KR20070105121A - Setting method a restricting viewing of broadcasting program - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for setting viewing restriction of a broadcasting program is provided to enable a user to restrict viewing of the television program easily by using various viewing restriction menus and restricting the program according to the necessity of the user. A method for setting viewing restriction of a broadcasting program comprises: providing various menus corresponding to viewing restriction if a signal for block or canceling of a broadcasting program is inputted by a user(S102); setting or canceling viewing clocks of the program if a viewing restriction menu is selected by the user(S104~S106); storing information about the program of which the viewing block is set or canceled(S110); and displaying the information about the program of which the viewing block is set or canceled set by the user(S111).

Description

How to set parental control for a broadcast program {SETTING METHOD A RESTRICTING VIEWING OF BROADCASTING PROGRAM}

1 is a block diagram for explaining a broadcast program viewing restriction method of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view showing a parental control menu screen of a user setting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a view showing a parental control screen of a user setting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting viewing of a broadcast program of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

1: remote control 2: remote receiver

3: tuner portion 4: demultiplexer portion

5: Audio / Video Decoder 6: Display

7: PVR module 8: memory

9: control unit

The present invention relates to a method for setting a program, and more particularly, to a method for setting a viewing limit for a broadcast program, which effectively blocks unnecessary information by setting a program viewing limit directly by using a user-defined menu.

In digital broadcasting, the range of channel utilization has increased significantly compared to the existing analog broadcasting, and as the number of channels available to the user increases, a channel for broadcasting a movie-only channel or an adult-only program also appears.

In addition, various types of information may be provided together with the program through data broadcasting. An example of such information is EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information. The most basic function of EPG is to provide broadcasting information, and additionally, advertisements or other life information.

Accordingly, digital broadcasting provides users with unnecessary or harmful information by providing a much larger amount of information than analog broadcasting. At this time, watching a program above a setting level is restricted in order to limit harmful information provided to minors. It is limited.

However, if the user wants to set the parental level by using the rating information provided by the broadcasting signal, the user should have a clear understanding of the rating information system, and the criteria of the rating information do not satisfy the individual user's criteria or prefer. There was a problem of limiting the viewing of the program.

In addition, there is a problem that it takes more effort than necessary and requires a lot of time by setting and dismantling the limited program block according to the rating information system.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to minimize the side effects of the user to understand the system of the rating information by restricting the viewing of the TV program and accordingly to limit the viewing uniformly In addition, the present invention provides a method for restricting viewing of a broadcast program to maximize user satisfaction.

In order to achieve the above-described object of the present invention, a method for setting a parental control of a broadcast program includes providing various menus according to parental control when a block setting or cancellation signal of a broadcast program parental control menu is input by a user; When the parental control menu is selected from the user, the step of setting or canceling the viewing block of the corresponding program, storing the information of the viewing block setting or canceled program and displaying the viewing block setting and termination program information set by the user accordingly It includes a step.

In this case, the viewing restriction menu may use at least one of electronic program guide (EPG) information, broadcast rating information, time information, and play count information.

Here, the program using the number of times of play information is preferably a recording program, and the recording program set in the viewing block is characterized in that the display of the thumb nail (Thumb nail) screen is limited.

The method may further include a step of confirming a password input when storing the viewing block setting or cancellation information selected by the user, and when a password does not match, displaying a message in which the viewing block setting or cancellation is impossible. .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a method for setting viewing restriction for a broadcast program of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a method for restricting viewing of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, when looking at the structure of a TV that restricts viewing of a broadcast program according to a user definition, the user wirelessly selects a parental control menu provided by a TV and sets and releases a viewing block. A remote controller 1 for controlling viewing of a program, a remote receiver 2 for receiving a signal of the remote controller 1 and outputting a signal corresponding thereto, a tuner 3 for tuning a signal received through an antenna; A demultiplexer 4 for demultiplexing the signal tuned by the tuner 3 to separate the audio / video signal and the additional information data, and an audio / video signal decoded at the demultiplexer 4; The video decoder 5, the display 6 for displaying the signal decoded by the audio / video decoder 5, and the initial electronic program guide when the user requests the electronic program guide (EPG). Provides the program information extracted by the broadcasting program, provides the program information recorded in the PVR module, the broadcast time and channel information of the program as a parental control setting menu, and the program set or canceled by the user as a viewing block. And a control unit 9 for storing information in the memory 8 and providing the user-defined parental control program.

In addition, the control unit 9 controls to set or terminate the viewing block that is input only when the password matches the password stored in the memory 8 when the user sets or cancels the program as a viewing block.

