KR20010011950A - Common Apparatus And Method of Data Stream Received at Digital Broadcasting Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and a method of sharing a received data steam of a digital broadcasting receiver are to watch broadcasting of a desired service medium without a hybrid digital broadcasting receiver for each room. CONSTITUTION: A main box has a unit for converting a broadcasting signal received from a plurality of service media into a data stream and then reproducing the signal. A data stream transmitting and controlling unit(62) transmits the corresponding data stream out of the received data streams according to a control signal input from an outside. And a plurality of sub-boxes is provided with a data stream receiving and controlling portion for generating the control signal and receiving the data stream from the data stream transmitting and controlling unit, and a unit for reproducing the data stream from the data stream transmitting and controlling unit. In the apparatus, the data stream transmitting and controlling unit has an input portion for inputting the desired data stream to the sub-box according to the control signal.

Description

Common Apparatus And Method of Data Stream Received at Digital Broadcasting Receiver}

The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for sharing a received data stream that can efficiently share a received data stream with another digital broadcast receiver.

Digital broadcasting receivers are usually present in separate systems for satellite broadcasting, terrestrial broadcasting and cable broadcasting according to each service medium, or exist as a hybrid system capable of receiving the three broadcasts. The hybrid digital broadcast receiver is configured as shown in FIG.

The digital broadcast receiver of FIG. 1 includes a first tuner (2) and a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) demodulator (8) for receiving satellite broadcasting and outputting the digital data, and receiving terrestrial broadcasting as digital data. A second tuner 4 and a VSB (Vestigial Side Band) demodulator 10 for output, a third tuner 6 and a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) demodulator 12 for receiving the cable broadcast and outputting the digital data. And a CPU 28 commonly connected to each of the above components and the system bus 24. The first tuner 2 receives the satellite broadcast under the control of the CPU 28 via the system bus 24 and outputs it to the QPSK demodulator 8. The QPSK demodulator 8 demodulates the satellite broadcast signal received through the first tuner 2 in a QPSK manner and outputs digital data in the form of a stream. The second tuner 4 receives the terrestrial broadcast under the control of the CPU 28 and outputs it to the VSB demodulator 10. The VSB demodulator 10 demodulates the terrestrial broadcast signal received through the second tuner 2 in a VSB manner and outputs a data stream. The third tuner 6 receives the cable broadcast under the control of the CPU 28 and outputs it to the QAM demodulator 12. The QAM demodulator 12 demodulates the cable broadcast signal received through the third tuner 6 in a QAM manner and outputs a digital data stream.

In addition, the set-top box of FIG. 1 includes first to third buffers 14, 16 and 18 and first to third buffers 14, 16 and 18 connected to the three demodulators 8, 10 and 12, respectively. Demux / Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) decoder 20 commonly connected to an output terminal of the < RTI ID = 0.0 > (DEMUX) < / RTI > RAM 26, ROM 30, and a user interface 32, which are connected in common. The first to third buffers 14, 16, and 18 are data input from the QPSK modulator 8, the VSB modulator 10, and the QAM modulator 12, respectively, under the control of the CPU 28 via the system bus 24. The stream will be temporarily saved. The demux / MPEG decoder 20 reads and stores the data stream stored in any one of the first to third buffers 14, 16, and 18 in the MPEG memory 22 under the control of the CPU 14. The stream is read, decoded in MPEG, and output through the output line. The user interface 32 transmits an input user command to the CPU 28 to perform a corresponding control operation. The RAM 12 and the ROM 16 are used during the control operation of the CPU 14.

Tuners and demodulators for obtaining digital data from analog signals input from digital broadcast receivers are expensive, accounting for more than 30% of the total system cost. Accordingly, as a digital broadcast receiver for home use, a separate type for each service is more common than a complex type that requires a tuner and a demodulator corresponding to each service medium, respectively, as shown in FIG. In this case, if there is a satellite box in room A, a terrestrial box in room B, and a cable box in room C, there is an inconvenience of having to go to the corresponding room in order to watch each service broadcast. If you want to watch all the service broadcasts in each room, there is a practical disadvantage because you have to install the expensive complex system in each room.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver, which enables a user to watch a broadcast of a desired service medium without installing a complex digital broadcast receiver in each room.

