KR100246761B1 - Channel displaying method of hdtv - Google Patents

Abstract

end. The technical field to which the invention described in the claims belongs

A method for displaying channels tuned in a digital television receiver.

I. The technical problem to be solved by the invention

The present invention provides a channel display method that enables the user to easily check the number of programs broadcast on a selected RF channel and to easily select the program.

All. Summary of Solution of the Invention

When two or more programs are received by selecting an RF channel, one of them is selected and output as a viewing program, and the program numbers of the viewing programs are arranged in the order of the program numbers of the programs together with subchannel symbols corresponding to the remaining programs one by one. Display on the screen. In this state, the program corresponding to the channel up and down key input among the before and after program numbers based on the viewing program number is changed to the viewing program.

la. Important uses of the invention

It is used to display the tuned channel on the digital television receiver.

Description

Channel display method of digital television receiver

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital television receiver (hereinafter referred to as "TV"), and more particularly to a method for displaying a tuned channel on a screen.

Analog TV broadcasting, such as NTSC (National Television System Committe) TV broadcasting, was able to broadcast only one program in a frequency band of one radio frequency (RF) channel.

In contrast, next-generation digital TV broadcasts, such as HDTV (High Definition Television), have a much larger number of RF channels than analog TV broadcasts. In addition, you can flexibly allocate the necessary bit rates for the services you need when you need them. That is, it is possible to transmit a plurality of programs in a limited transmission bandwidth of one RF channel. For example, in some program schedules, it is possible to organize SD (Standard Definition) programs such as analog TV broadcasts into multiple channels, and some time zones to organize HD programs into one channel. An example of this is the United States Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) standard. According to the ATSC, it is recommended to simultaneously broadcast at least one sub-HD program and up to six sub-SD programs in one RF channel corresponding to one analog channel.

As described above, in the digital TV broadcasting, since a plurality of programs can be broadcast on one RF channel, it is necessary to display program guide information on the screen of the digital TV receiver so that a user can select one of several programs. To this end, the ATSC standard defines a unique Electronic Program Guide (hereinafter referred to as "EPG") and adopts a method for selecting a program. That is, a broadcast station transmits EPG information for each RF channel, and the digital TV receiver receives and stores the EPG information and displays it on the screen when a user requests.

On the other hand, by using the EPG information, the user can check the number of programs broadcast in one sub-channel on any one RF channel, but for this purpose, the user has to check the EPG screen separately. When a user selects an RF channel by directly inputting a channel number, checking or selecting the number of programs broadcast on the RF channel is more cumbersome than conventional analog TV broadcasting. In addition, as conventional analogue and digital TV broadcasts are simultaneously broadcast on the same broadcaster, viewers are more confused about channel selection.

As described above, in digital TV broadcasting, it is important to easily identify and easily select the number of programs broadcast on a selected RF channel.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a channel display method that allows a digital TV receiver to easily check the number of programs broadcast on an RF channel selected by a user.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a channel display method which allows a user to easily select a program broadcasted on an RF channel selected by a user in a digital TV receiver.

1 is a block diagram of an HDTV receiver to which the present invention is applied;

2 is a process flow diagram of the microprocessor of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is an exemplary channel display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to the present invention for achieving the first object described above, when two or more programs are received as tuned RF channels, one of them is selected and outputted as a viewing program. It is characterized by displaying on the screen by arranging the program number of each program together with a symbol. The present invention for achieving the above-described second object in the present invention, when the channel up key or the channel down key is input in the state in which the program number and sub-channel symbol of the viewing program is displayed in the before and after program number based on the viewing program number. The program corresponding to the channel up key or the channel down key is changed to a viewing program.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the annexed drawings, specific details, such as many specific processing flows or screen examples, are shown to provide a more general understanding of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 shows a block diagram of an HDTV receiver employing a Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) standard as a digital TV receiver to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a tuner 102 tunes an RF channel under control of a microprocessor 124 in a broadcast reception signal through an antenna 100. Accordingly, the tuner 102 outputs a channel tuned intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and is converted into a baseband signal by the IF module 104 and output to the channel decoder 106. The channel decoder 106 performs channel decoding on the baseband signal input from the IF module 104 to reproduce the data bit stream. The data bit stream reproduced in this manner is separated into audio data, video data, and additional data by the TS (Transport Stream) decoder 108, respectively.

