JP2003511946A - Assignment method of program location in receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] A method for allocating program locations to individual received broadcast signals according to a predetermined allocation rule when a broadcast signal is transmitted from a large number of transmitters, wherein at least a source country, a transmission network, Providing a broadcast signal with information regarding service identification information and a logical channel number, and receiving a program location according to an allocation rule based on a source country, a transmission network, a unique service identification information, and a logical channel number. It is characterized in that it is assigned to a broadcast signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention assigns a program location to an individual received broadcast signal in a receiver, preferably a digital receiver for terrestrial signals, when the broadcast signal is generated from multiple transmitters. A method and a receiver for such a broadcast signal.

Most current analog television receivers, such as television sets, video recorders, satellite receivers, have multiple program locations with programmable numbering, and the receive channel specific to this program location. Is assigned. That is, the specific settings of the receiver's tuner needed to receive the service on a particular channel are stored in the receiver, and the program location is stored, for example, on the remote controller or on the television set itself. , Used when selected by selecting the number corresponding to the program location.
Once a particular channel is assigned to the desired program location, the user can easily select a particular receive channel in the tuner by pressing a button on the remote controller and selecting the appropriate program location. . To make this as convenient as possible, users typically try to fill the program location so that the most frequently viewed services are assigned to the lowest numbers. This allows the user to select the most frequently viewed service by pressing just one button. Services that are rarely viewed are assigned program locations with less convenient numbers, such as two or more numbers.

When a user has more than one receiver, such as a television set in a house or a video recorder connected to the television set,
Obviously, the user wants to assign the same service to the same program location on all receivers in order to store the program location where a particular service can be found.

This aspect is becoming more important with the advent of digital terrestrial broadcasting,
In particular, it is important in the case of digital television in which five times as many services are transmitted as in conventional analog television broadcasting.

Since the terms used in the analog system and the digital system are not unified, the program location, the network, the channel, and the service are distinguished in the above description and the following description. There is.

By service is meant the transmitted information, including specific content, from a service provider, such as a national service of a public service television provider.

In the case of digital broadcasting, a network means one or more transmitters that transmit a package of consistent services. That is, the network represents several transmitters distributed throughout the country that fully transmit all services of national public service providers. The network may also represent a single local transmitter that sends a single service to a local area.

Conventionally, in the case of analog radio and television systems, the channel is
It refers to a predetermined frequency band or a band allocated for the transmission of signals carrying a service so as not to interfere with other signals carrying the same or different services. However, an understanding of such channels is insufficient for modern digital transmission systems in which signals from several services are transmitted on the same frequency using multiplexing techniques. Therefore, in the following description, the term "channel" does not represent an actual frequency or physical channel, but rather a multiplexed channel.

Program location means a pre-programmable location assigned tuning data that allows the reception of a particular service. For example, it represents the number of the location where these data are stored.

It is well known that most users find programming the receiver difficult, or at least annoying. Some users find programming very difficult and even impossible in some cases, so they have to resort to the help of others.

[0011] Programming difficulty or annoyance is due to initial programming of the receiver according to the channel on which the service is received on the receiver side, or when the receiver is moved to another place or receives the service. It does not change in any case of reprogramming the receiver when a channel change occurs.

Such changes include removal of services. The channel on which the removed service was received becomes empty and there is no service to be sent on this channel, or this often happens in systems with a limited number of actual channels. Used to send another service. When such a change occurs, the user suddenly finds a gap or new service at a given program location in the receiver. The user may not want such gaps or new services to appear at a particular program location. Thus, the user will experience the hassle of reprogramming his receiver. If the user has more than one receiver, for example a television set in the house, or a video recorder connected to the television set, the user may find that the same service is all of his own for the obvious reasons mentioned above. Reprogramming becomes increasingly complex because it wants to be assigned to the receiver of the.

As described above, this aspect gradually becomes more important as the number of services available in digital terrestrial broadcasting eventually increases.