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional hybrid digital broadcast receiver.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a main box of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a subbox of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of the stream transmission and controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of the stream receiving and controller shown in FIG.

6A and 6B are timing diagrams of input and output signals of the components shown in FIGS. 4 and 5;

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sharing a received data stream by a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a service state truth table used in a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Brief description of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

34: first tuner and QPSK demodulator 36: second tuner and VSB demodulator

38: third tuner and QAM demodulator 40: stream transmission and controller

42, 44, 46, 78, 80, 82, 132, 134, 136, 138: buffer

48, 64: Demux / MPEG decoder 50, 66: MPEG memory

52, 68: system bus 54, 70: RAM

56, 72: CPU 58, 74: ROM

60, 76: user interface 62: stream reception and controller

84: host interface 86, 140: logic control unit

88, 90, 92, 94: parallel / serial converter

96, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 122: RS422 transmitter (Tx)

108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120: RS422 receiver (Rx)

124, 126, 128, 130: serial-to-parallel converter

In order to achieve the above objects, the apparatus for sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention comprises means for converting and reproducing a broadcast signal received from a plurality of service media into a data stream and according to a control signal input from the outside. A main box having data stream transmission and control means for transmitting the data stream among the data streams; A data box receiving and controlling means for generating the control signal and receiving a data stream from the data stream transmission and control means, and a subbox having means for reproducing the data stream from the data stream reception and control means. Characterized in that.

In a method of sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention, a broadcast signal received from a plurality of service media is converted into a data stream and reproduced, and the corresponding data stream is transmitted among the data streams according to a control signal input from the outside. A method for sharing a data stream received at a digital broadcast receiver having a main box and a sub box for generating the control signal and receiving and reproducing the data stream from the main box. The first step of transmitting the current service state based on the service table preset in the main box to the subbox when requesting the service state of the main box, selecting the desired service broadcast from the subbox, and the data of the corresponding broadcast selected by the subbox. To send the stream from the mainbox Step 1, a third step of receiving and reproducing a data stream from the main box in the sub box, a fourth step of repeating the first to third steps when there is a service change request from the sub box, and in the main box And a fifth step of updating a current service state when a soft power-off state is received from the subbox.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8.

The digital broadcast receiver of the present invention includes a main box capable of receiving broadcasts of all service media and outputting a digital data stream, and a subbox capable of controlling the main box to receive data streams from the main box. To this end, the main box has a stream transmission and controller 40 as shown in FIG. 2, and the sub box has a stream reception and controller 62 as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the main box and the sub box are connected through the RS422 transceiver to increase the connection distance (at least 15 m at 10 Mbps).

4 is a block diagram illustrating a main box of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention. The main box of FIG. 4 includes a first tuner and a QPSK demodulator 34 for receiving satellite broadcasting, a second tuner and a VSB demodulator 36 for receiving terrestrial broadcasting, a third tuner for receiving cable broadcasting, and QAM demodulator 38, stream transmission and controller 40 commonly connected to the respective components, and first to third buffers 42, 44 connected to each of the three demodulators 34, 36, 38. , 46, a demux / MPEG decoder 48 commonly connected to the output terminals of the first to third buffers 42, 44, 46, and an MPEG memory 50 connected to the demux / MPEG decoder 48. And a RAM 54, a CPU 56, a ROM 58, and a user interface 60, which are commonly connected to the system bus 52, for system control. Here, since other components except for the stream transmission and the controller 40 overlap with the conventional digital broadcast receiver shown in FIG. 1, detailed description thereof will be omitted. The stream transmission and controller 40 transmits the service data stream desired by the subbox through the 'RS422' among the parallel digital data input from the tuners and demodulators 34 to 38, and controls the 'RS232' for control with the subbox. Control data of the format is transmitted and received through 'RS422'. The detailed structure of this stream transmission and controller 40 is as shown in FIG.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a subbox of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. The subbox of FIG. 3 is a stream receiver and controller 62 for receiving data input from the main box of FIG. 2, and a demux / decoder for selectively decoding and reproducing data output from the stream receiver and controller 62. FIG. The MPEG decoder 64, the MPEG memory 66 connected to the demux / MPEG decoder 64, and the system bus 68 are commonly connected to the RAM 70, CPU 72, ROM (for system control). 74, a user interface 76 is provided. Here, since other components except for the stream receiving and controller 62 are duplicated in FIG. 1, detailed descriptions of their operations will be omitted. The stream reception and control unit 62 converts the stream data input from the stream transmission and the controller 40 of the main box into parallel data and outputs the data to the demux / MPEG decoder 64 to control the main box. For this purpose, control data of 'RS232' format is transmitted and received through 'RS422'. Detailed configuration of the stream reception and controller 62 is as shown in FIG.

