CN113766300A

CN113766300A - Display device and program data caching method

Info

Publication number: CN113766300A
Application number: CN202111112658.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 龚卫全; 朱小普; 洪小玲
Original assignee: Hisense Electronic Technology Shenzhen Co ltd
Current assignee: Vidaa Netherlands International Holdings BV
Priority date: 2021-09-23
Filing date: 2021-09-23
Publication date: 2021-12-07

Abstract

When the display equipment receives a starting instruction sent by a user, whether the program data provided by a corresponding starting channel after the equipment is started is effective or not is judged, if the program data corresponding to the starting channel is effective, audio and video contents can be played, the display equipment does not need the user to indicate, and a program data caching function is automatically started to cache the program data corresponding to the starting channel. In this way, the time node for starting to cache the program data can be effectively advanced to expand the integrity of the cached program data forward, thereby providing more playable program data for the user. Moreover, the above-mentioned program data caching method can also provide the user with more complete playable program data when the user forgets or delays to send the time shift instruction, so as to improve the user's experience of reviewing.

Description

Display device and program data caching method

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of intelligent display equipment, in particular to display equipment and a program data caching method.

Background

The display device is a terminal device capable of outputting a specific display picture, and may be a terminal device such as a smart television, a mobile terminal, a smart advertisement screen, and a projector. Taking an intelligent television as an example, the intelligent television is based on an Internet application technology, is provided with an open operating system and a chip, is provided with an open application platform, can realize a bidirectional man-machine interaction function, integrates multiple functions of video, entertainment, data and the like, and is a television product for meeting diversified and personalized requirements of users.

The review function of the display device can improve the experience of the user, the user can select the review function when the user overlooks some programs or wants to watch some programs again, and at the moment, the display device can acquire program data which the user wants to review again and play the program data. The display device obtains program data for review by caching the program data in advance, the display device generally starts to cache the currently played program data after receiving a time shift instruction sent by a user, if the user forgets to send the time shift instruction, the display device will not cache the program data, and the display device will not support the user to review the used program data, or if the user sends the time shift instruction untimely, the program data cached by the display device will be incomplete, so that the user may not review the content that the user wants to review.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a display device and a program data caching method, so as to improve the timeliness of caching currently played program data.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a display device comprising:

a display configured to display a user interface corresponding to the program data;

a controller configured to:

receiving a starting-up instruction sent by a user;

responding to the starting instruction, and acquiring program data corresponding to a starting channel;

and when the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel is valid, caching the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a program data caching method applied to the display device of the first aspect, where the method includes:

receiving a starting-up instruction sent by a user;

According to the technical scheme, when the display equipment receives a starting-up instruction sent by a user, whether the program data provided by the corresponding starting-up channel after the equipment is started up is valid is judged, if the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel is valid, the audio and video content can be played, and the display equipment automatically starts a program data caching function without the instruction of the user so as to cache the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel. In this way, the time node for starting to cache the program data can be effectively advanced to expand the integrity of the cached program data forward, thereby providing more playable program data for the user. Moreover, the above-mentioned program data caching method can also provide the user with more complete playable program data when the user forgets or delays to send the time shift instruction, so as to improve the user's experience of reviewing.

Drawings

In order to more clearly explain the technical solution of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a usage scenario of a display device in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a control device in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a control device in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of a display device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a software configuration diagram of a display device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating caching program data based on time shift instructions in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a program data caching method in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a comparison diagram of program data of a cached startup channel in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of caching program data of a display device in response to a channel switching command according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating channel switching by a display device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a process of caching program data, where a display device has received a time shift instruction sent by a user before receiving a channel switch sent by the user in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a process of caching program data, in which a display device has received a time shift instruction sent by a user before receiving a channel switch sent by the user in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining, by a display device, a cached program data flow executed after receiving a time shift instruction sent by a user in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a program data caching process in which a time shift command starts to automatically cache program data before a display device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the use of a timer to determine continuous fast channel switching according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a flowchart of playing back buffered program data in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of playback of buffered program data by a display device in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a user interface corresponding to playing the cached program data in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following examples do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. But merely as exemplifications of systems and methods consistent with certain aspects of the application, as recited in the claims.

