JP3278618B2 - Program information transmission apparatus and program information transmission method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting technique, and more particularly to a program information transmitting apparatus and a program information transmitting method capable of reducing a processing time for displaying a program guide in a receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a digital broadcasting system for transmitting a large number of programs in a plurality of streams using an MPEG system has undergone a remarkable innovation. In such a digital broadcasting system, program information for displaying a program guide at a receiver is multiplexed with a program signal and transmitted. Although the content of this program information is not always updated,
It is frequently transmitted so that the receiver can receive it at any time. However, the program information has a large amount of data, and when transmitted in all streams, the data amount of the original program signal will be squeezed. For this reason, the program information is transmitted only in a specific stream. On the other hand, when displaying the program guide, the receiver must follow the latest program information, but since it is not known whether the program information has been updated, a specific stream is required each time the program information is needed. It was necessary to tune in and read a large amount of program information.

[0003]

However, the prior art receiver must follow the latest program information when displaying the program guide, but it is not known whether the program information has been updated or not. Each time program information is required, it is necessary to select a specific stream and read a large amount of program information, so that it takes a long time until a program guide is displayed.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program information transmission apparatus and a program which can reduce a processing time for displaying a program guide in a receiver. It is to provide an information transmission method.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The program information transmission apparatus according to claim 1 is to broadcast multiple program signals at a plurality of streams to the receiver from a transmitting station, the program information a plurality of strike
A program information transmitting apparatus for transmitting a specific stream of a stream , wherein the transmitting station includes a plurality of program signals and program information.
Information and version information indicating the update status of program information.
First transmitting means for multiplexing and transmitting in a specific stream
Multiplex the program signal and the version information
Multiple streams provided for each stream to be transmitted
The second and a transmission unit, the receiver, the first instruction means for instructing to select a particular stream program information is transmitted at the time of start-up, the program information and the program from a particular stream storage means for storing in the memory reads the version information indicating an update state of the information, a plurality of strike
When selecting a predetermined one of the plurality of program signals to be transmitted in streams, string the program signal selected is sent
When there is a second instruction means for instructing to select a predetermined one of the streams and a display of a program guide according to the program information, the version information is read from the predetermined one of the selected streams. Reading means, comparison means for comparing version information from a predetermined stream of a selected channel read by the reading means with version information stored in the memory by the storage means, a result of the comparison by the comparison means, If the version information from the predetermined stream of the selected channel matches the version information stored in the memory, a program guide is displayed according to the program information stored in the memory, and the predetermined information of the selected channel is selected. If the version information and version information stored in the memory from the ones do not match, again specific stream <br/>, turn Reads the information, and a program guide display means for displaying a program guide in accordance with the program information read, memory means stores version information indicating an update status of the program information and the program information read back from the particular stream in the memory It is characterized by doing. 3. The program information transmission method according to claim 2, wherein the transmission station broadcasts a plurality of program signals to the receiver in a plurality of streams , and transmits the program information in a specific stream among the plurality of streams. The method, wherein the transmitting station comprises a plurality of program signals.
And, the version that shows the program information, the update status of the program information
Information is multiplexed and transmitted in a specific stream,
Number and version information to multiplex
The receiver instructs to tune to a specific stream to which program information is transmitted at start-up .
The program information and the version information indicating the update state of the program information are read from the stream and stored in the memory.
When a predetermined one of a plurality of program signals transmitted in the stream is selected, the selected program signal is transmitted
Instructs to select a predetermined stream , and if there is a request to display a program guide according to the program information, reads version information from the predetermined stream being selected, and reads the read channel. The version information from the predetermined stream of the stream and the version information stored in the memory are compared, and as a result of the comparison, the version information from the predetermined stream of the currently selected channel and the version information stored in the memory are compared with the version information. If There are matches, and displays the program guide in accordance with the program information stored in the memory, strike in channel selection
If the version information and version information stored in the memory from a predetermined one of the streams do not match, a specific
The program information is read again from the specified stream , the program guide is displayed according to the read program information, and the specific
And storing, in a memory, program information read again from the game and version information indicating an updated state of the program information. In the program information transmitting apparatus and the program information transmitting method of the present invention, the transmitting station includes a plurality of program signals and program information.
Information and version information indicating the update status of program information.
Multiplexed and transmitted in a specific stream, the program signal and the bar
Multiplexed with the John information and transmitted in multiple streams,
The receiver uses a specific switch on which program information is transmitted at startup .
A stream is instructed to be selected, and program information and version information indicating an update state of the program information are read from a specific stream , stored in a memory, and transmitted in a plurality of streams. When a predetermined one of a plurality of program signals is selected, an instruction is given to select a predetermined one of a stream to which the selected program signal is transmitted, and a program according to the program information is selected. If there is a guide of the display request, string in the tuning
The version information from the predetermined stream of the selected channel is read, and the read version information of the selected stream of the selected channel is compared with the version information stored in the memory. If the version information from the predetermined stream matches the version information stored in the memory, the program guide is displayed according to the program information stored in the memory, and the program guide from the predetermined stream is selected. If the version information stored in the version information and the memory does not match the particular stream
The program information is read again from the program, a program guide is displayed in accordance with the read program information, and the program information read again from a specific stream and version information indicating the update state of the program information are stored in the memory.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining one embodiment of the program information transmission device of the present invention. The program information transmitting apparatus according to the present embodiment is a digital CATV (Community Antenna Te).
When transmitting program information in a digital broadcasting system such as “revision”, the receiver has a function of shortening a processing time for receiving a program information and displaying a program guide.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a configuration of a transmitting station and a receiver in a program information transmitting apparatus and a program information transmitting method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transmitting station includes the program information editing device 1, the multiplexing devices 2-1, 2-2,.
−n, modulators 3-1, 3-2,..., 3-n, mixer 4
It has. In FIG. 1, a program information editing device 1 includes:
The program information is transmitted to one specific stream through the multiplexing devices 2-1, 2-2,..., 2-n, and the version information of the program information is transmitted to all the streams. Specifically, the program information editing device 1 is a personal computer or a workstation, inputs and edits program information and its version information, and multiplexes the program information with the multiplexing device 2-1.
, The version information is transmitted to the multiplexing devices 2-1, 2-2,.
2-n. The version information is several bytes of data indicating the version of the program information. Multiplexer 2-
.., 2-n multiplex a plurality of program signals (video / audio signals) compressed and coded according to the MPEG standard with program information or version information from the program information editing apparatus 1,
.., 3-n as signals in the MPEG transport stream format. The modulation devices 3-1, 3-2,.
The signals from 2-2,..., 2-n are modulated to the frequencies of the respective channels, frequency-multiplexed by the mixer 4 and output to the transmission line.

