KR100626887B1 - Method for updating epg information of pvr - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for automatically updating electronic program guide (EPG) information of a personal video recorder (PVR), wherein a tuner is not used when a broadcast signal tuned to an arbitrary channel is output through a PVR, for example, a recording file. Determining whether a condition is being played, whether the main menu is displayed, whether the power is turned off, or the off schedule time has arrived, and if one of these conditions is satisfied, updating the EPG information received by the PVR. Steps. According to the present invention, since the EPG information is updated while the tuner of the PVR is not used, for example, during the playback of the recorded file of the PVR, efficiency and reliability can be improved in updating the EPG information.

Description

FIVAL's electronic program guide information update automatically {METHOD FOR UPDATING EPG INFORMATION OF PVR}

1 is a schematic structural block diagram of a fibral for carrying out the present invention,

Figure 2 is a flow chart of the automatic update of electronic program guide information of the fibule according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: tuner 102: decoder

104: display unit 106: control unit

108: key input unit 110: hard disk

The present invention relates to a personal video recorder (PVR) control technology, and in particular, an electronic program guide for a channel other than the channel being watched using one tuner (Electronic Program Guide: EPG). A method for automatically updating EPG information of a PVR suitable for receiving information.

Recently, with the development of digital technologies such as digital image compression and digital modulation / demodulation, the standardization and commercialization of digital television broadcasting is rapidly progressing. Also, in the conventional terrestrial, satellite, and cable broadcasting, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) ) Is being digitized based on

In digital broadcasting, a plurality of broadcast programs encoded on the basis of MPEG are multiplexed and transmitted in the form of a transport stream, which is received by a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box (STB) installed on the receiving side. The multiple broadcast programs included in the transport stream are demultiplexed.

Therefore, only one broadcast program desired by a user can be selected. Also, in a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box, a general television after restoring the selected broadcast program to an original audio and video signal using an MPEG decoder included in the receiver. It transmits to A / V output device such as

In addition, a large-capacity hard disk (HDD) is additionally provided in a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box, and a program stored in the hard disk is stored on a hard disk after being transmitted to an A / V output device such as a television. Digital broadcast recording / reproducing functions for reproducing and outputting a broadcast program recorded on a disk, for example, a digital broadcasting system having an additional 'PVR' function have been developed and released and are widely spread.

As is well known, the PVR is a personal recording / playback apparatus, and has a large storage medium, that is, a hard disk, for storing recorded data, that is, broadcast program data, and reproduces data stored in such a storage medium. Has the function.

Here, the broadcast program data stored in the storage medium is encoded (compressed) and stored in the MPEG2 method in order to increase the utilization of the storage space. When the stored data is reproduced, the broadcast program data is decoded (restored) in the MPEG2 method and output. Therefore, the PVR can record a large amount of broadcast program data on a storage medium.

In addition, the PVR can be provided with an interactive service, which receives and stores EPG information through an external network (ie, PSTN, high-speed Internet network, etc.) or a communication network connected to the PVR, thereby providing a user interface to the user.

For example, users can search for the desired broadcast program by channel, genre, actor, or time zone through various program guide information, and designate a favorite channel or set a scheduled recording through such a search. The service may be provided, and the service may be provided such that the current viewing channel is automatically switched to a predetermined channel in a predetermined time zone.

That is, the EPG is additional information that enables the viewer to more conveniently use the TV, and the viewer can obtain information about the current broadcast program and the future broadcast program directly on the screen without a newspaper or other guide medium.

In addition, PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol) defines the above-described EPG and SI (System Information) as one. This PSIP is proposed as a standard for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) of digital broadcast television.

That is, PSIP is composed of several tables to transmit and receive A / V data made in MPEG-2 video and AC-3 audio format, and to transmit information about channels of each broadcasting station and information about each program of channels. have. The PSIP may support a main function of selecting a channel and providing an A / V service of a desired broadcast and an EPG of a broadcast program, that is, an additional function of providing a broadcast guide service.

At this time, channel information for channel selection and packet identification number (PID) for A / V reception are provided through a virtual channel table (VCT), and EPG information of broadcast programs of each channel is EIT (Event). The information is transmitted through the information table. In addition, PSIP includes System Time Table (STT) for time information, RRT (Rating Region Table) for transmitting information about regions and review institutions for program grades, and Extended Text for ETT (Extended Text). Table) and MGT (Mater Guide Table) for managing the version and PID of each of these tables, and together with these tables, the EPG information is periodically updated through the tuner to provide the viewer with the latest broadcast information. to provide.

However, in the conventional digital TV, there is a limitation that only one EPG information as described above can be used for each channel. In other words, the EPG information is loaded only on the information of its own channel for each channel, the use of one tuner raises the problem that the EPG information of other channels other than the broadcast currently being viewed can not be updated.

In order to solve this problem, an additional tuner may be further installed to update EPG information of another channel through the corresponding tuner. However, simply installing an additional tuner to update EPG information can be a waste of hardware and very inefficient.

Therefore, in the conventional PVR, when checking EPG information, when broadcasting is stopped, each channel is scanned once to update the EPG information, or when the user views the EPG information of the channel once viewed and records the EPG information. It uses a method of displaying EPG information of another channel previously stored together.

However, in the former case, in order to view the EPG information, the broadcast that is currently being viewed must be stopped, and scanning a plurality of channels at once can take a long time for the EPG information to be displayed on a TV screen.

