KR100470701B1 - Apparatus for receiving broadcasting signal and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A broadcast signal receiving apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus for receiving a broadcast signal includes an EPG extractor for extracting program guide data from a received broadcast signal, a storage unit for storing viewing information about a program watched by a user, a viewing frequency of a program watched by a user by day and time, and Generates channel guide information in which at least one favorite program information is recorded from the viewing information based on the viewing time, and acquires information about the program from the EPG extractor to reflect channel changes of the program in the channel guide information. The information generating unit and the guide information generating unit control to update the channel guide information when the generation period of the viewing information exceeds a predetermined period, and whether the preferred channel is selected and recorded before the preferred channel is broadcast based on the channel guide information. And a control unit for displaying on the display device and performing an operation selected by the user. . Thus, the user does not need to memorize the broadcasting time and channel of the program he enjoys watching. In addition, since the recording is automatically performed when the receiver is turned off, the user is guaranteed an opportunity to watch a corresponding program later.

Description

Apparatus for receiving broadcasting signal and method

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for receiving a broadcast signal. More particularly, the present invention provides channel information for receiving a program suitable for a viewer based on a viewer's viewing pattern. The broadcast signal can be reserved and changed according to the channel information. Receiving apparatus and method

Digital broadcasting provides program guide information for each channel along with the broadcast signal. The received program guide information is stored in a separate storage unit and output to the screen by the user's selection. On the other hand, some digital broadcasting receivers provide a program reservation function. The conventional digital broadcasting receiver searches for a program input from a user in stored program guide information and changes the channel to a channel for receiving a reserved program when the start time of the corresponding program is reached. In this case, however, if there is no input by the user, the channel change operation is not performed.

In order to solve the above problems, Korean Patent Publication No. 95-11657 discloses an automatic channel selection device for performing an on operation and a channel change operation of a TV based on a channel selection pattern of a user and an on / off pattern of a power source. It is. However, the conventional automatic channel selection apparatus uses the viewing pattern of the user created based on the on / off control signal of the power source and the channel change signal received from the remote controller, and thus reflects the broadcasting time change by the broadcaster, the closing of the program, and the like. The disadvantage is that it can't be. In addition, since the viewing pattern is generated based only on the user's viewing frequency and viewing time, there is a problem that the correlation between the viewing time and the total broadcasting time of each program cannot be reflected.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a user with channel information on which a favorite program and a favorite program are received based on a viewing pattern and program guide data of the user, and a channel on which a favorite program is received at a broadcast time of the preferred program. It is to provide an apparatus and method for receiving a broadcast signal to change.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the apparatus for receiving broadcast signals according to the present invention includes an EPG extractor for extracting program guide data from a received broadcast signal, a storage unit for storing viewing information about a program watched by a user, and day of the week. And channel guide information in which information about at least one preferred program is recorded from the viewing information based on a viewing frequency of the program viewed by the user and a viewing time for each time, and the EPG extracting unit generates information about the program. A guide information generation unit for acquiring information and reflecting channel changes to the program in the channel guide information, and the guide information generation unit updating the channel guide information when the generation period of the viewing information exceeds a predetermined period; Before the preferred channel is broadcasted based on the channel guide information. And a control unit which displays whether or not to select and record a preferred channel on a display device and performs an operation selected by the user.

Preferably, the EPG extraction unit for extracting the program guide data from the broadcast signal; A channel detector detecting a reception channel through which the broadcast signal is received; And a viewing information generation unit generating the viewing information based on the program guide data corresponding to the program received through the receiving channel.

Furthermore, a display control unit for controlling to output the preferred program information recorded in the channel guide information to the output unit.

Preferably, the display control unit outputs the preference program information to the output unit a predetermined time before a broadcast time of the preference program included in the preference program information.

Preferably, the control unit outputs a control signal for recording the preferred program at the start of the preferred program based on the preferred program information when the power is turned off.

On the other hand, in the broadcast signal receiving method according to the present invention, the step of generating the viewing information for the program watched by the user, determining whether the generation period of the viewing information has passed a predetermined period, the user by day and time Generates channel guide information in which information about at least one preferred program is recorded from the viewing information based on the viewing frequency and the viewing time of the program watched by the user, and the information about the program by the EPG information extracted from the broadcasting signal. Acquiring a channel change state of the program in the channel guide information; and before selecting and recording the preferred channel on the display device based on the channel guide information, displaying whether or not the preferred channel is displayed on the display device. Performing a selected operation from a user.

The viewing information generating step may include extracting program guide data from a broadcast signal; Detecting a reception channel through which the broadcast signal is received; And generating the viewing information based on the program guide data corresponding to the program received through the reception channel.

