KR100569449B1 - Method for searching channels on a digital tv receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a channel change and information display method in a digital broadcast receiver. That is, in the present invention, in the channel changing method in the digital TV receiver, the program information currently broadcast on the corresponding channel and the next program information are displayed by using the EPG information, which is one of the digital broadcasting technologies, along with the channel number. It makes it easy to check and select broadcast information of channels without having to move them directly. Accordingly, the user can easily and quickly search for and change a desired channel even in numerous channel environments without time consuming and inconvenience of searching for broadcast contents while changing channels.

Description

How to Search for Channels in a Digital TV Receiver {METHOD FOR SEARCHING CHANNELS ON A DIGITAL TV RECEIVER}

1 is a block diagram of a digital TV receiver to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

2 is a flowchart of a channel search process in a digital TV receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is an exemplary channel information display screen according to a channel change numeric key input in a digital TV receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

<Brief description of the major symbols in the drawings>

100: tuner and demodulator 102: MPEG decoder

104: key input unit 106: microcomputer

108: OSD unit 110: memory unit

The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a method of changing channels and displaying information in a digital broadcast receiver.

With the digitization of terrestrial, satellite, and cable broadcasting, too many broadcasting channels have become a cumbersome task because it takes a lot of time to select and change the desired channel.

As the number of broadcast channels increases, various channel search methods for fast channel change of TVs and receivers have been proposed. As one of such channel searching methods, when a user changes a channel by directly pressing a number key, there is a method of displaying the next channel starting with the number when one number is pressed, but in the case of satellite broadcasting having 100 channels Simply showing only the next channel number and broadcaster information is meaningless.

That is, this may be useful when the user does not know the channel of the desired broadcasting station, but most users want to change the channel after searching for what broadcasts are made in other channels.

Therefore, not only the channel number is displayed but also the electronic program guide (EPG), which is one of the digital broadcasting technologies, shows the channel number along with the program information currently broadcasting on the channel and the program information to be broadcasted next. If the user can directly check and select the broadcast information of the channel without having to move the channel, it is expected that the user will be more effective when making the channel change decision.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to display a program information currently broadcasting in a corresponding channel and program information to be broadcasted next with a channel number in the channel changing method in a digital TV receiver using EPG information which is one of digital broadcasting technologies. The present invention provides a channel search method in a digital TV receiver that enables a user to easily check and select broadcast information of a channel without directly moving a channel.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a channel search method in a digital TV receiver, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a numeric key input for changing a program from a user, and (b) recognizing a numeric key input by the user. Retrieving a list of channels starting with a corresponding numeric key through a channel map, (c) reading broadcast program information of each channel starting with the input numeric keys using an EPG, and (d) And displaying broadcast program information of each channel starting with the numeric keys on the screen.

At this time, the broadcast program information of each channel is characterized by consisting of the current broadcast program for each channel and the next broadcast program information, the broadcast program information of each channel is displayed overlapped with the OSD screen on the broadcast screen that you are watching It is characterized in that the user can check the channel information while watching the broadcast currently being viewed.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a digital TV receiver to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 1, the operation of each part of the digital TV receiver will be described.

First, the key input unit 104 is composed of a key matrix on a remote controller or its own panel to generate a key data signal according to a user's key operation and apply it to the micom 106. The memory unit 110 stores an operation program for operating the digital TV receiver, and stores and outputs various program information output from the tuner and the demodulator 100 under the control of the microcomputer 106.

The microcomputer 106 controls the overall operation of each part of the digital TV receiver according to the operation program stored in the memory unit 110 and generates a control signal for performing a corresponding function according to the key data signal from the key input unit 104. To the functional unit. For example, the tuner and the demodulator 100 provide a tuning control signal for tuning a broadcast channel selected by a user, and generate a decoding control signal for decoding the tuned broadcast signal.

In addition, when there is a numeric key input for changing a channel from the key input unit 104 according to an embodiment of the present invention, after retrieving a channel map and obtaining a list of channels starting with the input number, the EPG of each channel is obtained. The current broadcast program and the next broadcast program information are read and displayed on the screen. Accordingly, the user continuously moves to the desired broadcasting channel by pressing the next numeric key with reference to the program information of the channel displayed on the screen.

