KR20080064667A - Device and method for converting broadcasting channel of tv - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for switching a television broadcasting channel and a method therefor are provided to increase the convenience of channel selection for a user by switching a current channel to a previous channel or a more previous channel. An apparatus for switching a television broadcasting channel includes a remote controller(1), an IR receiver(2), a memory(3), a micro-computer(5), an RF unit(6), a video processor(7), a synthesizer(8), and a display unit(9). The remote controller includes a previous channel key and a plurality of numeric keys. The memory stores previous channel information viewed by a viewer in a recent time order. When the IR receiver receives a previous channel key signal from the remote controller, the controller searches previous channels stored in the memory, and generates and displays a previous channel list OSD on the display unit. When the IR receiver receives a numeric key signal within a predetermined time, the controller searches a corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key and displays a screen of the corresponding previous channel on the display unit.

Description

Device and method for converting broadcasting channel of TV

1 is a block diagram of a television broadcasting channel switching device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a previous channel list OSD and a numeric input OSD displayed on the display of FIG. 1; FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for switching a television broadcast channel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

1: remote controller, 2: IR receiver,

3: memory, 5: microcomputer,

6: RF unit, 7: video processing unit,

8: synthesis section, 9: display section.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for converting a television broadcast channel, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for converting a television broadcast channel that can directly switch to a previous channel as well as several previous steps when a viewer requests a previous channel. will be.

In general, a viewer selects and watches a broadcast channel of a television through a remote controller, and changes the broadcast channel over and over to watch a desired broadcast while watching the television broadcast.

In this regard, the viewer changes the broadcast channel again and again while watching the television broadcast, and then uses the channel up / down keys on the remote control to revisit the broadcast channel that he previously watched. Switch to a channel adjacent to the channel.

However, the sequential switching method of the channel using the channel up / down key is inconvenient that the channel cannot be directly switched to the channel previously watched.

So, in recent years, a method has been developed in which a previous channel key is installed on a remote controller so that it can be switched directly to a previously watched channel, but this method is only switched to one previous channel that was watched immediately before the current channel. The channel does not switch immediately.

Therefore, in the method using the previous channel key as described above, in order for the viewer to switch to the channel watched a few steps ago, the channel can be switched to the desired channel only by inputting the previous channel key several times.

In this regard, as terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting, and satellite broadcasting have become commercially available in recent years, the number of broadcasting channels has increased to several hundreds. It is quite cumbersome for viewers to switch sequentially and access, or to access the channel just watched one by one by the previous channel key.

Therefore, viewers should be able to switch more easily to the channels they have previously watched, but now they can switch channels sequentially with the channel up / down keys as described above or use the previous channel key to watch just before the current channel. Currently, only one channel can be switched.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for converting a television broadcast channel that can directly switch to a previous channel as well as a previous channel when there is a previous channel request from a viewer. It is done.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television broadcasting channel switching apparatus including a remote controller including a previous channel key and a plurality of numeric keys; A memory in which channel information of previous channels viewed by a viewer is stored in a chronological order; And, when receiving a previous channel key signal from the remote controller through an IR receiver, processes the previous channel list OSD after searching for the previous channels stored in the memory and displays the generated channel list OSD on the display unit. And receiving a signal to search for the corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key and display the screen of the corresponding previous channel on the display unit.

When the microcomputer receives a previous channel key signal from the remote controller, the microcomputer searches for the most recently viewed previous channel in the memory and displays the screen of the most recently viewed previous channel along with the previous channel list OSD on the display unit. It is desirable to display it.

In addition, the microcomputer preferably generates and displays a numeric input OSD on one side of the previous channel list OSD of the display unit so that a viewer can select a desired previous channel using the numeric keys while viewing the previous channel list OSD.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, a method for switching a television broadcast channel comprises the steps of: a) storing a previous channel viewed by a viewer in chronological order; b) receiving a previous channel key signal from a remote controller; c) after retrieving the stored previous channel, displaying a previous channel list OSD on a display; d) searching for a corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key when receiving a numeric key signal from the remote controller within a predetermined time; And, e) displaying the searched previous channel screen on the display unit.

