KR101164484B1 - A method of automatic broadcasting channel conversion using electronic program guide - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic change of a broadcast channel using an electronic program guide, wherein the channel is changed to a preset broadcast channel by a user during a commercial time, or an application program is executed by driving an application software stored in a digital broadcast playback device. If you start another program in the broadcasting channel before the change, you can return to the broadcasting channel before the change by the user's choice, so that you can watch the advertisement by the viewer's choice, and you can play games or the Internet during the waiting time of the commercial. Has the effect of eliminating the boredom of waiting time.

Electronic Program Guide, Ads, Channel Changes, Conversions

Description

Automatic switching of broadcasting channel using electronic program guide {A METHOD OF AUTOMATIC BROADCASTING CHANNEL CONVERSION USING ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE}

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a digital broadcast reproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a selective playback process of a broadcast program according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Major Symbols in Drawing]

100: tuner, 200: decoder,

300: EPG management unit, 400: memory unit,

500: control unit, 600: broadcast playback unit,

700: display unit.

The present invention provides a method for automatically switching broadcast channels, and in particular, in order to suppress unwanted advertisements, etc. inserted between broadcast programs, broadcasts preset by the user as soon as the broadcast program being viewed using the electronic program guide ends. The present invention relates to a method for automatically switching a broadcast channel using an electronic program guide for converting a channel into a channel.

An electronic program guide (EPG) is one of data broadcasting services that provides data as a broadcast signal together with signals such as video and audio in a digital broadcasting system, and refers to a schedule of broadcast programs. The electronic program guide includes not only each program name, broadcast start time, and broadcast end time, but also the cast, broadcast program storyline, synopsis, program producer, and the like. It serves to help you more conveniently.

Meanwhile, in the modern society, commercial advertisements through various media such as TV, radio, and the Internet have become so common that they cannot live beyond advertisements. Ads provide information about goods or services and raise awareness, not only to increase the added value of goods, but also to promote consumption by promoting consumption. It has a variety of net functions.

  However, advertisements inserted between broadcast programs often not only interrupt the flow of the broadcast program, but also over-insert advertisements, which are a major source of revenue for broadcasters, and require long waits for the broadcast program to be started, causing discomfort such as boredom and irritability to viewers. Often causes. In addition, the ads used by sensational phrases or provocative videos during the time when families watch TV broadcasts adversely affect children's education, and the more frequent viewers are exposed to advertisements that stimulate purchase desire. Advertisers' dysfunction is not overlooked.

Therefore, as a result of research efforts to solve the problems of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention using the electronic program guide information, the other broadcast program channel preset by the user at the advertisement time that does not want to watch after the end of the broadcast program that was watching When the broadcast channel is configured to switch to, the present invention has been confirmed that there is an advantage to view the advertisement by the viewer's choice and completed the present invention.

According to the present invention, when an advertisement that a user does not want is forcibly received through a digital broadcast reproducing apparatus, broadcasting is automatically switched to another channel, another source, or prepared material preset by the user by using electronic program guide information. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically switching channels.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic switching method of a broadcasting channel that can switch from a channel after switching to a channel before switching automatically after the advertisement time is finished using the electronic program guide information.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be described below, which is not limited to the matters disclosed in the claims of the present invention and the disclosures of the embodiments thereof, but also to the broader ranges by means and combinations within the range that can be easily contemplated therefrom. Add that it will be included.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention is a method for automatically switching the broadcast channel to a broadcast channel preset by the user at the time of advertising using the EPG,

(a) if a broadcast signal including the EPG is received, extracting and storing the EPG information by decoding the broadcast signal, and displaying the same to the user;

(b) selecting and setting a second broadcast channel that the user wants to change after the broadcast program of the desired first broadcast channel is finished using EPG information;

(c) extracting start time information and end time information of each broadcast program from the EPG information;

(d) calculating a time difference between the end time of the first broadcast program and the start time of the next broadcast program for the broadcast program of the first channel from the extracted time information;

(e) automatically switching a channel to the second broadcast channel preset by the user when the end time of the first broadcast program is recognized;

(f) providing a message asking the user whether to automatically switch to the first channel before the start time of the next broadcast program in the first broadcast channel; And

(g) providing an automatic switching method of a broadcasting channel using an EPG, including performing automatic switching to the first broadcasting channel according to the user's selection.