It should be noted that the brief descriptions of the terms in the present application are only for the convenience of understanding the embodiments described below, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application. These terms should be understood in their ordinary and customary meaning unless otherwise indicated.

The terms "first," "second," "third," and the like in the description and claims of this application and in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between similar or analogous objects or entities and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order, unless otherwise indicated. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances.

The terms "comprises" and "comprising," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a product or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to all elements expressly listed, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such product or apparatus.

The term "module" refers to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and/or software code that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a usage scenario of a display device according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 1, the display apparatus 200 may perform digital signal communication with the transmitting apparatus 300, the display apparatus 200 may perform internet communication with the server 400, and the user may operate the display apparatus 200 through the control device 100.

In some embodiments, the control apparatus 100 may be a remote controller, and the communication between the remote controller and the display device includes at least one of an infrared protocol communication or a bluetooth protocol communication, and other short-distance communication methods, and controls the display device 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The user may control the display apparatus 200 by inputting a user instruction through at least one of a key on a remote controller, a voice input, a control panel input, and the like.

In some embodiments, the control apparatus 100 may also be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone, and the communication between the mobile terminal and the display device 200 includes at least one of internet protocol communication, bluetooth protocol communication, and other short-range communication and long-range communication. The user may control the display apparatus 200 by inputting a user instruction through at least one of a key on the mobile terminal, a voice input, a control panel input, and the like. Fig. 2 exemplarily shows a block diagram of the configuration of the control apparatus 100 taking a remote controller as an example. As shown in fig. 2, the control device 100 includes a controller, a communication interface, a user input/output interface, a memory, and a power supply. The control apparatus 100 may receive an input operation instruction from a user and convert the operation instruction into an instruction recognizable and responsive by the display device 200, serving as an interaction intermediary between the user and the display device 200.

Fig. 3 exemplarily shows a block diagram of a configuration of the control apparatus 100 taking a mobile terminal as an example. As shown in fig. 3, the control device 100 includes at least one of a Radio Frequency (RF) circuit, a memory, a display unit, a camera, a sensor, an audio circuit, a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) circuit, a processor, a bluetooth circuit, and a power supply.

Fig. 4 shows a hardware configuration block diagram of the display apparatus 200 according to an exemplary embodiment.

In some embodiments, the display apparatus 200 includes at least one of a tuner demodulator 210, a communicator 220, a detector 230, an external device interface 240, a controller 250, a display 260, an audio output interface 270, a memory, a power supply, a user interface.

In some embodiments, communicator 220 is a component for communicating with external devices or servers according to various communication protocol types. For example: the communicator may include at least one of a Wi-Fi module, a bluetooth module, a wired ethernet module, or other network communication protocol chip or near field communication protocol chip, and an infrared receiver. The display apparatus 200 may establish transmission and reception of control signals and data signals with the control device 100 or the server 400 through the communicator 220.

In some embodiments, the external device interface 240 may include, but is not limited to, the following: high Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), analog or data high definition component input interface (component), composite video input interface (CVBS), USB input interface (USB), RGB port, and the like. The interface may be a composite input/output interface formed by the plurality of interfaces.

In some embodiments, the controller 250 and the modem 210 may be located in different separate devices, that is, the modem 210 may also be located in an external device of the main device where the controller 250 is located, such as an external set-top box.

In some embodiments, the controller 250 controls the operation of the display device and responds to user operations through various software control programs stored in memory. The controller 250 controls the overall operation of the display apparatus 200. For example: in response to receiving a user command for selecting a UI object to be displayed on the display 260, the controller 250 may perform an operation related to the object selected by the user command.

In some embodiments, a user may enter user commands on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) displayed on display 260, and the user input interface receives the user input commands through the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Alternatively, the user may input the user command by inputting a specific sound or gesture, and the user input interface receives the user input command by recognizing the sound or gesture through the sensor.

In some embodiments, a "user interface" is a media interface for interaction and information exchange between an application or operating system and a user that enables conversion between an internal form of information and a form that is acceptable to the user. A commonly used presentation form of the User Interface is a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which refers to a User Interface related to computer operations and displayed in a graphical manner. It may be an interface element such as an icon, a window, a control, etc. displayed in the display screen of the electronic device, where the control may include at least one of an icon, a button, a menu, a tab, a text box, a dialog box, a status bar, a navigation bar, a Widget, etc. visual interface elements.

