KR19990019259A - How to navigate channels on television - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a channel search method of a television that can preset a frequency band commonly used by a plurality of broadcast stations so that a search time can be greatly reduced during initial channel search. A frequency band used by each broadcast station is predetermined. A first step of recording in different recording places of the memory means of the second step; and a second step of determining whether there is a broadcast present channel search request, and a first step if it is determined in the second step that the channel search request exists. A third step of presenting the recorded predetermined frequency band to the user; a fourth step of determining whether a specific frequency band is selected among the frequency bands appearing in the third step; and a first step if the specific frequency band is selected in the fourth step. Channel scanning of a television comprising a fifth step of scanning the corresponding frequency band recorded in the step By the method there is an effect such that the channel search time is reduced significantly.

Description

How to navigate channels on television

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver, and more particularly, to a channel searching method of a television, in which a frequency band commonly used by a plurality of broadcasting stations is preset, so that a search time can be greatly reduced during initial channel searching.

Modern people have a strong tendency to be specialized and specialized, and to satisfy this, cable television, which is privatized in addition to monolithic conventional radio television broadcasts and only handles specific broadcasts (e.g. music, news, movies, ...) Hereinafter, CATV) broadcasting has been started, which has resulted in a large number of television channels.

Further, in Europe, a large number of broadcast methods are mixed, and thus, televisions with complementary characteristics of a detection circuit constituting a television can receive broadcast signals broadcast by multiple broadcast systems on a single television, thereby increasing the number of broadcast channels. .

As described above, when the number of channels is increased and a television is purchased, the television is used after finding a frequency band in which a broadcast signal having an optimal reception sensitivity exists and presetting a channel corresponding to the frequency band.

A configuration of a general television broadcast receiver for receiving a program broadcasted through the channel and providing the program to a user is as shown in FIG.

1 is a simplified block diagram of a general television broadcast receiver, in which reference numeral 1 denotes an antenna, and 2 denotes an RF amplification for amplifying a radio frequency (hereinafter referred to as RF) signal received through the antenna 1. 3 denotes an intermediate frequency (hereinafter referred to as IF) by mixing the radio frequency signal output from the RF amplifier 2 and the oscillation frequency signal output from the local oscillation circuit 17 to be described later. The first mixer outputs a signal.

Further, reference numeral 4 denotes an IF amplifier section for amplifying the intermediate frequency signal output from the first mixer 3, and 5 denotes an image intermediate frequency signal PIF in the intermediate frequency signal output from the IF amplifier section 4. And a P / S separator for separating the voice intermediate frequency signal SIF, and 6 represents a voice detector for detecting a voice signal from the voice intermediate frequency signal SIF output from the P / S separator 5. 7 denotes an image detector for detecting an image signal from an image intermediate frequency signal PIF output from the P / S separator 5.

In addition, reference numeral 8 denotes a remote controller device which allows the viewer to select a desired channel or to select each mode of the television, that is, a TV / AV mode, and 9 denotes an infrared signal from the remote controller device 8. 10 denotes a receiver for converting an ordinary code signal, 10 denotes a channel memory in which predetermined channel data is stored, and 11 denotes a microprocessor that controls the entire system according to an input signal from the remote controller device 8.

In addition, reference numeral 12 denotes a screen display for overlapping and outputting a character or a picture or the like on a screen on which a broadcast signal is output separately from the broadcast signal according to the control signal of the microprocessor 11. (Hereinafter referred to as OSD), and 13 denotes a PWM generator which generates a predetermined pulse width modulation (PWM) signal according to a control signal from the microprocessor 11, and 14 denotes the above. An integration circuit for integrating the PWM signal output from the PWM generator 13 to generate a predetermined level signal is shown.

Here, when the viewer selects a predetermined channel by using the remote controller device 8, the microprocessor 11 reads out channel data corresponding to the channel selected by the viewer from the channel memory 10 and then based on the selected channel. By controlling the PWM generator 13 to generate a predetermined PWM signal, the PWM signal is output as a voltage control signal corresponding to the channel selected by the viewer through the integrator circuit 14.

In addition, reference numeral 15 is provided for a precise tuning operation, and represents an Auto Fine Tunning circuit (hereinafter referred to as AFT) circuit 15, and 16 represents a voltage signal applied from the integrating circuit 14; An adder for adding a voltage signal applied from the AFT circuit 15 is shown, and 17 represents a local oscillating circuit for outputting a predetermined oscillation frequency.

In addition, reference numeral 18 controls the amplification degree of the above-described RF amplifier 102 and the IF amplifier 4 on the basis of the level of the image signal detected by the image detector 7, the image detector ( Figure 7 shows the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) circuit that controls the video signal output level from 7).

On the other hand, reference numeral 19 denotes an external AV device such as a VCR or a laser disc player, and 20 denotes the voice detector 6 and the image detector 7 according to the switching signal from the microprocessor 11 described above. A first switching section for selectively outputting audio and video signals from and external audio and video signals from the external AV device 19 is shown.

Although reference numeral 23 is not shown for the image signal output from the first switching unit 20, the color, tint, and brightness are in accordance with the control signal from the microprocessor 11. A video processing unit which processes (Brightness) and the like and outputs R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue) signals corresponding to the video signal.

The RGB signal output from the image processor 23 is output by mixing RGB and OSD blanking signals Y ′, which are output signals of the OSD generator 12 described above, in the second mixer indicated by reference numeral 24. Reference numeral 25 denotes a CRT driving unit for driving the CRT based on the RGB signal output from the mixer 24.

In addition, reference numeral 21 denotes a base, treble, and volume according to a control signal from the microprocessor 11 although not shown for the voice signal output from the first switching unit 20. A voice processing unit for executing voice processing such as a volume), and 22 denotes a voice amplifying unit for amplifying and outputting the voice signal processed by the voice processing unit 21 to a speaker.