The audio data is applied to the audio decoder 110, decoded according to the Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) standard or the Dolby AC-3 standard, processed by the audio processing and output unit 112, and then the speaker 114 is moved. Is output through voice. The video data is applied to the video decoder 116, decoded according to the MPEG standard, and applied to the OSG (On Screen Graphic) mixer 118 and merged with the OSG data under the control of the microprocessor 124 to process the video and After processing at the output unit 120 is output on the screen through the water pipe (122). The OSG data is data for the microprocessor 124 to display various types of information on the screen in graphic or text.

In addition, a keypad 130 and an IR receiver 134 are connected to the microprocessor 124, which is a control unit of the HDTV receiver, through a user interface 128. The microprocessor 124 performs an operation according to a command input from the IR remote 132 through the keypad 130 or the IR receiver 134 according to a program stored in the memory unit 126. The IR remote 132 may be a wireless mouse such as an air mouse or a remote controller (REMOCON). The command applied from the IR remote 132 is received by the IR receiver 134 as an IR signal and applied to the microprocessor 124 through the user interface 128. The microprocessor 124 receives additional data from the TS decoder 108. The additional data includes program specification information, i.e., program specific information, which is a table of program related information defined in the above-described EPG information or MPEG standard. Information) is included.

The memory unit 126 may include a read only memory (ROM) for storing a program of the microprocessor 124 and a random access memory (RAM) for temporarily storing data according to program execution of the microprocessor 124. Memory) and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) for storing various reference data.

Tuner 102, IF module 104, channel decoder 106, TS decoder 108, audio decoder 110, audio processing and output 112, video decoder 116, OSG mixer as described above 118, video processing and output 120, and memory 126 are connected via a bus 136 connected to the microprocessor 124.

2 shows a process flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention applied to a digital TV receiver such as the HDTV receiver. The operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 is programmed in the ROM of the memory unit 126 to be performed by the microprocessor 124 of FIG.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 will be described in detail the channel display process according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, when the viewer inputs a key for designating a channel number to select a channel using the numeric keypad of the keypad 130 or the IR remote 132 of FIG. 1, the microprocessor 124 may perform the procedure in step 200 of FIG. 2. In response, the tuner 102 tunes the RF channel of the number input in step 202. Accordingly, the IF signal of the RF channel selected by the user is output from the tuner 102, converted into a baseband signal by the IF module 104, and channel decoded by the channel decoder 106 to reproduce the data bit string. The data bit stream reproduced in this manner is separated into audio data, video data, and additional data by the TS decoder 108, respectively.

In this state, the microprocessor 124 confirms from the EPG information or the PSI included in the additional data applied from the TS decoder 108 whether there are two or more programs received on the currently tuned RF channel in step 204. At this time, if there is one program, audio data and video data of the program are output from the TS decoder 108. Accordingly, the audio and video of the program are output through the speaker 114 and the water pipe 122, respectively.

Alternatively, if more than two programs are received on the currently tuned RF channel in step 204, the microprocessor 124 selects one of the programs in step 206, e.g. The program is controlled by the TS decoder 108 to select the viewing program. The audio data and video data of the program selected as the viewing program are then output from the TS decoder 108. Accordingly, the audio and video of the viewing program are output through the speaker 114 and the water pipe 122, respectively.

In this state, the microprocessor 124 displays the viewing program number and the sub channel symbol on the screen using the OSG mixer 118 in step 208. The viewing program number is a unique number of a program selected as a viewing program, and the sub channel symbol is a symbol representing a program other than a program selected as a viewing program among programs currently broadcasted through the tuned RF channel. At this time, the microprocessor 124 arranges the program number of the viewing program together with the subchannel symbols corresponding to the remaining programs one by one in the program number order of each of the programs and displays the program number of the viewing program together with the RF channel number on the viewing program screen.

3 shows an example of channel display according to an embodiment of the present invention for displaying a viewing program number and a sub channel symbol. 3, the RF channel number is "32", all four programs are received on the RF channel "32", the lowest program number among them is "22", and the program next to the program number "22". An example of the case where the number is "40" is shown. In FIG. 3, "▲" and "▼" are examples of sub-channel symbols, which are displayed on the screen in the form of up and down on the basis of the viewing program number. That is, the sub channel symbol "Y" represents a program of the program number following the viewing program number, and the sub channel symbol "▼" represents a program of the program number before the viewing program number.

