KR101242758B1 - Recording state checking method in digital broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of checking a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver for displaying a state of a broadcast being recorded for a user to check. The present invention is characterized in that a sub-screen for a recorded program is configured on a part of the main screen in order to confirm the recording state. The sub screen imports thumbnail images from a recording list file formed during recording, and includes them when configuring recording status confirmation information. The sub screen includes channel information, broadcasting station information, program title information, and the like. The information is used by being provided from service information provided in a digital broadcast signal. According to this feature, the present invention has the effect of making the user's easy access and normal recording control for checking the recording state.

Digital broadcast receiver, recording

Description

Recording state checking method in digital broadcasting receiver

1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a digital broadcast receiver connected between a satellite and a television.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a recording state of a digital broadcasting receiver according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for checking a recording state in a digital broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a recording state on a screen to confirm recording state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for checking a recording state in a digital broadcasting receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a recording state and a playback state on a screen to confirm recording state according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for checking a recording state in a digital broadcasting receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

30: Tuner 31: Demux

32,33,34: Buffer 35: MPEG decoder

36: microcomputer 37: OSD generator

38: memory 40: HDR system

41: hard disk

The present invention relates to a recording confirmation method of a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a recording state confirmation method of a digital broadcast receiver for displaying a state for a user to check the recorded broadcast.

Generally, digital broadcasting includes digital satellite broadcasting, terrestrial broadcasting, and cable broadcasting. In a digital broadcasting receiver such as a set-top box (STB) that receives the digital broadcasting, a digital broadcasting signal of an MPEG transport stream is used. After receiving the audio signal, the video and audio signals are decoded and processed into the original video and audio signals, and the video and audio signals are transmitted to a television or the like to watch a broadcast program desired by the user.

1 shows an example of a satellite and a television connected to the digital broadcast receiver 300. As shown, the satellite broadcast antenna 200 may be connected to the digital broadcast receiver 300 in order to receive digital satellite broadcasts transmitted through a plurality of broadcast satellites 100, 101, and 102, for example. The digital broadcasting received through the satellite broadcasting antenna is viewed through a television connected to the set top box 300.

The digital broadcast receiver 300 has the same basic functions as a conventional VCR in that the program stored in the broadcasting station is stored and viewed. However, the digital broadcast receiver 300 records information on a hard disk and plays it back in a file playback method such as a computer, and uses a central processing unit (CPU), a memory chip containing an operating system and playback software, and a large capacity hard disk. It is different from the existing VCR.

The digital broadcast receiver 300 is composed of a television tuner, storage and playback software, a modem, and a hard drive. Combined with a hard drive used in a computer, it converts television programs into digital signals for storage and playback on the hard disk. In addition, it is connected to a telephone line through a modem to receive the latest broadcast schedule from time to time to make reservation recording, and to provide various services through the Internet.

When the channel is selected, the digital broadcast receiver 300 automatically stores the signals currently broadcasted on the hard drive as digital and simultaneously reproduces them. Therefore, if the stop button is pressed and the play button is pressed again, the stored broadcast signal is played again from the point where it was stopped. You can also watch the program that's currently being broadcast, play it back in slow motion, or skip the boring part, making it easy to find and edit the part you want. The digital broadcast receiver 300 configured as described above is very convenient in terms of receiving and viewing digital broadcasts.

The digital broadcast receiver 300 can also record any broadcast program during the play operation. Recently, the digital broadcast receiver 300 is equipped with one or more tuners. Accordingly, the digital broadcast receiver 300 equipped with two tuners can receive and watch an arbitrary broadcast program through one tuner, and simultaneously receive and record an arbitrary broadcast program through another tuner.

As described above, in the digital broadcast receiver 300 capable of simultaneously performing two or more operations, the user has a desire to confirm whether the two operations are normally performed. In other words, it is necessary to check whether recording is normally performed while watching a broadcast program.

However, the recording state display made during the play operation of the conventional digital broadcasting receiver only indicates that it is "recording" using one icon. Therefore, the user had to go through a separate recording state checking process to check the recording state. At this time, the user has to go through the process of checking the recording state from the program being viewed or overlapping the program being viewed. This operation process interferes with the user's smooth viewing of the broadcast program, and also has the problem of making users feel inconvenience in using the digital broadcasting receiver.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for confirming a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver, which is intended to solve the above problems and can confirm a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver to a user.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for checking a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver, which can confirm a recording state that is being progressed together during an arbitrary operation of the digital broadcast receiver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of checking a recording state of a digital broadcasting receiver, the method comprising: obtaining a sub image from a file to be formed during recording; and a second step of checking service information about the recorded program; Wow; A third step of reconstructing recording state confirmation information using the sub-image of the first step and the service information of the second step; And a fourth step of displaying on the screen the recording state confirmation information reconstructed in the third step.