Preferably, the method may further include outputting the preference program information recorded in the channel guide information. The outputting step outputs the preference program information a predetermined time before a broadcast time of the preference program included in the preference program information.

In addition, the broadcast signal receiving method according to the invention, the step of determining whether the power on or off; And recording the preference program at the start of the preference program based on the preference program information when the power is turned off.

Hereinafter, a broadcast signal receiving apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a broadcast signal receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus 100 for receiving broadcast signals according to the present invention includes an EPG detector 110, a channel detector 120, a timer 130, a viewer information generator 140, a storage 150, The guide information generating unit 160, the control unit 170, the display unit 180, and the recording unit 190 are provided.

The EPG detection unit 110 extracts electronic program guide data (EPG data) from the received broadcast signal. EPG data is typically received with broadcast signals, but may be provided from other sources. The extracted EPG data is stored in a memory provided in the EPG detector 110 or a memory provided separately.

The channel detector 120 detects a channel currently receiving a broadcast signal. The channel detector 120 outputs channel detection information including the detected channel number to the viewing information generator 140. Although the channel detector 120 is illustrated as a separate component in the drawing, the function of the channel detector 120 may be performed by a tuning unit (not shown).

The timer 130 outputs the current time to the viewing information generation unit 140.

The viewing information generation unit 140 generates the viewing information based on the channel detection information received from the channel detection unit 120 and the extracted program guide data. The viewing information includes information about a viewing date and time, a viewing day, a channel number, a viewing time and a title of a program watched by a user. 2 illustrates an example of the viewing information generated by the viewing information generation unit 140. Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that a user watched a program titled "ΔΔ △" through channel 6 from 22:00 to 23:00 on December 3, 2001. The viewing information generating unit 140 may generate viewing information while the viewing information generating unit 140 is turned on in the broadcast receiving apparatus such as a digital TV unless the viewing information generation stop command is received. The generated viewing information is stored in the storage 150.

The guide information generation unit 160 records preference program information for at least one or more preferred programs from the viewing information stored in the storage unit 150 based on the viewing frequency and viewing time of the program watched by the user for each day and time. The generated channel guide information. The channel guide information is generated while the broadcast signal receiving apparatus 100 is off. Alternatively, the channel guide information may be generated in the corresponding time zone by checking the time zone during which the user does not watch TV for each day from the viewing information. In addition, it is possible to generate the viewing information at a specific time period by the user's setting, or to generate the viewing information when the preference program guide function is set. The generated channel guide information is stored in the storage unit 150 or a separate storage device.

Referring to FIG. 2, the user is entitled to the subject “△△△” through channel 6 from 22:00 to 23:00 on Mondays and Tuesdays, every week from December 3, 2001 to December 11, 2001. You can see that you watched the program. In addition, it can be seen that the broadcasting time of the program titled "△△△" is 1 hour from 22:00 to 23:00. Therefore, the user may determine that the program is fixedly watched at the time of 22:00 to 23:00 on Monday and Tuesday.

On the other hand, on Tuesday, from 23:00 to 24:00, the user watches a program titled "×××" that is broadcasted through channel 7 on December 4 for 10 minutes, and then changes the channel to channel 6 to "○○ You can see that you watched the program for 50 minutes. However, the following week, on December 11, the user watched a program titled "○○○" for one hour, which is broadcast through channel 6. It may be judged that the program titled "○○○" is preferred.

3 shows an example of channel guide information generated by the above-described method. Referring to FIG. 3, a program titled "ΔΔ △" and a program titled "○○○" are recorded as a user's favorite program in a time zone of 22:00 to 24:00 on Tuesday.

On the other hand, fluctuations such as the end of the program, the change of the broadcast time, etc. may occur with respect to the program determined as the preferred program. In this case, when the guide information generator 160 generates the channel guide information, the guide information generator 160 reflects the change in the broadcast schedule based on the program guide data stored in the storage 160 or extracted by the EPG detector 110. It is desirable to. For example, the broadcast time of the program titled "○○○" that was broadcast through the channel 6 in the time zone from Tuesday 23:00 to 24:00 of the preferred program shown in Figure 3 is 24:00 ~ 1:00 If changed, this change information is added to the channel guide information.

In addition, the guide information generation unit 160 refers to the program guide data when generating the channel guide information, so that the program whose broadcast is terminated is not included in the preferred program. On the contrary, when the viewing information generation unit 140 generates the viewing information, the broadcast terminated program may be excluded. In addition, the viewing information stored in the storage unit 150 may be periodically updated to delete information about a program whose broadcasting is terminated.