Referring to fig. 5, in some embodiments, the system is divided into four layers, which are an Application (Applications) layer (abbreviated as "Application layer"), an Application Framework (Application Framework) layer (abbreviated as "Framework layer"), an Android runtime (Android runtime) and system library layer (abbreviated as "system runtime library layer"), and a kernel layer, respectively, from top to bottom.

In some embodiments, at least one application program runs in the application program layer, and the application programs may be windows (windows) programs carried by an operating system, system setting programs, clock programs or the like; or an application developed by a third party developer. In particular implementations, the application packages in the application layer are not limited to the above examples.

The framework layer provides an Application Programming Interface (API) and a programming framework for the application program of the application layer. The application framework layer includes a number of predefined functions. The application framework layer acts as a processing center that decides to let the applications in the application layer act. The application program can access the resources in the system and obtain the services of the system in execution through the API interface.

As shown in fig. 5, in the embodiment of the present application, the application framework layer includes a manager (Managers), a Content Provider (Content Provider), and the like, where the manager includes at least one of the following modules: an Activity Manager (Activity Manager) is used for interacting with all activities running in the system; the Location Manager (Location Manager) is used for providing the system service or application with the access of the system Location service; a Package Manager (Package Manager) for retrieving various information related to an application Package currently installed on the device; a Notification Manager (Notification Manager) for controlling display and clearing of Notification messages; a Window Manager (Window Manager) is used to manage the icons, windows, toolbars, wallpapers, and desktop components on a user interface.

In some embodiments, the display device 200 may be in data communication with a transmitting device 300, and the transmitting device 300 may be referred to as a cable television station head end or a satellite. The digital television signal is broadcast to the outside by the transmitting apparatus 300, and the display apparatus 200 may receive the digital television signal through a receiver such as an antenna.

Based on the display device 200, in order to enrich the viewing function of the user and improve the viewing experience of the user, the display device 200 is configured to provide the user with a review function, and the source of program data for playback can be divided into two categories, the first category is provided by the internet, in which the display device 200 communicates with the server 400 and the internet can provide complete program data. For the playback function of such program data, the program data storage function provided by the internet is mainly relied on. And the second type is provided by a buffer of the display device 200, in which the display device 200 communicates with the transmitting device 300, receives the digital television signal transmitted by the transmitting device 300, that is, receives the audio and video data corresponding to each channel, and the communication between the display device 200 and the transmitting device 300 is a one-way communication from the transmitting device 300 to the display device 200, so that the program data provided by the transmitting device 300 does not have playability by itself. The playback function for such program data is mainly implemented by the display device 200, and the display device 200 plays the program data that is cached in advance when the user needs to review the program data by caching the received program data in advance, so as to implement the playback effect of the program data. As can be seen, the program data that can be played back by the display device 200 refers to the program data that is pre-buffered, and the more pre-buffered program data, the more program data that the display device 200 supports playback.

For the playback process of the second type of program data, first, the user sends a time shift instruction to the display device 200, instructing the display device 200 to start the caching function of the program data. The display device 200 starts to cache program data corresponding to the current channel in response to the time shift instruction. As shown in fig. 6, the display device 200 starts to display the user interface corresponding to the program data of the current channel after receiving the power-on instruction from T0, and receives a time-shift instruction sent by the user at T1, the display device 200 starts to cache the program data of the current channel from T1 in response to the time-shift instruction, the display device 200 receives a stop time-shift instruction sent by the user at T2, and stops caching the program data of the current channel in response to the stop time-shift instruction. It can be seen that the program data buffered by the display apparatus 200 corresponds to T1 through T2, i.e., the program data that the display apparatus 200 supports playback are the program data corresponding to T1 through T2, whereas the display apparatus 200 does not support playback of the program data corresponding to T0 through T1 because the display apparatus 200 does not buffer the program data corresponding to T0 through T1. Therefore, in this way of caching program data based on the time shift instruction sent by the user, the user cannot review the complete program data because the cached program data is incomplete.

In order to solve the above problem, the display device 200 caches the program data according to the method shown in fig. 7, which is as follows:

and S701, receiving a starting instruction sent by a user.