In the case of an existing digital broadcasting system such as DVB, all transmission information identifies the country (original_network_id) and the network (network_id) that supply the service and the actual service transmitted. It is considered to be tagged with information (service_id). Information about the priority program location (logical_channel_number) is transmitted to uniformly assign the service to the program location in the receiver. Such a system is disclosed in, for example, the literature: Digital TV Group,
"Digital Terrestrial Television, Requirements for Interoperability", ver
sion3.01, October 7, 1998. This reference is DTG, Liss Mill, H
Available from ants, GU33 7BD, United Kingdom.

The logical channel number logical_channel_number is assigned to each country based on mutual agreement between different service providers. Thereby, within a country, logical channel numbers are uniquely assigned according to this agreement. Thus, the source network ID (original_network_id) and service ID (servic) of the same source
Services for e_id) have the same logical channel number.

Therefore, when the receiver is first initialized, it allocates all services received at a certain location to a predetermined program location. The receiver ideally allocates and accommodates all the services it receives according to the same scheme regardless of where the receiver is located in the country.

This system works well for only one country, but problems arise when services can be received from neighboring countries. This is because services from neighboring countries may have logical channel numbers that conflict with those used in the country where the receiver is installed. Also, service providers in all countries have agreed to use as many logical channel numbers as necessary, starting with 1.

Until now, it has been the responsibility of the user to resolve such conflicts. As each individual user attempts to resolve this conflict in various ways, the uniform allocation of services to program locations is compromised. Moreover, the user
Resolving these conflicts with each other, typically using a remote control and a menu displayed by the receiver, can be cumbersome and annoying to the user.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the user to fill in the gaps or rearrange the services if the services are removed or replaced with different services.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic service allocation method in which the above drawbacks are eliminated.

[0021] According to the invention, the above object is to provide an individual reception of program locations in a receiver, preferably a digital receiver for terrestrial signals, when the broadcast signal is generated from multiple transmitters. In the method of assigning to the broadcast signal, the information about at least the source country, the transmission network, the unique service identification information and the logical channel number is added to the broadcast signal, and the source country, the transmission network, the unique service identification information and This is accomplished by assigning the program location to the received broadcast signal according to an assignment rule based on the information received regarding the logical channel number.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the service corresponding to the received broadcast signal and identified by the unique service identification information first provides the service to the program location in the program location list corresponding to the logical channel number. By assigning
When the country priority information is added and the logical channel numbers conflict with each other, the priority is given to the broadcast signal including the information of the source country corresponding to the predetermined country priority information indicator.

This solves the problem of resolving conflicts between logical channel numbers sent from different countries. In particular, this conflict resolution is performed in a unified manner regardless of the user.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the services to which the country priority information is not provided are accommodated in a group of services having consecutive program locations in the list of program location numbers. The program location number is different from the logical channel number of the corresponding service.

This allows foreign services to be arranged in groups of services. The numbers these services get in the list of program locations are relatively high. So foreign services, especially those that are considered to be of little interest to the user, do not get a small program location number, especially a single digit number that the user can easily press on the remote controller. Never get

According to one embodiment of this aspect, services having the same source country are accommodated in the same subgroup within the group of services to which the country priority information is not attached.

This allows services from neighboring countries to be arranged by country. Thus, the user can easily remember where services in the programming location list where services from countries using a language they understand can be found.

In a preferred embodiment, if there is a conflict of logical channel number and source country, the signal with the highest signal strength is given priority.

This generally allows the user's local services to be housed in a convenient location within the list of program locations.

According to another embodiment, when there is a conflict between the logical channel number and the source country, priority is given to the broadcast signal containing the information of the source network corresponding to the predetermined network priority information indicator. To be

This allows the receiver to actively place priority local services at the most convenient location within the program location list. However, the receiver's geographical location information preferably needs to be entered by the user.

In a further preferred embodiment, services for which no local preference information is given are accommodated in a group of services having consecutive program locations in the list of program location numbers. The program location number is different from the logical channel number of the corresponding service.

Accordingly, all the local services except the priority local service are included in one group where the user can easily find the location, and thus can be easily found in the program location list.

According to a further preferred embodiment, groups of services to which neither country preference information nor local preference information is given are accommodated in a subgroup of groups of services relating to the same source country.

This makes it possible to arrange foreign local services as subgroups within a group corresponding to services from foreign countries.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a map is stored representing the correspondence between the logical channel numbers and the program locations to which the logical channel numbers are assigned.

