EP1987672A1

EP1987672A1 - Broacast reeciving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and digital television signal

Info

Publication number: EP1987672A1
Application number: EP07708988A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Sang Hyup Lee; Kyoung Soo Moon; Jin Young Choi; Sun Young Choi
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2006-02-16
Filing date: 2007-02-16
Publication date: 2008-11-05
Also published as: CN101385341B; EP1987672A4; WO2007094637A1; KR20070082461A; CN101385341A

Abstract

A broadcast receiving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same are disclosed, by which preview information is included in program information and by which preview information is provided by outputting a still picture by a slideshow. The present invention includes generating preview information including a summarized content of a broadcast program, inserting the preview information into an electronic program guide and transmitting the electronic program guide. And, the present invention includes receiving program information which includes preview information containing summarized contents of a broadcast program, extracting the preview information from the program information and displaying the extracted preview information on a screen in a slideshow format.

Description

BROACAST REECIVING APPARATUS, METHOD OF TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING BROADCAST PROGRAM INFORMATION, AND DIGITAL TELEVISION SIGNAL

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for enhancing user's convenience for using broadcastservices by providing preview information to the user. Background Art

[2] Generally, digital audio broadcastingfor digitalizing analog radio broadcasting to transmit has been extended its transmission format to enable digital multimedia broadcasting.

[3] So, the digital multimedia broadcasting is capable of transmitting video broadcast signals of video compression format and data broadcast signals for various kinds of information by extending the transmission format of the digital audio broadcasting.

[4] Digital multimedia broadcasting is able to provide a user with character information using BWS (broadcast website) or DLS (dynamic label segment), traffic information by TPEG (transport protocol experts group), program information including EPG (electronic program guide), etc.

[5] Digital broadcasting such as the above explained digital multimedia broadcasting is capable of transmitting program information included in a broadcast signal. A viewer is then able to obtain information forprograms on channels.

[6] For instance, the EPG (electronic program guide) as an example of the program information includes information for times, genres, and the like of the respective programs.

[7] However, the EPG information of the related art proposes fragmentary information for programs only. So, a viewer depends on the fragmentary information to select a program or has no choice but to view a whole program. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[8] the program information such as the EPG does not include improved program information capable of allowing the user to recognize summarized contents of each program. Technical Solution

[9] Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a broadcast receiving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same that substantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

[10] An object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receivingapparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same, by which preview information is included in program information.

[11] Another object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receivingapparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same, by which preview information is provided by outputting a still image in a slideshow format.

[12] Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

[13] To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method of transmitting broadcast program information according to the present invention includes the steps of generating preview information including a summarized content of a broadcast program, inserting the preview information into an electronic program guide and transmitting the electronic program guide.

[14] In another aspect of the present invention, a method of receiving broadcast program information includes the steps of receiving program information which includes preview information containing summarized contents of a broadcast program, extracting the preview information from the program information and displaying the extracted preview information on a screen in a slideshow format.

[15] In another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for receiving a broadcast includes a broadcast signal receiving unit receiving program information containing preview information, a program information decoder extracting the preview information containing summarized contents of a program from the received program information, an EPG engine processing the broadcast program information outputted from the program information decoder into a screen output signal; and an EPG output unit outputting the preview informationoutputted from the EPG engine in a slideshow format.

[16] In another aspect of the present invention, a digital television signal, which is used by a digital television receiver to receive program guide information from a broadcast transmitter, includes an epg element containing information associated with a program and a preview element located at a lowerelement of the epg element, to implement a summary information of the program in a slideshow format.

