KR100658873B1 - Method of channel searching for digital picture device - Google Patents

Abstract

A channel search method of a digital broadcasting receiver is provided to offer a broadcasting channel map according to the audio quality. A digital broadcasting receiver(500) includes an audio scan member(510) for performing an audio scan. A control member(520) controls the operations of the digital broadcasting receiver. A broadcasting processing member(530) performs the process of the received broadcasting. A storage member(540) stores the channel information and information for driving the digital broadcasting receiver. A screen display member(550) displays the broadcasting program processed by the broadcasting processing member on a screen. The audio scan member includes a channel selection member(511) for selecting sequentially a channel.

Description

Method of channel searching for digital picture device

Figure 1a shows a broadcast channel display of the digital broadcast receiver.

1B illustrates a channel map display using a broadcast transmission method and a channel number of a digital broadcast receiver.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an essential sound source configuration for 5.1 channel audio.

3 shows four bytes of data of an audio information frame.

4A illustrates a menu configuration for channel scan according to audio quality of a digital broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4B shows the actual scanned channel map.

5 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a channel searching method of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to channel search of a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a channel search method of a digital broadcast receiver for displaying a channel for each sound quality supported by performing a channel search according to sound quality provided by digital broadcasting.

In modern society, due to the development of digital technology, the field of information communication, electronics, and the Internet has been rapidly developed, and the information age has been reached and the information is spread by using the media of wire and wireless in acquiring information by simple contact. It is possible to receive the information that is necessary for them in real time.

In addition, TV broadcasting, which is basically provided in each household, is also rapidly being digitalized, and digital TV has become a huge and efficient medium for storing information and providing information.

As terrestrial digital broadcasting is gradually expanding as the era of digital TV is in full swing, cable broadcasting is now attempting to transform its role as a multimedia communication medium through the convergence of broadcasting and communication.

Domestic digital cable broadcasting adopts the US-based open cable system as a standard, and the open cable is designed to prevent the exclusive supply of some STB manufacturers and to provide two-way digital cable broadcasting service regardless of service provider or service area. Driven by CableLabs, DVS, CableCARD, and OCAP are three important factors.

The broadcasting / communication convergence service through the cable network of the future is not a service that is provided separately from the existing broadcasting / communication network. Will be in form. This is expected to develop into an industry with enormous market and sales revenues, and at the same time, it will have many derivative effects on related industries.

On the other hand, in digital broadcasting, high-definition video contents including 1080i are becoming mandatory in digital broadcasting, and due to the active dissemination of home theaters for homes, sound quality for broadcasting contents with 5.1-channel or higher audio streams Consumer demand is increasing day by day.

However, the existing digital broadcasting receiver DTV (Digital TV) provides channel information by arranging the channel map contents of analog broadcasting, digital broadcasting, terrestrial broadcasting and cable broadcasting and the number of broadcasting channels.

FIG. 1A illustrates a broadcast channel display of a digital broadcast receiver, and FIG. 1B illustrates a channel map display using a broadcast transmission method and a channel number of a digital broadcast receiver.

As shown in FIG. 1A, when a user selects a channel of a DTV, a corresponding channel number is displayed above the digital broadcast receiver along with information on a broadcasting method of the corresponding channel, that is, analog, digital, terrestrial, and cable.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, broadcasting of a general analog TV channel 121, a digital TV (DTV) channel 122, a cable TV (CATV) channel 123, a cable digital TV (CADTV) channel 124, and the like Method and channel number information provided by each broadcasting method are shown in a channel map format.

In this case, a sub-screen 110 for displaying an image of a selected channel is provided on the left side to check a program currently being broadcast on the corresponding channel.

Therefore, when a viewer searches for a favorite channel, the channel can be searched while changing the channel directly, the channel can be searched while checking the program on the left side of the screen, or the channel can be automatically changed.

However, as shown in FIG. 1B, a method of searching for a channel with a sub-screen displayed generally uses only image output except audio.