This map is used to remember to which program location the logical channel number sent by the transmitter that is the sender of the received signal is assigned. As a result, the relationship between the program location and the logical channel number may be changed, for example, when the reception status changes, when the service transmitted on the transmitter network is reconfigured, or temporarily when the service is erroneously transmitted. If the service information confuses the receiver, it can be reconfigured later.

In addition, a map is stored that represents the transmission network and the program locations with which the transmission network is pre-associated.

This information is used to prioritize pre-stored networks when attempting to assign some alternative new networks to program locations.

Further, according to the present invention, the above object is a digital receiver for a terrestrial signal when a broadcast signal is generated from a large number of transmitters, the source country of the signal, the transmission network, A receiver having means for extracting information about the unique service identification information and the logical channel number, and means for allocating a received signal to a program location according to the extracted information and a set of allocation rules stored in the receiver. Achieved by

This allows users to program or reprogram their receivers at different geographical locations and maintain a high degree of uniformity in assigning services to a given program location. That is, to the extent that the available services correspond, the user will automatically find the same service at the same program location after reprogramming his receiver.

Further, the system provides national uniformity among receivers regarding the allocation of services to program locations, if a particular service is available.
That is, wherever the user moves, not only any receiver, i.e. the receiver in their own home, but also the receiver in a friend's or nearby residence, or in a club, pub or hospital. It is likely to find certain services of interest at various receivers, such as those in public places.

[0043]   Hereinafter, the present invention will be illustrated by a set of rules and will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the case of an existing digital broadcasting system such as DVB, all transmission information includes identification information identifying a country supplying a service (source network ID) and identification information identifying a network (network ID). It is considered to be tagged with the information (service ID) that identifies the actual service transmitted. Information about priority program locations (logical channel numbers) is sent to uniformly assign services to program locations in the receiver.

Logical channel numbers are assigned country by country based on mutual agreement between various service providers. Preferably, the allocation is done with the appropriate coordinating authority.
As a result, within a country, logical channel numbers are uniquely assigned according to the agreement. Therefore, services with the same source network ID and service ID take the same logical channel number.

These logical channel numbers are used as is in the receiver as an indicator of the program location to which the service should be assigned.

[0047]   Therefore, broadcasters must comply with the following rules.

To ensure that the result of the allocation of all services received at a given location is easy to remember and free of gaps, the logical channel number is 3 under certain circumstances. Even if a digit number is required, it is preferably 2 digits or less.
Preferably, the logical channel numbers are assigned starting from 01. National public service providers typically include the number 01 in their names, so it is natural to assign the number 01 to the oldest service from a national public service provider. Other services, such as commercial broadcasters, take large numbers, such as the numbers contained in the names of commercial broadcasters.

Within the range of one network, logical channel numbers are assigned so as not to overlap. Services having the same network ID / service ID have the same logical channel number. To define local differences in the same service, for example,
The same logical channel number can be used in adjacent networks. This facilitates the definition of a uniform and small numbering scheme that takes into account national / local / local channel numbering. In addition, services with the same logical channel number inform the receiver that they are similar services, eg, different regions.

The receiver can use the signal strength to resolve contention between services in different regions.

Based on the rules outlined above, television sets, set tops,
Manufacturers of receivers such as boxes and video recorders incorporate automatic channel numbering into receivers for broadcasters. However, in order for the manufacturer to properly implement the automatic channel numbering function according to the present invention, it is necessary to follow a set of receiver rules.

When the receiver service list is first initialized, that is, when scanning for any channel candidates to receive a signal, the receiver allocates services according to the following rules.

Rule I1) The receiver attempts to assign the service to the program location in the program location list corresponding to the logical channel number for the service. If there is only one service for a particular logical channel number, this service will
Assigned to this program location in the list.

However, there are basically two types of competition between the same logical channel numbers.
The first conflict is a conflict between countries in which networks in different countries send the same logical channel number. The second contention is that two different domestic networks send the same service.

Rule I2) Therefore, the receiver resolves conflicts between services that use the same logical channel number.

