KR100260426B1 - Method for limiting channels of television set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for restricting television channels is to prevent children from watching television recklessly and reduce steps for restricting television channels based on the kind of channels. CONSTITUTION: A user inputs a password setup key through a key input unit to a micom. The micom receives a user's password(20) and checks whether or not the user's password is correct(22). If the user's password is incorrect, a channel setup operation is not performed. If the user's password is correct, the channel setup operation is performed. A previous channel password and corresponding channel numbers are cleared and a message for requesting a new channel password and corresponding channel numbers is displayed on a CRT screen in a form of OSD(on screen display) texts(24). The channel password and the channel number are inputted by the user(26). A message for inquiring a setup of another channel password and channel number is displayed(28). If the setup is requested, the steps from 24 to 28 are repeated(30). A restriction of television channels is newly set up according to the inputted channel password and the channel numbers.

Description

How to restrict watching channel of TV {METHOD FOR LIMITING CHANNELS OF TELEVISION SET}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for outputting a broadcast program of a television, and more particularly to a method for restricting a television viewing channel for restricting viewing channels according to a user to prevent indiscriminate viewing of a specific layer.

In today's multi-channel era of cable television, television channels are diversified, and dedicated channels for movies, entertainment, sports music, etc. have been opened to attract viewers in various ways.

The general television simply displays the various broadcasts transmitted from the broadcasting stations by simply turning on the power, so that anyone can freely watch the broadcast by selecting the desired television channel.

However, the number of adult-oriented programs or excessively violent programs are increasing among television programs, and in the case of cable TV, there are many adult-only channels in which only adult-only programs are broadcast.

Therefore, minors such as children and adolescents cannot seriously limit the indiscriminate viewing of adult programs as described above, causing serious problems.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for restricting a viewing channel of a television, which enables minors such as children and teenagers to prevent indiscriminate viewing of a broadcast program.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a process for encrypting a specific group of channels in advance, and during operation in the encrypted channel during operation, first receiving a confirmation input of a password set in the encryption process; When the password is input, a process of operating in the encrypted channel is performed.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a television related unit to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a view for explaining viewing channel restriction according to an aspect of the present invention;

3 is a control flowchart of a microcomputer in a process of setting a channel password for viewing channel restriction according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a control flowchart of a microcomputer in a viewing channel restriction operation process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a control flowchart of a microcomputer in a viewing channel restriction operation process according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, specific matters such as specific processes are shown, which are provided to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the specific matters may be modified or changed within the scope of the present invention. It is self-evident to those of ordinary knowledge in Esau.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a television related unit to which the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 1, a part of a television related to the present invention includes a key input unit 10, a microcomputer 12, an OSD processor 14, a video processor 16, and the like.

The key input unit 10 includes numeric keys and various function keys, and when a user inputs a key, the key input unit 10 applies a key input signal of the corresponding key to the microcomputer 12.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the microcomputer 12 includes a ROM in which an operation program for setting a viewing channel restriction setting and a viewing channel restriction operation is stored, and a RAM temporarily storing data generated when the program is executed. To control the overall operation of the television, and to generate the clock, data, and strobe signals for realizing the OSD (On Screen Display) function and apply the same to the OSD processor 14.

The OSD processor 14 receives the clock, data, and strobe signals output from the microcomputer 12 to generate OSD text data, and apply the same to the video processor 16.

The video processor 16 receives OSD text data outputted from the OSD processor 14 and mixes the video signal with the television video signal to display the OSD text as a picture on the CRT.

The television having the configuration and operation as described above performs the viewing channel restriction operation according to the present invention. First, the limitation of the viewing channel according to the characteristics of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2 is a view for explaining viewing channel restriction according to an aspect of the present invention.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a channel that can be viewed on a television will be described in the case where there are 10 channels, Ch0, Ch1, Ch2, ..., Ch8, and Ch9. In the present invention, the viewing channel is limited by classifying the channels by encrypting them. As shown in FIG. 2, the channel group A includes all channels, and the channel group B includes four channels of channels Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, and Ch6. A channel is included, and the channel group C includes two channels of channels Ch6 and Ch7. Channel Ch6 is included in both channel group B and channel group C.