Therefore, audiophiles and viewers interested in sound quality have a problem that it is not easy to find a channel displaying a high quality audio stream.

The present invention is to solve this problem, when searching for a channel in the digital broadcast receiver, it is possible to search for the audio quality supported by the broadcast program in addition to the search method for the broadcast method and channel number according to the audio quality It is an object of the present invention to provide a channel search method of a digital broadcast receiver that can provide a broadcast channel map.

In order to achieve the above object, the channel search method of the digital broadcasting receiver according to the present invention,

A method of searching for a channel of a digital broadcast receiver, comprising: (a) analyzing an audio stream of each broadcast channel received; (b) storing, as a result of the analysis, a channel including an audio stream having a set level or higher as a high quality audio channel, and storing other channels as a general sound quality audio channel; And (c) generating and displaying all the stored channel information as a channel map according to sound quality.

In the step (a), the analysis of the audio stream, characterized in that the analysis using the AVI frame information included in the broadcast data of the channel.

In the step (a), the analysis of the audio stream may be performed using audio information included in an electronic program guide (EPG).

The audio stream information of the set level or more may be an audio stream of 5.1 channels or more.

The method of claim (c), wherein the channel map is generated according to the broadcast method, the quality information of each channel number and the audio stream provided by each channel number.

Prior to the step (a), the method further includes the step of commanding the audio scan by selecting the audio scan menu provided by the digital broadcast receiver.

The audio scan menu is further configured in the OSD menu of the digital broadcast receiver for the audio scan menu.

As mentioned, the channel searching method of the digital broadcasting receiver according to the present invention can search for audio quality information provided by each channel and provide it as a channel map. Hereinafter, the channel searching method of the digital broadcasting receiver will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This will be described in more detail.

However, in the following description of the present invention, a detailed description will be omitted for the known parts.

The present invention analyzes a broadcast information stream input to a DTV, which is a digital broadcast receiver, and divides it into a channel including an audio stream that provides a certain level of sound quality and a channel other than that, and displays it on the screen.

In general, the high quality sound may refer to a case of providing an audio stream of 5.1 channels or more. In an embodiment of the present invention, a channel including an audio stream of 5.1 channels or more is classified as a high quality channel.

First, let's look at the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standard (EIA / CEA-861-B), which defines the video, audio, and other information of digital broadcasting.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an essential sound source configuration for 5.1 channel audio.

Referring to FIG. 2, in general, a 5.1-channel audio stream outputs a sound source through six speakers, and the types thereof are the front left (201), the front center (203), and the front right (FR). 205, Low Frequency Effect (LFE) 206, Rear Left (RL) 207, and Rear Right (RR) 211.

As shown in Figure 2, each speaker is installed to provide more effective sound with respect to the left, right center, and the like from the front.

In addition, to provide sound effects of 5.1 channels or more, Front Left Center (FLC) 202, Front Right Center (FRC) 204, Rear Left Center (208), Rear Center (209), and RRC (RCC) Rear Right Center) 210 further.

The information of the audio stream is included in the data byte in the audio information frame of the information frame / info packet (InfoFrame / InfoPacket) defined in EIA / CEA-861-B as shown in FIG. 3.

The audio information frame is information included in an electronic program guide (EPA) provided to a general digital broadcasting receiver, and a channel map based on sound quality using the same is not provided by the EPA.

3 shows four bytes of data of an audio information frame.

Referring to FIG. 3, codes (CAs) are classified according to which sound sources are loaded in each channel number and encoded in a broadcast information stream.

That is, if CA is coded as '00001011' or '00010011', it can be seen that 5.1 channels and higher quality channels are present.

4A illustrates a menu configuration for channel scan according to audio quality of a digital broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4B illustrates a channel map that is actually scanned.

Referring to FIG. 4A, an audio scan item is further configured in a setting menu by an OSD function provided by a digital broadcasting receiver.