In addition, step c) may include: c1) searching the stored previous channel; c2) displaying a screen of the most recent previous channel among the searched previous channels on the display unit; c3) displaying the previous channel list OSD on the display unit; And c4) activating a numeric input OSD and displaying it on the display unit so that a viewer can select a desired previous channel from the displayed previous channel list using a numeric key.

The above objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for switching a television broadcast channel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a television to which a television broadcasting channel switching apparatus according to the present embodiment is applied includes a remote controller 1, an IR receiver 2, a memory 3, a microcomputer 5, an RF unit 6, and a video processor. (7), a combining section 8 and a display section 9 are included.

When the viewer operates a key installed in the remote controller 1, the IR receiver 2 receives this key signal and the microcomputer 5 controls each of the components to perform an operation corresponding to the received key signal. do. Meanwhile, the RF unit 6 tunes a specific channel of the broadcast signal (RF signal) according to the control signal of the microcomputer 5, and the video processor 7 processes an image signal among the tuned channels and displays the display unit 9. Mark). When the OSD (On Screen Display) is generated under the control of the microcomputer 5, the synthesizing unit 8 synthesizes the generated OSD with the video signal so as to be displayed on the display unit. Although not shown, it is a matter of course that there is a voice processing unit for processing the voice signal of the channel tuned by the RF unit 6 and outputting it to the speaker.

On the other hand, the remote control 1 is provided with a plurality of numeric keys (1b) displayed a number from 0 to 9 like the existing remote control, and also the previous channel that can switch to the previous channel that the viewer watched during the current channel The key 1a is installed.

In the memory 3, channel information of previous channels viewed by the viewer is stored in chronological order. Accordingly, when a viewer watches a broadcast and changes the channel being watched to another channel, the channel information of the watched channel is sequentially stored whenever the channel being watched is changed.

Meanwhile, when the microcomputer 5 receives the previous channel key 1a signal of the remote controller 1 through the IR receiver 2, the microcomputer 5 searches for previous channels stored in the memory 3, and then displays the previous channel list OSD. It generates and processes to display on the display unit 9. 2 shows an example of the previous channel list OSD 11. The previous channel list OSD 11 shows channel information of previous channels, that is, a channel number, a channel name, and a number of previous previous channels. As shown, the list of previous channels is displayed in chronological order. For example, the previous channel at the top is the channel you watched immediately before the channel you are currently watching (1st Previous), that is, the channel you watched most recently. MBC ". The second is the previous channel watched before (2st Previous), the channel number is "8", and the channel name is "KBS". On the other hand, as shown in the present embodiment, only nine numbers of previous channels are stored and displayed, but the present invention is not limited thereto and dozens of channels may be stored and displayed.

When the numeric key 1b signal is input from the remote controller 1 within a predetermined time period, the microcomputer 5 searches for the corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key signal and displays the screen of the corresponding previous channel on the display unit. To control. To this end, the microcomputer 5 generates the numeric input OSD 12 so that the viewer can input the numeric key 1b while watching the previous channel list OSD 11, and the previous channel list OSD 11 of the display unit 9 is displayed. It is activated and displayed on one side.

Accordingly, when the viewer presses the corresponding previous channel on the activated numeric input OSD 12 using the numeric key 1b, the microcomputer 5 searches for the corresponding previous channel input and displays the screen of the previous previous channel. (9) is controlled to display. For example, if the viewer inputs the "3" numeric key, the microcomputer 5 searches for the third previous channel "Ch 44 (OCN)" and sends a control signal to the RF unit 6, and the RF unit ( 6) tunes a broadcast signal corresponding to " Ch 44 (OCN) ", and the video signal of the tuned broadcast signals is processed by the video processor 7 and displayed on the display unit 9. FIG.

On the other hand, when receiving the previous channel key signal, the microcomputer 5 searches for the most recently viewed previous channel in the memory 3 and displays the screen along with the previous channel list OSD 11 on the display unit 9. It is desirable to display. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 9 outputs the screen of the most recent previous channel “Ch 3 (MBC)” on the desktop, and the previous channel list OSD 11 and the numeric input OSD (on the screen). 12) is displayed. This is because only the OSD text appears on the display unit 9 because it is not visually satisfactory.