The tuner and demodulator 100 tunes a bit stream of a channel corresponding to the tuning control signal of the microcomputer among the bit streams received from the satellite through the antenna, and then demodulates it and then demodulates it. MPEG decoder 102 separates and decodes the broadcast signal provided from the tuner and demodulator 100 into an audio signal and a video signal, and displays it on the screen through a predetermined signal processing process. Done.

The OSD (on screen display) unit 108 displays the OSD driving control signal and various OSD data provided from the microcomputer 106 on the screen through a predetermined signal processing process, in particular according to an embodiment of the present invention. When the numeric key is input to change the channel from the user, the list of channels starting with the number input by the user and the current and next program information by channel are displayed on the screen so that the user can easily change the channel. To help.

2 illustrates a flow of channel search processing in a digital TV receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, the user turns on the digital TV receiver, inputs a channel to be watched through the key input unit 104, and watches a broadcast program of the corresponding channel in the normal viewing mode. To input the channel to change.

Then, the microcomputer 106 of the digital TV receiver displays the broadcast program of the previous channel preset by the user when the power is turned on in the normal viewing mode of the step S200, so that the user can watch the broadcast program of the corresponding channel. In step S202, the user inputs a numeric key input for changing a channel from the user through the key input unit 104.

If there is a numeric key input for changing a channel from the user, the microcomputer 106 proceeds to step S204 in response to the step S202 to search for a channel map and starts with the number input by the user. Retrieve the list of channels.

Next, the microcomputer 106 proceeds to step S206 and reads the current broadcast program and next broadcast program information of each channel starting with the number input by the user in the EPG, and then the OSD unit 108 in step S208. A channel starting with the numeric key input by the user, and the current broadcast program and the next broadcast program information of each channel are configured to overlap and display on the currently viewed screen.

3 is a diagram illustrating a channel search display screen according to a channel change numeric key input of a user according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. For example, a number key “1” for changing a channel in a broadcast program screen of a preset channel is set by the user. In the case of inputting " ", channels such as " 14 ", " 15 ", " 16 ", " 17 ", " 18 " The searched channel information OSD screen 302 is displayed, and the current broadcast program information and the next broadcast program information for each channel are overlapped and displayed on the currently viewed broadcast screen.

Accordingly, the user can effectively change the channel by directly checking and selecting broadcast information of the channel displayed on the broadcast screen whenever the numeric key for channel change is input without directly moving the channel.

When the user changes the channel to the desired channel through the OSD displayed channel information, the microcomputer 106 changes to the channel selected by the user in step S212 in response to this in step S210.

As described above, in the present invention, in the method of changing a channel in a digital TV receiver, by using EPG information, which is one of digital broadcasting technologies, the program information currently broadcast on the channel and the next program information are displayed together with the channel number. The user can easily check and select broadcast information of a channel without moving the channel directly. Accordingly, the user can easily and quickly search for and change a desired channel even in numerous channel environments without time consuming and inconvenience of searching for broadcast contents while changing channels.

Meanwhile, in the above description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the claims rather than by the described embodiments.

As described above, in the present invention, in the method of changing a channel in a digital TV receiver, program information currently broadcast on the corresponding channel and program information to be broadcasted next on the corresponding channel are displayed using EPG information, which is one of digital broadcasting technologies. Display makes it easy for users to check and select the broadcasting information of a channel without having to move the channel directly, so the user can easily and quickly change the channel in a large number of channel environments without time consuming and inconvenience of changing the channel. There is an advantage to being able to search and change.

Claims (3)

As a channel search method in a digital TV receiver, (a) receiving a numeric key input for changing a program from a user, (b) recognizing a numeric key input by the user and retrieving a list of channels starting with the corresponding numeric key through a channel map; (c) reading broadcast program information of each channel starting with the input numeric key using an EPG; (d) displaying broadcast program information of each channel starting with the input numeric keys on a screen; Channel search method in a digital TV receiver comprising a. The method of claim 1, In the step (d), the broadcast program information of each channel, the channel search method in the digital TV receiver, characterized in that the current broadcast program for each channel and the next broadcast program information. The method of claim 2, And broadcast program information of each channel is displayed overlapping with an OSD screen on a previously watched broadcast screen.

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