Advantageous Effects

[17] A broadcast receiving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same according to the present invention can allow the user to conveniently acquire broadcast program information. Also A broadcast receiving apparatus, method of transmitting/receiving broadcast program information, and data structure for transmitting the same according to the present invention allow the user to visually pre-recognize the summarized content of the program in a slideshow format. Brief Description of the Drawings

[18] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a hierarchical structure of Servicelnformation element among elements of EPG;

[19] Fig. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a hierarchical structure of epg element;

[20] Fig. 3 is a diagram of a hierarchical structure of program information including a preview element according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[21] Fig. 4 is a diagram of detailed structure and attribute of a preview element according to one embodiment of the present invention

[22] Fig. 5 is a diagram of XML structure for preview function implementation of EPG information according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[23] Fig. 6 is a diagram of XML schema of mediadescription element as a child element of program type element of EPG data;

[24] Fig. 7 is a diagram of a position of slidepreviewtype element;

[25] Fig. 8 is a diagram of a program table on a screen on which slidepreview service of

EPG information according to the present invention is displayed;

[26] Fig. 9 is a diagram of a detailed operation for executing slidepreview service of

EPG information according to the present invention;

[27] Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting broadcast program information according to the present invention;

[28] Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method of receiving broadcast program information according to the present invention; and

[29] Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[30] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

[31] To facilitate the description of the present invention, an electronic program guide

(hereinafter abbreviated EPG) of digital multimedia broadcasting is taken as an example. Yet, the present invention is not limited to this.

[32] First of all, EPG provides a user with program information according to channels.

In particular, the EPG provides program information to enable a user to viewor record a specific program using the provided information. In this case, the EPG may include channels, program titles, broadcast schedules, and the like.

[33] Generally, EPG is transmitted in an encoded binary format. So, the EPG is implemented by decoding the transmitted binaries or implementing the transmitted binary information into XML (extensible markup language) to be displayed on a screen. In this case, the implementation language is not limited and the XML corresponds to an embodiment.

[34] EPG can be configured to include a pluralityof elements. In the following description, EPG implemented by XML is taken as an example to facilitate the description of the element structure of EPG. Yet, the present invention is not limited to the EPG implemented by XML only.

[35] EPG is able to include service information containing information for broadcasting station and channel information and program information containing information associated with program scheduling.

[36] The EPG is able to include Servicelnformation element as a most upper element of the service information and epg element as a most upper element of the program information.

[37] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a hierarchical structure of Servicelnformation element among elements of EPG.

[38] Referring to Fig. 1, an example of Servicelnformation element is explainedas follows. In Fig. 1, a number shown on each element block indicates a number of the corresponding element. For instance, '0...*' indicates that the element corresponds to a count equal to or greater than 0. '1...^indicates that the element corresponds to a count equal to or greater than 1.

[39] Servicelnformation is used as a container of ensemble element.

[40] The ensemble element can include frequency element containing frequency information and service element indicating an individual broadcast. [41] The ensemble element or the service element can include serviceNameGroup element, mediaDescription element, CA (conditionalaccess) element, keywords element, link element, etc. [42] The serviceNameGroup element can include short name, medium name, long name, and the like for ensemble. [43] The mediaDescription element contains description for ensemble. The CA element can include scramble information. And, each of the keywords element and the link element can include corresponding information. [44] The service element can include servicelD element discriminating a service, genre element indicating a genre of the service, epgLanguage element indicating a language of the service, etc. [45] And, the EPG data is encoded by binary numbers and then transmitted according to a multimedia object transfer (MOT) protocol.

[46] The epg element is schematically explained with reference to Fig. 2 as follows.

[47] Fig. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a hierarchical structure of epg element.