On the other hand, the receiver includes a tuner 5, a demodulation circuit 6, a separation circuit 7, and a control unit 8. Tuner 5
Selects a signal from the transmitting station in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 8 (CPU 9) and outputs the signal to the demodulation circuit 6. The demodulation circuit 6 demodulates the signal selected by the tuner 5 and separates the stream signal into a stream signal. Output to The separation circuit 7 extracts a desired program signal from the stream in accordance with an instruction of the control unit 8, and outputs the extracted program signal.
Further, it extracts program information or its version information and outputs it to the control unit 8. The control section 8 controls each section of the receiver, and has a memory 10 for storing program information and the like and a graphics 11 for displaying a program guide and the like. When the receiver is started up, the tuner 5 selects the specific stream to which the program information is transmitted, reads the program information and the version information, and stores them in the memory 10. When displaying a program guide or the like, version information is read from an arbitrary stream being selected and compared with the version information in the memory 10. If the same, the program guide is read in accordance with the program information in the memory 10. Processing such as display is performed. If the version information is different from the version information in the memory 10, the tuner 5 selects a specific stream, reads the program information and the version information again, updates the contents of the memory 10, and updates the contents of the program guide according to the latest program information. Processing such as display is performed.

[0009] Thus, it is possible to know whether or not the program information currently transmitted by the receiver has been updated from the previously read one without rereading the program information.
Processing time for displaying a program guide and the like can be reduced.

Next, the operation of the receiver shown in FIG. 1 for receiving program information and displaying a program guide will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining one embodiment of the program information transmission method of the present invention executed by the program information transmission device of FIG.

