KR19990086626A - How to Display Channel Map on Satellite Broadcast Receivers - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a channel map display method of a satellite broadcast receiver configured to display on a screen the channels currently viewable during satellite broadcasting as a map.

In general, in the case of satellite broadcasting over 60 channels, the channel switching is conventionally performed by using a numeric key or a channel up / down key of a remote controller for channel switching. Therefore, when the remote controller is lost, it is inconvenient to press the channel up / down keys one by one until the desired channel is switched.

The present invention is to solve this inconvenience, when the channel map display key is input while watching a particular broadcast, by reading the information of the currently viewable channels to configure the channel map to display on the screen, the user more easily By selecting a channel, the conventional method of pressing a channel up / down key one by one can be provided.

Description

How to Display Channel Map on Satellite Broadcast Receivers

The present invention relates to a satellite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a channel map display method of a satellite broadcast receiver configured to display on a screen a channel that is currently viewable during satellite broadcast viewing.

Satellite broadcasting transmits broadcast programs sent from ground stations (broadcasting earth stations) by using satellites (communication satellites) located in the geostationary orbit above the equator to provide broadcast signals to a wider area, which is directly transmitted to the satellite broadcasting receiving antennas in each home. A broadcast that allows you to receive.

In such a satellite broadcasting system, for example, a Kuband radio frequency (RF) signal having a frequency band of 11.7 GHz to 12 GHz is used. To this end, the satellite broadcasting receiving antenna is provided with a Low Noise Blockdown Converter (LNB) for converting an RF signal of an ultrahigh frequency into an Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal. The low noise converter is a satellite broadcasting of an RF signal of an ultra high frequency. It converts into an IF signal of hundreds to thousands of MHz bands (for example, 950 MHz to 2050 MHz) that can be received by a receiver (receiver). Therefore, the satellite broadcasting tuner provided in the satellite broadcasting receiver (receiver) tunes a channel selected by the user from the IF signal received through the low noise converter and inputs the satellite broadcasting receiver. Besides the improvement of quality and the ease of transmitting additional digital service data, the significant improvement of the user interface is a big advantage.

Meanwhile, in satellite broadcasting, a digital broadcast signal transmitted to a satellite broadcasting receiver through a fixed channel from a satellite is restored to a transport stream through a process of conversion to IF, demodulation, and error correction. The transport stream includes broadcast program guide information such as a broadcast signal (video signal and audio signal) for each channel, an event information table (EIT), and a time data table (TDT).

Such program guide information is stored in a memory and used to tune a specific channel selected in a transport stream received through a satellite channel when a specific channel is selected by the user, and also a plurality of channel information and channels required by the user. The guide information of each broadcast program is configured as a menu screen and displayed on a monitor.

In this case, when the user wants to watch a program of another channel in the normal viewing mode in which a specific channel is selected by the user and the broadcast signal of the selected specific channel is displayed on the screen through a predetermined signal processing process, the user may select a remote controller. Switch to the desired channel using the channel up / down keys on the front of the (Remote Controller) or the satellite broadcast receiver itself.

Therefore, in the case of satellite broadcasts having more than 60 channels, the channel up / down key is used to switch from the channel currently being viewed to another channel, for example, if the channel currently being viewed is 11 channels and the channel is to be switched to 40 channels. There is a hassle of pressing the channel up key 29 times, so I switched to the desired channel by pressing the number key of the remote controller, that is, the number 40.

However, if the remote controller becomes unusable or lost due to user's carelessness, the user may have to press the channel up / down keys to the desired channel in order to switch from the current channel to the other channel. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to display a map of currently viewable channels on a screen when switching from a currently watching channel to another channel, so that a channel up / The present invention provides a channel map display method of a satellite broadcasting receiver to enable switching to a desired channel without pressing down keys.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a channel map display method of a satellite broadcast receiver for displaying the currently viewable channels in the form of a map. A channel guide information display process of reading guide information on a channel and displaying the guide information on a screen; Determining whether to input a key signal according to a channel map display for determining whether to input a key signal according to a channel map display selection while the guide information on the currently viewed channel is displayed; Reading currently viewable channels information when the key signal according to the channel map display is inputted, reading information on currently viewable channels; A map screen displaying step of displaying the currently viewable channels read in the currently viewable channel information reading process on a map screen; And a channel switching process of switching to a selected corresponding channel when a key signal for selecting a predetermined channel is input in the channel map screen display state.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a satellite broadcast receiver for performing a channel map display method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process for performing a channel map display method of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a view showing a channel map displayed on the screen while watching satellite broadcasting according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: key input unit 110: tuner and demodulation unit

120: transport demultiplexer 130: MPEG decoder

140: control unit 150: memory

160: menu generating unit 170: image synthesizing unit

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a satellite broadcast receiver for performing a map display method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The key input unit 100, the tuner and demodulator 110, and a transport station are shown. The multiplexer 120, the MPEG decoder 130, the controller 140, the memory 150, the menu generator 160, and the image synthesizer 170 are included.

The key input unit 100 is typically configured to provide a predetermined key signal pressed by the user by the key metrics to the control unit 140, and the control unit 140 corresponds to the key signal provided from the key input unit 100. When a key signal for selecting a specific channel is provided from the key input unit 100, the controller 140 provides a tune control signal to the tuner and the demodulator 110.

The tuner and demodulator 110 receives a satellite broadcast signal through a satellite broadcast receiving antenna when the control control signal is provided from the controller 140, tunes a specific broadcast channel selected by the user from the received satellite broadcast signal, and tunes the tuned signal. The broadcast channel signal is restored to a transport stream through a process of conversion to IF, demodulation, and error correction. At this time, the transport stream includes broadcast program guide information such as a video signal and an audio signal for each channel, an EIT, and a TDT.