2 is a view showing a parental control menu screen of the user setting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a user enters a parental control setting menu provided through a button or an OSD menu of a remote controller, the TV sets a viewing block as shown in FIG. Provide a menu. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the user sets the rating block by using the broadcasting rating information, sets or cancels the viewing block accordingly, or requests the EPG information based on the EPG information provided by requesting the viewing block. Set or terminate the block, set or cancel the block for a specific channel or all channels during the time set by the user, or set the block as many times as the user sets using the play count of the program recorded by the PVR module. It provides various selection menus to cancel, and the OSD is displayed according to the selection. In addition, as shown in No. 3, when a password input is required when setting or canceling the viewing block, the input password must match to store the block change of the program viewing restriction.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a parental control screen of a user setting provided in a thumb nail form for a program set as a viewing block among programs recorded by a PVR module in the aforementioned various parental control setting menus.

As shown in FIG. 3, a program set as a viewing block among recorded programs does not provide a thumbnail screen, which is a preview screen, when the list is displayed in a thumbnail format.

As such, the program set as the viewing block restricts the viewing of the user by limiting the TV display.

Referring to FIG. 4, a method for setting broadcast program viewing restriction of a TV having such a configuration is as follows.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting viewing of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the user-defined parental control method, the TV power is turned on (S100), and the program parental control menu is input from the user through the remote controller 1, or the program parental control menu is displayed on the OSD menu screen. If is selected (S101), it is confirmed whether to block or cancel the block of the viewing program (S102).

Subsequently, the controller 9 provides various menus for setting or canceling the block of the viewing program according to the confirmation result (S103). The above-described various menus allow the viewing block to be set using 1. broadcast rating information, 2.EPG information, 3.time information, and 4.playback information. Here, when the user selects a menu for setting or canceling the viewing block using the broadcasting rating information, the control unit 9 extracts the rating information included in the broadcasting information and provides it to the user. After editing the rating information of the recorded broadcast as required by the user, the viewing block is immediately set or canceled (S104).

In addition, when a menu for setting or canceling the viewing block using the 2.EPG information is selected by the user, the control unit 9 provides the user with information on a program that is currently in progress or to be broadcasted, and the user provides the EPG information. The program is set or terminated as a viewing block from the start time to the end time of the program, or when a specific program is broadcasted as a series, the block is set or canceled for the entire series (S105).

In addition, when a menu for setting or canceling the viewing block using the time information is selected by the user, the controller 9 provides the user with a time input screen and a channel input screen for inputting time, The viewing block is set or canceled for a specific channel or all channels during the input time set by the user (S106).

In addition, when a menu for setting or canceling the viewing block using the number of play counts is selected by the user, the controller 9 provides information of a program recorded by the PVR module 7 (S107). Sets a reference play count for the recorded program, and sets or cancels the viewing block by the set play count (S113). Thus, viewing of the program is restricted when the number of times of play set by the user is exceeded.

Subsequently, if the user-defined program viewing block is set or canceled by one of the above-described various menus, the control unit 9 confirms whether a password is input for storing the memory unit 8 of the changed program block ( S108, S114). At this time, the password input screen may or may not be provided depending on the program or menu setting.

Subsequently, if the passwords input from the user match (S109 and S115), the viewing block setting or cancellation information changed by the user is stored in the memory unit 8 (S110). In this case, when the viewing block is set through the play frequency information of the recorded program, the controller 9 displays the thumbnail display of the thumbnail screen of the program set in the viewing block when previewing the program information in the form of a thumb nail. Limited storage (S116).

Thereafter, the user-defined parental level program information is displayed on the screen, and the program is broadcasted accordingly (S111).

On the other hand, if the passwords input from the user in S109 and S115 do not match, the control unit 9 displays a message on the display unit 6 that the setting or cancellation of the viewing block changed by the user is impossible (S112). , S117).

Thus, the user can more easily limit the viewing program according to the needs of the program.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Of course, any person skilled in the art can make various modifications, and such changes are within the scope of the claims.

According to the present invention as described above, the user can easily limit the viewing of the TV program directly through various viewing restrictions menu, and by limiting the viewing of the program according to the needs of the user has the effect of maximizing user satisfaction have.

In addition, if the corresponding program is inappropriate to watch while viewing the program, the viewing is limited through the user setting menu regardless of the rating information.

Claims (6)

(a) providing various menus according to the parental control when a block setting or cancellation signal of a broadcast program parental control menu is input by a user; (b) if a parental control menu is selected from the user, setting or canceling a viewing block of the corresponding program accordingly; (c) storing the information of the watching block setting or canceled program; And and (d) displaying the viewing block setting and termination program information set by the user. According to claim 1, wherein the parental control menu of step (a) An electronic program guide (EPG) information, broadcast rating information, time information, the number of playback information at least one of the broadcast program setting method characterized in that it uses. The method of claim 2, And a program using the number of times of reproduction information is a recorded program.  The method of claim 3, And the recording program set to the viewing block restricts the display of a preview of a thumbnail screen. The method of claim 1, And checking a password input when the viewing block setting or termination information selected by the user is stored. The method of claim 5, And if the password input does not match, displaying a message that cannot be set or terminated.

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