The country priority information is preferably given to services having the same priority source network ID. The source network ID is an efficient country code that ensures that the services initially assigned to the receiver's program location are all from the user's country. This country code is assumed to be set by the receiver. Preferably, competing services that include low priority foreign source network IDs are grouped together, preferably all services have one or more in the program location list with the same source network ID. Placed in a group of. Within those groups, the service with the lowest logical channel number is assigned the lowest program location number in the program location list.

If desired, the manufacturer may find that the array of groups of services with foreign source network IDs is most likely to be understood by the user in the languages used in foreign countries, especially in neighboring countries. It may be an array to think about.

The following priority information is given to the same service in different regions. Typically, such same regional services not only send common, comprehensive items such as movies, entertainment, and national news, but also time slots for different items such as local or regional news. Have. All networks should broadcast non-conflicting numbers, so these numbers can be used to resolve conflicts when services are sent from different networks. This conflict resolution is performed, for example, based on the priority network specified by the user. Alternatively, the contention resolution is based on the signal strength of the received service. That is, among services having the same logical channel number and source network, the service having the maximum signal strength is considered to be the local version service.

Rule I3) For other services having the same logical channel number and source network ID, these services are preferably arranged in groups in the program location list. These groups are the source network ID
Irrespective of whether it has an allocation location in the program allocation list or is arranged as a sub-group within a group of services with the same source network ID. If certain priorities are recognized, it is desirable to preserve this priority information.

A rule I4) service may not have an associated logical channel number, so if the service is given a source network ID, the service is under rule I1) or I2). It is placed after the corresponding group of services assigned to the program location.

Rule I5) If the service does not have a source network ID, the service is placed at the end of the list. That is, the service is assigned to a location in the list of program locations that has a higher number than other services identified so far during the initialization procedure.

By using these rules, the receiver assigns services to the list of program locations in a simple and globally uniform format. The degree of coherence among receivers from different manufacturers depends on how much the manufacturers agree with the scheme used for grouping and subgrouping under Rule I2).

The above rules I1) to I5) are implemented in the receiver, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 3 and described in detail below. The flow chart shown in FIG. 1 together with the flow charts shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B represent an example of the procedure that the receiver performs during initialization. The flowchart shown in FIG. 1 is combined with the flowchart shown in FIG. 2A or 2B. Therefore, a flowchart combining FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A,
In addition, both the flowcharts that combine FIG. 1 and FIG. 2B show the procedure of the initialization processing in the receiver.

The initialization process combining FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A and the initialization process combining FIG. 1 and FIG. 2B are different in corresponding step 109a and step 109b, and the other steps are the same.

Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG. The initialization process performed by the receiver may be performed at step 100, for example, by first turning on the receiver, or by the user selecting an initialization or re-initialization option in the menu. Begins with. At this stage, the program location list stored in the internal nonvolatile memory of the receiver is assumed to be empty.

The receiver searches in step 101 until it finds an available channel for the service. This service will be referred to as a new service (new service) until it is assigned to a program location in the program location list in the following description.

When the receiver finds a new service, it checks the logical channel number contained in the signal in step 103. If there is an empty program location in the program location list that has the same number as the logical channel number, the receiver will
Alternatively, the process proceeds to any step 104 in FIG. 2B to allocate the new service to the channel.

The receiver continues to check for new services in step 101 until it finds another new service. This cycle is until the receiver finds a new service with a logical channel number that matches a free program location in the program location list, or in some cases, the receiver exhausts all available channels. Is repeated until. If the receiver has exhausted all available channels, it cannot find a new service and ends the initialization process at step 112.

If the receiver finds a new service that matches the already used program location, ie the answer to step 103 is negative (N), the receiver proceeds to step 105.

In step 105, the receiver determines the source network I contained in the signal.
Check if D matches the predetermined country preference information stored in the receiver. The country priority information stored in the receiver is preferably set by the manufacturer before shipping to a particular country, but may be manually changed by the user.

If the source network ID is different from the country priority information, the service is identified as a foreign service and, in step 106, is placed in a group of foreign services. The receiver returns to step 101 to check for new services.

If it is found in step 105 that the source network ID matches the country priority information, the receiver proceeds to step 107 and checks the source network ID of the existing service in the program location list.