The OSD is a user adjustment menu provided through a screen of a digital broadcast receiver, and a user may select and adjust various option menus provided on the screen by using a remote controller.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the OSD menu includes a basic main menu 410 such as SET, VIDEO, AUDIO, TIME, OPTION, LOCK, and CABLE for setting, and a submenu 420 of each main menu. The audio scan menu is additionally configured as a submenu of the SETUP menu.

In addition, there may be a lowermost menu 430 according to the selected menu, and as shown in FIG. 4A, a progress when the audio scan is selected may be displayed on the lowermost menu window 430 to be provided to the user.

That is, an automatic channel search and a digital broadcasting reception environment setting can be performed using the OSD function, and an item for audio scanning is additionally configured to implement an embodiment of the present invention.

If the audio scan item is selected, the data byte of the audio information frame as shown in FIG. 3 is searched to display a channel map as shown in FIG. 4B.

In other words, by decoding each of the currently input broadcast stream, the audio information frame data byte is analyzed, and whether the sound source information code (CA) is the same as the code of the high quality audio stream, the digital stream for the channel having the high quality audio stream is compared. It is stored in the channel map of the broadcast receiver's memory.

In this case, the high quality audio stream refers to 5.1 channels or more.

After scanning the audio stream with high quality for all channels and channels that do not have high quality, information about the sound quality is stored in the memory of the digital broadcasting receiver.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4B, the channel map is displayed on the screen so that the user can view the channel information according to each broadcasting method and sound quality level, thereby allowing the user to select a desired high quality broadcasting channel.

That is, referring to FIG. 4B, the video information of the selected screen is displayed on the sub-screen 440, and for each channel of TV 451, DTV 452, CATV 453, and CADTV 454. A channel map is constructed, and in each broadcasting scheme, the high quality audio channel 452a and the general sound quality channel 452b are separately displayed on the screen.

Therefore, the user can easily select a channel having a desired sound quality from the displayed channel map.

The audio scanning is to scan audio quality information of a program that is being aired at the present time, so that a user can select a channel by scanning at a desired moment.

The structure of the digital broadcast receiver for channel search according to the above-described audio quality will be described in more detail as follows.

5 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the digital broadcast receiver 500 includes an audio scan unit 510 for performing an audio scan, a controller 520 for operation control, and a broadcast processor 530 for processing received broadcast data. And a storage unit 540 for storing channel information and information for the operation of the digital broadcast receiver 500, and a screen display unit 550 for displaying a broadcast program processed by the broadcast processor 530 on a screen.

The digital broadcast receiver 500 includes various functional blocks according to other functions provided therein, and FIG. 5 shows only functional blocks necessary for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

The audio scan unit 510 is a place where audio scanning is performed according to a command of the controller 520 when a user commands to start audio scanning through a menu. The channel selector 511 sequentially selects channels. And an analyzer 512 for receiving and analyzing the AVI information frame of the selected channel from the broadcast processor 530, and for analyzing the channel information according to the audio stream analyzed by the analyzer 512. The channel information storage unit 513 stores the channel in the storage unit 540 and the channel map generator 514 configures the audio channel information stored in the storage unit 540 as a channel map.

The controller 520 is a place for controlling all included functional blocks of the digital broadcast receiver 500, and the broadcast processor 530 may process and output the received broadcast signal and include the broadcast data. The AVI frame information may be provided to the analyzer 512.

In the audio channel scan of the digital broadcast receiver according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the user requests audio scanning using a remote controller, the controller 520 outputs a control signal to operate the audio scan unit 510.

The channel selector 511 of the audio scan unit 511 sequentially selects a channel, and the analyzer 512 analyzes the AVI information frame of the selected channel to determine whether the audio stream of the selected channel is of high quality.

The channel information storage unit 513 receives the high quality audio channel or the general sound quality audio channel information determined by the analysis unit 512 and stores the information in the storage unit 540.

After all channels are selected and scanned by the channel selector 511, the channel map generator 514 loads all the stored audio channel information to generate a channel map as shown in FIG. 4B.

