Receiving apparatus and receiving method for reducing a waiting period upon switching a program

1. A receiving apparatus, comprising:

a digital tuner section which selects a modulation signal having a predetermined frequency from a radio wave of a digital television broadcast, demodulates the modulation signal, and outputs a resultant transport stream;

a separation section which separates the transport stream into a video stream and an additional stream;

a decoder which decodes the video stream and outputs a picture signal;

a picture processing section which performs a predetermined picture process for the picture signal;

a control section which obtains program information containing information about a picture signal type of a program that is broadcast from the additional data and creates a program information database based on the program information, the program information database correlating program service identifications with program times, picture signal resolutions, and aspect ratios; and

a storage section which stores the program information database,

wherein the control section controls the predetermined picture process based on the picture signal type obtained with reference to the program information database in parallel with processes of the digital tuner section and the separation section,

wherein the picture processing section performs the predetermined picture process in parallel with processes of the digital tuner section and the separation section and starts the predetermined picture process for the picture signal at a time before the decoder completes decoding the video stream, and

wherein the picture processing section finishes the predetermined picture process before the decoder completes decoding the video stream, and a mute process is performed when the decoder decodes the video stream and the mute process is cancelled once the decoder completes decoding the video stream.

2. The receiving apparatus as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the control section searches the program information database for program information corresponding to a selected program based on a program selection operation.

3. The receiving apparatus as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the picture signal type of the video stream stored in a header of the video stream and the picture signal type of the program information corresponding to the video stream described in the program information database are compared, and

wherein when a compared result denotes that the picture signal types are different from each other, the picture process section performs the picture process based on the picture signal type stored in the header of the video stream.

4. The receiving apparatus as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the picture signal type includes a resolution and an aspect ratio of a corresponding picture signal.

5. A receiving method, comprising the steps of:

selecting a modulation signal having a predetermined frequency from a radio wave of a digital television broadcast, demodulating the modulation signal, and outputting a resultant transport stream;

separating the transport stream into a video stream and an additional stream;

decoding the video stream and outputting a picture signal;

performing a predetermined picture process for the picture signal;

obtaining program information containing information about a picture signal type of a program that is broadcast from the additional data and creating a program information database based on the program information, the program information database correlating program service identifications with program times, picture signal resolutions, and aspect ratios; and

storing the program information database,

wherein the control step is performed by controlling the predetermined picture process based on the picture signal type obtained with reference to the program information database in parallel with processes at the selecting step and the separating step,

wherein the performing step performs the predetermined picture process in parallel with processes of the selecting step and the separating step and starts the predetermined picture process for the picture signal at a time before the decoding step completes decoding the video stream, and

wherein the performing step finishes the predetermined picture process before the decoding step completes decoding the video stream, and a mute process is performed when the decoding step decodes the video stream and the mute process is cancelled once the decoding step completes decoding the video stream.