Since a password is set for each channel group, a user must input a password set for each channel group to operate a television in channels belonging to each channel group. The password setting for each channel group may be set by an adult who purchases a television, and the purchaser is provided with a password corresponding to an identity for encrypting the television's viewing channel at the time of first purchase of the television, and the password is obtained from the manufacturer. By setting the TV to the television, the viewing channel encryption setting operation of the television can be accessed.

If you operate a television that is limited to viewing channels with the viewing channel encryption setting, viewers who know the password of channel group A can watch programs on all channels, while viewers who know only the password of channel group C are broadcast on channels Ch6 and Ch7. Only the program can be watched.

By setting a password for each channel group, a password is set by grouping similar types of channels into a group, thereby providing a level of viewing restriction for each type of channels. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 above, the person with the highest viewing status (e.g., an adult) knows the password of channel group A and then has the viewing status (e.g., 18). 21 years old) may know the ciphers of the channel group B and the channel group C, and the person having the lowest viewing status (for example, 14 to 17 years old) may know only the cipher of the channel group C.

Hereinafter, the viewing channel restriction setting and viewing channel restriction operation in the television will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a microcomputer control of a channel password setting process for viewing channel restriction according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the viewing channel restriction setting may be performed by inputting an encryption setting key provided in the key input unit 10 by a user. In addition, an item for instructing such a password setting operation may be further configured in a menu for setting an operation of a television, so that the user may select it.

The microcomputer 12 receiving the key input signal for setting such a password first receives a password for confirming the identity of the current user from the user in step 20. Since the setting of the viewing channel restriction is preferably performed when the user is the person who has the highest identity in the use of the television, the purchaser usually sets a password informing the user of his identity when the television is purchased, and then the operation of the viewing channel restriction setting is performed. In this case, the television confirms the user's identity so that a person other than the purchaser (for example, a minor) cannot set the viewing channel restriction.

When the password indicating the identity is input from the user, the microcomputer 12 compares the password with the preset password in step 22 and checks whether the password is correct. If the password is not correct, the microcomputer 12 ends without performing the subsequent watching channel setting operation. The subsequent viewing channel setting operation is performed.

In step 24, all previous channel passwords and corresponding channel numbers are cleared, and a message requesting input of a new channel password and the corresponding channel number is output. Such a message may be output in the form of OSD text through a CRT as shown in FIG. 1. The channel password refers to a cipher that can access each channel group of the channel groups A, B, and C as shown in FIG. 2, and the corresponding channel number may be a channel number belonging to each channel group. Thereafter, in step 26, the channel password and the channel are received from the user. For example, the user may designate "AAAA" as the channel password through the key input unit 10 configured as a remote controller (remote controller) or the like and designate "1, 2, 3" as the corresponding channel number.

Thereafter, in step 28, a message for prompting the user for the setting of the other channel password and the channel number is displayed and displayed. If there is another channel password setting from the user, the process returns to step 24 and repeats the steps 26 and 28. In the above process, the user may designate "BBBB" as another channel password, and designate "3, 4, 5" as the corresponding channel number.

When the input of the channel password and the corresponding channel number is completed, the microcomputer 12 checks this in step 30, and then proceeds to step 32, and resets the viewing channel restriction to the input channel password and the corresponding channel number in step 32.

In the above-described process, the viewing channel restriction setting is made. Meanwhile, if the user terminates without inputting the channel password and the corresponding channel number, the microcomputer 12 determines that the operation of viewing channel restriction is not performed. It may be.

Hereinafter, the operation of the microcomputer 12 by the viewing channel restriction set in the above-described process will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 4 is a control flowchart of a microcomputer in a viewing channel restriction operation process according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the microcomputer 12 detects power on of the television and starts the viewing channel restriction operation.