The user sends a power-on instruction to the display apparatus 200 through the control device 100, for example, sends a power-on instruction to the display apparatus 200 through a power-on key on a remote controller. The user may also send the power-on instruction to the display apparatus 200 by directly controlling the display apparatus 200, for example, by sending the power-on instruction to the display apparatus 200 through a power-on key on the display apparatus 200.

S702, responding to the starting-up instruction, and acquiring program data corresponding to a starting-up channel.

In this embodiment, a channel displayed after the display device 200 is powered on is referred to as a power-on channel, and the power-on channel may be a default power-on channel of the display device 200 or a channel displayed before the display device 200 is powered off.

In this embodiment, the audio/video data provided by the channel is referred to as program data corresponding to the channel, and the audio/video data provided by the startup channel is the program data corresponding to the startup channel. After the display device 200 is powered on, the current corresponding power-on channel is identified, that is, the corresponding frequency band is determined, and the received audio/video signal is demodulated to the frequency band, so as to obtain program data corresponding to the power-on channel.

And S703, caching the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel when the program data corresponding to the starting-up channel is valid.

In order to ensure the integrity of the program data cached by the display device 200, the display device 200 is configured to, when the program data corresponding to the power-on channel is acquired, immediately start to automatically cache the program data without waiting for a time shift instruction sent by a user. Generally, the time for acquiring the program data is relatively short, and this time is not particularly expressed in this embodiment.

In order to further ensure the quality of the cached program data, that is, the cached program data has real content, that is, the cached program data is valid, the display device 200 first determines whether the acquired program data of the startup channel is valid before starting the automatic caching of the program data, and if the program data is invalid, for example, the startup channel does not provide the program data, the program data of the startup video is not cached, so as to avoid the problems that the cached program data is empty or the cached program data does not correspond to any content. And if the program data is valid, starting the automatic cache program data. In general, the time for identifying whether the program data is valid is also relatively short, and this time is not particularly indicated in this embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating a comparison of program data for a cached startup channel. Where the upper diagram corresponds to the case where the buffering of the program data is started in response to the user's time shift instruction, it can be seen that the display apparatus 200 starts the buffering of the program data from T1 and stops the buffering of the program data in response to the user's stop time shift instruction at T2. The schematic diagram located at the bottom corresponds to a case where the display apparatus 200 automatically caches program data in response to a power-on instruction of a user. It can be seen that, when the display device 200 receives the power-on command sent by the user at T0, the display device 200 responds to the power-on command at T0 to obtain the program data corresponding to the power-on channel, and if the program data is determined to be valid, the display device 200 starts to cache the program data corresponding to the power-on channel from T0. For comparison, assuming that the display apparatus 200 also receives a stop time shift instruction transmitted by the user at T2, the display apparatus 200 stops buffering the program data in response to the stop time shift instruction at T2.

By comparing the two diagrams, it can be clearly seen that, by using the method for caching program data provided by this embodiment, the time node at which the program data starts to be cached can be effectively extended forward, that is, the time node at which the program data starts to be cached is advanced to T0, so that the program data corresponding to T0 to T1 can be cached more, and more program data that can be viewed again can be provided for the user.

In some embodiments, if the user wants to watch a different channel, a channel switching instruction is sent to the display apparatus 200 to switch the current channel to another channel. In one implementation, the user may input a channel switching command via a "program +/-" key on the control device 100, such as a remote controller, and in this implementation, the channel switching command indicates switching to a channel previous to the current channel or a channel next to the current channel. In another implementation, the user may input a channel switching command via a numeric key on the control device 100, such as a remote control, in which case the channel switching command indicates the number of channels to switch to. In another implementation, the user may input a channel switching instruction through a control device 100, for example, a skip key on a remote controller, in which the channel switching instruction indicates a target channel to which a skip is preset, for example, a specific channel, or a last channel staying for a long time.

The display apparatus 200, in response to the channel switching instruction, acquires program data corresponding to the channel indicated by the channel switching instruction, that is, the switched channel, and determines whether the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid. The process of acquiring the program data and determining whether the program data is valid is similar to the process of acquiring the program data of the startup channel and determining whether the program data of the startup channel is valid, and is not described herein again.

