KR100246915B1 - Method of program reserving service using in digital television - Google Patents

Abstract

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

A method of providing additional services in a digital television receiver.

I. The technical problem to be solved by the invention

Provided is a program reservation service method in which a user can easily receive a program reservation service in a digital television receiver.

All. Summary of Solution of the Invention

When the program guide information is requested by the user, displaying a program guide screen in which the program scheduled program information is displayed corresponding to the passage of the scheduled broadcast time; and selecting a program selected by the user from among the programs displayed on the program guide screen. The process of setting a reservation is provided.

la. Important uses of the invention

Used for digital television receivers.

Description

Program reservation service method of digital TV receiver {METHOD OF PROGRAM RESERVING SERVICE USING IN DIGITAL TELEVISION}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a television receiver (hereinafter referred to as "TV") receiver, and more particularly to a method of providing additional service in a digital TV receiver.

In general, home appliances such as a TV set or a video cassette recorder (VCR) provide various additional services in addition to their basic functions, and there is a reservation service as one of these additional services. For example, TV receivers have adopted a power reservation service, which is a function that automatically turns on or off at a reservation time when a user reserves a power on / off time. At this time, when the power is turned off, the standby state. In the power reservation service, when a power-on is scheduled, a channel that a user wants to watch may also be reserved. Then, when the power is turned on at the reservation time, the reserved channel is automatically tuned and output.

In addition, the reservation recording function has been adopted as a reservation service in a VCR used in connection with a TV receiver. This is a function of recording a reserved program if the user inputs a start time for a program scheduled to be broadcasted in the future or if the user reserves it in advance by using the G code as program information.

However, in order to use the reservation services as described above, there is an inconvenience in that the user must input reservation information such as a desired time and program information when setting a reservation.

Next-generation digital TV broadcasts, such as HD TV (High Definition Television) broadcasts, have a much larger number of RF (Radio Frequency) 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, it is possible to organize SD TV (Standard Definition Television) programs into multiple channels in some time zones, and HD TV programs to one channel in certain time zones.

As described above, in digital TV broadcasting, not only the number of RF channels is increased but also a plurality of programs can be broadcast in one RF channel. Accordingly, the user can select and watch a wide range of programs. The digital TV receiver for watching digital TV broadcasts may employ a program reservation service for a user to reserve a program and watch or record a program in the form of a reservation service as described above. However, in this case, as the number of RF channels and programs is large, the user may have difficulty in making a reservation, and there may still be inconvenience of having to input reservation information one by one.

As described above, when the program reservation service is adopted as a conventional reservation service in a digital TV receiver, the number of RF channels and programs is large, so that the user may have difficulty when making a reservation, and the reservation information must be input manually. It is expected that discomfort will still exist.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a program reservation service method in which a user can easily receive a program reservation service in a digital TV receiver.

1 is a system block diagram to which the present invention is applied;

2 is a flowchart illustrating reservation setting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is an illustration of a program guide screen for the present invention,

4 is an exemplary view of a reservation confirmation screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a flowchart of reservation execution according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flow chart of processing at power off according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a process of displaying a program guide screen that is displayed when the program guide information is requested by the user to be displayed corresponding to the passage of the scheduled broadcast time, and is displayed on the program guide screen It is characterized in that it comprises a process of setting the reservation of the program selected by the user of the program.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description and in the accompanying drawings 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.

First, as described above, in digital TV broadcasting, not only the number of RF channels is increased but also a plurality of programs can be broadcast in one RF channel. Accordingly, it is necessary to display program guide information on the screen of the digital TV receiver so that the user can select one of several programs. For this purpose, digital broadcasting such as HD TV in the United States, for example, is defined as a unique Electronic Program Guide (hereinafter referred to as "EPG") to adopt a method to select the program. This is a method in which a broadcasting station transmits EPG information for each RF channel, and the digital TV receiver receives and stores EPG information and displays program guide information on the screen when a user requests. An example of such an EPG is the United States Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) standard.

