FR2818074A1 - optimized two decoder TV services list having individual lists extracted then combined whilst removing redundant services and producing/storing optimized final list. - Google Patents

Abstract

The TV services programme list has two decoders providing a programme list (EPG3) from two sets of services (EPG1,EPG2). The services available are extracted for each list, and then a combination method (142) is applied, which removes the redundant services, providing an optimized final list.

Description

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Method for compiling a list of television service programs
The present invention relates to a method of constituting a list of television service programs. More particularly, the invention relates to a method, implemented within a digital television decoder equipped with two reception devices, which performs a synthesis of several lists of available service programs to constitute only one, exhaustive and not redundant. The purpose of the method according to the invention is in particular to facilitate, for a user, the knowledge of all the programs of the different services which are possibly transmitted by two different television operators, and which are available thanks to the television decoder. digital.

 In general, the field of the invention is that of digital television. In this field, digital television decoders are used, in particular in order to access a set of services, or encrypted television channels. Television decoders are bodies which interface between television signal transmission systems, in particular digital television signals in MPEG and DVB format, and display monitors. Often, the monitor itself contains circuits for decoding these television signals, but this is not an obligation. The signals exchanged are most often digital signals, but a decoder can also have the ability to process analog signals. The transmission means which transmit television broadcasts to these decoders / receivers are either conventional aerial transmission means (in frequency bands at transmission from 17 to 862 MHz), or coaxial cables (in frequency bands for transmission from 110 to 862 MHz), or even optical, either retransmission satellites which serve a region (in frequency bands for transmission from 10.3 to 12.8 GHz), or transmission means digital terrestrial.

 Typically, the decoder comprises reception means for receiving the transmitted signals and formatting means for transforming the received signals into signals applicable directly on the control members of the display device. For a cathode ray tube, these are for example the commands applied to the scanning members and to

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 the various electron guns producing colored pixels on the screen.

 The formatting is carried out while respecting for each of the images to be represented parameter tables. There are different types of tables: first of all, the so-called SI tables, System information-information Système-which in the DVB standard, represents a title of a broadcast program, a start time, an end time, as well as different characteristics. The content of the SI tables is of particular interest to the user because they lead to the display of information which allows the user to choose the program he wants to view. There are also the tables known as PSI, Program Specific information-Program Specific information, described in the MPEG standard, which are functional tables for identifying video / audio or data packets. They ultimately represent the transmission protocol and architecture of the digital packets transmitted as well as their meaning. PSI tables are used to display the images of a program viewed.

 Figure 1 shows a representation of the different transmission media. It also allows you to freeze the vocabulary used in the field. Transmission-reception means comprising satellites, cables or terrestrial re-broadcasting devices constitute transmission networks usable by different operators. For each operator using a transmission medium there is a NIT table, Network Information Table, which indicates the name of the network, the network number, and when it is a question of connection by satellite, for each of the network multiplexes, which in this case are transponders, information such as the modulation frequency, the orbital position of bits, the polarization, etc. Similar information is contained in the NIT tables of the operators using the media of cable or terrestrial transmission, the multiplexes in this case being called "channels".

 The information contained in the NIT tables are physical parameters essentially allowing a decoder to calibrate in frequency to pick up each multiplexed signal stream. Each NIT table includes, for a designated transponder, a list of services carried by the transponder. This list is normally limited, sometimes to 8 services, due to the bandwidth limitation reserved for a transponder. By service we conventionally mean what users

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 call a television channel, for example a channel broadcasting during the day successive programs to each other.

However, the services can be audio only services or data or other services.

 With regard to the transponders or the channels, each one diffuses in particular, for each operator using this transponder or this channel, a table known as PAT, Program Association Table-Table of the associated programs-, table which itself gives the list of the PMT tables , Program Map Table-Table of program components, which are associated with each of the services.

 At the service level, there are tables called EIT Event Information Table-Table of events, and PMT tables. The EIT tables refer to each service, from its identification triplet according to the DVB standard, and indicate for this service the start time, duration or end time, status, as well as others information relating to a broadcast program. The EIT tables are also split into ElTp and EiTf to represent a table corresponding to the present instant (p), and also another table corresponding to a next instant (f, following). The two tables ElTp and EiTf are of the same structure but each have an identifier providing information on their quality.

 Displayable information is not systematically juxtaposed next to the image. They can be displayed by the user by pressing a particular key on their remote control.

 The MPEG2 standard makes it possible to multiplex several services in the same Transport Stream (TS) or channel. This standard is supplemented by the DVB standard which allows the constitution and change of service, or zapping on several transponders or channels. Each operator therefore broadcasts more or less complete signaling allowing, from a single connection on a transponder or a channel, the constitution of a list of accessible services. In this context, the connection parameters are either entered by the user on the screen or frozen in the decoder.