The present invention further includes a fifth step of monitoring whether two or more broadcast programs are being recorded at the same time, and when the two or more broadcast programs are simultaneously recorded in the fifth step, the fourth step is to proceed with recording. It is characterized by displaying the recording status confirmation information for all broadcast programs.

When the recording of two or more broadcast programs is performed in the fifth step, the fourth step is configured to include a sub-image only in any one recording state confirmation information.

The sub-image of the present invention is characterized in that the thumbnail image taken from the recording list file formed during recording.

The present invention is characterized in that it further comprises a sixth step of forming a sub-image for the playback screen currently displayed on the main screen, and constructing and displaying playback status confirmation information using the sub-image and the service information.

The present invention further includes a seventh step of selecting whether to display the recording status confirmation information. When the selection of the recording status confirmation information display is made in the seventh step, the display control is performed by the fourth step. If the recording status check information display is not selected in the step, the recording status is displayed only as an icon.

Hereinafter, a method of checking a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram of a digital broadcast receiver configured to show a user a state where recording is currently progressing in the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention. The operation according to the connection state of the digital broadcast receiver and the television will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

First, the present invention can be applied to a digital broadcast receiver such as a set top box (STB) or a digital television capable of receiving digital broadcasts, and a personal video recorder.

For example, a digital broadcast receiver to which the present invention is applied includes a tuner 30 for receiving a broadcast signal, a demux 31 for separating the broadcast signal received through the tuner 30 into audio / video / data, and An audio buffer 32 temporarily storing audio output from the demux 31, a video buffer 33 temporarily storing a video output from the demux 31, and data output from the demux 31. Data buffer 34 for temporarily storing, an MPEG decoder 35 for decoding the signals of the buffers 32, 33, 34, an OSD generator 37 for generating OSD data, and an operation of a digital broadcast receiver. And a memory 38 for storing various necessary data and programs.

Although the MPEG decoder 35 including the tuner 30 is shown one by one in the above configuration, the tuner 30 includes one or more tuner functions. That is, two or three tuner functions are built-in, but they are only represented by one block. Therefore, the demux, the buffer, the decoder, etc. are also configured to enable signal processing according to the number of tuner functions included in the tuner 30. Accordingly, the tuner 30 may receive a broadcast program that the user is currently watching and at the same time receive a broadcast program that the user wants to record.

In addition, the digital broadcast receiver 300 of the present invention includes an HDR (HDD Record) system 40, a hard disk 41, and the like for recording a broadcast program received through digital broadcast on a hard disk. The HDR system 40 should be configured so that recording and reproduction are performed at the same time, and at the same time, it should be configured to record heterogeneous broadcast programs on the hard disk 41 or read from the hard disk 41.

That is, the hard disk 41 stores the broadcast signal received through the tuner 30. For example, in the tuner 30, a user of the digital satellite broadcast received through the satellite broadcast antenna 200, Tunes into any desired broadcast channel.

The demux 31 demultiplexes the digital broadcast data stream received through the broadcast channel, and outputs the demux to audio, video, and data streams, respectively. The audio and video data streams are temporarily stored in the audio buffer 32 and the video buffer 33 and then read and signaled by the MPEG decoder 35 and output as audio and video signals. The broadcast signal output from the MPEG decoder 35 is encoded by the HDR system 40 and then recorded on the hard disk 41.

The data stream is temporarily stored in the data buffer 34. For example, the microcomputer described later reads and searches service information SI stored temporarily in the data buffer, and performs broadcast signal signal processing and various controls. It is used as reference information for

In addition, in a predetermined region of the hard disk 41, recording lists for guiding recorded broadcast programs are stored as files when recording broadcast programs. The recording list file includes a thumbnail, and playback is started from the position where the thumbnail starts when an arbitrary thumbnail is selected. The recording list file creates a thumbnail image to visually express the contents of a position to be indexed in order to guide the broadcast program recorded on the hard disk. Therefore, the recording list file is preferably formed in a predetermined unit of the received data. The schedule unit may be variously set and applied, such as a title unit, a program unit, a program access unit, a time unit according to a user setting, and the like.