If the source network ID of the new service does not match the country priority information stored in the receiver, the receiver moves the existing service to the appropriate foreign service group in step 108. After moving the existing service, the receiver proceeds to step 104 of FIG. 2A or 2B and puts the new service in the place in the program location list corresponding to the logical channel number of the new service.

If the existing service is not a foreign service, the existing service has a source network ID that matches the country priority information stored in the receiver. In this case, the reply to step 107 is positive and the receiver proceeds to step 109a in FIG. 2A or step 109b in FIG. 2B.

In step 109a, the receiver checks which of the existing service signal and the new service signal has a higher signal strength. The service with the higher signal strength is the narrower range of services and is therefore considered the local version service of interest. If the new service does not have greater signal strength than the services already present in the program location list, the interest in the new service is considered low. In that case, the receiver proceeds to step 110 to provide the new service.
Group together with other local versions of this service. It should be noted that such groups may only have one service.

After assigning a place in the program location list to the new service, the receiver returns to step 101 to check for the new service.

If, in step 109a, the new service is found to have a stronger signal strength than the existing service, the receiver proceeds to step 111 and moves the existing service in the program location list to a place in the group of local services. Moving. Like foreign service groups, local service groups may consist of only one service.

After moving the existing service to a new location in the program location list, the receiver assigns the new service to the program location number corresponding to the logical channel number of this service in step 104 and returns to step 101, Explore the following new services.

Instead of using the signal strength, the network ID contained in the signal may be used as a criterion for identifying the most localized service. For this alternative,
The receiver contains at least certain stored local preference information. 2B, the network ID of the existing service and the network ID of the new service are compared with predetermined local priority information. If the new service does not match the local preference information, the new service is placed in the group of local services in step 110 and the new service is examined in step 101.

On the other hand, when the new service has priority over the existing service, the existing service is moved to the local version service group in step 111 as described above, and the new service is the program corresponding to the logical channel number of the service. It is assigned to a location and the new service is checked in step 101.

During the initialization investigation, if the receiver finds an unidentified service, that is, if the signal does not contain the appropriate identifying information, then that service is not found in the program location list with any other found service. Will be placed lower than the service. Preferably, this process is performed in a step (not shown) between steps 102 and 103.

Not all users want to instruct their receivers in the allocation scheme. For example, some users may want to group services according to topic, such as a group of services that focuses primarily on sports, a group of services that primarily deals with music, and a group of services that primarily targets children. is there. Therefore, the receiver according to the invention needs to allow the user to group services according to topic. The receiver according to the invention also allows the user to re-initialize the channel list, eg in case the user moves to another country outside the reach of the service he was previously receiving.

If the changes are less drastic, eg one or more existing networks are reconfigured by adding or deleting services, eg by moving the services to another network, or providing new services. When a whole new network is introduced, the allocation of services to program locations within the receiver will change.

When reconfiguring an existing network, the receiver must follow the rules below.

Rule C1) If the receiver detects a change in the service being offered, eg the addition or deletion of a large number of services, then the receiver is first aggressive when it is permanently removed. Remove all services that can be determined to. New services will be added after the services have been removed.

Rule C2) After removing the deleted service, the receiver looks for an appropriate alternative service to the previously removed service according to Rule C1).

Rule C3) In searching for a suitable alternative service, the receiver looks for an inherited service that has the same combination of logical channel number, network ID and source network ID as the service previously removed from the program location list. .

Rule C4) The receiver replaces the service of the other network that has become unavailable with the remaining new service, that is, the service in which only the logical channel number and the source network ID match. During this replacement, the receiver follows the initialization process rule I1) to select the most suitable service.

If the receiver detects a new service to add to the program location list, then the receiver must obey the following rules.

Rule A1) The receiver first attempts to assign a program location according to the replacement service rules C3) and C4).

Rule A2) The receiver tries to allocate a new service according to the logical channel number of the new service.

Rule A3) If there is a conflict, the receiver attempts to assign the service to an empty program location.

By applying the replacement rules C1) to C4) and the additional rules A1) to A3), the new service is a service that the user is familiar with before the change and the user wants to find it. It is guaranteed to be assigned to the program location list that corresponds to the service as high as possible. It turns out that the new service was added to the end of the program location list, while if the user actually wanted to assign the new service to another location, the user would
The new service is free to move around manually and in some cases the receiver may be re-initialized.

