KR101314607B1 - Terminal for broadcasting and Method for reducing display time of a electric program guide in thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a broadcast receiver for receiving an electronic program guide (EPG); A communication unit for transmitting a signal for requesting essential information for configuring an EPG received from the broadcast receiving unit to a server, and receiving essential information according to the request signal from the server; If the configuration of the EPG is not possible when inputting a signal for displaying the EPG received from the broadcast receiving unit, the request signal is transmitted to the server through the communication unit, and the EPG is configured using the essential information received from the server. A control unit; The present invention relates to a broadcasting terminal including a display unit for displaying an EPG configured by the controller and a method for shortening an electronic program guide display time therefor. The EPG is configured by receiving an SI, which is necessary information for configuring an EPG, from a server. There is an effect of shortening the display waiting time of the EPG.

Broadcast terminal, EPG, SI

Description

Terminal for broadcasting and method for reducing display time of a electric program guide

1 is a view showing a conventional EPG structure.

Figure 2 is an embodiment configuration diagram showing a system for providing an SI required for the configuration of the EPG according to the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a broadcasting terminal according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an EPG display time reduction process of a broadcasting terminal according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART [0002]

210: broadcasting center 220: broadcasting terminal

221: broadcast receiving unit 222: communication unit

223 input unit 224 memory

225 display unit 226 control unit

230: server

The present invention relates to a broadcast terminal, and more particularly, to a broadcast terminal for shortening a time for a broadcast terminal to decode and display an electronic program guide (EPG) and a method for shortening an electronic program guide display time therefor. It is about.

Currently, in order to configure and display an EPG, a broadcast terminal must have service information (SI) required for channel configuration and program information (PI) for program configuration for each channel.

1 is a view showing a conventional EPG structure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the current EPG includes a single service information (SI) including all channel information and a plurality of program information (program information) including program information for each channel according to the content. PI).

That is, the broadcasting terminal receives one SI from a broadcasting center for a predetermined period, and then sequentially receives the PIs and decodes it to configure an EPG.

The EPG configuration process of the broadcast terminal first acquires channel information through SI, and then collects PIs for each channel to configure an EPG to be shown to the user.

In this case, the broadcast terminal may configure and display an EPG even when not receiving all the PIs in the state of receiving the SI, but may not configure the EPG even if all the PIs are received in the state of not receiving the SI.

Therefore, if the SI is not received, even though the PIs are received first, the user must wait until the SI is received without showing the PIs.

That is, the broadcast terminal cannot display information related to the channel until the SI is received, and thus cannot display the EPG information related to the channel to the user.

If the time when the user presses the key for displaying the EPG is the time when the broadcasting terminal receives the SI, the broadcasting terminal may configure and display the EPG using the SI without waiting time.

However, if the time when the user presses a key for displaying the EPG is a time point for receiving a PI following the SI instead of a time point for receiving the SI, the broadcast terminal cannot configure and display an EPG. There is a problem of waiting until the SI of the next cycle is received.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a broadcasting terminal for reducing the display waiting time of an EPG and an electronic program guide display time reduction method thereof, by configuring an EPG by receiving SI, which is essential information necessary for configuring an EPG, from a server. There is a purpose.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcasting terminal, including: a broadcast receiving unit configured to receive an electronic program guide (EPG); A communication unit for transmitting a signal for requesting essential information for configuring an EPG received from the broadcast receiving unit to a server, and receiving essential information according to the request signal from the server; If the configuration of the EPG is not possible when inputting a signal for displaying the EPG received from the broadcast receiving unit, the request signal is transmitted to the server through the communication unit, and the EPG is configured using the essential information received from the server. A control unit; It includes a display unit for displaying the EPG configured by the control unit.

Preferably, the essential information is service information (SI).

In addition, the controller determines whether essential information necessary for configuring the EPG is received for a preset time from the time point at which the signal is input.

That is, the controller determines that the EPG is configurable when the essential information is received during the time period, and determines that the EPG is not configurable when the essential information is not received.

In addition, the server is linked to the broadcasting center for transmitting the EPG request the essential information according to the request signal to the broadcasting center, and receives the requested essential information from the broadcasting center and transmits to the communication unit.

In addition, the EPG display time reduction method of the broadcast terminal according to the present invention, comprising the steps of: receiving an electronic program guide (EPG); Determining whether the received EPG is configurable when a signal for indicating the received EPG is input; Transmitting a signal for requesting essential information for configuring the EPG to a server according to the determination result; If the essential information according to the request signal is received from the server, and comprises the step of configuring and displaying the EPG using the essential information.

Hereinafter, the broadcasting terminal and the electronic program guide display time shortening method according to the present invention can be applied to various digital broadcasting standards.

Examples of digital broadcast standards include European Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) based on Eureka-147 [ETSI EN 300 401]. '), MediaFLO, which is led by Qualcomm in the US, and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) in Korea.

Detailed description of each digital broadcasting standard will be omitted.

In addition, the broadcasting terminal according to the present invention refers to a terminal capable of receiving various types of digital broadcasting such as a PDA, a PMP, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a digital TV, and a game machine.

Hereinafter, a broadcasting terminal and an electronic program guide display time shortening method according to the present invention will be described based on the DMB broadcasting.

Of course, the present invention is not necessarily limited to DMB.

The above-mentioned objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 2 is an embodiment configuration diagram showing a system for providing the SI required for the configuration of the EPG according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the broadcasting center 210 transmits a broadcast signal and an EPG including SIs and PSs.

The broadcast terminal 220 demultiplexes and decodes and reproduces the broadcast signal received from the broadcast center 210.