4 shows a detailed configuration of the stream transmission and controller 40 shown in FIG. The stream transmission and controller 40 of FIG. 4 includes first to third buffers 78, 80 and 82 connected to the first to third tuners and demodulators 34, 35 and 38, respectively. A first interface for converting the host interface 84 commonly connected to the third buffers 78, 80, and 82 and the parallel data streams input from the first to third buffers 78, 80, and 82 into a serial data stream; To fourth to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, and 94, a logic controller 86 to control the first to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, and 94, and First to fifth RS422 transmitters 96, 98, 100, 102, and 104 connected to output terminals of the fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, 94, and logic controller 86, and RS-232; A sixth RS422 transmitter 106 for transmitting a control signal from a controller (not shown) to the subbox, and an RS422 receiver 108 for receiving the control signal from the subbox and outputting the control signal to the RS-232 controller. . The first through third buffers 78, 80, and 82 are inputted from the first through third tuners and the demodulators 34, 35, and 38 under the control of the CPU 56 through the host interface 84. Data, VSB data, and QAM data are temporarily stored and output. The first to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, and 94 are any one of the first to third buffers 78, 80, and 82 under the control of the logic controller 86 as shown in FIG. 6A. Converts a parallel data stream input from the serial data stream into a serial data stream. The first to fourth RS422 transmitters 96, 98, 100, and 102 transmit serial data streams input from the first to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, and 94 to the subbox. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, the fifth RS422 transmitter 104 transmits a stream clock signal Stream clk input from the logic controller 86 to the subbox. This stream clock signal Stream clk is used for stream synchronization in the subbox. The sixth RS422 transmitter 106 transmits a control signal input from an RS-232 controller (not shown), that is, control data in RS-232 format, to the subbox. The RS422 receiver 108 receives a control signal received from the subbox, that is, control data in RS-232 format, and outputs the control signal to the RS-232 controller.

FIG. 5 shows a detailed configuration of the stream receiving and controller 62 shown in FIG. The stream reception and controller 62 of FIG. 5 includes first to fourth RS422 receivers 110, 112, 114, and 116 for stream transmission of the main box and a data stream transmitted from the controller 40. And a RS-232 controller (not shown) for receiving a control signal input from the fifth RS422 receiver 118 and the sixth RS422 transmitter 106 for receiving the stream clock signal Stream clk transmitted from the controller 40. Sixth RS422 receiver 120 for outputting to the main unit, an RS422 transmitter 122 for outputting a control signal from the RS-232 controller to the main box, and first to fourth RS422 receivers 110, 112, and 114; To the output terminals of the first to fourth serial / parallel converters 124, 126, 128 and 130 and the first to fourth serial / parallel converters 124, 126, 128 and 130 respectively connected to the output terminals of Connected first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138, first to fourth serial-to-parallel converters 124, 126, 128, 130, and first, respectively. And a logic controller 140 commonly connected to the fourth to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138. Each of the first to fourth RS422 receivers 110, 112, 114, and 116 transmits through the stream transmission and the first to fourth RS422 transmitters 96, 98, 100, and 102 of the controller 40 shown in FIG. The data stream is received and output to each of the first to fourth serial / parallel converters 124, 126, 128, and 130. The fifth RS422 receiver 118 receives the stream clock signal Stream clk transmitted through the fifth RS422 transmitter 104 and outputs the stream clock signal Stream clk to the logic controller 140. The sixth RS422 receiver 120 receives the stream data and the control data of the RS-232 format transmitted from the controller 40 and outputs the control data to the RS-232 controller. The RS422 transmitter 122 transmits the control data of the RS-232 format input from the RS-232 controller to the stream transmitter and the controller 40. Each of the first to fourth serial-to-parallel converters 124, 126, 128, and 130 may be a first to fourth RS422 receiver 110, 112, 114, and 116 under the control of the logic controller 140 as shown in FIG. 6B. ) The serial data streams input from each of them are converted into parallel data streams and output. Each of the first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138 may have a first to fourth serial / parallel converter 124, 126, 128, and 130 under the control of the logic controller 140 as shown in FIG. 6B. The data streams inputted from each are temporarily stored and output. In this case, the logic controller 140 outputs a buffer clock signal Buf clk for synchronizing the data streams output from each of the first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sharing a received data stream by a digital broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the method of sharing the received data stream of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

