KR101536777B1 - Digital broadcating reciever and channel browser - Google Patents

Abstract

The digital broadcast receiver of the present invention includes: an integrated display processor for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the received AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream; A first tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first demodulator for demodulating an output signal of the first tuner and outputting a first AV packet stream; A second tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of a channel that is not tuned; A second demodulator for demodulating the output signal of the second tutor and outputting a second AV packet stream; And a channel browser for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream, creating a display AV packet stream according to the protocol, and outputting the AV packet stream for display to the integrated display processor.

Channel browser, sub screen, thumbnail, digital channel, TP

Description

[0001] DIGITAL BROADCATING RECIEVER AND CHANNEL BROWSER [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting receiver capable of receiving digital television broadcasting, and more particularly, to a digital broadcasting receiver supporting a channel browsing function for previewing broadcasting images in a thumbnail format on viewable channels.

The present invention makes it possible to search movie information of another channel using a screen in which sub-screens are arranged in a thumbnail format in a digital broadcast receiver.

The television broadcasting system is classified into an analog television broadcasting system and a digital television broadcasting system according to the transmission format of a television signal. Since an analog television broadcasting system transmits an analog type television signal as it is, it is affected by noise and it is difficult to reproduce the original image. On the other hand, a digital television broadcasting system transmits an analog television signal in a digital form, thereby minimizing the influence of noise and facilitating reproduction of the original image.

In addition, recent advances in compression techniques for video information allow digital television signals to be transmitted over narrow bandwidths. Accordingly, the digital television broadcasting system can provide a large number of television broadcasting programs to viewers as compared with the analog television broadcasting system. In other words, a digital television broadcasting system increases the number of television broadcast channels over which a television signal can be transmitted.

In accordance with the radical development of digital broadcasting technology and diversification of services, a digital broadcasting receiver such as a digital television and a set-top box has a function of receiving a digital broadcasting in addition to a basic function of receiving a digital broadcasting, And differentiated functions are needed.

One of such functions is to provide a function to effectively browse information of other channels while fixing the currently viewed channel.

To this end, a channel browsing function for providing video information of a plurality of channels that can be played on a digital television in the form of a thumbnail or a movie clip as a single screen to a user, and a channel browser Are being studied.

The present invention provides a digital broadcasting receiver supporting a channel browsing function while minimizing additional hardware burden and / or design changes of a conventional digital broadcasting receiver.

The present invention also provides a digital broadcasting receiver that supports a channel browsing function for an analog broadcasting channel as well as digital broadcasting.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Other objects, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, It will be possible.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital broadcast receiver including: an integrated display processor for receiving a packaged AV packet stream according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the received AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream; A first tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first demodulator for demodulating an output signal of the first tuner and outputting a first AV packet stream; A second tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of a channel that is not tuned; A second demodulator for demodulating the output signal of the second tutor and outputting a second AV packet stream; And a channel browser for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream, creating a display AV packet stream according to the protocol, and outputting the AV packet stream for display to the integrated display processor.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a channel browser comprising: two digital AV input terminals for receiving a first AV packet stream and a second AV packet stream encoded in a digital television broadcasting format; A digital broadcast decoder for decoding the second AV packet stream; An image buffer for storing images output from the digital broadcast decoder; A packaging unit for creating AV packets containing images stored in the image buffer, mixing the AV packets with the first AV packet stream, and creating an AV packet stream for display; And an output terminal for externally outputting the display AV packet stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital broadcasting receiver including a basic receiver for broadcasting a channel selected and a browsing receiver for performing channel browsing.

Here, the basic receiver may include: an integrated display processor for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream; A first tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first digital demodulator for demodulating a signal received by the first tuner and outputting a first AV packet stream; An output terminal for outputting the first AV packet stream to a following browsing receiver; An input terminal for receiving the AV packet stream from the browsing receiver and delivering it to the integrated display processor; And a switch block for switching connection between the first digital demodulator and the integrated display processor.