At this time, the tuner and the demodulator 110 provides the transport stream restored by the above process to the transport demultiplexer 120, the transport demultiplexer 120 in the tuner and demodulator 110 The broadcast signal for each channel, that is, the video signal and the audio signal, of the provided transport stream is provided to the MPEG decoder 130, and program guide information for each channel is provided to the controller 140.

Accordingly, the controller 140 stores program guide information corresponding to each channel provided by the transport demultiplexer 120 in the memory 150 to select a specific channel by the user through the key input unit 100. It is used to tune a specific channel selected from a transport stream received through a satellite channel, and also displays a plurality of channel information required by a user and guide information of a broadcast program of each channel as a menu screen on a monitor. .

In addition, the memory 150 stores information of channels for viewing the satellite broadcast signal received through the satellite broadcasting reception antenna, and configures a menu screen for displaying the information of the currently viewable channels on a monitor. Display.

Meanwhile, as described above, the MPEG decoder 130 may control the transport stream provided by the transport demultiplexer 120, that is, the compressed and encoded audio and video signals of each broadcast channel, for example. The decoded digital video signal is decoded to the original signal before encoding using a decoding technique such as variable length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, motion compensation, and the like, in consideration of the temporal and spatial correlation of the video signal. The digital video signal is provided to the next image synthesizer 170, and the reconstructed audio signal is provided to the audio signal processor.

The menu generator 160 stores a menu format for configuring a menu screen, and under the control of the controller 140, program guide information or information for displaying the currently viewable channels as a map corresponds to the menu format. The menu screen data is generated, and the generated menu screen data is converted into an NTSC or PAL analog signal and provided to the image synthesizing unit 170. The image synthesizer 170 converts the digital video signal provided from the MPEG decoder 130 into an NTSC or PAL analog video signal under the control of the controller 140 and then provides a menu screen provided by the menu generator 160. A menu screen in which data is mixed is provided to the display side.

That is, the controller 140 stores the broadcast signal of the specific channel selected by the user, and when the channel map display key for displaying the currently viewable channels as a map is input from the key input unit 100, the controller 140 is stored in the memory 150. When the information on the current viewable channels is read and provided to the menu generator 160, the menu generator 160 generates menu screen data so as to correspond to the map screen menu format of the channel information provided by the controller 140. As described above, the signal is converted into an NTSC or PAL analog signal and provided to the image synthesizer 170.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process for performing a channel map display method of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a diagram showing channel information currently being viewed on a screen, and FIG. 3B is currently viewed. This is a diagram showing a map screen of possible channels, which will be described in detail with respect to the channel map display method of the satellite broadcast receiver shown in FIG. 2 in conjunction with the block diagrams shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

If the current satellite broadcasting receiver is in the normal viewing mode in which the current satellite broadcast receiver is watching the broadcast signal of the specific channel selected by the user in step 200, the controller 130 proceeds to step 201 and displays a channel guide screen display key (channel) from the key input unit 100. (also known as the banner key). As a result of determination, when the channel guide screen display key is input from the key input unit 100, the control unit 140 proceeds to step 202 to read information on the currently viewed channel stored in the memory 150, as shown in FIG. 3A. Display the channel banner screen as shown.

In operation 203, the controller 140 determines whether a key signal corresponding to the channel map display selection is input from the key input unit 100. As a result of the determination, the key according to the channel map display selection from the key input unit 100 is determined. If a signal is input, the process proceeds to step 204 and the map information of the currently viewable channels is read from the memory 150 and provided to the menu generator 160. Therefore, the menu generator 160 generates menu data and provides the image data to the image synthesizer 170 so that the information on the currently viewable channels provided by the controller 160 can be displayed on a map screen. ) Mixes the digital video signal provided from the MPEG decoder 130 and the map screen menu data converted into an NTSC or PAL signal to the menu generator 160 and outputs them to the display side. Therefore, the channel map screen as shown in FIG. 3B is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 3B, a key signal for selecting a predetermined channel in a state in which a map of currently viewable channels is displayed on the screen. For example, when it is assumed that the channel currently being viewed is 11 channels, the channel signal for selecting channel 24 is selected. When the key signal is provided (step 206), the controller 140 proceeds to step 207 to provide the tuner and the demodulator 110 with a tuning control signal for switching to the selected channel, that is, the 24 channel. Tune the broadcast signal.

As described above, in the present invention, when a user wants to watch a broadcast of another channel without using a numeric key or a channel up / down key of a remote controller in a state of watching a broadcast of a specific channel, pressing a channel map display key enables the currently viewable channel. By displaying the map of the screen to the screen and to switch to the desired channel of the map of the channel, it provides an effect that the user can facilitate the channel switching.

Claims (1)

In the channel map display method of the satellite broadcasting receiver to display the currently viewable channels in the form of a map, A channel guide information display process of reading guide information on a channel currently being viewed and displaying it on a screen when a channel guide screen display key is input in a currently watching state; Determining whether to input a key signal according to a channel map display for determining whether to input a key signal according to a channel map display selection while the guide information on the currently viewed channel is displayed; Reading currently viewable channels information when the key signal according to the channel map display is inputted, reading information on currently viewable channels; A map screen displaying step of displaying the currently viewable channels read in the currently viewable channel information reading process on a map screen; And And a channel switching process of switching to a selected channel when a key signal for selecting a predetermined channel is input in the channel map screen display state.