The thumbnail image assigns an indexing number and a thumbnail image identifier to a video object to be indexed and stores them in a program chain information table. A pointer for matching the thumbnail image identification symbol with the position information of the corresponding video object is set, and a thumbnail manager having the pointers is recorded in the thumbnail manager area. In creating a thumbnail image for the video object to be indexed, a thumbnail image identifier for an indexing number is obtained with reference to the program chain information table. The thumbnail manager obtains the location information of the video object corresponding to the thumbnail image identification symbol by referring to the thumbnail manager, and creates a thumbnail image by down sampling from the video object corresponding to the location information.

The thumbnail image is a form in which one frame of a corresponding video program is reduced in the case of a moving image, and in the case of a still image is a form in which one image of the still images included in the still image file is reduced. Here, when the moving picture program is encoded by the MPEG method, the thumbnail picture is preferably created from an intra picture serving as a reference screen of a GOP serving as a unit of random access.

Accordingly, the present invention generates the recording state confirmation information for confirming the recording state in which the recording is made by using the thumbnails configured in the recording list file. The recording state confirmation information includes a thumbnail, a broadcast program name including the thumbnail, a broadcast channel, a broadcast station, and the like. The recording state confirmation information may vary information included by user setting.

In addition, the digital broadcast receiver 300 of the present invention controls the overall operation performed in the digital broadcast receiver, such as reception of a broadcast signal, output of a broadcast signal, and recording of a broadcast signal, and a recording list file using thumbnails during recording. And a control unit 36 for controlling the formation and configuration of the recording state confirmation information. As the controller, an MCU, a microcomputer, an embedded system according to a specific solution, or the like is used.

The memory 38 stores condition information for forming the recording list file and condition information for configuring the recording status check information. Therefore, when the recording list file is formed by the control unit 36, the formation of the file is controlled based on the condition information stored in the memory 38, and when the recording state confirmation information is configured, the configuration is based on the condition information. Let's do it. In this case, the condition information stored in the memory 38 is configured to be adjustable by user setting.

Next, an operation process of displaying a recording state in a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention having the above configuration so as to be easily identified by a user will be described.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for checking a recording state of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention.

The microcomputer 36 checks whether any broadcast program received through the tuner 30 is in a recording state in which the hard disk 41 is recorded by the HDR system 40 (S11).

When the broadcast program is recorded, the recorded broadcast program is stored in a file format on the hard disk 41. In this case, a recording list file is configured for the stored file, and the recording list file includes a thumbnail image and is stored in a predetermined area of the hard disk 41.

Therefore, when it is determined that the recording state in the step S11, the microcomputer 36 reads the thumbnail image nearest to the current point in the recording list file stored in the hard disk 41 (S13).

The thumbnail image read in step S13 is taken from a recording list file. To this end, a recording list file is configured and stored together when recording a broadcast program. The recording program is recorded on the hard disk in the form of a file when recording is selected and recording is performed.

The microcomputer 36 checks the service information on the recorded program from the program service information provided by the data buffer 34. And the service information for the recorded program is read by the user included in the recording status check information. For example, if the user includes channel information, program title information, broadcasting station information, operation state information, and the like as information included in the recording state confirmation information, the corresponding information is read (S15).

The thumbnail images identified in steps S13 and S15 and the service information for the recorded program are reconstructed into sub-screens indicating recording status confirmation information and displayed on the screen (S17). At this time, the reconstructed recording state confirmation information is mixed with the main screen signal by the MPEG decoder 35 and output.

The display control of the recording state confirmation information is continued until recording ends.

As such, an exemplary view for checking a recording state according to the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. Referring to the illustrated diagram, a thumbnail image of a recorded program, channels 222-22, an ABC station, a recording state (RECORDING), and a program title (PROGRAM TITLE) are included, and recording state confirmation information is displayed. Accordingly, in the present invention, in configuring the recording status confirmation information, the thumbnail image configured in the recording list file is configured as a sub image, and various other information are included. Accordingly, the user can check whether the currently recorded program is normally recorded through the sub image.

Next, FIG. 5 shows an operation flowchart for checking a recording state according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, when recording, selecting the display for checking the recording status (S22), and when not checking the recording status, and displaying a recording icon as usual (S24) ) Is further included.

In the step S22, when the recording state is to be displayed by user selection, the recording state confirmation information as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the screen by the sequential processing of the steps S23, S25, and S27.

However, when the user does not want to display the recording state in step S22, the process proceeds to step S24 and simply displays only the icon as in the prior art.

Next, according to the operations of FIGS. 3 and 5, in a state in which confirmation information regarding a recording state is displayed on the screen, confirmation information about an operation state of the main screen may be further displayed.