The EPG information includes information such as a title, a broadcast station name, a broadcast start time and an end time for programs scheduled to be broadcast. The present invention allows a user to easily receive a program reservation service by using information such as a title of a program included in the EPG information, a broadcast station name, a broadcast start time, and an end time.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system to which the present invention is applied and shows a block configuration of an HD TV receiver 100 employing a moving picture expert group (MPEG) standard as an example of a digital TV receiver. Shows an example in which the recording apparatus 102 is connected by a digital multimedia interface. The recording device 102 may be, for example, a video cassette recorder (DVCR). Digital multimedia interfaces use IEEE 1394, the next-generation multimedia interface, adopted as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard. The IEEE 1394 is a multimedia PC, HD TV receiver, set-top box, DVCR, DVD (unlike existing interface devices that only allow connection between a personal computer and a peripheral device (mouse, printer, scanner, etc.). Digital Video Disc) Perfect real-time exchange of information such as transmission and reception of audio and video data between next-generation multimedia devices such as players.

In the TV receiver 100, a tuner 108 tunes an RF channel selected by a user in a broadcast reception signal through the antenna 106 under the control of a microprocessor 126. Accordingly, the tuner 108 outputs a channel tuned intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and is converted into a baseband signal by the IF module 110 and output to the channel decoder 112. The channel decoder 112 reproduces a TS (Transport Stream) data stream by channel decoding the baseband signal input from the IF module 110. The data stream thus reproduced is TS decoded by the TS decoder 114 and separated into audio data, video data, and additional data, respectively.

The audio data is applied to the audio decoder 116, decoded according to the MPEG standard or the Dolby AC-3 standard, processed by the audio processing and output unit 118, and then transferred to audio through a speaker (not shown). Is output. The video data is applied to the video decoder 120 to be decoded according to the MPEG standard, and applied to the OSG (On Screen Graphic) mixer 122 to be combined with the OSG data under the control of the microprocessor 126 to perform video processing and After being processed by the output unit 124, it is output on the screen through a water pipe (not shown). The OSG data is data for the microprocessor 126 to display various types of information on a screen as a graphic or text.

In addition, a keypad 132 and an IR receiver 136 are connected to the microprocessor 126, which is a control unit of the TV receiver 100, through a user interface 130. The microprocessor 126 performs an operation according to a command input from the IR remote 134 through the keypad 132 or the IR receiver 136 according to a program stored in the memory 128. The IR remote 134 may be a wireless mouse such as an air mouse or a remote controller (REMOCON), and a command applied from the IR remote 134 may be received by the IR receiver 136 as an IR signal. And is applied to the microprocessor 126 via the user interface 130. The microprocessor 126 is supplied with additional data from the TS decoder 114. The additional data includes program specification information, that is, a table of program-related information defined in the MPEG standard, that is, program specific information (PSI) and the aforementioned description. EPG information is included. Also, a Real Time Clock (RTC) 138 coupled to the microprocessor 126 provides current time data to the microprocessor 126. As such, by using the current time data provided from the RTC 138, the microprocessor 126 may provide a conventional time display or a program reservation service according to the present invention.

The memory unit 128 may include a read only memory (ROM) for storing a program of the microprocessor 126 and a random access memory (RAM) for temporarily storing data according to program execution of the microprocessor 126. Memory) and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) for storing various reference data.

In addition, the power supply unit 140 supplies operating power to each part of FIG. 1 under the control of the microprocessor 126. The operating power is also supplied with a power source for normal operation and a separate auxiliary power. The auxiliary power is divided into a standby power and a recording power. The standby power source is the microprocessor 126, the user interface 130, the keypad 132, the IR receiver 136, and the RTC 138 in the standby state when the power of the TV receiver 100 is turned off as in the normal case. ) Is a power supply to operate only. The standby power source allows the microprocessor 126 to receive a user's command through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134 even in a standby state where the power is turned off. The power supply in the recording state is a power supply for operating only the minimum necessary portions when recording the broadcast program by the recording apparatus 102 when the TV receiver 100 is in the standby state. Therefore, the power supply in the recording state is except the parts necessary for audio and video output, that is, the tuner 108, the IF module 110, the channel decoder 112, the TS decoder 114, the microprocessor 126, the user interface. 130, the keypad 132, the IR receiver 136, the RTC 138, the IEEE1394 interface 142, and the like are power supplies for operating. As described above, a technique of supplying power differently as necessary is a power management technique for power saving in general, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, the TV receiver 100 and the recording device 102 are connected by an IEEE 1394 cable 104 for providing the IEEE 1394 interface, and the IEEE 1394 cable 104 is an IEEE 1394 interface unit of the TV receiver 100. 142 and the IEEE 1394 interface unit 146 of the recording device 102 are connected. The IEEE 1394 interface units 142 and 146 interface information exchange between the microprocessor 126 and the recording device 102, and the IEEE 1394 interface unit 142 of the TV receiver 100 is a TS decoder at an output terminal of the channel decoder 112. It is connected in common with 114 to interface transmission and reception of the TS data stream with the recording apparatus 102.

