KR100538984B1 - Personal Video Recorder employing multi codec - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personal video recorder using a DivX codec in a digital signal processing unit. Encode the signal to be saved among the video and audio signals, which are to be stored in the storage unit, in the storage unit, and in the DivX method to reproduce the signal among the video / audio signals to be reproduced or the signal stored in the storage unit. The apparatus further includes a digital signal processor which decodes and outputs the video / audio output unit. According to the present invention, only one digital signal processor can be used to record and reproduce both broadcast data and video / audio data provided from the Internet.

Description

Personal Video Recorder employing multi codec}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personal video recorder (PVR), and more particularly, to a personal video recorder using a DivX codec in a digital signal processor.

The PVR has a built-in hard disk so that not only the received television broadcast can be watched, but also the TV broadcast to be recorded on the hard disk can be recorded and played back at a desired time.

These PVRs are digitally recorded / played to pause broadcasts, search for scenes, continue viewing, skipping screens, replaying missed screens, moving to live broadcasts, viewing slow screens, and using EPGs (Electronic Program Guides). The user can perform various functions such as searching by genre and searching a list of schedules.

However, broadcasts currently provided to homes include general airwave broadcasts, satellite broadcasts, cable TV broadcasts, and the like. These broadcast data are received from a PVR, decoded (decompressed) by the MPEG2 method, and output through a TV.

On the other hand, the content provided in the Internet broadcast is decoded and reproduced by the MPEG4 method.

Therefore, in order to be able to record and play both commercially available broadcast data and video / audio data provided on the Internet in one device, it is necessary to mount both the MPEG2 decoder and the MPEG4 decoder in one device. there was.

As a result, the cost increases and the device becomes complicated.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can receive not only broadcast data but also video / audio data provided from the Internet, and is provided from broadcast data and the Internet using only one digital signal processor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a personal video recorder using the DivX codec capable of recording and playing back both video and audio data.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a storage medium, an image output unit and an audio output unit, and directly play a received broadcast signal and a video / audio signal input from an external device through the video / audio output unit; A personal video recorder for storing, retrieving, and reproducing data stored in the storage medium, wherein the network interface connects the personal video recorder to a network so as to download video / audio data by connecting to an external host device through a network such as the Internet. part; And encodes a signal to be stored among the input video / audio signals using the DivX method and stores the signal in the storage unit, and reproduces a signal to be reproduced among the signals stored in the storage unit or the signal to be reproduced among the input video / audio signals. There is provided a personal video recorder using the DivX codec, further comprising a digital signal processor for decoding and outputting the video / audio output unit.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) using DivX codec according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The PVR has a plurality of input ports for inputting data from broadcast signals such as cable TV, satellite broadcasting, and airwave broadcasting, and from a plurality of external devices such as camcorders, VCRs, CCD cameras, microphones, and the like.

In addition, a tuner 5 is provided for tuning a broadcast signal received via airwaves and converting the broadcast signal into a signal that can be processed.

The network interface unit 50 allows the PVR to be connected to other host devices through a network such as the Internet. The network interface unit 50 includes a modem, an Internet dedicated line such as a VDSL line, a LAN line, a cable line of a cable TV, and a satellite broadcasting. Line and hence a Network Interface Card (NIC).

 The network interface unit 50 allows the PVR and the network to be always connected.

The user may download the video / audio data (multimedia data) to download by accessing the Internet server to be connected using the network interface unit 50.

In this way, video / audio data downloaded from the Internet is also input through an input port.

The analog / digital converter 10 converts an analog input signal from among signals input through a plurality of input ports to digital.

Signals passing through the analog-to-digital converter 10 or digitally input are input to the A / V switching unit 18.

The A / V switching unit 18 has a storage signal output port Q1 and a reproduction signal output port Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6.

The A / V switching unit 18 outputs the audio / video and subtitle signals designated to be stored among the input audio / video and subtitle signals to the digital signal processing unit 20 through the storage signal output port Q1.

 In addition, the A / V switch unit 18 decodes the inputted audio / video / subtitle signal through the audio / video / subtitle signal output ports Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, and Q6 through the DivX method. 30) or output to the voice DAC 36.

