KR101156334B1 - Method for providing caption - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a subtitle providing method capable of providing a subtitle matching a current frame.

The subtitle providing method of the present invention receives a broadcast program including a broadcast program consisting of a plurality of image frames and subtitle data consisting of a plurality of subtitles. The broadcast program and the caption data received in this way are indexed and stored, respectively. The position of the subtitle index is changed in accordance with the subtitle display time adjusted by the viewer at the time of reproduction, and the subtitle corresponding to the changed index is output.

Therefore, by changing the position of the caption indexes assigned to the plurality of captions according to the caption display time, the captions matching the current frame are output, thereby improving the quality of service to the viewer.

Digital broadcasting, subtitles, index, PVR, subtitle display time

Description

How to provide captions {Method for providing caption}

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a broadcast receiving apparatus having a general PVR function.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a caption in an image receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a storage structure of an image frame and a caption, each of which is indexed in FIG. 2; FIG.

The present invention relates to subtitle display, and more particularly, to a subtitle providing method capable of providing a subtitle matching a current frame.

As digital television becomes widespread and digital broadcasting is in full swing, the desire of viewers to feel cleaner and clearer images and more vivid high-quality stereo sound effects is increasing.

Digital broadcasting can provide better service to viewers by providing clearer picture quality and sound quality closer to CD level than conventional analog broadcasting. Accordingly, development of digital televisions for receiving digital broadcasts and set-top boxes for digital televisions is actively progressing.

The PTV (Personal Video Recoding) function is added to the digital television. As described above, the broadcast program desired by the viewer may be reserved or recorded by the digital television having the PVR function added thereto.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a broadcast receiving apparatus having a general PVR function.

As shown in Fig. 1, a tuner 1 tunes a desired broadcast channel and receives a predetermined broadcast signal. The broadcast signal may include a broadcast program and electronic program guide (EPG) information.

The control unit 3 separates the broadcast program and the EPG information from the broadcast signal, and the broadcast program is image-processed and output to the video / audio output unit 5. The separated EPG information is stored in predetermined storage means (eg, flash memory, not shown).

The viewer may reserve or watch a desired broadcast program through the user interface 7. That is, the viewer interface provides the reservation recording command received from the viewer to the controller 3, and the controller 3 records the broadcast program at the scheduled time in response to the reservation recording command, so that the hard disk (the high capacity storage medium) HDD: Save to Hard Disc Drive, 9). The recorded broadcast program can be played back at any time regardless of time.

In addition, the viewer interface provides the reserved viewing command received from the viewer to the control unit 3, and the control unit 3 receives the broadcast program from the tuner 1 at the scheduled time in response to the reserved viewing command, Output through the voice output unit (5).

As described above, the conventional broadcast reception apparatus may support reservation recording or reservation viewing to improve a service to a viewer.

Meanwhile, a broadcasting station may provide a broadcast signal including caption data. The broadcast signal is received by the tuner, and is processed by the controller to display caption data together with a broadcast program.

In a broadcasting station, caption data is created by a document creator (typist). In fact, the document creator creates the caption data while watching the broadcast program. The caption data is created later than the image frame shown in the broadcast program. Accordingly, the broadcast reception device is provided as a caption data silier broadcast signal of the current video frame to the video frame that is substantially past the predetermined time from the current video frame. Accordingly, there is a problem that the caption data of the current video frame is displayed later than the current video frame in the broadcast receiving device.

In particular, in the case of a live broadcast program, the problem described above is becoming more serious.

Accordingly, since the viewer cannot watch the subtitles that match the current video frame, the viewer does not feel the necessity of watching the subtitles, thereby seriously undermining the original intention of the subtitle broadcast.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a subtitle providing method capable of providing a subtitle matching a current frame by adjusting the display time of the subtitle.

According to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, a method for providing a subtitle includes: receiving a broadcast signal having a broadcast program consisting of a plurality of image frames and subtitle data consisting of a plurality of subtitles; Individually indexing the plurality of image frames and the plurality of subtitles and storing the indexes; And outputting a caption matching the current video frame by adjusting the indexes assigned to the plurality of captions during playback.

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

Since FIG. 2 is performed by the broadcast receiving apparatus of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a caption in an image receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 2, a broadcast signal transmitted from a predetermined broadcast station is received by the tuner (S 11). The broadcast signal may include subtitle data related to the broadcast program in addition to the broadcast program. Subtitle data is created by a typist with reference to the broadcast program and transmitted as a video signal together with the broadcast program. As the caption data is created by the typist, the caption data much later than the current video frame may be transmitted together with the video frame after the current video frame. The broadcast program is in the form of a stream, which is a collection of video frames. In this case, when the letter corresponding to the current image frame is 'ga', the letter 'ga' may be transmitted together with the image frame much later than the current image frame without being transmitted with the current image frame. As such, when the broadcast program and the caption data are transmitted as the video signal, when the broadcast program and the caption data are displayed, the caption corresponding to the current video frame is not displayed together with the current video frame and is much later than the current video frame. Displayed with a frame.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention may separately store a broadcast program and subtitle data, and display a subtitle according to a subtitle display time adjusted by a viewer during playback, thereby displaying a subtitle matching a current video frame.

When the broadcast signal is received by the tuner, the broadcast program and the subtitle data are separated from the broadcast signal by the controller (S 12). Separation of broadcast programs and subtitles is already well known, and further description thereof is omitted.