Tuner 108, IF module 110, channel decoder 112, audio decoder 116, audio processing and output 118, video decoder 120, OSG mixer 122, video processing as described above And the output unit 124, the memory unit 128, and the IEEE 1394 interface unit 142 are connected via a bus 144 connected to the microprocessor 126.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a reservation setting according to an embodiment of the present invention applied to a digital TV receiver as shown in FIG. 1. The operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 is programmed in the ROM of the memory unit 128 to be performed by the microprocessor 126 of FIG.

Now, a reservation setting process according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. First, when the user requests the program guide information through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134, the microprocessor 126 responds to the program guide screen using the OSG mixer 122 in step 200 of FIG. Is displayed. This program guide screen is shown as an example in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the program guide screen 300 displays broadcast schedule program information corresponding to the passage of a broadcast scheduled time. That is, the names of broadcasting stations are displayed in the vertical direction on the left side of the program guide screen 300, and the programs currently broadcast in the corresponding broadcasting stations and the scheduled programs are sequentially displayed corresponding to the broadcasting start time of the corresponding programs in the horizontal direction. The program guide screen is configured by using EPG information included in broadcast-received additional data as described above. Typically, the microprocessor 126 stores and updates the EPG information in the memory unit 128. do. Therefore, by viewing the program guide screen, the user can know the program information to be broadcast.

In this state, the microprocessor 126 waits for a user input through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134 in steps 202 to 206. In this case, the user may search for programs on the program guide screen, terminate after searching, or make a program reservation according to the present invention. If the user selects one of the programs to be reserved from among the programs displayed on the program guide screen 300 by key input or mouse click through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134. The microprocessor 126 performs step 208. In step 208, the microprocessor 126 displays the reservation confirmation screen shown in FIG. 4, and waits for confirmation of the reservation in step 210. The reservation confirmation screen 400 shown in FIG. 4 is a screen for selecting one of the reservation mode of the TV reservation mode and the recording reservation mode. The television reservation mode may be selected when a user wants to watch a reserved program at a reservation time, and the recording reservation mode may be selected when the user wants to record a reserved program as the recording device 102. In this case, the user selects a reservation mode on the reservation confirmation screen 400 by inputting a TV reservation check box 402 or a recording reservation check box 404 through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134. Simply select by mouse click and select the confirmation icon 406. In this case, if the user does not want to make a reservation, the cancel icon 408 on the reservation confirmation screen 400 may be selected.

When the user selects the cancel icon 408 on the reservation confirmation screen 400 in step 210, the microprocessor 126 performs the process again from step 200. On the other hand, if the user selects the TV reservation check box 402 or the recording reservation check box 404 on the reservation confirmation screen 400 and selects the confirmation icon 406, the microprocessor 126 uses the user at step 212. After the reservation is set by storing reservation information in the memory unit 128 for the program selected by the step, the process returns to step 200 above. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, when the user places and selects the mouse cursor 302 on the program 2 scheduled for broadcasting at 11:30 am of ABC on the program guide screen 300, program 2 of the ABC program is reserved. To set. At this time, since information necessary for reservation such as channel number and start time of the selected program is included in the EPG information, the user only needs to select a desired program in the program guide screen. Therefore, reservation is made very easily.

When the user selects a program search using the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134 to search for the program, the microprocessor 126 responds to the program in step 204 in response to the program search according to the EPG information in step 214. Search for and display the program guide screen according to the step (200). Then, when the user inputs the end key by using the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134, the microprocessor 126 ends the display of the program guide screen in step 216 in response to this in step 206.