Here, the browsing receiver may include: an input terminal for receiving the first AV packet stream from the basic receiver; A second tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of viewable channels; A second digital demodulator for demodulating a signal received by the second tuner and outputting a second AV packet stream; A channel browser for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream to create an AV packet stream for display according to the protocol; And an output terminal for outputting the display AV packet stream to the basic receiver.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage of supporting a channel browsing function while minimizing an additional hardware burden and / or design change of a digital broadcast receiver.

According to a more specific embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage that a channel browsing function is supported not only for digital broadcasting but also for an analog broadcasting channel.

The present invention intends to provide a useful method for displaying reduced images of programs broadcast on other channels that are not tuned in the form of a thumbnail list while broadcasting the selected channel.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting receiver having a channel browsing function. The first and second tuners 11 and 14 and first and second tuners 11 and 14 demodulate the broadcast signals tuned by the tuners 11 and 14, respectively. Channel demodulating units 12 and 17 are provided. The outputs of the first and second channel demodulators 12 and 17 are output to the demultiplexer 13.

The first and second tuners 11 and 14 tunes a broadcast signal of a specific channel and the first and second channel demodulators 12 and 17 demodulate the tuned broadcast signal in the reverse of the modulation scheme, (Transport, TP) stream to the demultiplexer 13. For example, VSB demodulation is performed if the modulation scheme on the transmitting side is the VSB scheme, and QPSK demodulation is performed if the modulation scheme is the QPSK scheme. In the present invention, the first tuner 11 tunes the main screen broadcast signal and the second tuner 14 tunes the sub-screen broadcast signal. This is an embodiment, and the first tuner 11 tunes the sub-picture broadcast signal and the second tuner 14 tunes the main picture broadcast signal according to the designer.

The demultiplexer 13 separates an elementary stream (ES) such as video / audio / EPG from a transport stream output from the first and second channel demodulators 12 and 17. The video decoder 16 decodes the video stream ES separated by the demultiplexer 13 in reverse to the video compression process and outputs the video data for the main screen to the display processor 18. The video data for the thumbnail screen is generated (19).

When the input video stream is for the main picture, the video decoder 16 performs complete video decoding and outputs the result to the display processor 18. When the input video stream is for a thumbnail picture, the video decoder 16 performs predetermined partial decoding (e.g., decoding only the DC coefficient of the I picture) And outputs it to the thumbnail generator 19.

The thumbnail generator 19 generates a thumbnail image from partial decoded data of a plurality of channels, and outputs the generated thumbnail image to the display processor 18. The output of the display processing unit 18 includes at least two or more thumbnails for outputting a video / EPG of a program being broadcast on another channel, and a main screen for outputting a video / EPG of a program currently being broadcast Screen. Depending on the user's operation, the output of the display unit 18 may be composed of only a plurality of thumbnail sub-screens, or may be composed only of a main screen.

1, the decoding process of the broadcast stream for the main screen output and the driving process of the display device follow a general digital TV reception and output method and are not described separately. In the description of FIG. 1, it is assumed that the first tuner and the channel demodulators 11 and 12 demodulate the broadcast signal of the main screen by tuning. It is assumed that the second tuner and the channel demodulators 14 and 17 demodulate the broadcast signals of the other channels.

That is, the video information of the other channel other than the viewing channel is output through the sub-screen in the form of a thumbnail. For this purpose, the second tuner 14, the second channel demodulator 17, the demultiplexer 13, the video decoder 16, And a thumbnail generating unit 19 are required.

Also, in FIG. 1, the demultiplexer 13 and the multi-video decoder 16 can process two streams at the same time. For example, the demultiplexer 13 can be implemented so that video / audio / EPG separation can be performed for two transport streams at the same time through an algorithm such as a combination of two independent demultiplexers or an appropriate time division.

Likewise, the video decoder 16 also implements the decoding of two video streams simultaneously. For example, the multi-video decoder 16 of FIG. 1 may be composed of one video decoder that performs a complete type of decoding and another DC coefficient decoder that performs decoding only the DC coefficient of the I picture of the video stream.

