Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03J—TUNING RESONANT CIRCUITS; SELECTING RESONANT CIRCUITS
  • H03J1/00—Details of adjusting, driving, indicating, or mechanical control arrangements for resonant circuits in general
  • H03J1/0008—Details of adjusting, driving, indicating, or mechanical control arrangements for resonant circuits in general using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor
  • H03J1/0058—Details of adjusting, driving, indicating, or mechanical control arrangements for resonant circuits in general using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor provided with channel identification means
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04J—MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION
  • H04J1/00—Frequency-division multiplex systems

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for assigning program locations in a receiver, preferably a digital receiver for terrestrial signals, to individual received broadcast signals where the broadcast signals originate from various transmitters, and to a receiver for such signals.
• analogue television receivers such as TV sets, video recorders, satellite receivers or the like have a plurality of preprogrammable numbered program locations to which a specific receiving channel may be assigned. That is to say, the particular settings of the tuner in the receiver necessary to receive a service on a specific channel are stored in the receiver and will be used if the program location is selected, eg. by selecting on the remote control or directly on the set the number corresponding to that program location. Once specific channels have been assigned to desired program locations this allows the user to easily tune the receiver to a specific receiving channel simply by selecting the appropriate program location by pressing buttons on his remote control.
• a service is understood as transmissions with a specific content from a service provider, such as the nation wide service of a public service television provider.
• a network is in digital broadcasting understood as one or more transmitters transmitting a consistent package of services. Ie. this may be several transmitters distributed over a country all transmitting all the services of a nation public service provider or transmitting all the services of a commercial service provider. It may also be one single local transmitter transmitting a single service to a local area.
• channel in analogue radio and television systems a channel is understood as the predetermined frequency band or bands allocated to the transmission of a signal carrying a service in order not to disturb other signals carrying the same or different services.
• This understanding is insufficient when it comes to modern digital transmission systems where the signals from several services may be transmitted on the same frequency using multiplexing techniques. Accordingly the term channel in the following description does not refer to the actual frequency or physical channel but rather to a multiplexed channel.
• Program locations are understood as the preprogrammable locations to which tuning data allowing reception of a specific service are allocated, eg. the number under which these data are stored.
• Such changes could be the removal of a service.
• the channel in which this service was received would then be vacant, ie. no service transmitted in that channel at all, or, as is often the case in systems where the number of actual channels are limited, be used for transmission of a different service. If such a change occurs the user suddenly finds a gap or a new service at a given program location in the receiver. It is likely that he might not desire to have such a gap or this new service at that specific location. Accordingly he would have to go through cumbersome reprogramming of his receiver. If he has more than one receiver eg.
• the logical_channel_number are allocated on a by-country basis based on mutual agreement among the different service providers. Accordingly in one country the logical_channel_numbers are allocated uniquely according to this agreement. Thus, services with the same original_network_id and service_id have the same logical_channel_number. Accordingly, when a receiver is first initialised it allocates all services that may be received at a given location to these predetermined programme locations. The receiver will then ideally contain all the services that it may receive allocated according to the same scheme independent of where in the country it is situated.
• this object is in a method according to the opening paragraph achieved by providing the broadcast signals with information about at least the country of origin, the transmitting network, a unique service identification and a logical channel number and by assigning in the receiver a program location to the received broadcast signal in accordance with assignment rules based on the received information about the country of origin, about the transmitting network, the unique service identification and the logical channel number.
• a service corresponding to a received broadcast signal and identified by the unique service identifier, is given a country preference by primarily assigning it to the program location in the program location list corresponding to the logical channel number and in case of conflict of logical channel numbers giving preference to any broadcast signal containing information of country of origin corresponding to a predetermined indication of country preference.
• any service not given country preference is placed in a group of services having consecutive program location numbers in the list of program location numbers, the program location numbers being different from the respective logical channel numbers of the services.
• This allows foreign services to be arranged in groups of services. The services will get higher numbers in the list of program locations. Accordingly these foreign services, which are per se considered of less interest to the user, will not take up the low program locating numbers, in particular one-digit numbers, which are easy for the user to press on his remote control.
• services with the same country of origin are arranged together in subgroups within said group of services not given country preference.
• preference is given to the signal with the highest signal strength is in case of conflict of logical channel numbers and country of origin.
• any service not given regional preference is placed in a group of services having continuous program location numbers in the list of program location numbers, the program location numbers being different from respective logical channel numbers of the services. This allows all the regional services, except the preferred one, to be easily found in the program location list because they are all in one group, the location of which easier for the user to remember.