In the general TV configured as described above, when the viewer selects the TV / AV mode by using the remote controller 8, the microprocessor 11 controls the switching unit 20 to control the voice detector 6. And by selectively outputting the video and audio signals from the video detector 7 or the video and audio signals from the external AV device 19 to the video processor 23 and the audio processor 21. Can watch the video and audio through the CRT and speakers of the TV.

Looking at the conventional broadcast channel search method in the conventional broadcast receiver configured as described above, when the user selects the channel search function key through the remote control device 8, the microprocessor 11 inputs it through the receiver 9 In response thereto, the frequency generated by the PWM generator 13 is controlled in correspondence with the entire frequency band of the television broadcast signal. Accordingly, the tuning units 2 to 4 and 14 to 18 search for a channel in which the video signal exists in the entire frequency band of the television broadcast signal received through the antenna ANT, and the found channel data is stored in a predetermined memory. Recorded in the means.

Therefore, since the microprocessor must search for each channel according to the above-described broadcast channel search method from the lowest frequency to the maximum frequency used by the plurality of broadcast stations, the microprocessor needs to search for the channel of the TV broadcast. The need to scan the channel takes considerable time, which causes a problem of a significant degradation of the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a channel search method of a television which can significantly reduce the search time during initial channel search by presetting a frequency band commonly used by a plurality of broadcast stations. .

1 is a block diagram illustrating a general television receiver.

2 is a flowchart of a channel searching method of a television according to the present invention;

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is a first step of recording the frequency bands used by each of a plurality of broadcasting stations in different recording locations of a predetermined memory means, and there is a user's broadcast channel search request. A second step of determining whether a channel search request exists in the second step; a third step of presenting a predetermined frequency band recorded in the first step to the user; and frequency bands appearing in the third step. And a fourth step of determining whether a specific frequency band is selected among the above, and a fifth step of scanning the corresponding frequency band recorded in the first step when the specific frequency band is selected in the fourth step.

An additional feature of the present invention resides in that the method for representing a frequency band in the third step is to simultaneously display, on a screen, certain characters corresponding to a plurality of frequency bands in predetermined positions on a screen of a television.

Another additional feature of the present invention is that the selection of the frequency band in the fourth step includes selecting a specific character corresponding to the frequency band appearing on the screen using a predetermined direction key.

In addition, another additional feature of the present invention is to delete a specific character corresponding to the corresponding frequency band on the screen when the scan operation is terminated in the fifth process.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each manufacturer records a predetermined range of frequency bands for each broadcasting channel in a predetermined memory means, and more specifically, the predetermined frequency range generally has a maximum reception sensitivity for each channel. It is the range including the upper limit and the lower limit in which a band can exist.

Referring to FIG. 2, the search method according to the present invention is as follows.

In step S101, the microprocessor determines whether the user has selected the search function keys for all the broadcast channels of the TV through the remote control device, and if it is determined that the channel search function key signal has been input, the process proceeds to step S102.

In step S102, the microprocessor outputs an operation control signal to the OSD unit to output text data according to a preset frequency band at a predetermined point on the screen of the television, and the selection of each frequency band is freely available from the left and right by the direction key of the remote control device. Make a choice.

In step S102, when the user recognizes a frequency band displayed on the screen and selects a display unit corresponding to the frequency band to be searched using the direction keys of the remote control apparatus, the microprocessor determines whether the user selects a predetermined frequency band in step S103, When the frequency band is selected in step S103, the microprocessor reads the data corresponding to the frequency band from the memory means in step S104 to generate a PWM signal having a predetermined size to scan the frequency band.

At this time, if it is determined in step S105 whether the video signal is detected in the frequency band in which the scan operation is performed, and if it is determined that no video signal is detected, the process proceeds to step S104 again and repeats the frequency scanning process. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S105 that the video signal is detected, the process proceeds to step S106 where a channel corresponding to the frequency at which the video signal is detected in the step S105 is recorded in a predetermined memory means and an on-screen frequency corresponding to the found channel is obtained. The band display character is erased.

After recording the channel in step S106 and erasing the frequency band display character, it is determined whether there is a channel search end key input based on the signal output from the remote controller device (S107). The same steps S102 to S106 are repeatedly executed to perform another channel search.

Accordingly, when searching for all broadcast channels having a broadcast signal, the frequency band limited to a predetermined range is scanned for each channel according to the above-described procedure, so that the channel search time is reduced during the initial channel search of the television.

According to the present invention, a channel searching method for a television broadcast signal operating according to the present invention, when searching for all broadcast channels having a broadcast signal, scans a frequency band limited to a predetermined range for each channel according to the above-described process. Since the channel search time is reduced, the channel search time can be shortened.

Claims (4)

A first step of respectively recording frequency bands used by a plurality of broadcasting stations in different recording locations of predetermined memory means; A second step of determining whether a user's broadcast presence channel search request exists; A third step of presenting, to the user, the predetermined frequency band recorded in the first step if it is determined that the channel search request exists in the second step; A fourth step of determining whether a specific frequency band is selected from the frequency bands appearing in the third step; And And a fifth step of scanning the corresponding frequency band recorded in the first step when the specific frequency band is selected in the fourth step. 2. The channel of a television broadcast signal according to claim 1, wherein the method for representing a frequency band in the third step simultaneously displays specific characters corresponding to a plurality of frequency bands on a screen in a predetermined order at a predetermined position on the screen of the television. Navigation method. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the frequency band in the fourth step comprises selecting a specific character corresponding to the frequency band displayed on the screen using a predetermined direction key. . The method of claim 1, wherein when the scanning operation is terminated in the fifth process, the specific character corresponding to the scanned frequency band on the screen is deleted.