In addition, when the configuration of the EPG received from the broadcasting center 210 is impossible, the broadcast terminal 220 requests the server 230 for SI, which is necessary information for configuring the EPG, and receives the SI received from the server 230. The EPG is configured and displayed using.

In response to a request of the broadcasting terminal 220, the server 230 requests SI to configure the EPG to the broadcasting center 210 according to a request of the broadcasting terminal 220, and requests the SI from the broadcasting center 210. Receives and transmits to the broadcast terminal 220.

Hereinafter, a detailed operation process of the broadcast terminal 220 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a broadcasting terminal according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the broadcasting terminal according to the present invention includes a broadcast receiving unit 221, a communication unit 222, an input unit 223, a memory 224, a display unit 225, and a controller 226. It is configured to include.

The broadcast receiver 221 receives a broadcast signal transmitted from the broadcast center 210 and an EPG including SIs and PIs, and demultiplexes and decodes them.

The communication unit 222 is connected to the server 230 through a wireless network, and transmits a signal for requesting SI which is essential information necessary for EPG configuration under the control of the control unit 226, and the request from the server 230. Receive the SI according to the signal.

The input unit 223 is a user interface and includes a plurality of numeric keys and function keys, and outputs key signals for the keys to the controller 226.

The memory 224 stores a program for controlling the overall operation of the broadcasting terminal 220 and various data input / output when the control operation of the broadcasting terminal 220 is performed.

The display unit 225 displays data corresponding to a key signal input from the input unit 223, and displays an operation state of the broadcasting terminal 220 and a plurality of information in the form of icons and text.

In addition, the display unit 450 displays the EPG configured in the controller 470.

The controller 226 controls the overall operation of the broadcast terminal 220 according to the present invention, and will be described in detail with respect to the EPG display time reduction process according to the present invention with reference to FIG.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an EPG display time reduction process of a broadcasting terminal according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the control unit 226 of the broadcasting terminal 220 receives an EPG including SIs and PIs through the broadcast receiving unit 221 (S401).

As described above, if the key signal for displaying the EPG is input from the user through the input unit 223 while receiving the EPG through the broadcast receiving unit 221 (S402), the receiving EPG can be configured. It is determined whether or not (S403).

The process of determining whether the controller 226 can configure the EPG is described in detail as follows.

That is, the controller 226 determines whether the SI required for the configuration of the receiving EPG has been received for a predetermined time from the time when the key signal is input from the input unit 223.

If the SI necessary for the configuration of the receiving EPG has been received for a predetermined time period starting from the time point at which the key signal is input, the controller 226 determines that the EPG can be configured.

However, if the SI necessary for the configuration of the receiving EPG has not been received for a predetermined time period starting from the time point at which the key signal is input, the controller 226 determines that the EPG cannot be configured since the SI cannot be configured without the SI. do.

If the EPG configuration is impossible as described above (S404), the control unit 226 controls the communication unit 222, and transmits a signal for requesting the SI required for the EPG configuration to the server 230 (S405).

In this case, the server 230 is connected to the broadcast center 210 and requests the SI to configure the EPG according to the request signal of the communication unit 222 to the broadcast center 210, the broadcast center 210 from the The requested SI is received and transmitted to the communication unit 222.

If a signal including SI is received from the server 230 through the communication unit 222 (S406), the controller 226 configures an EPG using the received SI and the previously received PIs (S407).

The controller 226 controls the display unit 225 to display the configured EPG on the screen (S408).

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. For example, it will be very easy for those skilled in the art to use the above-described embodiments in combination with each other.

Accordingly, the above detailed description should not be construed as limiting in all aspects and should be considered as illustrative.

The scope of the invention should be determined by reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all changes within the equivalent scope of the invention are included in the scope of the invention.

The broadcast terminal and the electronic program guide display time shortening method according to the present invention has an effect of reducing the display waiting time of the EPG by receiving the SI, which is essential information necessary for the EPG configuration, from the server to configure the EPG.

Claims (10)

Receiving an electric program guide (EPG) from a broadcasting center; If a display command of the EPG is input while receiving the EPG, determining whether service information (SI) necessary for configuration of the EPG is received at the time when the command is input; If the SI (Service Information) is not received at the time when the command is input, determining that the EPG is not configurable and transmitting a request signal for requesting the SI to an external server; And And when the SI corresponding to the request signal is received from the external server, constructing and displaying the EPG using the received SI. delete delete delete The method of claim 1, The external server is connected to the broadcasting center, and requests the SI to the broadcasting center according to the request signal, and receives the requested SI from the broadcasting center and transmits the broadcasting terminal to the broadcasting terminal. To shorten the display time of the electronic program guide. A broadcast receiving unit for receiving an electronic program guide (EPG) from a broadcasting center; A communication unit for transmitting a request signal for requesting service information (SI) required for configuration of the EPG received from the broadcast receiving unit to an external server, and receiving an SI corresponding to the request signal from the external server; When the display command of the EPG is input while receiving the EPG through the broadcast receiving unit, it is determined whether the SI required for the EPG configuration is received through the broadcast receiving unit at the time when the command is input, and the determination result indicates that the SI A control unit configured to transmit the request signal to the external server through the communication unit, and to configure the EPG using the SI received from the external server; And And a display unit for displaying the EPG configured by the control unit. delete delete delete The method according to claim 6, And the external server is connected to the broadcasting center, requests the SI to the broadcasting center according to the request signal, receives the requested SI from the broadcasting center, and transmits the requested SI to the communication unit.

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