In addition, the latter has the advantage that the EPG information can be quickly checked while watching the broadcast of the current channel, but in the case of the channel which the viewer has not yet checked, the EPG information is not output at all or when other channels are long time passed. In this case, there may be a problem that the EPG information of another channel may not be updated and its contents may become very poor. That is, there is a disadvantage that it is impossible to cope with the recently updated EPG information.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, EPG of the PVR that can efficiently manage the EPG information of the multi-channel through a single tuner by updating the EPG information in a condition that the tuner is not used The purpose is to provide a method for automatically updating information.                         

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving this object, as a control method of a PVR for receiving a broadcast signal or EPG information through a tuner, when the broadcast signal tuned to any channel is output through the PVR Determining whether the tuner including at least one of the recording file playback, the main menu display, the power-off or off-scheduling time satisfies an unused condition, and if the condition is satisfied, updating the EPG information received by the PVR. It provides a method for automatically updating EPG information of a PVR including.

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

1 is a schematic block diagram of a PVR for implementing the method according to the present invention, which includes a tuner 100, a decoder 102, a display unit 104, a control unit 106, a key input unit 108, and a hard disk. 110.

As illustrated, the tuner 100 tunes a broadcast signal transmitted from the outside, and the decoder 102 converts a broadcast stream selected by the controller 106 among the broadcast signals provided from the tuner 100 into a video signal for display. The output to the unit 104 is performed.

The display unit 104 displays a variety of information, for example, PSIP, MGT, VCT, EPG information, and the like. The display unit 104 can be applied to the conventional display means provided in the digital TV, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The key input unit 108 is a means for generating a predetermined key signal according to a user's input action, and performs a function of generating not only an EPG key input signal but also a key signal for performing various modes of other digital TVs.

The hard disk 110 stores video and audio data of a broadcast signal, and the stored video and audio data are read out under the control of the controller 106 according to the playback key signal of the key input unit 108.

The controller 106 performs an overall function of controlling the tuner 100, the decoder 102, and the display unit 104 in response to the key input signal of the key input unit 108. More specifically, if there is no tuning operation of the broadcast signal, the tuner 100 controls the preset EPG information to be updated.

Hereinafter, with reference to the flow chart of Figure 2 attached to the EPG information automatic update process of the PVR according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention together with the above-described configuration will be described in detail.

First, in step S200 and step S202, the PVR is driven and receives a broadcast signal to determine whether any channel of the broadcast signal is tuned through the tuner 100.

After that, the controller 106 proceeds to step S204 to step S210 to determine whether the tuner 100 satisfies a condition in which the tuner 100 is not used, that is, a condition in which there is no tuning operation of the broadcast signal. This process is to make the best use of the time that the tuner 100 is not used for receiving the broadcast signal, and is to effectively update the EPG information with one tuner.

These "conditions" can be broadly classified into, for example, the following four kinds.

1) First, since the tuner 100 is not used when playing a recorded file, which is one of the main functions of the PVR, it can be used as the most stable and time-free condition for updating EPG information.

2) The other is a main menu display condition as in step S206. That is, when displaying the main menu screen on the TV screen through the OSD or the like, the tuner 100 is not used as in condition 1).

3) Another is a condition where the power is turned off as in step S208. When the viewer turns off the power of the PVR, the tuner 100 is not used because the actual audio / video signal is terminated.

4) The other one is a condition for determining whether an off reservation time arrives as in step S210. Usually, the set-top is often turned off at midnight, dawn, or daytime, and this time is used to determine if the PVR is powered off at a certain time of day. Of course, in this case, since a difference may occur in the time that is turned off by the viewer, it is preferable to allow the viewer to select directly on the menu.

On the other hand, if any of the above conditions are satisfied, the controller 106 proceeds to step S212 to update the EPG information.

At this time, in updating the EPG, the channel to be updated corresponds only to a channel existing in the channel map, and the updating order may be applied from the first updated channel.

The reason why the first updated channel, that is, the oldest updated channel is preferentially updated, is to increase the minimum update success rate in case of failure due to a short update time.

For example, when the main menu is displayed as in condition 2), it is a case where the time is shorter than other conditions. Therefore, only the oldest channel has been updated first. It may cover some.

On the other hand, when the update of the EPG information is performed, if the broadcast signal tuning operation of the tuner 100 is detected (S214), the control unit 106 proceeds to step S216 to stop the EPG information updating operation.

As mentioned above, although this invention was concretely demonstrated based on the Example, this invention is not limited to this Example, Of course, various changes are possible within the range which does not deviate from the summary.

According to the present invention, since the EPG information is updated while the tuner of the PVR is not used, for example, during the playback of the recorded file of the PVR, efficiency and reliability can be improved in updating the EPG information.

Claims (6)

A control method of a FV receiving a broadcast signal or electronic program guide information through a tuner, When the broadcast signal tuned to an arbitrary channel is output through the fibral, the fibral includes a condition in which the tuner including at least one of a recording file playback, a main menu display, a power off or off reservation time is not used. Determining whether they are satisfied, Updating the electronic program guide information received in the FV through the tuner if the condition is satisfied; Automatic update of the electronic program guide information of the fibule comprising a. delete delete The method of claim 1, The method further comprises the step of stopping the electronic program guide information update operation is detected when the tuner is tuned to the broadcast signal during the updating of the electronic program guide information. The method of claim 1, And updating the electronic program guide information in the channel map. The method of claim 1, The updating of the electronic program guide information is a method of automatically updating electronic program guide information of the fibule is performed first from the channel where the electronic program guide information is first updated.

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