First, in step 40, the microcomputer 12 checks the currently set channel password. If there is no set channel password, the microcomputer 12 determines this in step 42, and then proceeds to step 52, and performs a general operation.

In step 44, a message requesting input from the user of the channel password is output, and in step 46, the channel password is received from the user. After checking whether there is a match with the input channel password among the channel passwords set in step 48, if there is no match, the process proceeds to step 44 where the channel password is inputted, and if there is a match, In step 50, the operation range of the television is set to perform the broadcast program broadcasting operation only on the corresponding channel of the matched channel password. Then, the operation proceeds to step 52 to perform the general operation of the television. That is, as an example in the process shown in FIG. 3, if the received channel password is "AAAA", then the television operates only on channels "1, 2, 3".

In the above process, if the channel password inputted from the user does not match the preset channel password, the channel of the television is set to one of channels other than the corresponding channels of the preset channel password. It can also be configured.

On the other hand, with reference to the accompanying drawings another embodiment according to a feature of the present invention of the operation of the microcomputer 12 by the viewing channel restriction as described above will be described. 5 is a control flowchart of a microcomputer in a viewing channel restriction operation process according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, the microcomputer 12 detects that the channel is changed by the manipulation of the key input unit 10 by the user during the sensing or operation of the power-on of the television, and starts the viewing channel limiting operation according to another embodiment of the present invention. do.

First, in step 60, the microcomputer 12 checks whether the current channel is the channel password set channel, and if the channel password is set channel is determined in step 62 and proceeds to step 64.

In step 64, a message for requesting input of the channel password is output, and in step 66, the channel password is received from the user. If it is determined in step 68 that the received channel password matches the channel password set in the current channel, if it matches, then proceeds to step 74 to perform a general operation, if it does not match, proceed to step 70 message not available In step 72, the channel is automatically changed to one channel for which the channel password is not set, and then the procedure proceeds to step 74 to perform the operation on the corresponding channel.

As described above, the operation of the microcomputer 12 by the viewing channel restriction according to the feature of the present invention is performed.

As described above, according to the present invention, a process of encrypting a certain channel group in advance in a television, a process of receiving a confirmation input of a password set in the encryption process first in a subsequent operation in the encrypted channel, and When there is an input, a process for operating the encrypted channel is performed to prevent minors such as children and teenagers from indiscriminately watching the broadcast program. In addition, by setting a password for each channel group, by setting a password by grouping similar types of channels into a group, it is possible to give a step of viewing restriction for each type of channels.

Claims (6)

In the viewing channel restriction method of the television, A password setting process of setting a password in each of a plurality of channel groups including at least one channel among which the user wants to restrict viewing; A confirmation input process of receiving a confirmation input from the user in advance if the corresponding channel is a channel belonging to the channel group during operation on each channel of the television; And if the password inputted through the confirmation input coincides with the corresponding password set as the corresponding channel group, performing the operation on the corresponding channel. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel that the user wants to restrict the viewing of may belong to the plurality of channel units in duplicate. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein in the performing of the operation, when the corresponding channel belongs to the channel group in duplicate, the password set in any one of the overlapping channel groups matches the password inputted through the confirmation input. Viewing channel restriction method characterized in that the operation on the channel. The viewing process according to claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving a confirmation input from the user in advance for confirmation of the corresponding password of each channel when operating on each channel of the television is performed when the television is turned on or when the channel is changed. Channel restriction method. In the viewing channel restriction method of the television, Setting a password in each of a plurality of channel groups consisting of at least one channel among which the user wants to restrict viewing; Receiving an input of a confirmation password from a user when the television is powered on; Thereafter, the viewing channel restriction method comprising the step of enabling the viewing in the channel belonging to the corresponding channel group of the received confirmation password. 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of operating in any one of the channels that do not belong to the channel group when there is no channel group of the cipher that matches the received confirmation password.

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