KR101031391B1 - Display device and channel strucring method - Google Patents

Abstract

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a channel setting method of a display apparatus includes: searching for a channel providing channel information including information about all service programs; Extracting channel information from a broadcast signal provided through the found channel; Comparing the extracted channel information with the extracted channel information at a previous time; Confirming a newly serviced channel according to the comparison result; And registering the identified channel in a channel map.

Description

Display device and channel strucring method}

The present invention relates to a display apparatus, and more particularly, to a display apparatus and a channel setting method thereof, which enable to add only newly added channel information to a channel map.

BACKGROUND In general, a display device includes a television, and in recent years, a television technology has developed a method of transmitting broadcast signals due to the development of broadcast technology, and accordingly, interest in digital television using a digital transmission method has increased.

Digital televisions transmit analog broadcast signals in digital form, minimizing the effects of noise and facilitating the reproduction of the original image.

Recently, such display apparatuses can receive various broadcasting channels through cable or satellite broadcasting, unlike the past, which can only receive over-the-air channels, providing users with at least 50 channels and over 100 channels. There are many difficulties in effectively managing such a large number of channels.

1 is a view showing a channel setting method of a display apparatus according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1, first, a specific channel for providing network information table (NIT) information is set for automatic channel setting (S100). That is, the cable broadcast provider transmits NIT information including information on all broadcast programs that are currently serviced in a broadcast signal of a specific channel. Accordingly, the user sets a channel in which the NIT information exists in order to know currently provided program information. Here, the information on the set channel is frequency information, modulation degree information, symbol information, and network ID information.

Subsequently, in response to the automatic channel search command input from the user, a broadcast signal transmitted through the set specific channel is received (S110).

In operation S120, it is determined whether NIT information exists in the received broadcast signal.

Subsequently, when NIT information is present in the received broadcast signal, the determination result (S120) extracts the NIT information from the broadcast signal (S130), and performs channel search using the extracted NIT information (S140). .

In addition, if the NIT information does not exist in the received broadcast signal (S120), the channel search operation is sequentially performed in order of low region to high region according to the frequency band (S150).

However, the channel setting method of the display apparatus according to the related art as described above has a problem in that a newly added broadcast program can be confirmed only by entering the automatic channel search menu. In addition, when the newly added broadcast program exists, the existing stored channel map is deleted, and all currently provided broadcast programs are registered in the channel map by using the extracted NIT information. There is a problem that all are deleted.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, only the newly added broadcast program can be registered in the channel map while maintaining the previously set edit information.

In addition, in the proposed embodiment, the channel searching process is performed in a short time without a separate tuning process, thereby reducing the loss due to the existing channel searching time.

The technical problems to be achieved in the proposed embodiment are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned above are clear to those skilled in the art to which the proposed embodiments belong from the following description. Can be understood.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a channel setting method of a display apparatus includes: searching for a channel providing channel information including information about all service programs; Extracting channel information from a broadcast signal provided through the found channel; Comparing the extracted channel information with the extracted channel information at a previous time; Confirming a newly serviced channel according to the comparison result; And registering the identified channel in a channel map.

In addition, the display device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a broadcast signal receiving unit for receiving a broadcast signal of a specific channel transmitted from the outside; A channel information extracting unit extracting channel information from the broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiving unit; A storage unit storing channel information extracted from the broadcast signal of the specific channel at a previous time; And searching for a channel providing channel information including information about all serviced channels and controlling the extracted channel information, and comparing the extracted channel information with the stored channel information to map a newly serviced channel. It includes a control unit for registering in.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by newly confirming channel information based on a network information table (NIT) transmitted through a specific channel and storing the newly added channel information in a channel map, the channel is maintained in a short time while maintaining the existing edited channel information. The search process is effective.

The proposed embodiment will be described.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments presented, and other inventions which are further deteriorated by addition, change, deletion, etc. of other components, or other embodiments included within the scope of the present invention can be easily made. I can suggest.

The term used in the present invention was selected as a general term widely used as possible, but in some cases, the term is arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case the meaning is described in detail in the description of the invention, the name of a simple term It should be clear that the present invention is to be understood as a meaning of terms.

In other words, in the following description, the word 'comprising' does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the display apparatus performs signal processing on a video signal among broadcast signals received through a broadcast signal receiver 200 and a broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiver 200. An image processing unit 210 to perform, a display unit 220 for displaying the signal processed image signal, and a channel information extraction unit for extracting the first channel information from the broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiving unit 200 230, a storage unit 240 storing second channel information extracted from the broadcast signal of the specific channel at a previous time point, and comparing the first channel information with the second channel information to identify a newly added broadcast program. And a controller 250 for registering the identified broadcast program in a channel map.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the display apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above will be described in more detail.