The controller 170 controls operations of components such as the viewer information generator 140, the guide information generator 160, and the recorder 190. In particular, when generating the channel guide information, the controller 170 generates the guide information generation unit when the generation period of the viewing information stored in the storage unit 150 exceeds a predetermined period (for example, one week). And a control signal for generating channel guide information. This is to generate more reliable channel guide information.

The controller 170 controls to output the preferred program information recorded in the channel guide information to the display unit 180 such as a monitor. The preference program information includes a title of the preference program, a channel number on which the preference program is broadcast, a user selection menu, and the like. The user selection menu is a menu that can be selected by the user such as 'reservation', 'recording', 'cancel', and the like. When the user selection menu is configured as 'reservation' and 'recording', when the user selects 'reservation', the reception channel is changed to a channel where the preferred program is broadcasted at the broadcast start time of the corresponding preferred program. In addition, if the user selects 'recording', the process of changing the reception channel is not performed, and the preferred program is recorded.

Unlike the above, when there is no input from the user, the reception channel may be changed to a channel on which the corresponding favorite program is broadcast at the broadcast start time of the corresponding favorite program. In this case, the user selection menu is composed of 'record' and 'cancel'. In this case, when the user selects 'recording', it operates as described above, and when the user selects 'cancel', the automatic channel change function is not performed.

The configuration of the user selection menu may vary depending on whether the automatic channel change function is set, and an operation related to changing and recording a channel according to a user input is controlled by the controller 170.

In addition, the controller 170 controls the display unit 180 to output the preference program information a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) from the broadcast time of the preference program included in the preference program information. The output time of the preferred program may be set by the user by using input means provided in a broadcast receiving apparatus such as a remote controller or a digital TV.

In addition, the controller 170 controls the display method of the preferred program information. Preferably, the display method can be set by the user. Selectable display methods include scrolling the favorite program information at the bottom or top of the screen, displaying the favorite program information at the bottom or top of the screen sequentially and then disappearing, and displaying the favorite program information on the PIP screen. Etc. 4A illustrates a method of displaying preferred program information at a bottom of a screen for a predetermined time, and FIG. 4B illustrates a method of scrolling preferred program information at a bottom of a screen. 4B shows a case in which channel guide information on a program whose broadcasting time is changed is output.

The recording unit 190 is a component for recording a broadcast signal received on a recording medium such as a video tape or an optical disc. The operation of the recording unit 190 is controlled by the controller 170. The controller 170 outputs a control signal for instructing recording to the recording unit 190 when the user selects 'recording' or when power is not supplied to the broadcast signal receiving apparatus.

5 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a broadcast signal receiving method according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the viewing information generation unit 160 receives program guide data received from the EPG detection unit 110 based on the current time information input from the timer 130 and the current reception channel received from the channel detection unit 120. Search to generate the viewing information (S500). The generated viewing information is stored in the storage 150.

The controller 170 checks whether the viewing information generation period has passed a predetermined period (for example, one week) (S505). If it is confirmed that the viewing information generation period exceeds the predetermined period, the controller 170 checks whether the preference program guide function is set (S510). When the preference program guide function is set, the controller 170 outputs a control signal for generating the channel guide information to the guide information generator 160.

The guide information generation unit 160 generates channel guide information based on the viewing information (S515). 6 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed process of generating guide information. Although FIG. 6 illustrates a case in which guide information is generated when a user is not watching a broadcast, guide information may be generated while the user is watching a broadcast as described above.

Referring to FIG. 6, when it is determined that the power is turned off, the controller 170 outputs a control signal for generating channel guide information to the guide information generator 160 (S600). At this time, the control unit 170 obtains the current date and the current time from the timer 130 and provides it to the guide information generation unit 160 (S610). On the other hand, the current date and the current time may be provided directly from the timer 130 to the guide information generation unit 160. The guide information generation unit 160 extracts the viewing information corresponding to the current time after the current time from the viewing information created within a certain period (for example, one month) from the current date (S620). By limiting the generation period of the viewing information used to generate the channel guide information, it is possible to more accurately reflect the recent viewing pattern of the user.

The guide information generation unit 160 selects a candidate program having a high frequency of viewing by day and time from the viewing information extracted in step S620 (S630), and compares the viewing time of the candidate program with the broadcasting time of the corresponding program, and is preferred by the user. The channel guide information, which is information about a program determined to be a program, is generated (S640).

The guide information generation unit 160 checks whether the broadcasting time of the preferred program included in the generated channel guide information is changed and whether the broadcast ends (S650), and creates program closing / change information (S660). The guide information generation unit 160 refers to program guide data provided from the EPG detection unit 110 or stored in the storage unit 150 to prepare program termination / change information.