[48] Referring to Fig. 2, epg element can include schedule element, program element, programGroups element, and alternateSource element. [49] The schedule element includes information for arranging a program in a given time range. And, the schedule element can include scope element and serviceScope element. [50] The programGroups element can be used in grouping programs and describing an event of a program within a group. [51] The alternateSource element indicates whether EPG information can be received and used from another source. [52] programGroup elementand program element below the programGroups element can include schduleNameGroup element, mediaDescription element, genre element, keywords element, memberOf element, link element, etc. [53] The mediaDescription element among the above-enumerated elements includes multimedia element to enable multimedia information for a program to be transmitted. [54] Fig. 3 is a diagram of a hierarchical structure of program information including a preview element according to one embodiment of the present invention. [55] Referring to Fig. 3, schema of programme Type element below Program Information is explained as follows. [56] Below the programme Type element, there exist schedulenamegroup, location, me- diadescription, genre, conditional access, keywords, memberof, link, and programevent elements. And, there further exists preview element to display preview information for program information by a prescribed method. [57] In the following description, broadcast programinformation enabling a summary of a broadcast program to be viewed in a graphic format is named 'preview'. [58] The preview element can display a logo of each program according to a slide system to perform a preview function by displaying an image containing information of a program with a prescribed interval. The preview element is not limited to this function but can perform various functions according to the slideshow format. In the drawing, a preview type meaning a preview function is shown.

[59] The preview element enables a structure to be placed as a direct child element of the programme Type. Alternatively, the preview element can be locatedbelow the medi- adescription element or the programevent element. These are just exemplary. A position of the preview element can be located at a position indicating program information but is not limited to a specific embodiment. So, Fig. 3 shows various em- bodimentsof the position of the preview element simultaneously.

[60] Fig. 4 is a diagram of detailed structure and attribute of a preview element according to one embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is a diagram of XML structure for preview function implementation of EPG information according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[61] Referring to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, preview element includes slideview element displaying preview information asa still picture according to a slideshow format and videopreview element displaying preview information as a moving picture. In the embodiment of the present invention, the slideshow format preview among the preview types is taken as an example.

[62] For convenience of explanation, a slide type display of program information is described as a slidepreview type.

[63] Slideshow format means a type that a plurality of still images are outputted one by one with a prescribed interval to configure a prescribed story. Information of a displayed slidepreview includes a plurality of still pictures of a specific scene of a program. In this case, it is able to configure slide images mainly with good scenes or synopsis images. Namely, by proposing schematic images of a program, it is able to help a viewer selecting a program.

[64] It is able to insert the slidepreview type as zero to infinity. In case of 0, it means that the slidepreview type is not inserted. The slidepreview type has a slideshow attribute and includes image element as a child element. In this case, the image element has various elements.

[65] The preview element has a name attribute, and the slidepreview element has an interval attribute or a previewtype attribute. Moreover, the slidepreview element includes image element.

[66] The interval element means a time for which each image displayed in a slideshow format is displayed on a screen. One image is displayed on the screen for a time designated by the interval attribute and then turned to a next image. And, the interval can be defined as a number except a negative number.

[67] The previewtype attribute (not shown in the drawing) indicates a type of a preview slide and at least one value can be given to the previewtype attribute. In particular, 0 or a positive value can be given to the previewtype. If the previewtype is set to 0, it means a case that the previewtype is not given. If the previewtype is set to a positive number, there exist a type count amounting to the positive number.

[68] For example, the previewtype is able to separate atype according to a timing point for a preview slide to indicate a synopsis of a program broadcasted in the past, at the present, or in the future, a bit rate of an image, or a resolution for standard definition or high definition. This is just exemplary but does not put limitation on the previewtype of the present invention.

[69] The image element includes information for image displayed in the slideshow format. Slide images are displayed without limitation put on its count. The image element has path attribute, mimevalue attribute, and size attribute.

[70] The path attribute defines an address or protocol of a resource and is represented as a string.

[71] Namely, the path attribute is an attribute proposing a path of graphic providing preview information in a slideshow format. So, graphic is paged owing to the address proposed by the path attribute. Any path capable of designating a path for receiving an image file us usable as the path. For instance, in case of designating http, it can be transferred via Internet. In case of designating DAB, it can be transferred via broadcasting.

[72] This is just exemplary. And, other communication paths are usable. As an example of a format for designating a path, there is 'urT. The url is able to designate telephone, fax, SMS, postal address, e-mail, world wide web (www), wireless application protocol (wap), DAB, and other programme withina service.