The broadcast signal receiver 200 receives a broadcast signal of a specific channel according to a user request among broadcast signals transmitted from the outside.

That is, the broadcast signal receiver 200 receives a broadcast signal transmitted from the outside, and tunes a tuner for tuning a broadcast signal having a frequency band corresponding thereto according to a tuning control signal of the controller 250 to be described later. The demodulator outputs a broadcast signal of a specific channel in the form of a transport stream through a VSB (Vestigial Sideband) demodulation process and error correction process, and separates the output transport stream into video data, audio data, and various additional data bits. It may include a demultiplexer outputting the stream.

The video data separated by the demultiplexer is processed by the image signal processor 210 and displayed on the display 220.

In this case, the image signal processing unit 210 includes an MPEG-2 decoder and a scaler for converting video data to match the vertical frequency, resolution, aspect ratio, etc., according to the output standard of the display 220.

Here, the display unit 220 may be applied to various types of display modules such as digital light processing (DLP), liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display panel (PDP), and the like.

The audio data is processed by a separate voice signal processor (not shown) and output to a speaker (not shown). The audio processor may include an AC-3 decoder.

In this case, the broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiver 200 may be a broadcast signal received for viewing an image, or may be a broadcast signal of a specific channel in which NIT (Network Information Table) information for channel map update exists.

Information on a specific channel in which the NIT information exists is stored in the storage unit 240 to be described later. Here, the information about the channel includes frequency information, modulation degree information, symbol information, and network ID information.

In addition, the channel information setting may be directly input by the user any channel information, or may be automatically set based on a value set as a default value.

3 is a diagram illustrating a menu screen for a general automatic channel search setting.

As shown in FIG. 3, the menu screen for setting the channel search includes an automatic channel search item 300 and a manual channel search item.

The automatic channel search item 300 sequentially searches for a broadcast signal for each frequency band and searches for a channel in which a valid broadcast signal exists, and the manual channel search item provides a user with frequency information about any particular channel. This item is for searching channels by input.

In addition, when the automatic channel search item 300 is selected on the menu screen for setting the channel search, a separate menu screen for selecting the antenna 310 or the cable 320 is displayed. The antenna 310 item is for searching for a broadcast signal received through a conventional antenna, and the cable 320 item is for searching for a broadcast signal received through a cable. In this case, the automatic channel search is basically performed based on the NIT information received through a specific channel.

In addition, when the cable 320 item is selected, a search mode for searching for the cable signal may be set. The search mode includes a user mode, a default mode, and a full search mode.

The user mode is a mode in which a user can directly input information on a channel in which the NIT information exists, and the default mode is a mode in which information on the channel is set to a specific value. Is a mode for performing channel search for each frequency band without referring to the NIT information.

That is, when the user mode or the default mode is selected, the channel information input screen 400 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. The channel information input screen 400 has an area for inputting frequency information, modulation degree information, symbol information, and network ID information.

In this case, when the user mode is selected, all areas of the channel information input screen 400 are activated. When the default mode is selected, only an area where a network ID can be input is activated.

When the information on the specific channel is set, the broadcast signal of the channel corresponding to the set information is received, the NIT information is extracted from the received broadcast signal, and only the channel having the actual broadcast signal exists in the channel map. Register at

In addition, when the full search mode is selected, channels configured in the cable band are sequentially searched to construct a channel map composed of channel information in which a valid signal exists.

At this time, if the cable connection is abnormal at the cable input of the corresponding display device, or if a valid channel cannot be searched after the automatic channel execution, the user will be informed of the error information through the message box. Make sure to check.

The manual channel search item is a menu for executing a search operation on the input channel manually by inputting channel information of a user. It is also used when performing an editing operation such as deleting a specific channel from the channel map.

In addition, a valid signal may or may not be inputted through a specific channel according to a cable connection state, and thus, searching of all channels cannot be normally performed using only the automatic channel menu. Perform a search operation on.

The channel information extractor 230 extracts second channel information from the broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiver 200.

Here, the second channel information is NIT information extracted from a broadcast signal provided through a specific channel at this time, and the first channel information to be described later is NIT information extracted from a broadcast signal provided through the channel at a previous time point. .

The storage unit 240 stores the second channel information described above. The storage unit 240 may be implemented by an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).