In addition, the guide information generation unit 160 may use the broadcast time of the corresponding program included in the program guide data instead of using the broadcast time of the corresponding program recorded in the viewing information to generate more accurate channel guide information. have. In this case, the program guide data is provided from the EPG detection unit 110 to the guide information generation unit 160. Meanwhile, when the program guide data detected by the EPG detector 110 is stored in the storage 150, the guide information generator 160 reads out the necessary program guide data from the storage 150.

The generated channel guide information is stored in the storage 150.

The controller 170 checks whether power is supplied to the broadcast signal receiving apparatus 100 (S520). When it is confirmed that power is being supplied, the controller 170 outputs information about the corresponding program to the display unit 180 at least 10 minutes before the broadcast time of each program recorded in the channel guide information (S525). The user reads the program guide information output on the display unit 180 and selects whether to view the corresponding program (S530). When the user inputs the 'reservation' command, the channel is changed to a channel where the corresponding program is broadcasted at the start time of the corresponding program (S535). The channel change is performed by a control command of the controller 170.

If the user inputs a 'record' command in step S530 (S540) and records the program without changing the channel (S545). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S520 that the power is not supplied to record each program recorded in the channel guide information (S550).

According to the apparatus and method for receiving a broadcast signal according to the present invention, by selecting a user's favorite program by date and time and providing the program to the user before the broadcast time of the corresponding program, the user can select the broadcast time and channel of the program that he / she enjoys watching. The advantage is that you do not have to remember it. In addition, when the TV is not turned on, recording is performed without setting a separate recording reservation function. Further, by reflecting the change in the broadcast time of the program without prior notice, the user is provided with an opportunity to watch the desired program more reliably.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through the representative embodiments, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention with respect to the embodiments described above. Will understand. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a broadcast signal receiving apparatus according to the present invention;

2 is a view showing an example of viewing information generated by the viewing information generating unit;

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of generated channel guide information;

4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a method of displaying preference program information at a bottom of a screen for a predetermined time and a method of scrolling preference program information at a bottom of the screen;

5 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a broadcast signal receiving method according to the present invention;

6 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed process of generating guide information.

Claims (10)

An EPG extraction unit for extracting program guide data from the received broadcast signal; A storage unit that stores viewing information about a program watched by a user; Generate channel guide information in which information about at least one preferred program is recorded from the viewing information on the basis of the viewing frequency of the program watched by the user and the viewing time for each day and time, and from the EPG extracting unit to the program. A guide information generation unit for acquiring information about the program and reflecting channel change information on the program in the channel guide information; And When the generation period of the viewing information exceeds a predetermined period, the guide information generation unit controls to update the channel guide information, and before the preferred channel is broadcasted based on the channel guide information, selection and recording of the preferred channel. And a controller for displaying whether or not the display device is configured to perform an operation selected by the user. The method of claim 1, An EPG extraction unit for extracting program guide data from the broadcast signal; A channel detector detecting a reception channel through which the broadcast signal is received; And And a viewing information generation unit generating the viewing information based on the program guide data corresponding to the program received through the receiving channel. The method of claim 1, And a display control unit for controlling the display unit to output the preferred program information recorded in the channel guide information to a display unit. The method of claim 3, wherein And the display control unit outputs the preferred program information to the display unit a predetermined time before a broadcast time of the preferred program included in the preferred program information. The method of claim 1, And the control unit outputs a control signal for recording the preferred program at the start of the preferred program on the basis of the preferred program information when the power is turned off. Generating viewing information about a program watched by a user; Determining whether the generation period of the viewing information has passed a predetermined period; Generate channel guide information in which information about at least one preferred program is recorded from the viewing information on the basis of the viewing frequency and the viewing time of the program watched by the user for each day and time, and the EPG information extracted from the broadcasting signal. Acquiring information about the program to reflect the channel change status of the program in the channel guide information; And Before displaying the favorite channel on the basis of the channel guide information, displaying whether the preferred channel is selected or recorded on a display device, and performing a selected operation from the user. . The method of claim 6, The viewing information generating step, Extracting program guide data from the broadcast signal; Detecting a reception channel through which the broadcast signal is received; And And generating the viewing information based on the program guide data corresponding to the program received through the reception channel. The method of claim 6, And outputting the preferred program information recorded in the channel guide information. The method of claim 8, And the outputting step outputs the preference program information a predetermined time before a broadcast time of the preference program included in the preference program information. The method of claim 8, Determining whether the power is on or off; And And recording the preference program at the start of the preference program based on the preference program information when the power is turned off.