The display processor 18 responsible for the final video output controls the main / sub screen image input from the video decoder 16 and the thumbnail generator 19 to divide them into a main screen and a sub screen, do.

Meanwhile, an integrated display processor in which functions of a demultiplexer, a video decoder, and a display processor are integrated into a single chip (SoC) is widely used in the process of manufacturing a digital television receiver. In order to apply the structure of FIG. 1 to a digital television having a structure using the integrated display processor, a new integrated display processor must be manufactured.

2 is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can use an existing integrated display processor.

The digital broadcasting receiver includes an integrated display processor 180 for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a transport stream protocol defined by ISO / IEC 13818-1, decoding the AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream on a screen; A first tuner (110) for receiving a broadcast signal of a selected channel; A first demodulator 120 for demodulating an output signal of the first tuner 110 and outputting a first AV packet stream; A second tuner 140 for receiving a broadcast signal of a non-tuned channel; A second demodulator 150 for demodulating the output signal of the second tuner 140 and outputting a second AV packet stream; And a channel browser 160 for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream to create an AV packet stream for display according to the protocol and outputting the generated AV packet stream to the integrated display processor 180 have.

The first tuner 110 and the second tuner 140 may be implemented as a general tuner including an antenna resonant circuit, an adjustment circuit for channel tuning, and the like.

The first demodulator 120 demodulates the broadcast signal in the reverse of the modulation scheme (for example, performs VSB demodulation if the modulation scheme on the transmission side is the VSB scheme and QPSK demodulation if the modulation scheme is the QPSK scheme) And outputs an AV packet stream (e.g., transport stream).

The integrated display processor 180 may be a one-chip type decoding processor that is currently implemented in a variety of digital television products. For example, a video / audio integrated decoding processor may be applied, or a video integrated decoding processor may be applied. In the case of an integrated display processor applied to an ATSC digital television, a movie stream in the form of a transport packet stream is input.

The channel browser 160 is implemented in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and may be implemented as a one-chip type only in the channel browser 160 or as a one-chip type integrated with the second demodulator 150, ) And the second demodulator 150, as shown in FIG.

The channel browser 160 receives a signal demodulated by the first demodulator 120 and a signal demodulated by the second demodulator 150, generates an image for display, and packages the signal.

For example, the channel browser 160 packages only the signals received from the first demodulator 120 as output signals in a specific time interval (i.e., time slot) on a time-division basis according to a user's operation, Only the thumbnail image obtained by combining the signals input from the second demodulator 150 can be packaged as an output signal.

In another time interval, the channel browser 160 configures a main screen with a signal received from the first demodulator 120, and outputs thumbnail images obtained by combining signals received from the second demodulator 150 to the main It is possible to generate an image in a form partially displayed on the screen and display it, and package it as an output signal.

The packaging operation in each time period may be determined according to the user's operation. A specific method of configuring the channel browsing screen will be described later.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention, which has a more complicated structure than FIG.

The illustrated digital broadcasting receiver includes a first tuner 111, a first demodulator 121, a second tuner 141, a second demodulator 151, an integrated display processor 181, and a channel browser 161 , And the above components are similar to the case of FIG. Therefore, the overlapping descriptions in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are partially omitted from each other.

The illustrated digital broadcast receiver can selectively view not only digital television broadcasts but also conventional analog television broadcasts. For example, when the digital broadcasting channel is selected, the first demodulator 121 and the second demodulator 151 perform demodulation for digital broadcasting such as VSB and QPSK. When the analog broadcasting channel is selected, And performs demodulation for broadcasting.

The first demodulator 121 includes a first digital demodulator for demodulating a digital broadcasting signal and a first analog demodulator for demodulating an analog broadcasting signal. The second demodulator 151 demodulates the digital broadcasting signal A second digital demodulator for demodulating the analog broadcast signal, and a second analog demodulator for demodulating the analog broadcast signal.