• the group of services given neither country preference nor regional preference are placed in subgroups of groups of services with the same country of origin.
• a map of which logical channel numbers are allocated to which program locations is stored. This may be used to keep track of which logical channel number transmitted by the transmitter from which the signal is received is allocated to which program location. This allows the association between the program location and the logical channel number to be re-established later, eg. in case of a changed reception situation, a reconfiguration of services transmitted on the network or networks of transmitters, or in case of a temporarily wrongly transmitted service information confusing the receiver.
• a map of which transmitting network were previously associated with which program locations is stored. This information may then be used to give priority to the previously stored network when trying to allocate several alternative new services to this program location.
• this object is in a receiver according to the opening paragraph achieved by the receiver comprising means for extracting information about the country of origin of the signal, the transmitting network, a unique service identification and a logical channel number, and means for assigning the received signal to a program location in accordance with the extracted information and a set of assignment rules stored in the receiver.
• the system allows nation-wide consistency between receivers as to the assignment of services to program locations, provided of course that a specific service is available. That is to say, where ever the user goes he is likely to find a given service of interest on arbitrary receiver. That is to say, not only within his own household but also other receivers such as receivers at friends or neighbours residences or in public places such as clubs, pubs or hospitals etc.
• fig. 1 is one half of a flowchart describing common parts of two embodiments of the invention
• fig. 2a is the second half of the flowchart of fig. 1 describing one embodiment of the invention
• fig. 2a is the second half of the flowchart of fig. 1 describing a second embodiment of the invention
• fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a receiver implementing the invention.
• original_network_id and the network (network_id) from which the service originates as well as an information (service_id) identifying the actual service transmitted.
• service_id an information identifying the actual service transmitted.
• the logical_channel_number are allocated on a by-country basis based on mutual agreement among the different service providers. Preferably this is done in conjunction with the appropriate co-ordinating authorities. Accordingly in one country the logical_channel_numbers are allocated uniquely according to this agreement.
• services with the same original_network_id and service_id have the same logical_channel_number.
• These logical_channel_numbers are used directly in the receiver as identification of the program location to which a service should be allocated.
• the broadcasters should comply with the following rules.
• the logical_channel_numbers preferably have no more than two digits, though three-digit numbers could under certain circumstances be necessary.
• the logical_channel_numbers are allocated starting with 01. Often it would be natural to allocate the number 01 to the oldest service from a national public service provider, because it typically has this number in its name. 02 for the second service of the same national public service provider etc.
• Other services such as commercial broadcasters could have higher numbers, eg. also relating to a number present in their name.
• logical_channel_numbers should be allocated uniquely. Services with the same original_network_id/service_id shall have the same logical_channel_number. When defining regional variants of the same service the same logical_channel_number can be used. Eg. in neighbouring networks. This facilitates the definition of a consistent and compact numbering scheme taking into account the national/regional/local channel numbering. Further it indicates to the receiver that services with the same logical_channel_number are similar, eg. regional variants. The receiver could resolve conflicts between regional variants by using the signal strength.
• manufacturers of receivers such as television sets, set-top boxes, video recorders etc. may include the automatic channel numbering features in their receivers.
• the automatic channel numbering according to this invention to be properly implemented by the manufacturer, however, a set of receiver rules has to be complied with.
• the receiver shall allocate the services according to the following rules.
• the receiver shall resolve any conflict between services that use the same logical_channel_number.
• National preference is preferably given to services with the same preferred original_network_id , since the original_network_id is effectively a country code this ensures that the services primarily allocated to program locations in the receiver are all from the user's country. Provided of course that this country code is set in the receiver.
• the conflicting services with foreign original_network_id's which have lower priority are arranged together in groups, preferably in one or more groups in the program location list in which all services have the same original_network_id. Within these groups the services with the lowest logical_channel_numbers should be allocated the lowest program location numbers in the program location list.
• the arrangement of the groups of services with foreign original_network_id's could be in accordance with the manufacturer's knowledge about which languages used in foreign, and in particular neighbouring countries, the user is most likely to understand.
• Preference is secondarily given to regional versions of the same service.
• regional versions transmit the same overall features such as film, entertaining and national news, but have time slots with different features such as local or regional news. Since all networks are to broadcast non-conflicting numbers these can be used to resolve such conflicts, because the services will be transmitted from different networks. This, resolution may eg. be based on a preferred network specified by the user, or based on the signal strength of received services. Ie.