[73] The mimevalue attribute proposes a resource type attribute. In particular, the mimevalue attribute means an extension of a still image as a target of a slideshow. The extension of the still image includes bmp, jpg, jpeg, or the like.

[74] The size attribute can have attributes of width information and height information.

The width attribute indicates a horizontal size of an image and the height attribute indicates a vertical size of the image. And, the size attribute can be defined as a number not zero.

[75] The attribute is written in a loop format to display each image in a slideshow format.

[76] Fig. 6 is a diagram of XML schema of mediadescription elementas a child element of program type element of EPG data. Fig. 7 shows XML schema for a preview function implementation in a slideshow format of EPG information according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[77] Fig. 7 is a diagram of a position of slidepreviewtype element, in which the slide- previewtype element is placed below mediadescription element.

[78] The attribute and child element of the slidepreviewtype are same. Yet, a position of the slidepreviewtype is below that of mediadescription element among schedule- namegroup, location, mediadescription, genre, conditional access, keywords, memberof, link, and programevent types as child elements of the programtype.

[79] In this case, the mediadescription is placed below program, programevent, and pro- gramgroup. So, by inserting slidepreviewtype below the mediadescription element, it is able to add a preview function to the program, programevent, and programgroup.

[80] Fig. 8 is a diagram of a program table on a screen on which slidepreview service of

EPG information according to the present invention is displayed.

[81] Referring to Fig. 8, a viewer clicks an interesting program to view a slidepreview image. If a preview image of a program exists, it is able to display the preview image on a screen together with a program title.

[82] If the preview image need to be turned to a sub-program instead of being displayed together with the program title, it is able to output an icon indicating a preview function together with a program to facilitate a viewer to know whether slidepreview EPG information exits. This is indicated by 'P' in Fig. 8.

[83] Fig. 9 is a diagram of a detailed operation for executing slidepreview service of

EPG information according to the present invention. Fig. 9 shows an embodiment for a viewer to view a slidepreview image by clicking an interesting program in executing the slidepreview service.

[84] Referring to Fig. 9, if a program of MBC news is selected, character string information for the corresponding program appears. If a previewtype is selected and clicked, a slide image according to the selected previewtype is displayed. In the drawing, previewtype 3 among previewtype 1, 2 and 3is designated. For instance, if the previewtype 1 is assigned to preview information for a program currently broadcasted, if the previewtype 2 is assigned to preview informationfor a program broadcasted in the past, and if the preview 3 is assigned to information for a program to be broadcasted in the future, it is able to execute a preview function at a specific timing point. In the drawing, '5 seconds' indicatesthat an interval is set to 5 seconds. So, a still image is changed with a 5-second interval to be displayed in a slideshow format.

[85] Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting broadcast program information according to the present invention.

[86] Referring to Fig. 10, a transmitting terminal generates the aforesaid preview information (S91), has the preview information included in EPG (S92), and then transmits the EPG including the preview information therein to a receiving terminal.

[87] The above explanation is applied to the preview information. The preview information is included in the EPG as preview element and then transmitted to the receiving terminal.

[88] Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method of receiving broadcast program information according to the present invention.

[89] Referring to Fig. 11, a receiving terminal receives program information including the preview information that contains prescribed contents of a broadcast program transmitted by a transmitting terminal (SlOl), extracts the preview informationfrom the program information (S 102), and then displays the extracted preview information on a screen in a slideshow format (S103).

[90] In particular, the preview information is received by being included in the EPG as preview element for providing a preview function.

[91] The preview element has an interval attribute designating a prescribed interval for displaying images. And, the images are displayed on the screed with the designated prescribed interval.

[92] The preview element further executes a step of receiving a selection signal of a preview type with a previewtype attribute for designating the preview type. In particular, if a signal for selecting a user-specific type from at least one preview type, the type selected from various preview versions is displayed.

[93] The preview element includes at least twoimage elements for designating an image to be displayed in a slideshow format.

[94] One image elementof the at least two image elements has a path attribute for designating a path for paging a still image displayed in the slideshow format. So, the image is brought via the path designated by the path attribute and the displayed on the screen.