 Usually, digital television decoders are made available to subscribed users by television operators who broadcast a set of services called digital package. These operators thus rent a device which allows each of their subscribers,

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 on the one hand to receive and decrypt a set of television signals corresponding to the different television services which constitute their digital package and, on the other hand, to receive a set of operating signals which allow the decoder to carry out the various operations of decryption and possibly to update and / or trigger certain functions of the decoder.

 In order to allow a user to quickly access a clear and precise consultation of a set of proposed programs, each operator constitutes an electronic program guide, or EPG (for Electronic Program Guide in English) in particular by using the PMT tables, EIT and SI previously mentioned. These tables can be viewed on the television screen, and can be presented according to different criteria according to the choice of the user: an EPG table can chronologically present the different programs of all the services available via the operator concerned, or present these programs by classifying them by themes, or by taking into account favorite lists previously created and stored by the user within the digital television decoder.

 In addition, operators are constantly offering more and more new functionalities which can be implemented by means of the decoder to make its use always more attractive. For example, some operators today offer deferred video functionality, various functionalities for creating a mosaic image or even different functionalities for recording television programs within the digital television decoder. These new features also require the presence of one or more large capacity hard drive memory modules. In particular in order to allow the possibility of recording within the digital television decoder on the hard disk programs of a service different from that which is being viewed, certain decoders are today equipped with two reception devices, or tuners. Each of these tuners can receive signals via separate transmission networks. For example, a first tuner can receive signals which are emitted by a first operator via conventional aerial transmission means, and the second tuner can receive signals emitted by a second operator by means of cables.

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 coaxial.

 Regardless of the transmission network used, the two tuners can receive signals from two separate operators. As a result, two electronic program guides are available to the user. Each of these EPGs corresponds to one of the operators that it is able to receive by means of its digital television decoder with two tuners. The fact that these two EPGs are separate poses a problem for the user, who can no longer have a clear and precise knowledge of all the programs offered, accessible thanks to his digital television decoder. Thus, having two separate EPGs can force the user to carry out tedious operations to become aware of all of the programs that he can view.

In this case, the EPGs lose their primary utility, which was to want to simplify the user's knowledge of the programs he could view.

 The method according to the invention makes it possible to solve the problem which has just been explained. Indeed, the method according to the invention is implemented, within a digital television decoder having two tuners, to perform different operations in order to carry out a synthesis of the different EPGs corresponding to the different operators which can be received by the decoder digital television. In the method according to the invention, means are used in particular to constitute a single EPG, called an optimized EPG, and to delete certain information which could be common to the two original EPGs so that no program information appears. duplicate in the optimized EPG.

 The invention therefore relates to a method of constituting a list of television service programs comprising the steps consisting in: - equipping a digital television decoder with a first reception device and with a second reception device, the first receiving device and the second receiving device being capable of receiving first sets of signals from a first operator and second sets of signals from a second operator; characterized in that it comprises the additional steps consisting in: - extracting from the first set of signals a first set of

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 data relating to a first list of television service programs available by the first operator; - extracting from the second set of signals a second set of data relating to a second list of television service programs available by the second operator; - Performing a concatenation operation of the first list and the second list of television service programs, showing only once the redundant television service programs, in order to constitute an optimized list of television service programs.

 In a preferred embodiment, prior to the concatenation operation, a step of comparison between the first list and the second list of television service programs is implemented to determine the redundant television service programs and / or redundant television services, and to select a single program and / or a single service from among the redundant programs and / or services. The concatenation and comparison operations are performed as soon as a user of the digital television decoder performs a request operation to display the optimized list of television service programs.

 In different embodiments of the method according to the invention, it is possible before the selection of a single service or of a single program from among the redundant services or programs, namely: - comparing information relating to a quality reception for each redundant television service then determining the television service having the best reception quality to select it and / or to select the program for this service; or: - compare information relating to a reception cost for each redundant television service and then determine the television service with the lowest cost to select it and / or to select the program for this service.

 The method according to the invention can be implemented from a first list of available service programs and from a second list of available service programs which are lists classifying television service programs either by theme or by schedule from

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 distribution, or according to their membership of a favorite list.

 The invention and its different applications will be better understood on reading the description which follows and on examining the accompanying figures. These are presented for information only and in no way limit the invention. The figures show: - In FIG. 1, already described, a simplified representation of an architecture for distributing information to a digital television decoder via different transmission networks; - In Figure 2, a schematic representation of a digital television decoder for implementing the method according to the invention.