The broadcast program may be composed of a plurality of image frames. Subtitle data may be composed of a plurality of subtitles. The caption may be assigned one letter per image frame. Accordingly, corresponding subtitles exist for each image frame. However, corresponding subtitles do not exist for a predetermined period from the first video frame of the broadcast program. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, subtitles corresponding to the image frames 1 to 3 do not exist, and corresponding subtitles exist from the image frame 4. In fact, it should be noted that the subtitle matching the video frame 1 is the subtitle 1. That is, the caption 1 corresponding to the video frame 1 corresponds to the video frame 4. Accordingly, the caption 1 corresponding to the image frame 1 is not displayed when the image frame 1 is reproduced, but the caption 1 is displayed when the image frame 4 is displayed. Therefore, by displaying the subtitles (for example, subtitle 1) that do not match the current frame (for example, image frame 4), the viewer is prevented from viewing the subtitles that match the current frame.

A video index is assigned to each video frame constituting the broadcast program (S 13), and the video frame to which the video index is assigned is stored (S 14). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a broadcast program may be composed of n video frames (video frames 1 to n). In this case, the image index 1 is assigned to the image frame 1, and the image index 2 is assigned to the image frame 2. In this manner, the image index n is given to the image frame n. That is, image indexes are sequentially assigned from image frame 1. In this way, the image frame to which the image index is assigned is stored in the hard disk.

Similarly, a caption index is assigned to each caption constituting the caption data (S15), and the caption to which the caption index is assigned is stored (S16). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the subtitle data may be composed of (n-3) subtitles (subtitles 1 to n-3). As described above, since the subtitles do not coincide with the image frames, the subtitles corresponding to the image frames 1 to 3 do not exist. Accordingly, the video frame is composed of n while the subtitles may be composed of (n-3). In this case, the subtitle index is given even if there is no subtitle corresponding to the image frames 1 to 3. That is, subtitle index 1 to subtitle index 3 are assigned to correspond to image frames 1 to 3, and then subtitle index 4 is assigned to subtitle 1. In this manner, the subtitle index n is given to the subtitle n-3. As described above, it should be noted that subtitles corresponding to the subtitle index 1 to the subtitle index 3 do not exist.

The broadcast program and the subtitle data stored in this way are reproduced (S 17).

This playback may be performed in response to the viewer's request. Alternatively, such playback can be performed automatically at the same time as storage. That is, the broadcast may be stored and reproduced in real time.

The broadcast program and the caption data are output with reference to the stored video index and the caption index during playback (S18). In other words, the image frame n is sequentially output from the image frame 1 to which the image index 1 is assigned during reproduction, and the subtitle n-3 is sequentially output from the subtitle (not present) to which the subtitle index 1 is assigned. In this case, since there is no corresponding subtitle from the image frame 1 to the image frame 3, the subtitle is not output. The subtitle 1 corresponding to the image frame 4 is output. As described above, the subtitle matching the video frame 1 is the subtitle 1. However, the subtitle 1 is not output when the image frame 1 is output but is output when the image frame 4 is output. Therefore, subtitles matching the current video frame are not output.

The viewer confirms this fact through the outputted broadcast program and the subtitle data, and adjusts the subtitle display time (S 19).

When the viewer adjusts the subtitle display time, the position of the subtitle index is changed by the subtitle display time adjusted by the viewer (S20). That is, the position may be changed from the current subtitle index to the subtitle index corresponding to the subtitle display time. For example, when the current subtitle index is subtitle index 1 and the subtitle display time corresponds to 5 subtitle indexes, the changed subtitle index may be subtitle index 6.

The subtitle corresponding to the subtitle index of the changed position is output (S 21).

In this case, it is determined whether the current video frame being output matches the changed subtitle (S 22). This can be confirmed by the viewer while watching the currently output image frame and the changed subtitle.

If the current video frame does not match the changed caption, the caption display time is adjusted again, the caption index corresponding to the adjusted caption display time is changed, and the caption corresponding to the changed caption index may be output. Through this process, subtitles matching the current video frame may be output.

If a subtitle matching the current video frame is output, the viewer can watch the subtitle matching the current video frame in real time.

Accordingly, the present invention assigns and stores a video index to each video frame of a broadcast frame, assigns and stores a subtitle index to each subtitle of the subtitle data, and adjusts the caption display time during playback to match the current video frame. You can output

As described above, according to the present invention, the broadcast program and the caption data are indexed and stored, and then the caption display time is adjusted during playback to output the caption matching the current video frame, thereby providing the viewer with the present in real time. Subtitles that match video frames can be provided.

Accordingly, the caption broadcasting is expected to be activated by improving the quality of service to the viewer and further improving the reliability of the product.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (7)

Receiving a broadcast signal having a broadcast program consisting of a plurality of image frames and subtitle data consisting of a plurality of subtitles; Individually indexing the plurality of image frames and the plurality of subtitles and storing the indexes; And Controlling a plurality of indices assigned to the plurality of subtitles during playback to output a subtitle matching the current video frame Including, And the reproducing is automatically performed at the same time as the storing. The method of claim 1, wherein in the receiving of the broadcast signal, a subtitle corresponding to the image frame is received together with an image frame that is delayed in time than the image frame. The method of claim 1, wherein a subtitle is not present at an initial part of the plurality of indexes to which the plurality of subtitles are assigned. The method of claim 1, wherein the playing is performed in response to a request of a viewer. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting of the subtitles comprises: a) outputting the plurality of image frames and the plurality of captions with reference to the image index given to the image frame and the caption index assigned to the caption; b) receiving a caption display time adjusted by the viewer; c) changing a subtitle index for the output subtitle to a subtitle index corresponding to the subtitle display time; And d) outputting a subtitle corresponding to the changed subtitle index Subtitle providing method comprising a. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the step b) to step d) is repeatedly performed if the changed caption does not match the output current image frame. Subtitle providing method characterized in that it further comprises.

Images