The second channel may be a source or data screen preset by the user.

When the user selects automatic switching of the broadcast channel in step (f), the user may be switched to the first broadcast channel in step (g), and may maintain the second broadcast channel if there is no selection. .

In addition, in step (f), if the user selects to maintain the broadcast channel, the first broadcast channel is maintained as it is in step (g), and if there is no selection, the switch is automatically switched to the first broadcast channel. You may.

In addition, the step (d) further comprises the step of determining whether the time difference is more than a predetermined time set by the user, it is preferable to execute the steps (e) to (f) only when the predetermined time or more. .

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of related known functions or known configurations or obvious matters to those skilled in the art may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 schematically shows a configuration of a digital digital broadcast reproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the digital broadcast playback apparatus includes a tuner 100, a decoder 200, an EPG management unit 300, a memory unit 400, a control unit 500, a broadcast playback unit 600, and a display unit 700. It includes.

The tuner 100 is for receiving a broadcast signal in synchronization with a frequency for receiving a broadcast signal, and the frequency of the broadcast signal means a predetermined frequency allocated as a digital broadcast channel. The room transmission call received by the digital broadcast reproducing apparatus through the tuner 100 is a broadcast signal of the MPEG 2 standard, which is generally used for digital broadcasting, and may include EPG information data as well as audio and video signals. Do.

The decoder 200 decodes the broadcast signal received from the tuner 100.

The EPG management unit 300 extracts EPG information from the broadcast signal decoded by the decoder 200, and extracts the broadcast program name, start time information of each broadcast program, and end time information of the broadcast program for each broadcast channel from the extracted EPG information. To be stored in the memory unit 400 as a database and managed. The EPG information stored in the memory unit 400 may be stored until a broadcast program is broadcast or until new EPG information is received.

The memory unit 400 asks the user for channel switching information and the channel switching information input based on the EPG information received from the EPG management unit 300 and the channel switching menu provided on the display 700 in the form of an OSD menu. Save the message.

The broadcast reproducing unit 600 receives a decoded broadcast signal from the decoder 200 and converts it into a form reproducible on the display unit 700 and reproduces it on the display unit 700. Used.

The control unit 500 extracts start time and end time information between broadcast programs from the memory unit 400, and then ends the broadcast time broadcasted first on the same channel and the broadcast program first broadcasted, and then thereafter. Calculate the difference between the broadcast program start time. After that, the control unit 500 counts the broadcasting time and displays a message asking the user whether to switch channels when the end time of the broadcasting program is reached. When the channel switching setting command is input, the broadcasting corresponding to the switched broadcasting channel is performed. The tuner 100 is controlled to receive a signal to switch broadcast channels. In addition, when the user inputs the execution of the Internet, games, O / S, photo files, video files, video files, etc. in addition to the switching of the broadcasting channel from the user, the control unit 100 receives the digital broadcasting reproducing apparatus through the display unit 700. In a state in which application software such as a connected computer server, a video game machine, or a home game machine is connected with built-in external input devices, a signal input from the external input devices is output during a commercial time.

The display unit 700 outputs a broadcast program signal and a message, and displays an OSD menu that provides an advertisement blocking function on the screen. In addition to channel switching, the OSD menu includes commands to play the Internet, games, O / S, and play photo files, video files, and video files. Or a picture file, a video file, a video file, or the like stored in the digital broadcast playback device.

2 shows a selective playback process of a broadcast program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

 Referring to FIG. 2, when a broadcast signal including an EPG is received by the digital broadcast reproducing apparatus, the broadcast signal is decoded to extract EPG information from the broadcast signal, and the extracted EPG information is stored in the EPG storage unit, which is then stored to the user. Display (S100). The EPG information may be displayed at a time set at the time of manufacture of the digital broadcast reproduction apparatus or at a time set by the user.