The display device 200 is configured to start caching program data in response to a power-on instruction, and stop caching program data in response to a stop time shift instruction or a power-off instruction sent by a user. If the display device 200 receives a channel switching instruction sent by a user in a process from a response to a power-on instruction to a reception of a time-shift stopping instruction or a power-off instruction, the current channel is switched to the channel indicated by the channel switching instruction in response to the channel switching instruction, at this time, the display device 200 stops caching program data of a channel before switching, and starts caching program data of a channel after switching.

Fig. 9 exemplarily shows a buffering process of program data of the display device 200 in response to the channel switching instruction, as shown in fig. 9, when the display device 200 receives a power-on instruction sent by a user at T0, the display device 200 acquires program data corresponding to the power-on channel in response to the power-on instruction at T0, and if the program data is determined to be valid, the display device 200 starts to buffer the program data corresponding to the power-on channel from T0. When the display device 200 receives the channel switching instruction sent by the user at T1, the display device 200 responds to the channel switching instruction to switch the startup channel to the channel indicated by the channel switching instruction, for example, the first channel, and the display device 200 acquires the program data of the first channel and determines whether the program data of the first channel is valid. When the program data of the first channel is valid, the display device 200 stops buffering the program data of the power-on channel from T1 and automatically starts buffering the program data of the first channel (in the present embodiment, there is no special indication as to when the channel is switched, the program data is acquired, and the program data is valid). The display apparatus 200 receives the stop time shift instruction transmitted by the user at T2, the display apparatus 200 stops buffering the program data of the first channel at T2, and turns off the function of buffering the program data. As can be seen, in the process of caching the program data of the display device 200 in response to the channel switching instruction, the cached program data includes program data corresponding to each of the parked channels, so that the display device 200 can provide the user with support for reviewing program data of a plurality of channels, and taking fig. 9 as an example, the display device 200 supports playback of program data corresponding to the power-on channel and the first channel.

In some embodiments, in response to the channel switching instruction, the display device 200 first stops caching the program data of the startup channel, and starts the caching function of the program data again after determining that the program data corresponding to the first channel is valid. The number of processes simultaneously running by the display apparatus 200 can be reduced. Further, the program data corresponding to the cached startup channel may be deleted, so that the storage space of the buffer of the display device 200 may be effectively released.

In this embodiment, after responding to the channel switching instruction, the display device 200 automatically starts to cache the program data of the switched channel without the user instructing to start the program data caching function, so that the cache integrity of the program data of the switched channel can be ensured, and the problem that the cached program data is incomplete or the program data is not cached after the channel is switched due to the user forgetting or delaying to send the time shift instruction can be avoided.

In some embodiments, before the display device 200 responds to the channel switching instruction and acquires the program data of the switched channel, the display device 200 is configured to execute a corresponding channel switching process according to whether an interactive process exists between the current caching process of the display device 200 and the user, such as the specific process shown in fig. 10:

s1001, receiving a channel switching instruction sent by a user.

S1002, judging whether a time shifting instruction sent by the user is received before the channel switching instruction is received, wherein the time shifting instruction indicates to cache program data corresponding to the current channel.

In this embodiment, the process of automatically buffering the program data by the display device 200 is executed in a background program, and the user may not perceive the execution of the process obviously, so that the user may send a time-shift instruction to the display device 200, for example, the user moves the selection frame to a position on the user interface corresponding to the time-shift option through the control apparatus 100, such as the "up", "down", "left" and "right" keys on the remote controller, and selects the time-shift option by pressing the "ok" key to send the time-shift instruction to the display device 200.

S1003, if the time shifting instruction is received, sending an inquiry whether to switch channels to the user.

Since the display device 200 has automatically started the process of buffering the program data before receiving the time shift instruction, the display device 200 will continue to perform the process of buffering the program data that has been started in response to the time shift instruction without repeatedly performing the process of buffering the program data. Moreover, the display device 200 may record the time shift instruction, so that the process of recording the current cached program data is not an automatic caching process, but a caching process that needs to interact with the user, that is, in the process of subsequently caching the program data by the display device 200, if the caching state and the like change, an inquiry needs to be sent to the user, and the process is executed based on the feedback of the user. For example, if the display apparatus 200 determines that the time shift instruction has been received, and the user sends the channel switching instruction again, at this time, the display apparatus 200 does not directly perform channel switching, but first sends an inquiry about whether to switch the channel to prompt the user that the program data of the current channel is being cached, and once the channel is switched, the program data of the current channel cannot be cached continuously, and the cached program data of the current channel may be lost. Therefore, the interaction feeling with the user is enhanced in a query and response mode, and the user can always perceive that the program data is currently in the caching process.