The controller 250 controls the overall operation of the display apparatus.

That is, when a power-on command is input from the user, the controller 250 allows the broadcast signal receiver 200 to receive a broadcast signal for a channel in which the predetermined NIT information exists. In other words, the control unit 250 allows the NIT information to be extracted at the time of power-on, so that the user can check whether there is a newly added broadcast program without inputting a separate command. At this time, in the embodiment of the present invention, the time point at which the NIT information is extracted is limited to the power-on time point, but a specific command is not input from the user for a predetermined time or at a specific time (night time zone when the user does not watch TV). NIT information may be extracted.

In addition, when the NIT information is extracted at the power-on time, the controller 250 allows the broadcast signal of the last stored channel to be received through the broadcast signal receiver 200.

That is, generally, when the power is turned on, an image of a channel which the user has watched before is outputted. When receiving the NIT channel other than the final viewing channel for extracting NIT information as described above, it may cause confusion of the user. Can be. Therefore, after the NIT information is extracted, the controller 250 allows a broadcast signal for the last channel to be received and output.

The controller 250 compares the NIT information (first channel information) extracted at the present time point with the NIT information (second channel information) extracted at the previous time point to determine whether a newly added broadcast program exists. do.

That is, when the first channel information and the second channel information are identical to each other, the newly added broadcast program does not exist. When the first channel information and the second channel information are different from each other, the newly added broadcast program does not exist. It means that there is a broadcast program.

Therefore, when the first channel information and the second channel information are different from each other, the controller 250 recognizes the existence of a newly added program, and accordingly checks the newly added program among all programs currently being serviced. That is, when the first broadcast program exists in the first channel information but not in the second channel information, the first broadcast program is a broadcast program newly added at the present time.

Accordingly, the controller 250 checks only a broadcast program existing in the first channel information but not present in the second channel information, and registers the checked broadcast program in the channel map. In this case, all the newly added broadcast programs may be registered in the channel map, but there may be broadcast programs that are not preferred by the user among the added broadcast programs, so only a specific broadcast program is selected according to user selection. To be registered at.

That is, when the newly added broadcast program is confirmed as described above, the controller 250 causes a user to display a message for notifying the existence of the newly added broadcast program.

5 is a view showing a notification message formed by an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a message 510 indicating the existence of the newly added broadcast program is displayed in one region of the display screen 500. In this case, when the 'OK' item is selected by the user, the channel map update operation is performed. When the 'Cancel' item is selected, the received image is continuously displayed.

In other words, when the item 'OK' is selected, the controller 250 displays a list of the confirmed additional broadcast program.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the 'OK' item is selected, a list 610 of a broadcast program newly added at the present time is displayed in one region of the display screen.

In addition, the user may add all broadcast programs existing in the displayed list 610 to the channel map, or add only a specific program desired by the user on the list 610 to the channel map.

In this case, when an additional command for a specific broadcast program is input on the list 610, the controller 250 checks the finally assigned channel number (highest channel number) among the channel numbers registered in the current channel map. The controller 250 allocates a channel number for the broadcast program to be added after the identified final channel number.

That is, in general, a channel number is arbitrarily assigned to a program to which an LCN (Logical Channel Number) is not assigned. Therefore, the controller 250 allocates a channel number for the newly added broadcast program so that the program is not duplicated with a previously registered program. In addition, a user may arbitrarily designate and allocate a channel number for the newly added broadcast program.

When the channel number for the broadcast program to be newly added is allocated as described above, the controller 250 causes the search process for the broadcast program to be added to be performed using the extracted NIT information to be performed. The broadcast program is registered in the channel map with the assigned channel number.

In addition, when the newly added broadcast program is registered in the channel map, as shown in FIG. 7, a message 710 including information about the newly added broadcast program and an assigned channel number is output, and the user newly adds the broadcast program. It is possible to recognize how many times a broadcast program has been allocated to a channel.

As described above, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the newly added channel information is identified and stored in a channel map based on a network information table (NIT) transmitted through a specific channel, while maintaining the existing edited channel information. The channel search process can be performed in a short time.

Hereinafter, a channel setting method of the display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a step-by-step method of setting a channel of a display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8, it is first determined whether a power on command is input from a user (S800).

Subsequently, when a power-on command is input from the user (S800), the user receives a broadcast signal transmitted through a predetermined specific channel (S810).

In operation S820, NIT information (second channel information) is extracted from the received broadcast signal.

Subsequently, when the NIT information (second channel information) is extracted, a broadcast signal of a channel which was finally received at the power off time is received and output (S830).