 FIG. 2 shows a digital television decoder 100 capable of implementing the method according to the invention. The decoder 100 comprises a first module, or device, for receiving 101 and a second module 201 for receiving television signals, each of these reception modules 101 and 201 receiving a set of signal streams available via a first signal source 102 respectively. and a second signal source 202. The signal sources 102 and 202 are symbolically represented by antennas. However, it could be the culmination of a cable in the case of a cable television network, or a dish in the case of a satellite reception system. The two reception devices 101 and 201 can receive television signals which are transmitted via different or similar transmission networks.

Each signal stream thus received is composed of several multiplexed audio and / or video signals, each signal corresponding to an audio and / or video service transmitted by an operator. Thus, the service selected by the first reception device 101 and the service selected by the second reception device 201 can be services which belong to different packages, transmitted respectively by a first operator and by a second separate operator. Of course, it is also possible that the first reception device and the second reception device receive services transmitted by the same operator.

 The reception modules 101 and 201 are connected by means of a bidirectional communication bus 110 to a control circuit 103 of the reception modules 101 and 201. The control circuit 103 transmits to the

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 reception modules 101 and 201 a control signal indicating which service it must extract from all the available streams received by signal sources 102 and 202. For this purpose, the first reception module 101, respectively the second reception module 201, consists of a first tuner 104, respectively of a second tuner 204, which makes it possible to select, thanks in particular to the information contained in the NIT tables, a given carrier frequency corresponding to a given signal stream. Within the first reception module 101, respectively of the second reception module 201, the first tuner 104, respectively the second tuner 204, is connected to a first extraction module 105, respectively to a second extraction module 205, which makes it possible to extract from the stream of signals selected by the first tuner 104, respectively the second tuner 204, a specific service or information relating to the constitution of the different tables, in accordance with the instructions contained in the signals transmitted by the control module 103.

 A first sensor 106, in this infrared example, receives signals emitted by a remote control 107. An infrared cell of the first sensor 106 delivers a signal which allows the user to control the control circuit 103. The control circuit 103 can also receiving control signals emitted by a microprocessor 117, in particular for recovering the different information constituting the different tables.

The digital signals from the first reception module 101 or the second reception module 201 are sent either to a video memory 108 or to a data memory 109 via the bidirectional communication bus 110, depending on the future use of the signals. from the two reception devices. This use is, most often, either a display on a video screen of television type 111, or a storage of television signals in the data memory 109 for a later viewing of these signals from televisions, or even a storage of some of the television signals in the data memory 109 for the constitution of the previously detailed tables.

 A program memory 112 is intended for the management of the various operations which may occur within the decoder 100, and more particularly to the various operations which may occur in the

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 implementation of the method according to the invention to obtain an optimized EPG.

 An image overlay module 113, or OSD module (On Screen Display in English literature) is connected to the communication bus 110. This module makes it possible to display graphic elements of digital origin, for example contained in the data memory 109. A superposition module 114 admits at a first input signals from the video memory 108, and at a second input signals from the OSD module 113. It makes it possible to display graphical information in images of a television service on a television screen 111.

 The microprocessor 117 is connected by means of the bidirectional bus 110 in particular to the program memory 112. The microprocessor 117 manages in particular all of the operations involved in the implementation of the method according to the invention. It is also connected by means of a unidirectional link 115 a second sensor 116 which is preferably similar to the first sensor 106. A user can thus trigger directly, by means of the remote control 107, the implementation of applications constituting the program memory 112. In other embodiments of the decoder according to the invention, these applications can be replaced by specific electronic circuits. The bidirectional communication bus 110 conveys control, address or data signals between the various elements to which it is connected.

 Furthermore, it is obvious that the elements shown in FIG. 2 can be placed in any device other than the decoder 100 connected to a television, or in the television itself; if the invention is described in the context of a digital television decoder, the term decoder must be interpreted very broadly so as to encompass all the devices capable of receiving audio and / or video signals and capable of reproducing these signals on a display device.

 The operation of the digital television decoder 100 according to the invention is now explained.

 In a first step, an application 140 of the program memory 112, called the storage application, is implemented. This application makes it possible to extract from the various streams of television signals a set of information necessary for the constitution of a table, or

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 list, EPG for each operator received separately by the two signal sources 102 and 202. A first operator OP1 thus provides an EPG table 1 stored in an area 160 of the data memory 109, and a second operator OP2 provides a second EPG table 2 stored in a second area 161 of the data memory 109.