The generated channel map is displayed on the digital broadcast receiver screen by the screen display unit 550.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a channel searching method of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, when a viewer of a digital broadcast receiver 500, which is a digital broadcast receiver, wants to view channel information according to audio quality, an audio scan is started using a menu as shown in FIG. 4A (S601).

In this case, the command to scan the audio is generally the same as the method of controlling the DTV through a remote controller.

When the audio scan is started, the controller 520 outputs a control signal to operate the audio scan unit 510, and the channel selector 511 of the audio scan unit 510 selects a channel (S602). You can start with the currently selected channel, or you can start with the lowest channel.

Whichever channel is started first, the analyzer 512 receives and analyzes the AVI information frame of the selected channel from the broadcast processor 530, and determines whether the program of the channel provides a high quality audio stream of 5.1 channels or more. (S603).

At this time, the limit of the high quality audio stream may be set by the user such as 5.1 channel or more and 7.1 channel or more.

As a result of the determination in step S603, if a high quality audio stream is included, the channel information storage unit 513 stores the audio channel information indicating that the current channel is a high quality audio channel in the storage unit 540 (S604). Switch to the channel (S605).

In addition, if the determination result of step S503 does not include a high quality audio stream, the audio channel information is stored using the current channel as a general sound quality audio channel (S607), and the channel selector 510 switches the channel to the next channel. (S605).

In this case, when the current channel is the last channel (S606), since the switched channel is a channel that has already scanned audio, all channel scans are terminated, and the channel map generator 514 receives the audio channel information stored in the storage unit 540. After loading and generating a channel map as shown in FIG. 4B, the screen is displayed on the screen through the screen display unit 550 (S608), so that the user can view channel information for each audio channel.

However, if it is not the last channel (S506), the steps S502 to S507 are repeated so that audio scanning of all channels can be performed.

Determining whether or not the channel is the last channel of step S506 may be determined by determining whether or not the audio scan starts with a channel that is currently selected, and scans all channels and then switches to a channel where the first scan is started again. have.

In addition, when scanning is sequentially started from channel '1', when scanning is performed to the channel with the largest number being serviced and then switched to channel '1' again, it may be determined that the scan to the last channel is finished.

In a channel search method of a digital broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a channel map is included in a broadcast channel information including a high quality audio stream of a predetermined level or more by analyzing respective audio stream information on a broadcasting channel received by the digital broadcasting receiver. There is a feature to provide, it is easy for those skilled in the art to correctly understand the present invention to create another embodiment by the selection of components within the scope of the invention.

The channel search method of the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention as described above, by analyzing the respective audio stream information for the broadcast channel to provide a broadcast channel information including a high-quality audio stream of a predetermined level as a channel map audio quality This makes the channel selection easier for viewers who are sensitive.

Claims (7)

In the method of searching for a channel of a digital broadcast receiver, (a) analyzing the audio stream of each broadcast channel received; (b) storing, as a result of the analysis, a channel including an audio stream having a predetermined level or more as a high quality audio channel, and storing other channels as a general sound quality audio channel; And (c) generating and displaying all the stored channel information as a channel map according to sound quality; Channel searching method of the digital broadcast receiver comprising a. The method of claim 1, The analysis of the audio stream in the step (a), the channel search method of the digital broadcast receiver, characterized in that the analysis using the AVI frame information included in the broadcast data of the channel. The method of claim 1, The analysis of the audio stream in the step (a) is a channel search method of the digital broadcast receiver, characterized in that the analysis using the audio information included in the EPG (Electronic Program Guide). The method of claim 1, And the audio stream information of the set level or more is an audio stream of 5.1 channels or more. The method of claim 1, According to the above (c), Wherein the channel map is generated according to a broadcasting method and sound quality information of an audio stream provided by each channel number and each channel number. The method of claim 1, Prior to step (a), And selecting an audio scan menu provided by the digital broadcast receiver to command an audio scan. The method of claim 6, And an audio scan menu is further configured in an on screen display (OSD) menu of the digital broadcast receiver for the audio scan menu.

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