Therefore, in order to make a program reservation, the user simply selects a desired program in the program guide screen, and the reservation setting for the corresponding program is made. Accordingly, even if the number of RF channels and programs is large, reservations can be made without difficulty, and reservations can be easily made without having to input reservation information.

5 shows a reservation execution flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention, which shows a process of executing a program reservation set as described above. The operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 is programmed in the ROM of the memory unit 128 to be performed by the microprocessor 126 of FIG.

Now, a reservation execution process according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. First, the microprocessor 126 checks the memory unit 128 in step 500 of FIG. 5 to determine whether a program is reserved. In this case, if the program is not reserved, the process is terminated as it is, and only if the program is reserved, step 502 is performed. In step 502, the microprocessor 126 compares the current time provided from the RTC 138 with the reservation time, that is, the start time of the reserved program, and confirms whether the reservation time has been reached.

If the reservation time is reached, the microprocessor 126 checks the reservation mode in step 504. If the TV reservation mode is set, the microprocessor 126 performs step 522 if the TV reservation mode is set. do.

First, referring to step 522, the microprocessor 126 checks the power state of the TV receiver 100. In this case, when the power is turned off, the microprocessor 126 turns on the power of the TV receiver 100 by the power supply unit 140 in step 524 and then performs steps 526 to 530. If the power is on, steps 526 to 530 are performed.

In steps 526 to 530, the microprocessor 126 displays a confirmation message indicating the output of the reservation program on the screen using the OSG mixer 122, and confirms whether or not a confirmation key is input and whether time elapses. Check it. At this time, the display of the reservation output confirmation message is to notify the user in advance that the user is switched to the reservation program when the user is watching a program not reserved. This reserved output confirmation message allows the user to know the channel switching to the reserved program in advance, and if the channel is to be switched to the reserved program, the confirmation key is input through the keypad 132 or the IR remote 134. In this case, you can leave it until a certain time elapses. In this state, if there is no confirmation key input from the user until a predetermined time elapses, the microprocessor 126 is terminated as it is. On the other hand, if there is a confirmation key input from the user before a predetermined time elapses, the microprocessor 126 controls the tuner 108 in step 532 to switch the channel to the reserved program and receive and output the broadcast of the reserved program. Therefore, the user can watch the program reserved by the power of the TV receiver 100 is turned on. Here, of course, if the program being watched by the user is a reserved program, there is no need to switch channels.

Unlike the above, when the reservation mode is the recording reservation mode, the microprocessor 126 checks the power state of the TV receiver 100 in step 506. In this case, when the power is turned off, the microprocessor 126 converts the power of the TV receiver 100 to the recording state by the power supply unit 140 in step 508, and then performs step 510. If it is on, the operation 510 is performed as it is. In operation 510, the microprocessor 126 transmits a power-on command to the recording apparatus 102 through the IEEE 1394 interface 142 to turn on the recording apparatus 102, and then, in operation 512. A recording command is transmitted to the recording apparatus 102 through the IEEE 1394 interface unit 142 to operate the recording apparatus 102 in the recording mode. In this state, the microprocessor 126 controls the tuner 108 in steps 514 to 516 to switch channels to the reserved program, receive the broadcast of the reserved program, and output the TS data stream output from the channel decoder 112. The data is transmitted to the recording apparatus 102 through the IEEE 1394 interface unit 142. Thereafter, when the reservation program ends, the microprocessor 126 turns off the power of the recording apparatus 102 in step 518 and controls the power supply unit 140 in step 520 to turn off the power of the TV receiver 100. Switch to standby and exit. Therefore, by recording the program reserved by the user by the recording apparatus 102, it is possible to watch later.

On the other hand, when the TV receiver 100 is turned off while the program reservation is made, the TV receiver 100 is switched to the standby state, and the microprocessor 126, the user interface 130, and the keypad 132 as described above. Since only the IR receiver 136, the RTC 138, and the like are operated, the reservation execution operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 may not be performed. Therefore, in this case, the power-on of the TV receiver 100 should be preceded by the reservation time according to the program reservation before turning off the power. To this end, a conventional power reservation service as described above may be used.