In operation S840, it is determined whether the extracted second channel information and the previously stored first channel information are the same. That is, it is determined whether the NIT information extracted at the present time and the NIT information extracted at the previous time are the same.

Subsequently, when the two channel informations are different from each other, the determination result (S840) compares the two channel information and checks the newly added broadcast program (S850). That is, a broadcast program that exists in the first channel information but does not exist in the second channel information is identified.

In addition, only the identified additional broadcast program is registered in the channel map (S860).

Subsequently, when the power-off command is input from the user, the process ends. Otherwise, the process returns to the step S830 (S870).

9 is a view showing a detailed flow of the above S850 ~ S860.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the first channel information and the second channel information are different, a message indicating that a newly added broadcast program exists is displayed (S900). That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a message indicating whether a newly added broadcast program exists is displayed so that a user can recognize the presence of the additional broadcast program.

Next, it is determined whether an update command is input from the user (S910). That is, it is determined whether a command for registering the additional broadcast program to the channel map is input from the user.

When an update command is input from the user (S910), the list of the confirmed additional broadcast program is displayed (S920). That is, a list of broadcast programs existing in the first channel information but not present in the second channel information is displayed.

Subsequently, a selection signal of a specific broadcast program is received on the displayed list (S930). That is, a selection signal for a broadcast program to be registered in a channel map among the newly added broadcast programs is received on the list.

In operation S940, a channel number having the largest number among channel numbers of broadcast programs registered in the existing channel map is checked.

Subsequently, a channel number for the selected broadcast program is allocated from the next channel number of the checked channel number (S950).

Subsequently, the newly added broadcast program is registered in the channel map based on the assigned channel number (S960).

In operation S970, information about the newly added broadcast program is displayed.

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, by confirming the newly added channel information on the basis of NIT (Network Information Table) transmitted through a specific channel and storing it in the channel map, while maintaining the existing edit channel information as it is The channel search process can be performed in a short time.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a step-by-step method of setting a channel of a display apparatus according to the prior art.

2 is a view showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 to 4 are diagrams illustrating a channel search menu screen formed in a display device.

5 to 7 are diagrams showing a notification message formed by one embodiment of the present invention.

8 to 9 are flowcharts for explaining step by step the channel setting method of the display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (15)

Searching for a channel providing channel information including information about all service programs; Extracting channel information from a broadcast signal provided through the found channel; Comparing the extracted channel information with the extracted channel information at a previous time; Confirming a newly serviced channel according to the comparison result; And, And registering the identified channel in a channel map. The method of claim 1, The channel information is NIT (Network Information Table) information included in the broadcast signal of the searched channel, the channel setting method of the display device. The method of claim 1, And the channel information is extracted when a power on event occurs. The method of claim 3, wherein And outputting a broadcast program corresponding to a previously stored final viewing channel when the channel information is extracted when the power on event occurs. The method of claim 1, And displaying a list of the newly serviced channel. The method of claim 5, Registering to the channel map Receiving a channel to be registered in a channel map among channels included in the list; And registering only the selected channel in the channel map. The method of claim 1, Allocating a channel number for the newly serviced channel and displaying the assigned channel number. A broadcast signal receiver for receiving a broadcast signal of a specific channel transmitted from the outside; A channel information extracting unit extracting channel information from the broadcast signal received through the broadcast signal receiving unit; A storage unit storing channel information extracted from the broadcast signal of the specific channel at a previous time; And, Search for a channel that provides channel information including information on all serviced channels and control the channel information to be extracted, and register the newly serviced channel in the channel map by comparing the extracted channel information with the stored channel information. Display device comprising a control unit to make. The method of claim 8, The channel information is NIT (Network Information Table) information included in the broadcast signal of the searched channel. The method of claim 9, The storage unit further stores frequency, modulation degree, symbol information, and network ID information of a specific channel provided with the NIT information. And the control unit searches for a channel providing the channel information by using the stored specific channel information. The method of claim 8, And a display unit configured to display a list of the newly serviced channel. The method of claim 11, And the control unit registers only channels selected from the outside in the displayed list to the channel map. The method of claim 8, The controller allocates a channel number to the newly serviced channel and registers the channel number in the channel map. And the display unit displays additional information including the allocated channel number for a channel newly registered in the channel map. The method of claim 9, And the control unit controls to extract the NIT information when a power-on command is input. 15. The method of claim 14, And the controller controls the broadcast signal for the pre-stored final viewing channel to be received through the broadcast signal receiver when the NIT information is extracted.

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