuring the television to desired levels of settings based on content type; selecting a particular channel the user wishes to view; and automatically adjusting the television settings based on the selected channel / content to corresponding levels of settings configured for the selected channel.