[95] The image element has a mimevalue attribute for designating an extension of a still image and brings an image file designated extension of the still image.

[96] The image element has a size attribute for designating a size of image and then brings the image of the designated size.

[97] Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[98] Referring to Fig. 12, a broadcast receiving apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a tuner 101, a demodulating unit 102, a DAB decoder 103, a memory 104, a first audio decoder 105, an error correctingdecoder 106, an MPEG2 demux 107, a second audio decoder 108, a video decoder 109, an object descriptor (OD) decoder 110, and a BIFS (binary format for scenes) decoder 111.

[99] In this case, the error correcting decoder 106, the MPEG2 demux 107, the second audio decoder 108, the video decoder 109, the OD decoder 110, and the BIFS decoder 111 occasionally configure a DMB decoder.

[100] For the XML EPG parsing according to the present invention, the broadcast receiving apparatus further includes a packet decoder 112,a data group decoder 113, an MOT decoder 114, a binary EPG parser 115, an XML EPG parser 116, an EPG engine 121, an EPG browser 122, and a database (DB) 123.

[101] The tuner 101 tunes a signal corresponding to an ensemble among broadcast signals including program information, converts the tuned signal to a baseband frequency, and then outputs the converted signal.

[102] The demodulating unit 102 demodulates the frequency-converted signal into a demodulated signal according to a transmission format and then outputs a transport frame including a synchronization channel, an FIC (fast informationchannel), and an MSC (main service channel).

[103] The DAB decoder 103 decodes the FIC (fast information channel), extracts an ensemble label as MCI (multiplex configuration information), a service label, and a virtual channel number assigned to the service, generates a channel map from the extracted information, and then stores the channel map in the first storage unit 104.

[104] The DAB decoder 103 is able to extract real data by decoding the MSC. If the extracted data is an audio signal, the DAB decoder 103 outputs the audio signal to the first audio decoder 105. If the extracted data is a data stream, the DAB decoder 103 outputs the data stream to the error correcting decoder 106.

[105] The firstaudio decoder 105 is capable of decoding and outputting an audio signal compressed and encoded by such an encoding scheme as MUSICAM (masking pattern adapted universal sub-band integrated coding and multiplexing).

[106] The error correcting decoder 106 performserror correction of the data stream and then outputs the error-corrected data stream to the MPEG2 demux 107.

[107] The MPEG2 demux 107 performs transport stream depacketizing, PES (packetized element stream) depacketizing, SL (sync layer) depacketizing and the like on the error- corrected data stream to separate into audio, video, object description, and BIFS (binary format for scenes) data and then outputs the separated data to the corresponding decoders 108, 109, 110, and 111, respectively.

[108] The decoders 108, 109, 110, and 111 decode the audio, video, object description, and BIFS (binary format for scenes) data by considering the corresponding formats and then outputs the decoded data. For instance, the second audio decoder 108 decodes the audio signal according to BSAC (bit slice arithmetic coding), and the video decoder 109 decodes the video signal according to H.264 decoding algorithm.

[109] Meanwhile, the data associated with program information by the MSC information decoded by the DAB decoder 103 is inputted to the program information decoder 120 [110] The program information decoder 120 can include the packet decoder 112, the data group decoder, the MOT decoder 114, the binary EPG decoder 115, and the XML EPG parser 116.

[Ill] The packet decoder 112 extracts data transported by a transport protocol by packet unit and then outputs the extracted data.

[112] The data group decoder 113 groups the data outputted from the packet decoder 112 and then outputs the grouped data.

[113] The MOT decoder 113 outputs the grouped data in a file format according to MOT

(multimedia object transfer) algorithm.

[114] The binary EPG decoder 115 generated an EPG file, which can be implemented as

XML, by parsing binary EPG syntax. In particular, by giving an identifier in the binary format and parsing a value set in the binary format, the EPG file is generated.