• the above rules II to 15 are implemented in a receiver as depicted schematically in fig. 3 and described in more detail further below.
• the flowchart depicted on fig. 1 in combination with fig. 2a and 2b, respectively, shows an example of the steps that a receiver goes through when initializing.
• the flowcharts depicted in fig. 1 in combination with the respective figs. 2a and 2b are alternatives. Thus, both of these flow chart show the steps that a receiver may through when initializing.
• the initializing process carried out by the receiver starts in 100. Eg. the first time the receiver is switched on, or by the user selecting initializing or reinitializing option in a menu. It is assumed that at this stage the program location list stored in an internal non-volatile memory of the receiver is empty.
• the receiver then starts scanning the a available channels for services in step 101 until it finds a service.
• This service in the following referred to as new until the time it has been assigned to program location in the program location list.
• the receiver checks the logical_channel_nr contained in the signal in the step 103. If the program location having the same number in the program location list as the logical_channel_nr is free the new service found the receiver proceeds to step 104 in either one of figs. 2a and 2b and assigns the service to channel. It then continues the scanning in step 101 until it finds another new service.
• step 105 This cycle is repeated as long as the receiver finds new services with logical_channel_nr's matching free program locations in the program location list, or possibly until the receiver has scanned all available channels. In that case the receiver does not find any new services and ends the initializing the step 112. If the receiver finds a new service matching a program location already occupied the answer to step 103 is no, and the receiver proceeds to step 105.
• step 105 the receiver checks whether the original_network_id contained in the signal is equal to a predetermined country preference stored in the receiver.
• This country preference stored in the receiver is preferably set by the manufacturer prior to shipment to a specific country, but may of course also be changed manually by the user.
• step 106 If the original_network_id is different from the country preference the, service is identified as foreign and is in step 106 placed in a group of foreign services. The receiver then continues the scan for new services in step 101.
• step 105 the receiver may, however, find that the original_network_id is identical to the preferred country.
• the receiver then in step 107 checks the original_network_id of the exiting service in the program location list.
• the receiver moves the existing service to an appropriate group of foreign services in step 108. After having moved the existing service the receiver proceeds to step 104 in fig. 2a or 2b and places the new service at the location in the program location list corresponding to its logical_channel_nr. If the existing service is not a foreign service it has an original_network_id corresponding to the country preference stored in the receiver. Accordingly the answer in step 107 is yes and the receiver proceeds to step 109a on fig. 2A or to 109b on fig. 2B.
• step 109a the receiver checks which of the signals of the existing and the new service, respectively, have the higher signal strength.
• the one with the higher signal strength is considered the more local, and thus to be the regional variant of interest.
• the new service is considered of less interest.
• the receiver then, in step 110 places the new service in a group together with other regional variants of the same service. It should be noted that such a group may of course contain one service only.
• the receiver After having allocated the new service a place in the program location list, the receiver continues the scan in step 101.
• step 109a finds in step 109a that the new service has a higher signal strength it proceeds to step 111 where it moves the existing service in the program location list to a location in a group of regional variants.
• the existing service in the program location list may also consist of one service only.
• step 104 After having moved the existing service to a new location in the program location list, it allocates, in step 104, the new service to the program location number corresponding to the logical_channel_nr of the service, and continues the scan in step 101.
• An alternative to the use of the signal strength as the criterion for identifying the most local service is to use the networkjd contained in the signal.
• the receiver contains at least a stored predetermined regional preference.
• step 109b in fig. 2b the network_id's of the existing and the new service are compared to the predetermined regional preference. If the new service is not preferred it is placed in the group of regional variants in step 110 and the scan continued in step 101.
• the new service is preferred over the existing one the existing service is as already described in moved to the group of regional variants in step 111, the new service a allocated to the program location corresponding to its logical_channel_number and the scan continued in step 101. If during the initializing scan the receiver finds an unidentified service. That is to say if the signal does not contain the identifiers it should, that service is placed below all other found services in the program location list. Preferably this takes place in a step (not shown) between steps 102 and 103. It is evident that not all users would want their receiver to dictate an allocation scheme. Eg. the user may want to group together services according to topics. Eg.
• the receiver according to the invention allows the user should be able to do so. Also, the receiver according to the invention allows the user to reinitialize the channel list, eg. if he moves permanently to a different country out of reach of the services originally received.