S1004, if a first response which is sent by the user and used for determining channel switching is received, stopping caching the program data corresponding to the current channel; and if a second response which is sent by the user and does not switch the channel is received, terminating the execution of channel switching.

If the user determines to switch the channel, a first response is sent to the display device 200 to instruct the display device 200 to switch the channel, and the display device 200 responds to the first response to really execute a channel switching process, i.e., stop caching program data of the current channel, and start caching program data of the switched channel when acquiring the program data of the switched channel.

S1005, if the time shift instruction is not received, stopping caching the program data corresponding to the current channel.

If the display device 200 does not receive the time shift instruction, it indicates that the display device 200 is always in the state of automatically caching the program data, and the caching process does not need to interact with the user, so as to avoid that the display device 200 suddenly gives an inquiry to the user to affect the fluency of channel switching of the user, and also avoid that the user responds to the suddenly appeared inquiry to cause redundant operations of the user.

Fig. 11 exemplarily shows a buffering process of program data for which the display apparatus has received a time shift instruction transmitted by a user before receiving a channel switch transmitted by the user, as shown in fig. 11, the display apparatus 200 receives a power-on instruction transmitted by the user at T0 and buffers the program data of the power-on channel from T0 in response to the power-on instruction. The display apparatus 200 receives the time shift instruction sent by the user at T1, and the display apparatus 200 still continues to perform the buffering process of the program data of the power-on channel in response to the time shift instruction, and records that the buffering process of the subsequent program data from T1 needs to be completed interactively with the user. The display apparatus 200 receives the channel switching instruction transmitted by the user at T2, and transmits a query (whether to switch channels) to the user in response to the channel switching instruction. When the display apparatus 200 receives the first response sent by the user at T3, that is, confirms to switch the channel, the display apparatus 200 starts to switch the power-on channel to the channel indicated by the channel switching instruction, for example, the first channel from T3, and when determining that the program data of the first channel is valid, the display apparatus 200 acquires the program data of the first channel, and stops caching the program data corresponding to the power-on channel from T3 and starts caching the program data of the first channel.

Fig. 12 exemplarily shows a buffering process of program data for which the display device has received a time shift instruction transmitted by the user before receiving a channel switch transmitted by the user, and is different from the flow shown in fig. 11 in that if the display device receives a second response transmitted by the user at T3, that is, does not switch channels, the display device 200 does not perform the channel switch flow and will continue to buffer the program data of the power-on channel.

If the display device 200 does not receive the time shift instruction sent by the user before receiving the channel switch sent by the user, reference may be made to fig. 9 for a buffering process of the program data corresponding to the time shift instruction, which is not described herein again.

After receiving the time shift instruction sent by the user, the display device 200 first determines an executed flow for caching program data according to the flow shown in fig. 13, which is specifically as follows:

s1301, receiving a time shifting instruction sent by the user, wherein the time shifting instruction indicates to cache program data corresponding to the current channel.

S1302, responding to the time shifting instruction, judging the cache state of the program data corresponding to the current channel.

And S1303, if the caching state is caching, continuing to execute the current caching program.

And S1304, if the caching state is not cached, starting to cache the program data corresponding to the current channel.

In some embodiments, the time node at which the user sends the time shift instruction to the display device 200 is located at the time node at which the display device 200 automatically starts caching the program data, for example, the display device 200 is preset by the user to allow the function of not automatically starting caching the program data, the display device 200 controls the logic determination process of starting caching the program data to be longer, and channels are continuously and quickly switched, and at this time, the display device 200 preferentially responds to the time shift instruction of the display device 200 to start the caching function of the program data, so as to start caching the program data as soon as possible.