Therefore, if the viewer wants to watch the most recent previous channel while watching the current broadcast, he or she may press the previous channel key 1a or press the number key "1" after pressing the previous channel key 1a. In addition, when the viewer wants to watch the channel a few steps ago, pressing the corresponding number key enables the viewer to immediately watch the corresponding channel.

Hereinafter, an operation of a television broadcasting channel switching device having the above configuration and a television broadcasting channel switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

First, the microcomputer 5 checks the channels watched by the viewer every time the viewer changes the channel and stores them in the memory 3 in the latest time order (S100).

On the other hand, the microcomputer 5 checks whether the signal input from the remote controller 1 through the IR receiver 2 is the previous channel key 1a input signal (S110).

If it is determined that the received signal is the previous channel key signal, the previous channels stored in the memory 3 are searched for (S120).

On the other hand, if the previous channel key is not input maintains the previous normal state (S200).

After searching for the previous channels, the microcomputer 5 causes the display unit 9 to display the screen of the most recently viewed previous channel among the searched previous channels (S130). At the same time, the microcomputer 5 generates the searched previous channel list OSD 11 as shown in FIG. 2 and displays it on the display unit 9 (S140). The numeric input OSD 12 is activated to be displayed on the display unit 9 so that the previous channel can be selected using the numeric key 1b (S150).

Thereafter, it is checked whether the numeric key corresponding to the number of the previous channel list is input from the remote controller 1 within a predetermined time (for example, within 3 seconds) (S160). When the numeric key is input, the microcomputer 5 searches for the corresponding previous channel corresponding to the input numeric key from the memory 3 (S170).

Then, the searched screen of the previous channel is displayed on the display unit 9 (S180), and the OSD displayed on the display unit is deleted (S190). Accordingly, the viewer may watch the screen of the corresponding previous channel.

On the other hand, if the numeric key is not input from the remote controller 1 within a certain time after the "S150", the previous channel list OSD and numeric input OSD is deleted on the display unit 9 (S162), the previous normal state (S200) Will return to. Thus, the viewer watches the screen of the most recent previous channel in " S130 ".

After that, if the user wants to search for and watch the previous channel again, the above process may be repeated. Although not described above, when the channel is switched, the channel before the switching is stored in the memory 3 again.

In this way, the viewer can view a list of previously watched channels by pressing a previous channel key 1a installed on the remote controller 1, and presses a corresponding number key 1b corresponding to a desired channel among the previous channel lists. You can switch directly to the channel.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described specific embodiments. That is, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make many changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims, and all such appropriate changes and modifications are possible. Equivalents should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, the viewer can immediately search and switch not only the previous channel of the previous stage but also several channels of the previous stage, thereby increasing the convenience of channel selection of the viewer and effectively meeting various service needs. You can.

Claims (5)

A remote control including a previous channel key and a plurality of numeric keys; A memory in which channel information of previous channels viewed by a viewer is stored in a chronological order; And, When the previous channel key signal is received from the remote controller through the IR receiver, after searching the previous channels stored in the memory, a previous channel list OSD is generated and processed to be displayed on the display unit. And a microcomputer for searching the corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key to display the screen of the previous previous channel on the display unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the microcomputer, When the previous channel key signal is received from the remote controller, the most recently watched previous channel is searched in the memory and the screen of the most recently viewed previous channel is displayed on the display unit along with the previous channel list OSD. A television broadcast channel switching device. The method of claim 2, The microcomputer generates a numeric input OSD so that a viewer can select a desired previous channel using the numeric keys while viewing the previous channel list OSD, and activates and displays the digital input OSD on one side of the previous channel list OSD of the display unit. Channel changer. a) storing previous channels watched by the viewer in chronological order; b) receiving a previous channel key signal from a remote controller; c) after retrieving the stored previous channels, displaying a previous channel list OSD on a display; d) searching for a corresponding previous channel corresponding to the numeric key when receiving the numeric key signal from the remote controller within a predetermined time; And, e) displaying the searched previous channel screen on the display unit. The method of claim 4, wherein step c) c1) retrieving the stored previous channels; c2) displaying a screen of the most recent previous channel among the searched previous channels on the display unit; c3) displaying the previous channel list OSD on the display unit; And, c4) activating and displaying a numeric input OSD on the display unit so that a viewer can select a desired previous channel from the displayed previous channel list by using a numeric key.

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