In addition, FIG. 3 (a) shows a sub channel symbol “▲” indicating the RF channel number “32” from the top when the lowest program number is “22” among four programs received on the RF channel “32”. "3, viewing program number" 22 "is shown in the vertical arrangement in the upper left of the screen display example.

Therefore, the user can immediately check the number of programs broadcast on the current RF channel by looking at the viewing program number and sub-channel symbols displayed on the screen without taking any action after selecting a channel by inputting a numeric key.

In the above state, the microprocessor 124 checks whether the key up key, the channel down key, or the channel number is designated in steps 210 through 212. If the user wants to select a program of another sub-channel, the channel up key or the channel down key is selected by using the keypad 130 or the IR remote 132. When the channel up key or the channel down key is input as described above, the microprocessor 124 responds to the channel up key or the channel down key among the before and after program numbers based on the viewing program number in step 214 in response to this in step 210. The corresponding program is changed to the watched program by the TS decoder 108, and the process is performed again from step 208.

For example, if a user inputs a channel up key while being displayed as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the screen display state is as shown in FIG. 3 (b). 3 (b) shows an example in which the program number next to the viewing program number is “40”. On the other hand, if the user inputs a channel down key while being displayed as shown in Fig. 3 (a), the program number of the highest number is displayed instead of the sub channel symbol "▲" at the top in Fig. 3 (a). Below it, three sub-channel symbols " " representing down are displayed.

Accordingly, the user may view the viewing program number and the sub channel symbols displayed on the screen, check the number of programs broadcast on the current RF channel, and then select another program by using the channel up key or the channel down key.

When the user inputs a key for designating a channel number to change to another RF channel in steps 210 to 212, the microprocessor 124 responds to the step from step 202 described above in step 212. Do it again.

Meanwhile, in the above description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, the embodiment of the present invention shows an example of applying the present invention to an HDTV receiver, but the same applies to all digital TV receivers. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the number of programs broadcast on the RF channel selected by the user is displayed, and the channel up key or the channel down key is inputted to change the program. It might apply only to marking for confirmation. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the equivalents of the claims and the claims.

As described above, in the present invention, when a plurality of programs are received through an RF channel, the number of programs can be easily identified and easily selected by displaying a viewing program number and a sub channel symbol according to the screen.

Claims (12)

In the channel display method of the digital television receiver, Tuning the RF channel, When one or more programs are received through the tuned RF channel, selecting one of them as a viewing program; And arranging program numbers of the watched programs in the order of program numbers of the programs together with sub-channel symbols corresponding to the remaining programs one by one and displaying them on the screen of the watched program. The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-channel symbol is displayed on the screen in a form of up and down based on the viewing program number. The channel display method according to claim 2, wherein the viewing program number and the sub channel symbols are arranged in a predetermined direction on the screen. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying of the channel further comprises placing the selected RF channel number on the screen and above the program number and subchannel symbol. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting process further comprises selecting the lowest program number among the programs as the viewing program. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sub channel symbols are displayed in the form of “▲” and “▼” according to the up and down, respectively. In the channel display method of the digital television receiver, Tuning the RF channel, When one or more programs are received through the tuned RF channel, selecting one of them as a viewing program; Arranging the program numbers of the watch programs in order of program numbers of the programs together with sub-channel symbols corresponding to the remaining programs one by one and displaying the program numbers on the watch screen; And when a channel up key or a channel down key is input, a program corresponding to the channel up key or a channel down key among the front and rear program numbers based on the viewing program number is changed to the viewing program, and the display proceeds to the display process. Channel display method characterized in that. The method of claim 7, wherein the sub-channel symbol is displayed on the screen in the form of up and down on the basis of the viewing program number. The method of claim 8, wherein the viewing program number and the sub channel symbols are arranged in a predetermined direction on the screen. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the displaying further comprises: displaying the tuned RF channel number on the screen by placing the tuned RF channel number on the program number and subchannel symbol. The method of claim 8, wherein the selecting process further comprises selecting a program having the lowest program number among the programs as the viewing program. The method of claim 8, wherein the sub-channel symbol is displayed in the form of "▲" and "▼" according to the up and down, respectively.

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