Fig. 14 exemplarily shows a flow of starting the program data caching process of automatically caching the program data before the time shift instruction is started by the display device, as shown in fig. 14, taking a channel switching process as an example, the display device 200 receives a channel switching instruction sent by a user at Tn, and the display device 200 starts a judgment process of caching the program data after the switching in response to the channel switching instruction, for example, the judgment process ends at Tm, and then the display device 200 will not cache any program data in the time period of Tn to Tm. If the display apparatus 200 receives a time shift instruction transmitted by the user within the time period Tn to Tm, for example, at Tp, the display apparatus 200 terminates the current determination process in response to the time shift instruction, and buffers the program data of the switched channel from Tp. Thus, the display device 200 can be guaranteed to respond to the instruction of the user preferentially, so that the instruction of the user can be responded quickly, and the experience of the user is improved.

In some embodiments, for the process of the display device 200 caching the program data in response to the channel switching instruction of the user, if the user continuously and quickly switches from the power-on channel to the fifth channel, wherein the quickly switched intermediate channels include the first channel, the second channel, the third channel and the fourth channel, it is stated that the user does not pay attention to the program content of the intermediate channels, and the user usually does not select to review the program content of the intermediate channels. However, if the display device 200 always keeps the state of buffering the program data as disclosed above, the display device 200 may also buffer the program data corresponding to the intermediate channel, the display device 200 stops the buffering of the previous channel, the switching process of starting the buffering of the next channel will occupy the system resources of the display device 200, and the buffered program data corresponding to the intermediate channel will also occupy certain system storage resources. In order to solve the above problem, the display apparatus 200 is configured to start buffering program data of the switched channel only when the stay time period of the switched channel is equal to the preset time period threshold. The program data of the switched channel that is actually cached may be determined according to the flow shown in fig. 15, which is specifically as follows:

s1501, when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, starting a timer, wherein the timer is used for recording the stay time of the switched channel.

And S1502, when the time length recorded by the timer is equal to the preset time length threshold, beginning to cache the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and clearing the timing record of the timer.

And S1503, when the time length recorded by the timer is less than the preset time length threshold, not starting to cache the program data corresponding to the switched channel.

The display apparatus 200 may determine the stay time period of the channel after the switching by a timer. Before the display device 200 uses the timer, the timer is first created, and when responding to the channel switching instruction for the first time after the display device 200 is turned on, it is determined whether the timer has already been created, that is, it is determined whether the timer can be acquired, and if not, the timer is created. When the display device 200 subsequently responds to the channel switching instruction, the already created timer may be directly acquired without repeating the process of determining whether the timer exists. When the display device 200 determines that the program data of the switched channel is valid, the timing function of the timer is started, at this time, the timer starts to count time from 0, and if the timer displays 5s, the display device 200 does not yet receive the channel switching instruction sent again by the user, which indicates that the display device 200 has stopped for 5s in the switched channel. Assuming that the time length threshold is 5s, the display device 200 starts to buffer the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and clears the timing record of the timer for the next time. However, within 5s, the display apparatus 200 does not start buffering the program data of the switched channel. The timer monitors the staying time on the switched channel, so that whether the channel switching instruction of the user is a continuous and quick channel switching instruction can be effectively judged, and the program data corresponding to the intermediate channel can be prevented from being cached.

In some embodiments, the buffered program data may be played back according to the flow shown in fig. 16, which is as follows:

s1601, receiving a playback instruction sent by the user.

S1602, in response to the playback instruction, obtaining cached program data, where the cached program data includes program data that has been cached before the playback instruction is received and program data of the current channel that is cached after the playback instruction is received.

S1603, displaying a user interface corresponding to the cached program data.

Fig. 17 exemplarily shows a flow of playing back the buffered program data by the display device, as shown in fig. 17, the current channel displayed by the display device 200 is the first channel, and the display device 200 buffers the program data from T0, where T0 to T1 correspond to buffering the program data of the power-on channel, a channel switching instruction sent by the user is received at T1, and in response to the channel switching instruction, the buffering of the program data of the first channel is started at T1, and the buffered program data of the power-on channel is deleted, that is, the program data corresponding to T0 to T1 are deleted. If the display apparatus 200 receives a playback instruction transmitted by the user at T2, the display apparatus 200 acquires program data that has been cached, for example, program data of a power-on channel corresponding to T0 to T1 and program data of a first channel corresponding to T1 to T2, in response to the playback instruction, and since the user does not instruct to stop caching of the program data, for example, the user does not transmit a stop time shift instruction or a power-off instruction, the display apparatus 200 still continues to cache the program data corresponding to the first channel.