[115] The XML EPG parser 116 parses the XML-formatted EPG file and then outputs the parsed file. And, the XML EPG parser 116 is capable of parsing an XML schema including broadcast program information for preview.

[116] The EPG engine 121 is cable of storing the result parsed by the XML EPG parser

116 in the database 123 and processing the parsed result.

[117] As mentioned in the foregoing description, since the XML is an exemplary means for implementing EPG, if the EPG isnot implemented by XML, the XML EPG parser 116 is an optional element that is not mandatory for the broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

[118] And, the EP output unit 122 outputs the EPG information stored or processed by the

EPG engine to a screen. A preview selecting item can be displayed on the screen by the EPG output unit 122. If a user selects the preview selecting item, a summary of the corresponding program can be displayed on the screen by the slideshow browser 124 in a graphic format, and more particularly, in a slideshow format. Mode for the Invention

[119] Various modes acccording to embodiments of the present invention are described above. Industrial Applicability

[120] The user of a broadcast receiver can preview a summarized content of a broadcast program before the user watches the broadcast program. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

[I] A method of transmitting broadcast program information, comprising the steps of: generating preview information including a summarized content of a broadcast program inserting the preview information into an electronic program guide; and transmitting the electronic program guide. [2] The method of claim 1, wherein the preview information is comprised of at least two still images implemented in a slideshow format with a prescribed interval. [3] The method of claim 1, wherein the preview information is included in the electronic program guide as a preview element for providing a preview function. [4] The method of claim 3, wherein the preview element is located at a lower element of a program element or a program group element of the electronic program guide. [5] The method of claim 3, wherein the preview element is located at a lower element of a media description element of the electronic program guide. [6] The method of claim 3, wherein the preview element includes an interval attribute for designating a prescribed interval for displaying an image. [7] The method of claim 3, wherein the preview element includes a preview type attribute for designating a preview type. [8] The method of claim 3, wherein the preview element includes at least two image elements for designating images displayed in a slideshow format. [9] The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic program guide is implemented by

XML (extensible markup language). [10] A method of receiving broadcast program information, comprising the steps of: receiving program information which includes preview information containing summarized contents of a broadcast program; extracting the preview information from the program information; and displaying the extracted preview information on a screen in a slideshow format.

[II] The method of claim 10, wherein the preview information is included in an- electronic program guide as a preview element for providing a preview function.

[12] The method of claim 11, wherein the preview element includes an interval attribute for designating a prescribed interval for displaying images.

[13] The method of claim 11 , wherein the preview element includes a preview type attribute for designating a preview type.

[14] The method of claim 11, wherein the preview element includes at least two image elements for designating images displayed in a slideshow format. [15] The method of claim 14, wherein the image element includes a pass attribute for designating a path for bringing the image to be displayed in the slideshow format. [16] The method of claim 14, wherein the image element includes a mimevalue attribute for designating an extension of the image. [17] The method of claim 14, wherein the image element includes a size attribute for designating a size of the image. [18] An apparatus for receiving a broadcast, comprising: a broadcast signal receiving unit receiving program information containing preview information; a program information decoder extracting the preview information containing summarized contents of a program from the received program information; an EPG engine processing the broadcast program information outputted from the program information decoder into a screen output signal; and an EPG output unit outputting the preview information outputted from the EPG engine in a slideshow format. [19] The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the preview information displayed by the

EPG output unit is implemented as at least two still images. [20] The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the program information decoder includes a binary EPG parser converting the received program information in XML

(extensible markup language). [21] The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the program information decoder includes an

XML EPG parser extracting the program information by interpreting an XML file of an electronic program guide. [22] The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a slideshow browser displaying the preview information outputted from the EPG output unit in the slideshow format. [23] A digital television signal, which is used by a digital televisionreceiver to receive program guide information from a broadcasttransmitter, the digital television signal comprising: an epg element containing information associated with a program; and a preview element located at a lower element of the epg element, to implement a summary information of the program in a slideshow format.