 In a second step, a comparison application 141 is implemented. It makes it possible to compare the different information contained in the EPG 1 table and the EPG 2 table in order to detect the services, and / or the service programs, simultaneously present in the two tables EPG1 and EPG2. When the two operators OP1 and OP2 offer television services in common, then redundant information, that is to say both present in the EPG table 1 and in the EPG table 2, are thus detected by means of the comparison application 141.

 In a following step, an application 142, known as the concatenation application, is implemented. The concatenation application makes it possible, from the different program lists contained in the EPG table 1 and in the EPG table 2, to constitute a single table of EPG3 programs of services available in the digital television decoder 100, by merging the two EPG1 tables and EPG2. The EPG3 table is stored in an area 163 of the data memory 109. To constitute this table, the concatenation application brings together all the information present in the EPG table 1 and in the EPG table 2, keeping only once the information is redundant. The concatenation application also has the function of reorganizing all of the information previously merged in order to present it in a coherent and intelligible manner by a user in an optimized list of services contained in the table EPG3.

 Thus, for example, if the EPG 1 and EPG 2 tables presented all the service programs available for each operator classified according to their broadcast schedule, the optimized service program list will also present all the service programs available in one or the other of the two operators OP 1 and OP 2 also classified according to their broadcasting schedule. In front of each program making up the list, the operator associated with this service is specified.

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 An application 143, known as a reception quality evaluation application, can be implemented simultaneously with the comparison application 141. This application has the function of extracting from the different streams of received signals a parameter giving information as to the quality of reception for a given service. The application 143 is capable, for the redundant services determined using the application 141, of ranking similar services available from the two operators as a function of the quality of their reception. It is the service offering the best quality that will be offered in the optimized service program table.

 In the same way, an application 144, called rights assessment, makes it possible to distinguish two television services which are available simultaneously from the first and the second operator when the user has acquired the rights from only one of the two operators. .

 An application 145, known as the graphic window opening application, can be used by the user to, by means of the OSD module 113, display a graphic window 118 on the television screen 111, the optimized program list EPG3. that can be displayed in this graphic window.

 Depending on the organization of the EPG1 and EPG2 tables, the EPG3 table can be organized so as to present the different programs according to their broadcast times, or according to their theme, or even by selecting only programs belonging to a favorite list of a user, this user having previously programmed this list in an area 163 of the data memory 109.

Claims (8)

 1-Method for constituting a list (EPG3) of television service programs comprising the steps consisting in: - equipping a digital television decoder (100) with a first reception device (101) and a second device receiving device (102), the first receiving device (101) and the second receiving device (102) being capable of receiving first sets of signals from a first operator (OP1) and second sets of signals from a second operator (OP2); characterized in that it comprises the additional steps consisting in: - extracting from the first set of signals a first set of data relating to a first list (EPG1) of television service programs available by the first operator (OP1); - extracting from the second set of signals a second set of data relating to a second list (EPG2) of television service programs available by the second operator (OP2); - performing a concatenation operation (142) of the first list (EPG1) and of the second list (EPG2) of television service programs, by showing only once the redundant television service programs, to constitute a optimized list (EPG3) of television service programs.  2-A method according to the preceding claim characterized in that it comprises the additional step of, prior to the concatenation operation, comparing (141) the first list (EPG1) and the second list (EPG2) of service programs television to determine redundant television service programs and / or redundant television services, and select a single program and / or a single service from the redundant programs and / or services.  3-A method according to claim characterized in that the concatenation operation (142) and the comparison operation (141) are performed as soon as a user of the digital television decoder (100) performs a display request operation from the optimized list (EPG3) of television service programs. <Desc / Clms Page number 13>

4-Method according to one of claims 2 or 3 characterized in that it comprises the additional step consisting, prior to the selection of a single service or a single program among the services or redundant programs: - comparing (143) information relating to reception quality for each redundant television service; - determine the television service with the best reception quality to select it and / or to select the programs of this service.  5-Method according to one of claims 2 or 3 characterized in that it comprises the additional step consisting in, prior to the selection of a single service or a single program among the services or redundant programs: - comparing (144) information relating to a cost of reception for each redundant television service; - determine the television service with the lowest cost to select it and / or to select the programs of this service.  6-Method according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that the first list (EPG1) of available service programs and the second list (EPG2) of available service programs are lists classifying the television programs by themes.  7-Method according to one of claims 1 to 5 characterized in that the first list (EPG1) of available service programs and the second list (EPG2) of available service programs are lists classifying television programs by hours of diffusion.  8-Method according to one of claims 1 to 5 characterized in that the first list (EPG1) of available services and the second list (EPG2) of available services are lists classifying television services according to their membership of a favorite list .