The playback instruction indicates a play parameter used when the user plays back the buffered program data, for example, indicates that the playback is started from Tr (T1 ≦ Tr ≦ T2), which corresponds to, for example, Picture 1, the display device 200 will play the buffered program data of the first channel from Tr, as shown in FIG. 18. In some embodiments, the playback function may also provide for adjusting other play parameters of the cached program data, such as fast forward play, pause play, play last channel, play next channel, etc., to meet the review needs of the user.

According to the above technical solution, in the display device and the method for caching program data provided in the foregoing embodiment, when the display device receives a power-on instruction sent by a user, it is first determined whether program data provided by a power-on channel corresponding to the device after power-on is valid, and if the program data corresponding to the power-on channel is valid, audio and video content can be played, the display device automatically starts a program data caching function without a user instruction, so as to cache the program data corresponding to the power-on channel. In this way, the time node for starting to cache the program data can be effectively advanced to expand the integrity of the cached program data forward, thereby providing more playable program data for the user. In addition, according to the program data caching method, when the user forgets or delays to indicate that the program data is cached, the user can be provided with more complete playable program data, so that the user's watching-back experience is improved.

The embodiments provided in the present application are only a few examples of the general concept of the present application, and do not limit the scope of the present application. Any other embodiments extended according to the scheme of the present application without inventive efforts will be within the scope of protection of the present application for a person skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A display device, comprising:

a controller configured to:

receiving a starting-up instruction sent by a user;

2. The display device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receiving a channel switching instruction sent by the user;

responding to the channel switching instruction, and acquiring program data corresponding to the switched channel;

and when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, caching the program data corresponding to the switched channel.

3. The display device of claim 2, wherein the controller, in response to the channel switching instruction, prior to acquiring program data corresponding to the switched channel, is further configured to:

judging whether a time shifting instruction sent by the user is received before the channel switching instruction is received, wherein the time shifting instruction indicates to cache program data corresponding to the current channel;

if the time shifting instruction is received, sending a query whether to switch channels to the user;

if a first response which is sent by the user and used for determining channel switching is received, stopping caching the program data corresponding to the current channel; and if a second response which is sent by the user and does not switch the channel is received, terminating the execution of channel switching.

4. The display device of claim 3, wherein the controller is further configured to:

and if the time shifting instruction is not received, stopping caching the program data corresponding to the current channel.

5. The display device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receiving a time shifting instruction sent by the user, wherein the time shifting instruction indicates to cache program data corresponding to a current channel;

responding to the time shifting instruction, and judging the cache state of the program data corresponding to the current channel;

if the caching state is caching, continuing to execute the current caching program;

and if the cache state is not cached, starting to cache the program data corresponding to the current channel.

6. The display device according to claim 2, wherein when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, the controller buffers the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and is configured to:

and when the staying time of the switched channel is equal to a preset time threshold, beginning to cache the program data corresponding to the switched channel.

7. The display device according to claim 6, wherein when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, the controller buffers the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and is configured to:

when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, starting a timer, wherein the timer is used for recording the stay time of the switched channel;

when the time length recorded by the timer is equal to the preset time length threshold, starting to cache the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and clearing the timing record of the timer;

and when the time length recorded by the timer is less than the preset time length threshold value, not starting to cache the program data corresponding to the switched channel.

8. The display device according to claim 7, wherein when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid, the controller buffers the program data corresponding to the switched channel, and is configured to:

determining whether the timer has been created;

if the timer is established, starting the timer when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid;

and if the timer is not created, creating the timer, and starting the created timer when the program data corresponding to the switched channel is valid.

9. The display device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receiving a playback instruction sent by the user;

responding to the playback instruction, obtaining cached program data, wherein the cached program data comprises program data cached before the playback instruction is received and program data of the current channel cached after the playback instruction is received;

and displaying a user interface corresponding to the cached program data.

10. A method for caching program data is applied to a display device, and the method comprises the following steps:

receiving a starting-up instruction sent by a user;