When the power of the sub box is turned on, in step 2 (S2), the sub box requests the current service state to the main box through the RS422 transmitter 122. In step 4 (S4), the main box transmits the current service state to the subbox through the RS422 transmitter 106 by the truth table shown in FIG. The sub box is operated by the truth table shown in FIG. 8. For example, in case of No. 2 in the truth table, the satellite and terrestrial wave of which main box has master right is in use and the cable is not used, so the subbox has master right for cable and slave for satellite and terrestrial wave. (Slave) only. Here, the master right of the sub box means that the first to third tuners and the demodulators 34, 36, and 38 of the main box can be controlled in the sub box, and the slave right cannot be controlled but is received in the main box. To receive the data stream. In step 6 (S6) the susbox requests the main box through the RS422 transmitter 122 for the data stream of the desired service medium based on the truth table shown in FIG. In step 8 (S8), the main box transmits the data stream of the service medium required by the sub box. For example, in case 2 of the truth table of FIG. 8, if the subbox wants the data stream of the cable broadcast, the cable service state table of the main box is changed to the master. Accordingly, the third tuner and the QAM demodulator 38 for the cable service of the main box are controlled only by the sub box. Under the control of the subbox, the main box causes the cable broadcast signal to be received through the third tuner and the QAM demodulator 38 and temporarily stored in the third buffer 82 to be output. In addition, in the main box, data streams from the third buffer 82 are alternately distributed to the first to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92, and 94 by the control of the logic controller 86, thereby distributing serial data. It is converted into a stream and is transmitted to the subbox through the first to fourth RS422 transmitters 96, 98, 100, and 102. Here, the number of parallel / serial converters is determined according to the amount of data stream. For example, when the maximum data rate of the RS422 transmitter is 10Mbps, the number of channels of the RS422 transmitter is 40Mbps / 10Mbps = 4 for a 40Mbps data stream, so four parallel / serial converters are required. In FIG. 4, the first parallel / serial converter 88 transmits in the order of Byte0 and Byte4, and the second parallel / serial converter 90 transmits in the order of Byte1 and Byte5, as shown in FIG. 6A. In addition, the third parallel / serial converter 82 transmits in the order of Byte2, Byte6, and the fourth parallel / serial converter 94 transmits in the order of Byte3, Byte7. In this case, the first to fourth parallel / serial converters 88, 90, 92 and 94 are the MSBs of the data stream bytes at the rising edges of Latch0 to latch3 inputted from the logic controller 86 as shown in Fig. 6A. Are output, and the remaining 7 bits are output from the rising edges of P / S clk0 to P / S clk3 in turn. Here, the frequencies of Latch0 to latch3 and P / S clk0 to P / S clk3 are 10 Mhz.

On the other hand, if the main box is using satellite and terrestrial in the state of truth table 2, when terrestrial is selected in the sub box, the second tuner and VSB demodulator 36 of the main box are not controlled in the sub box, and the main box is simply Only the second buffer 80 connected to the second tuner and VSB demodulator 36 is opened to allow the terrestrial data stream to be transmitted to the subbox. In other words, the subbox receives only data streams for the terrestrial channels viewed by the main box or other subboxes.