If the user selects the B channel as the broadcast channel to be switched during the advertisement time using the displayed EPG information (S110), the user inputs the switched broadcast channel information is stored in the channel switching setting unit 700. It may be input from an input device (not shown) (for example, a remote controller, a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) connected to the digital broadcast reproduction apparatus.

The control unit extracts the start time and end time information of each of the broadcast programs broadcast in the same channel (S120), the end time of the A1 broadcast program broadcasted first with respect to the broadcast program of the channel A, and then broadcasts the sequence following the A1 broadcast program. The time difference between the start time of the A2 broadcast program is calculated (S130).

Thereafter, the controller determines whether the time difference is greater than or equal to a preset time (S140), and if it is determined that the time difference between the A1 broadcast program and the A2 broadcast program is longer than a predetermined time, the user sets B at the end time of the A1 broadcast program. The channel is switched to the broadcast channel (S150). During the commercial time, the reference time of channel switching can be set directly by the viewer using the OSD menu related to the advertisement blocking time setting displayed on the display unit.

However, if the time difference is less than a certain time, the channel is maintained without switching.

Thereafter, a message indicating whether to switch the channel from the A broadcast channel to the A channel before the start time of the A2 broadcast program is displayed (S160).

If the user inputs a yes command, the controller switches the channel to the A channel before the start of the A2 program (S180), and maintains the B channel when the no command is input. In addition, if there is no user selection, automatic switching to the A channel is performed.

However, on the contrary, when there is no user selection, the B channel may be maintained as it is.

On the other hand, these examples are only for illustrating the present invention, the protection scope of the present invention is not limited by these examples.

While the invention has been shown and described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it is well known in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as indicated by the claims. Anyone who owns it can easily find out.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the user does not compulsorily receive information, such as commercials, in the digital broadcast reproducing apparatus, the user can block viewing of unwanted advertisements in advance, and at the advertisement blocking time set by the user, This enables selective viewing of commercials.

In addition, not only can you watch other broadcasting channels during commercial hours, but you can also play games, Internet, etc. so that viewers do not feel bored, and make use of the free time waiting for viewing of broadcast programs. Has an effect.

Other effects of the present invention, as well as those described in the above-described embodiments and claims of the present invention, as well as the effects that can occur within a range that can be easily estimated from them and the potential of the potential advantages that contribute to industrial development Add that they will be covered by a wider scope.

Claims (5)

A method of automatically switching a broadcast channel to a broadcast channel set by a user at an advertisement time using an EPG, (a) if a broadcast signal including the EPG is received, extracting and storing the EPG information by decoding the broadcast signal, and displaying the same to the user; (b) selecting and setting a second broadcast channel that the user wants to change after the broadcast program of the desired first broadcast channel is finished using EPG information; (c) extracting start time information and end time information of each broadcast program from the EPG information; (d) calculating a time difference between the end time of the first broadcast program and the start time of the next broadcast program for the broadcast program of the first channel from the extracted time information; (e) automatically switching a channel to the second broadcast channel preset by the user when the end time of the first broadcast program is recognized; (f) providing a message asking the user whether to automatically switch to the first channel before the start time of the next broadcast program in the first broadcast channel; And (g) performing automatic switching to the first broadcast channel according to the user's selection. The method of claim 1, And the second channel is a source or data screen preset by the user. The method of claim 1, If the user selects the automatic switching of the broadcast channel in step (f) is switched to the first broadcast channel in step (g), if there is no selection, the second broadcast channel is maintained continuously , Automatic switching method of broadcasting channel using EPG. The method of claim 1, In the step (f), if the user selects to keep the broadcast channel as it is, in the step (g), the first broadcast channel is maintained as it is, and if there is no selection, it is automatically switched to the first broadcast channel. A method for automatically switching broadcast channels using an EPG. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The step (d) further comprises the step of determining whether the time difference is more than a predetermined time set by the user, characterized in that the steps (e) to (f) is executed only when the predetermined time or more, Automatic switching of broadcasting channel using EPG.

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