The digital signal processing unit (DSP) 20 is largely composed of a DSP core (main operation processor) and an SDRAM. Here, programming in the digital signal processing unit 20 means loading a program from a ROM or a flash memory and loading the program into an SRAM in the digital signal processing unit 20.

The ROM or flash memory stores three codecs of MPEG-2, MPEG4, and DivX codecs made of software. A codec is a software or hardware device that encodes input data into a specific data format and decodes it again.

The digital signal processor 20 encodes or decodes the input audio / video and subtitle signals in one of MPEG2, MPEG4, and DivX methods.

The DivX method employed by the digital signal processing unit 20 according to the present invention is to add an AVI file playback function to MPEG4, and has an advantage of reducing the file size by supporting an excellent compression ratio.

The digital signal processing unit 20 analyzes a signal output through the storage signal output port Q1 of the A / V switching unit 18 and compresses and stores the signal according to a compression algorithm previously selected by the user.

If the DivX method is selected, the DivX method is encoded and stored in the storage unit 22.

In addition, the digital signal processing unit 20 analyzes the signal stored in the storage unit 22 when decoding, and determines which of the MPEG2, MPEG4, or DivX streams.

If it is a DivX stream, the digital signal processor 20 decodes the signal by the DivX method and outputs the signal to the A / V switching unit 18. As the storage unit 22, a hard disk is preferably used.

The control unit 26 controls the overall operation of the PVR according to the present invention, and controls the corresponding operation based on the remote signal from the remote control received by the remote control receiver 44.

When the power of the PVR of the present invention is turned on, the control unit 26 reads a code for a program capable of performing various services described above from among various kinds of information stored in the ROM 42, and stores the code in the RAM 40. It provides a corresponding service based on a remote signal according to a remote control (not shown) operation.

The screen generating unit 30 sets the video signal of one channel among the video signals of the plurality of channels from the A / V switching unit 18 as the main screen and the video signal of the other channels as the sub picture.

The OSD synthesizing unit 32 displays the contents of the 24-bit overlay memory (not shown) of RGB 8: 8: 8 in a specific color key value (i.e., OSD characters (or pictures) required for the screens to be output. Compared to the color key value corresponding to), an appropriate graphic OSD is implemented on the screen from the screen generator 30.

The video output unit 34 displays the video screen from the OSD synthesizing unit 32 on a television monitor (not shown).

The audio / digital / analog converter 36 converts an audio signal of an active channel to the main screen provided by the audio / video / subtitle switcher 18.

The audio output unit 38 outputs the audio from the audio digital / analog conversion unit 36 to the outside through a speaker (not shown) of the television.

RAM 40 stores codes of operating programs required to operate the personal video recorder 10.

The ROM 42 stores all programs related to driving and control of the personal video recorder 10 and the like.

Here, the audio / video switching unit 18 and the OSD synthesizing unit 32 are field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which are types of programmable logic chips.

In addition, the PVR according to the present invention can be selected and used in a VDSL telephone environment or a LAN environment capable of high-speed communication of up to 25 megabits per second and 12 megabits per second in both directions. When a network is selected, a server (not shown) is used. The latest content information is updated and required data is provided at the request of the user.

In addition, the data input through the network is stored in the storage unit 22, which is a hard disk drive (HDD) for temporal buffering, and then read from the storage unit 22 so as to facilitate multi-tasking. The digital signal processor 28 and the A / V switching unit 18 that perform the decoder processing may be transmitted to the screen generation unit 30.

According to the PVR of the present invention configured as described above, various contents can be provided as desired through the VDSL line or the LAN line as well as the normal PVR function, and output is also possible.

Next, the operation of the PVR according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, the storage operation of DivX data will be described.

Audio / video signals from the television tuner 5 or various audio / video input sources are input to the respective analog / digital converters 10, 12, 14, and 16, and the respective analog / digital converters ( 10, 12, 14, and 16 convert the input audio / video signal (analog signal) into a digital signal and send it to the A / V switching unit 18.