Figure 6 shows the processing flow chart at power off according to an embodiment of the present invention for this purpose. The operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 6 is programmed in the ROM of the memory unit 128 to be performed by the microprocessor 126 of FIG. If the user enters a power off key to power off the TV receiver 100 via the keypad 130 or the IR remote 134, or when the power off time comes due to the power reservation service, the microprocessor 126 may turn to FIG. In step 600 of step 6, step (602) is performed in response. In step 602, the microprocessor 126 checks whether a program is reserved in the memory unit 128. In this case, if the program is not reserved, the microprocessor 126 controls the power supply unit 140 in step 606 as in the usual case, after switching the power state of the TV receiver 100 to the standby state. Quit. In contrast, if any program reservation is made, the microprocessor 126 sets all the reservation times according to the program reservation to the power-on time in step 604 and then performs step 606.

Accordingly, when the TV receiver 100 is turned off in the program reservation state, the power is turned on by the power reservation service at a different reservation time in the program reservation, and thus the operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 can be performed. .

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, although the embodiment of the present invention shows an example of applying the present invention to an HD TV receiver, the same applies to all digital TV receivers that receive EPG information. In addition, although both examples of reservation setting and execution are shown, the present invention may be applied only when reservation setting is made and execution may be performed as in the normal case. In addition, the reservation mode is divided into a TV reservation mode and a recording reservation mode, but if necessary, a reservation mode for simultaneously watching and recording a reserved program may be provided. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the equivalent of claims and claims.

As described above, the present invention has the advantage that the user can simply watch the program or make a recording by simply selecting a program to be reserved on the program guide screen without having to input reservation information for reservation.

Claims (9)

In the program reservation service method of a digital television receiver for receiving digital television broadcast including program guide information, Displaying a program guide screen on which program scheduled program information is displayed corresponding to the passage of a scheduled broadcast time when the program guide information is requested by a user; Reservation setting of a program selected by the user among the programs displayed on the program guide screen; And receiving and outputting the broadcast of the reservation program when the reservation time is reached. 2. The program reservation service according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting all the reservation times to the power-on time when the TV receiver is turned off and the standby state is set in the program reservation state. Way. 3. The program reservation service method according to claim 2, wherein the outputting step further comprises a step of turning on the power first when the power supply state of the television receiver is in the standby state. The program reservation service method of claim 1, wherein the outputting further comprises displaying a confirmation message on the screen indicating the output of the reservation program when the reservation time is reached. A program reservation service method for a digital television receiver receiving a digital television broadcast including program guide information and connected to a recording apparatus through a digital multimedia interface, the method comprising: Displaying a program guide screen on which program scheduled program information is displayed corresponding to the passage of a scheduled broadcast time when the program guide information is requested by a user; Displaying a reservation confirmation screen for selecting one of a TV reservation mode and a recording reservation mode in response to one of the programs displayed on the program guide screen being selected by the user; Setting a reservation for the selected program in a reservation mode selected on the reservation confirmation screen; Checking the reservation mode at the start time of the reservation program; Receiving and outputting a broadcast of the reserved program when the reserved mode is set to the television reserved mode; And if the reservation mode is set to the recording reservation mode, receiving the broadcast of the reservation program and recording the video by the recording apparatus. 6. The program reservation service according to claim 5, further comprising the step of setting all of the reservation times to the power-on time when the TV receiver is turned off to the standby state while the program reservation is made. Way. The program reservation service method according to claim 6, wherein the outputting step further comprises a step of turning on the power first when the power source state of the television receiver is in the standby state. The method of claim 5, wherein the outputting step further comprises displaying a confirmation message on the screen informing the output of the reservation program when the start time of the reservation program is reached. The method of claim 5, wherein the recording process, Switching the power of the television receiver to a recording state when the power of the television receiver is turned off; Turning on the recording apparatus; Transmitting a recording command to the recording device; Receiving the broadcast of the reserved program and outputting the recording to the recording device for recording; Turning off the recording device after the reservation program ends; And switching the power of the television receiver to a standby state.

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