Finally, if the service should be removed from the program location list, the receiver
Visually remove the service from the list, but save information about the removed service's logical channel number, source network ID, network ID and service ID. This information can be used the next time a change is made and the substitution rules C1) to C4) or the addition rules A1) to A3) apply.

After applying the above rules in the receiver, if there are new services that are not allocated, the receiver follows the general allocation rules I1) to I5) used during the initialization of the receiver. Allocate a new service. However, the user is always hoping that the service he wants to find will be found in the place he anticipates, so that the receiver will not be in conflict with his existing quota so that he does not conflict with his expectations. Does not change.

However, when there is an empty program location, there are two possible situations depending on the priority information. One situation is to always leave a gap so that a replacement can be made according to the replacement and addition rules above. Another situation fills these gaps with new services, preventing deleted services from being replaced later by other services in accordance with the rules. Thus, the user's interest in not leaving gaps in the program location list is more important than the possibility that the service may be moved to another program location due to the temporary removal of the service and the deprivation of its location. Is considered important. From the viewpoint of uniformity among receivers from various manufacturers, it is decided whether or not to leave a gap, and an agreement is made between the manufacturers.

FIG. 3 schematically shows an embodiment of a receiver 200 in which the method according to the invention described above can be implemented.

The receiver 200 receives the input 201 in the form of a television signal. In the present embodiment, the input signal 201 is received by the antenna, but in principle, the input signal 201 may be received via the cable network or may be received by the satellite dish antenna.

The tuner and decoder means 202 detects the received input 201 and converts it into a digital signal. In the case of this example, this digital signal represents the audio and video of a television signal. Of course, this digital signal may be any type of digital signal, for example, a digital signal representing a computer program or a home page on the Internet.

A digital signal representing audio and video of a television signal is output by the output circuit 207.
At, it is converted into an output signal in the form of a television signal, for example as used in a conventional analog television receiver. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the form of the receiver of this embodiment, and the receiver may be a part of a digital television or a video recorder from which a television signal is output.

The tuner and decoder means 202 is controlled by the control unit 203. Preferably, the control unit 203 comprises a microprocessor that implements various functions, including initialization and update of the program location list stored in the non-volatile memory 204, among others. The receiver 200 preferably further comprises a non-volatile memory 205 for storing data relating to country priority information and local priority information. The non-volatile memory 205 that stores data related to country priority information and local priority information is displayed separately from the memory 204 that stores the program location list for convenience of description, but the memory 204 and the memory 205 are physically The same memory chip may be used.

The control unit 203 includes a user input 209 and a user interface 2
Controlled by the user via 06. The user interface responds interactively to user commands, on the one hand, by receiving input commands from the user, for example issued by means of a remote controller, and, on the other hand, displaying corresponding menus on the output circuit 207. To do. These menus are displayed, for example, on the television set connected to the receiver 200.

The user issues a command, such as a receiver initialization command, to the control unit by user input by using the remote controller. In response to such an initialization command, the control unit clears the program location in memory 204. The control unit controls the tuner and decoder means and causes it to examine all available channels according to the procedure as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2A or Figures 1 and 2B. If the procedure according to FIGS. 1 and 2B is used, the priority information stored in the memory 205 is used. If desired, the user can change the priority information via the user input and control unit 203. In particular, the user may change the priority information before performing the initialization. After initialization, the user inputs the memory 2 via the user input and control unit 203.
The contents of the program location list in 04 can be changed manually. The user causes the control unit 203 to investigate changes, additions and deletions regarding the received service. The control unit then updates the program location list according to rules A1) to A3) or rules C1) to C4).

[0104]   Now consider the major issues of the above system.

The system automatically assigns services to the receiver's program location list in terms of the user's country and local preference information.

The country identification between the services is performed by allowing the receiver to use the information on the air in order to identify the broadcasting from various countries by using the transmission source network ID which is scheduled to be transmitted by the terrestrial DVB system. Done by

The local identification is performed by the network I scheduled to be transmitted by the terrestrial DVB system.
This is done by having the receiver use the information on the air to identify broadcasts from various networks using D.