Accordingly, the A / V switching unit 18 performs audio / video signal (digital signal) of one channel among the signals of four input sources input through the four analog / digital converters 10, 12, 14, and 16. ) Is transmitted to the digital signal processing unit 20 encoding the DivX method.

The audio / video signal of one channel sent to the digital signal processing unit 20 is sent by the control of the control unit 26 as the audio / video signal of the channel selected by the user.

The digital signal processor 20 encodes the input audio / video signal of one channel by DivX and stores the encoded audio / video signal in the storage unit 22.

Here, the DivX data stored in the storage unit 22 may be data about a broadcasting program reserved by the user, audio / video data recorded by a movie camera or a VTR, or a cable broadcasting system or satellite. It may be audio / video data provided by a broadcasting system or video data recorded by a CCD camera. The DivX data stored in the storage 22 may be data of DivX contents input through the network interface 50.

Such storage of DivX data is performed when a user operates a remote controller (not shown) to reserve automatic recording for a broadcast program or when a user commands recording of audio / video information from an audio / video input source.

The output operation of DivX data will now be described.

The audio / video switching unit 18 generates a video signal provided by the four analog / digital converters 10, 12, 14, and 16 and the video signal from the digital signal processor 28 which decodes the DivX method. Send to department 30.

At this time, the audio / video switching unit 18 sends the audio signal of the channel enabled on the active screen to the audio digital / analog converter 36.

The screen generating unit 30 receives the video signal of five channels and PIP process the four video signals are displayed on the sub-screen, and the remaining one video signal is processed as the normal screen OSD synthesizer 32 Send to).

Of course, the screen output from the screen generation unit 30 may be up to five screens, but may be at least one screen, which is a remote signal transmitted by a remote control (not shown) operation according to the user's decision Determined based on

The OSD synthesizing unit 32 converts the contents of the 24-bit overlay memory (not shown) of RGB 8: 8: 8 into a specific color key value (i.e., OSD characters (or pictures) required for the screens to be output). Compared with the corresponding color key value), an appropriate graphic OSD is implemented on each screen from the screen generator 30 and sent to the image output unit 34.

Accordingly, the video output unit 34 displays the screen of each channel on which the graphic OSD is implemented on the television monitor through the television monitor.

The audio / video switching unit 18 transfers the video signal provided from the four analog / digital converters 10, 12, 14, and 16 and the video signal from the DivX decoder 28 to the screen generator 30. When sending, the audio / video switching unit 18 simultaneously sends the audio signal of the channel enabled on the active screen (i.e., the normal screen) to the audio digital / analog converting unit 36 at the same time. Accordingly, the audio digital / analog converter 36 converts the input audio signal (which is a digital signal) to the audio output unit 38 by analog conversion. The audio output unit 38 transmits the audio signal through the speaker of the television. Outputs the audio of the channel enabled on the current active screen to the outside.

Such output operation of DivX data is performed when a user operates a remote controller (not shown) to command the output of DivX data stored in the storage unit 22.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to receive not only broadcast data but also video / audio data provided from the Internet, and to receive both broadcast data and video / audio data provided from the Internet using only one digital signal processor. A personal video recorder using the DivX codec that can record and play back is provided.

In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, It can implement by modifying and modifying within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 is a block diagram of a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) using DivX codec according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (2)

A storage medium, an image output unit and an audio output unit, which directly receive the received broadcast signal and a video / audio signal input from an external device through the video / audio output unit, or store the data in the storage medium for searching and reproducing. In a video recorder, A network interface unit for connecting a network with the personal video recorder so as to download video / audio data by connecting to an external host device through a network such as the Internet; and Encode the signal to be stored among the input video / audio signals in the DivX method and store it in the storage unit, and the signal to be reproduced among the signals stored in the storage unit or the signal to be reproduced among the input video / audio signals in the DivX method And a digital signal processor for decoding and outputting to the video / audio output unit. The method of claim 1, The network interface unit includes at least a modem, an Internet dedicated line such as a VDSL line, a LAN line, a cable line of a cable TV, a line of satellite broadcasting, and a network interface card according to the personal video recorder using the DivX codec. .