6 illustrates an example of displaying recording status confirmation information according to an embodiment of the present invention and also displaying status confirmation information currently operating on a main screen. At this time, in order to display confirmation information on the playback screen, the thumbnail for the playback screen may be imported from a file stored by a time shift operation. Channel information, broadcasting station information, program title information, and the like on the playback screen are obtained from service information provided through the data buffer 34.

The time shift operation is a function basically provided in a digital broadcasting device, and is a process of storing data on a reception channel and controlling a user's desired screen to be viewed again in real time broadcasting. Therefore, it is possible to import a sub-image to be included in the recording state confirmation information using the data stored in the time shift operation.

As mentioned above, the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention is equipped with one or more tuners. Therefore, more than one recording of a broadcast program can be performed at the same time. At this time, there is a need for a method of checking the recording state that is simultaneously performed.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for controlling the recording state when one or more recordings are performed according to another embodiment of the present invention. Looking at the operation process, the microcomputer 36 checks whether two or more recordings of the broadcast program are simultaneously performed (S31).

When two or more broadcast programs are recorded at the same time in step S31, a thumbnail image closest to the current point is taken from a pre-stored recording list file for each recorded broadcast program. Then, the service information about the broadcast program is received from the data buffer 34 to check the service information on the broadcast program currently recorded (S33).

The microcomputer 36 reconstructs the thumbnail image and the service information identified in step S33 to configure the recording state confirmation information as a sub screen. At this time, as shown in Fig. 4, the recording state confirmation information composed of the sub screen is composed of a thumbnail image, channel information, broadcasting station information, broadcast program title, and the like. The recording state confirmation information can be changed by user setting.

On the other hand, in displaying the recording state confirmation information of step S33, it is not necessary to display the thumbnail image in the display state of all the recording state confirmation information. In this case, it is also possible to control to display the thumbnail image only on the one recording state confirmation information by the user selection. The user selection can be performed by using a selection key such as a direction key of a key input means (not shown) on the recording state confirmation information being displayed.

Therefore, when the user selection is made through the above process (S35), the thumbnail image and the service information are displayed together for the selected recorded program (S37), and only the service information is displayed for the unselected recorded program (S39). ). In the steps S37 and S39, the recording state confirmation information is output by mixing the reconstructed recording state confirmation information with the main screen signal through the MPEG decoder 35.

As described above, the present invention is characterized in that a sub-screen for a recording program is configured in a part of the main screen in order to check the recording state. The sub screen imports thumbnail images from a recording list file formed during recording, and includes them when configuring recording status confirmation information. The sub screen includes channel information, broadcasting station information, program title information, and the like. The information is used by being provided from service information provided in a digital broadcast signal.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that when the recording of two or more broadcast programs at the same time, the recording status confirmation information for all the recorded programs are displayed. In this case, in order to prevent the recording state confirmation information from occupying a lot of screens, the sub image may be selectively included in only one recording state confirmation information.

The above-described preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and may be applied to a case of configuring a sub screen to check a recording state. Therefore, those skilled in the art will be able to improve, change, substitute or add other embodiments within the technical spirit and scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims.

The recording state confirmation method of the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention described above is characterized in that the recording state confirmation information is configured as a sub-screen so as to confirm whether or not recording is normally performed when recording is being performed. According to this aspect, the present invention enables the user to check the state of the recorded program being recorded through the sub-screen while watching a certain broadcast program. Therefore, the present invention has the effect of making the user's easy access and normal recording control for checking the recording state.

Claims (6)

delete During recording, a first step of importing sub-images from the formed file; A second step of checking service information on the recorded program; A third step of reconstructing recording state confirmation information using the sub-image of the first step and the service information of the second step; A fourth step of displaying on the screen the recording state confirmation information reconstructed in the third step; And a fifth step of monitoring whether two or more broadcast programs are being recorded at the same time, When recording two or more broadcast programs at the same time in the fifth step, the fourth step confirms the recording status of the digital broadcast receiver, wherein the recording status check information is displayed for all the broadcast programs. Way. The method of claim 2, And when the recording of two or more broadcast programs is performed in the fifth step, the fourth step includes sub-images included in only one recording state check information. delete During recording, a first step of importing sub-images from the formed file; A second step of checking service information on the recorded program; A third step of reconstructing recording state confirmation information using the sub-image of the first step and the service information of the second step; A fourth step of displaying on the screen the recording state confirmation information reconstructed in the third step; And a fifth step of monitoring whether two or more broadcast programs are being recorded at the same time, And a sixth step of forming a sub-image of the playback screen currently displayed on the main screen, and configuring and displaying playback status confirmation information using the sub-image and the service information. Way. delete

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