The method of the present invention keeps the list of program locations as constant as possible in the context of changing network configurations, changing receiver locations, or changing reception conditions. This is accomplished by remembering the previous service and looking for a service that replaces the previous service. As a result, the system is robust to any situation where service is accidentally removed, as long as such errors are recovered in time.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]   3 is a first half of a flowchart showing the common part of two embodiments of the present invention.

[FIG. 2A]   It is the latter half of the flowchart of FIG. 1 for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B   It is the latter half of the flowchart of FIG. 1 for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 3]   It is a schematic block diagram of the receiver which implements this invention.

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. A broadcasting signal transmitted from a number of transmitters is received by a receiver and received by a receiver, to which at least information on a source country of a broadcast signal, a transmission network, unique service identification information and a logical channel number is added. A program location list according to an allocation rule based on information received at a receiver regarding a source country, a transmission network, a unique service identification information and a logical channel number. Assigning the program location of the program to the received broadcast signal. 2. The service corresponding to the received broadcast signal, identified by the unique service identification information, is originally assigned by assigning the service to the program location in the program location list corresponding to the logical channel number. The priority information is added to the broadcast signal including the information of the source country corresponding to the sign of the predetermined country priority information when the priority information is added and the logical channel numbers conflict with each other. the method of. 3. The service to which the country priority information is not provided is accommodated in a group of services having consecutive program location numbers in a list of program location numbers different from the corresponding logical channel number. The method according to claim 2, wherein 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein services having the same source country are arranged in the same subgroup within the group of services to which country priority information is not attached. 5. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that if there is a conflict between the logical channel number and the source country, the signal with the highest signal strength is given priority information. . 6. The local priority information is added to a broadcast signal including information about a transmission network corresponding to a predetermined network priority information indicator when there is competition between a logical channel number and a source country. Item 5. The method according to any one of Items 2 to 4. 7. The service to which the local priority information is not added is accommodated in a group of services having consecutive program locations in a list of program location numbers different from the logical channel number of the corresponding service. The method according to claim 6, wherein 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the group of services to which neither the country priority information nor the local priority information is given is accommodated in a subgroup of the group of services related to the same source country. 9. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a map is stored which represents the correspondence between the logical channel numbers and the program locations to which the logical channel numbers are assigned. 10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that a map is stored representing the transport network and the program locations with which the transport network is pre-associated. 11. A means for extracting information about a source country, a transmission network, a unique service identification information and a logical channel number of a digital broadcasting signal such as a digital terrestrial television signal, and having a plurality of program locations. A receiver for digital broadcast signals, further comprising initialization means for allocating the received signal to a program location according to a set of extracted information and an allocation rule stored in the receiver. Machine. 12. The initialization means assigns a service to a program location in a program location list corresponding to a received broadcast signal, and when a logical channel number conflicts, responds to an indicator of predetermined country priority information. 12. The receiver according to claim 11, wherein priority information is added to the broadcast signal including information on the source country. 13. The initialization means sets a service for which country priority information is not provided,
13. A receiver as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that it is accommodated in a group of services having consecutive program location numbers in a list of program location numbers different from the corresponding logical channel number. 14. The initialization means arranges services having the same source country in the same subgroup within the group of services to which the country priority information is not provided. Receiver. 15. The initialization means assigns priority information to a signal having the highest signal strength when there is a conflict between the logical channel number and the source country. The receiver described in the item. 16. When there is a conflict between a logical channel number and a source country, the initialization means adds priority information to a broadcast signal including information about a transmission network corresponding to a predetermined network priority information indicator. Claims 12 to 1
4. The receiver according to claim 4. 17. The initialization means assigns a service to which local priority information is not added to a group of services having consecutive program location numbers in a list of program location numbers different from the logical channel number of the corresponding service. The receiver according to claim 16, which is accommodated. 18. The receiver according to claim 17, wherein the initialization means accommodates a group of services to which neither country priority information nor local area priority information is added, in a subgroup of the service group related to the same source country. . 19. The receiver according to claim 11, further comprising a map that stores a correspondence relationship between a logical channel number and a program location to which the logical channel number is assigned. 20. A map storing a transport network and program locations associated with the transport network in advance.
9. The receiver according to item 9.