At the time of startup (when power is turned on), the control unit 8 instructs the tuner 5 to select a specific stream (stream of the multiplexer 2-1) to which program information is transmitted (step A1). ), The program information and the version information are read and stored in the memory 10 (step A2). When a program is selected, the control unit 8 instructs to select a stream to which the program signal selected by the tuner 5 is transmitted (step A3). Then, when there is a display request of the program guide, the version information is read from the currently selected channel (step A4) and compared with the version information stored in the memory 10 (step A5). In step A5, the program guide is displayed according to the program information stored in the memory 10 (step A8). If they do not match (No in step A5)
Indicates that the control unit 8 instructs the tuner 5 to select a specific stream to which the program information is transmitted (step A).
6) The program information and version information are read again and stored in the memory 10 (step A7), and the program guide is displayed according to the read program information (step A8).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to select the stream to which the program information is transmitted and read the program information each time the receiver needs the program information. The processing time for displaying the guide can be reduced. In addition, the version information of the program information transmitted in all the streams has a data amount of several bytes, and has an effect that the data amount of the original program signal is not suppressed.

In the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to a digital CATV, but can be applied to a digital broadcasting system suitable for applying the present invention. In addition, the number, position, shape, and the like of the constituent members are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and are suitable numbers for implementing the present invention.
Position, shape, etc.

[0014]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

The first effect is that, each time the receiver needs program information, it is not necessary to select a stream to which the program information is transmitted and read the program information. Can be shortened.

The second effect is that the version information of the program information transmitted in all the streams has a data amount of several bytes and does not suppress the data amount of the original program signal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a program information transmitting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment of a program information transmission method of the present invention executed by the program information transmission apparatus of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Program information editing device 2-1, 2-2, ..., 2-n ... Multiplexer 3-1, 3-2, ..., 3-n ... Modulator 4 ... Mixer 5 ... Tuner 6 ... Demodulation circuit 7 Separation circuit 8 Control unit 9 CPU 10 Memory 11 Graphics

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of program signals to the receiver from a transmitting station to broadcast multiple streams, the program information a plurality of the
A program information transmitting apparatus for transmitting a specific stream among streams , wherein the transmitting station includes a plurality of the program signals, the program information, and the program information.
Multiplexed with the version information indicating the update status of the
Multiplexing the first transmission means for transmitting in a fixed stream, the program signal and the version information;
Provided for each stream transmitted in the number of said streams
And a plurality of second transmitting means that, the receiver, the particular strike the program information is transmitted at the time of start-up
A first instruction means for instructing to select a stream storage means for storing in the memory reads the version information indicating an update status of the program information and the program information from the particular stream, a plurality of the when selecting a predetermined one of a plurality of said program signal to be transmitted in the stream, a second instruction means for instructing to select a predetermined one of said streams the program signal selected is sent Reading means for reading the version information from a predetermined stream of the selected channel when there is a display request of a program guide according to the program information; and Before
Comparing means for comparing the version information from a predetermined stream of the stream with the version information stored in the memory by the storage means; and a result of the comparison by the comparing means ,
If said version information and the version information stored in the memory from the ream of predetermined ones match, displays the program guide in accordance with the program information stored in said memory, said in the tuning If said version information and the version information stored in the memory from a given stream that does not match, the
Read the program information again from a specific stream ,
Program guide display means for displaying a program guide according to the read program information, wherein the storage means stores the program information read again from the specific stream and the version information indicating an update state of the program information. A program information transmission device, which is stored in a memory. Wherein the plurality of program signals to the receiver from a transmitting station to broadcast multiple streams, the program information a plurality of the
A program information transmission method for transmitting a specific stream among streams , wherein the transmitting station includes a plurality of the program signals, the program information, and the program information.
Multiplexed with the version information indicating the update status of the
The program signal and the version information are multiplexed and transmitted.
Transmitted in the stream of numbers, the receiver, the particular strike the program information is transmitted at the time of start-up
Ream instructed to select a said stored in the memory reads the version information from the particular stream indicating the update status of the program information and the program information, a plurality of the programs transmitted by a plurality of the stream When a predetermined one of the signals is selected, an instruction is given to select a predetermined one of the streams in which the selected program signal is transmitted, and a display request of a program guide according to the program information is issued. If there is, the version information is read from a predetermined stream of the selected channel, and the version information from the read predetermined stream of the selected channel is stored in the memory. Comparing the version information with the version information from a predetermined one of the streams being selected and stored in the memory. If the version information matches, a program guide is displayed according to the program information stored in the memory,
If the version information from a predetermined one of the selected streams does not match the version information stored in the memory, the program information is re-read from the specific stream . A program which displays a program guide according to the read program information and stores the program information read again from the specific stream and the version information indicating an updated state of the program information in the memory. Information transmission method.