In step 10 (S10) the subbox receives the data stream input from the main box. In detail, the subbox receives the data streams transmitted from the main box through the first to fourth RS422 receivers 110, 112, 114, and 116, respectively, and the first to fourth serial / parallel converters 124, 126, and 128. , 130). The logic controller 14 synchronizes the received clock signal Rx clk, that is, the stream clock signal Stream clk, which is input through the second RS422 receiver 118, as shown in FIG. 6B. P Clk3 and Latch0 to Latch3 are generated and output to the first to fourth serial / parallel converters 124, 126, 128, and 130, respectively. Accordingly, each of the first to fourth serial-to-parallel converters 124, 126, 128, and 130 may have a first to fourth RS422 at falling edges of S / P Clk0 to S / P Clk3 as shown in FIG. 6B. Data streams from each of the receivers 110, 112, 114, and 116 are input. At this time, the frequency of S / P Clk0 ~ S / P Clk3 is 10Mhz as in the main box. Subsequently, the first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138 alternately input and output data streams by the Buf Enb0 to Buf Enb3 sequentially input from the logic controller 140. The data streams alternately output from the first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138 are transmitted to the demux / MPEG decoder 64 in synchronization with the Buf Clk generated from the logic controller 140. In this case, the data stream output from the first to fourth buffers 132, 134, 136, and 138 and the Buf Clk output from the logic controller 140 become the same as the data stream and stream clock signal transmitted from the main box. It can be used according to the demux / MPEG decoder 64 or desired function.

If service change is requested from the sub-box in step 12 (S12), the process proceeds to step 2 (S2) and the above-described steps 2 to 10 (S2 to S10) are repeated. If the power (soft power) of the subbox is turned off in step 14 (S2), the process proceeds to step 16 (S16) to transmit a power-off state from the subbox to the main box before turning off the main power of the subbox. This is to allow the main box to update the current service status (Up date) in the next step 18 (S18), so that if the other sub boxes are connected, the master service can be obtained. If the main box is powered off in step 20 (S20), the operation ends.

As described above, according to the apparatus and method for sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention, a conventional method is provided by using a main box capable of supporting broadcasting of all service media and a sub box capable of selectively receiving and controlling the main box. As such, each room can receive a broadcast of a desired service medium without providing an expensive complex digital broadcast receiver. In addition, according to the apparatus and method for sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the connection distance can be set longer by connecting the main box and the sub box through the RS422 transceiver.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (5)

An apparatus for sharing a data stream received at a digital broadcast receiver, A main box having a means for converting and reproducing broadcast signals received from a plurality of service media into a data stream, and a data stream transmission and control means for transmitting the corresponding data stream among the data streams according to a control signal input from the outside; , A plurality of datastream reception and control means for generating said control signal and receiving a datastream from said datastream transmission and control means, and a means for reproducing the datastream from said datastream reception and control means. A receiving data stream sharing apparatus of a digital broadcasting receiver, comprising: a sub box. The method of claim 1, The data stream transmission and control means Input means for inputting a desired data stream to the subbox according to the control signal; Parallel / serial conversion means for converting the data stream from the input means into a serial data stream; Logic control means for supplying a timing control signal to said parallel / serial conversion means and for generating a reference clock signal; And transmission means for transmitting the data stream from the parallel / serial conversion means, the control signal of the main box, and the reference clock signal from the logic control means. The method of claim 2, The data stream receiving and control means Receiving means for receiving a data stream, a control signal and a reference clock signal from the transmitting means; Serial / parallel conversion means for converting and outputting the data stream from the receiving means into a parallel data stream; Output means for reproducibly outputting a data stream from said serial / parallel conversion means; And a logic control means for supplying a timing control signal to the serial / parallel conversion means and output means based on the reference clock signal and generating a data stream transmission clock signal from the output means. Data stream sharing device. A main box for converting and reproducing broadcast signals received from a plurality of service media into a data stream, and transmitting the corresponding data stream among the data streams according to a control signal input from the outside; A method of sharing a data stream received at a digital broadcast receiver having a subbox for receiving and playing back a data stream from the same, A method for sharing a data stream received at the digital broadcast receiver, A first step of transmitting a current service state based on a service table preset in the main box to the sub box when the main box requests the current service state from the sub box; Selecting a desired service broadcast in the subbox and transmitting a data stream of the broadcast selected by the subbox in the mainbox; Receiving and playing a data stream from the main box in the sub box; A fourth step of repeating the first to third steps when there is a service change request from the sub-box; And receiving a soft power-off state from the sub-box in the main box, updating a current service state. The method of claim 4, wherein The subbox has a master right that can control the unused service broadcast in the main box, and has a slave right that can receive only the data stream for the service broadcast for the broadcast of the service in use. A method of sharing a received data stream of a digital broadcast receiver.