• the receiver When the receiver detects a change in the services offered, including the addition and deletion of multiple services, it shall first remove all services that can positively be determined as being permanently removed. Not until then shall it try to add new services.
• the receiver should replace services of other networks no longer available with remaining new services. That is to say match only logical_channel_number and original_network_id. In this replacement the receiver should comply with rule II) of the initializing procedure in order to select the most suitable replacement service.
• the receiver detects a new service to be added to the program location list it shall obey the following rule.
• the receiver should first try to allocate a program location according to the replacement service rules C3 and C4.
• the receiver should try to allocate the new service according to its logical_channel_number.
• the receiver deletes the service visibly from the list, but preserves the information about logical_channel_number original_network_id, network_id and service_id of the removed service. This information can then subsequently be used the next time changes take place and the replacement rules Cl) to C4) or addition rules Al) to A3) are to be applied.
• the receiver should allocate these according to the general allocation rules II) to 15) used in the initializing of the receiver. It should however not change existing allocations, as this would be in conflict with the user's interest in always finding the services where he expects them to be.
• FIG. 3 schematically depicts an exemplary embodiment of a receiver 200 capable of implementing the method of the invention.
• the receiver 200 receives an input 201 in the form of at television signal.
• the input signal 201 is received via an antenna, but could in principle just as well be received via a cable network or a satellite dish.
• a tuner and decoding means 202 detects and converts the received input 201 to digital signals in the present case representing sound and video of a television signal.
• the signal could, however, be any kind of digital signal eg. representing a computer program or an internet homepage.
• the digital signals representing sound and video of a television signal is in the output circuitry 207 converted to a output signal in the form of a television signal . That is to say a signal which may be used by eg. a conventional analogue television receiver.
• the invention is however not restricted thereto in the sense that the receiver may be an integral part of a digital television or a video recorder, though which the television signal is then output.
• the tuner and control means 202 is controlled by means of a control unit 203.
• this control unit comprise a microprocessor performing various functions, inter alia the initializing and the update of the program location list stored in a non-volatile memory 204.
• the receiver 200 preferably further comprise a non-volatile memory 205 storing data about country and regional preferences. Though the memory 205 storing data about country and regional preferences for illustration purposes is displayed separate from the memory 204 storing the program location list, they may very well be one and the same physical memory chip.
• the control unit 203 may be controlled by the user via a user input 209 and a user interface 206. The user interface on one hand receives input commands from the user, eg.
• the remote control uses his remote control to interactively responds to the users commands by displaying corresponding menus on via the output circuitry 207. These menus eg. being displayed on a television set connected to the receiver 200.
• the user may issue commands to the control unit via the user input such as a command for initialization of the receiver.
• the control unit clears the program location list in the memory 204. It the controls the tuner and decoder means to scans through all the available channels according to the procedure described in relation to figs. 1 and 2a or 1 and 2b. If the procedure according to figs. 1 and 2b is used the preferences stored in the memory 205 are used.
• control unit 203 may also via the user input and the control unit 203 change the preferences, in particular he may do so before effecting the initializing. After initializing he may still via the user input 209 and the control unit 203 manually alter the contents in the program location list in the memory 204. He may also effect the control unit 203 to carry out scans for changes, additions and deletion in the services that may be received. The control unit then updating the program location list according to the rules Al) - A3) or Cl) - C4) described earlier.
• the system automatically assigning services to the programme location list of a receiver in view of the country and regional preferences of the user.
• the country discrimination between services is done by effecting the receiver to use information in the broadcasts to discriminate between broadcasts from different countries by means of the original_network_id foreseen to be transmitted in terrestrial DVB systems.
• the regional discrimination is done by effecting the receiver to use information in the broadcasts to discriminate between broadcasts from different networks by means of the networkjd foreseen to be transmitted in terrestrial DVB systems.
• the method keeps the list of program locations as constant as possible in situations of changing network configurations, changing location of the receiver or changing reception conditions. This is done by remembering previous services and looking for replacements for these. This also makes the system robust against any form of accidental removal of a service as long as such an error is restored timely.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)

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• 2000
  • 2000-10-13 KR KR1020017007411A patent/KR20010086108A/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-10-13 EP EP00972805A patent/EP1149471A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-10-13 WO PCT/EP2000/010280 patent/WO2001028093A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-10-13 JP JP2001530201A patent/JP2003511946A/ja active Pending

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