As shown in the figure, the first demodulator 121 and the second demodulator 151 include a terminal A for outputting a demodulated analog broadcast signal, a terminal D for outputting a demodulated signal of the digital broadcast signal, Respectively.

1, the channel browser 161 includes one analog input terminal AI for receiving a signal for analog broadcasting from the second demodulator 151 and a second analog demodulator 121 for receiving signals from the first demodulator 121, 151 for inputting a signal for digital broadcasting. In addition, an output terminal for outputting a packaged signal of the generated image to an input terminal DI for the digital broadcast of the integrated display processor 181 may be provided.

That is, the output signal of the first analog demodulator is input to the AI terminal of the integrated display processor 181, the output signal of the first digital demodulator is the BI terminal of the channel browser 161, The output signal of the second analog demodulator is input to the DI terminal, and the output signal of the second analog demodulator is input to the AI terminal.

However, since a signal obtained by demodulating the analog broadcasting signal and a signal obtained by demodulating a digital broadcasting signal are not output simultaneously, a signal obtained by demodulating an analog broadcasting signal at one terminal of the first and second demodulators 121 and 151, And demodulate the broadcast signal in a time-division manner.

As shown in the figure, the integrated display processor 181 preferably includes an input terminal AI for analog broadcasting and an input terminal DI for digital broadcasting. This is because the decoding circuit for analog broadcasting and the decoding circuit for digital broadcasting are different from each other. However, if the integrated display processor 181 includes a switching circuit for analog / digital broadcasting, it may be implemented as an input terminal for analog broadcasting and an input terminal for serving as an input terminal for digital broadcasting.

The digital broadcasting receiver includes a switching block 131 for adjusting connection between the first and second tuners 111 and 121 and the first and second demodulators 121 and 151. The switching block 131 is connected to the first tuner and the first demodulator, the second tuner and the second demodulator are connected, the second tuner and the first demodulator are connected, And switches the state in which the tuner and the second demodulator are connected.

The output of the first tuner 111 is applied to the first demodulator 121 and the output of the second tuner 141 is applied to the second demodulator 151 at any point in time according to the adjustment of the switching block 131 The output of the first tuner 111 is applied to the second demodulator 151 and the output of the second tuner 141 is applied to the first demodulator 121 at another point in time.

According to the switching block 131, one of the first tuner 111 and the second tuner 141 can selectively perform the operation of receiving the signal of the channel selected by the user. The function may be used to allow the user to view the previous channel for a delay time required for tuning for channel change, especially when the user changes the channel. If the first tuner 111 is tuned to the channel after changing the second tuner 141, the first tuner 111 is continuously tuned to the first demodulator 121 The tuner 141 is tuned to connect the second tuner 141 to the first demodulator 121 so that the second tuner 141 is tuned to the second tuner 141. Thus, It is possible to broadcast the channel after the change by the tutor 141. [

In accordance with the implementation, instead of the switching block 131 shown in the figure, another switch block for adjusting the connection of the output terminals of the first and second demodulators 121 and 151 and the input terminals of the integrated processor 181 and the channel browser 161, . However, in this case, the number of switching paths increases from two to four, which increases the complexity of the switching block.

FIG. 4A shows a flow of a signal when a digital broadcasting receiver having the structure of FIG. 3 is watching a digital broadcasting channel. In addition, FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a channel browser in detail.

The channel browser 161 of FIG. 4A includes a digital broadcast decoder 165 for decoding a second AV packet stream encoded in a digital television broadcast format such as ATSC; An analog broadcast decoder 164 for decoding an AV signal encoded in an analog television broadcast format such as NTSC; A switching block 166 for selecting one of the digital broadcasting decoder 165 or the analog broadcasting decoder 164; An image reduction block 167 for reducing the image output from the decoder selected by the switching block 166; An image compression block (168) for compressing the reduced image; An image buffer (169) for storing the compressed images; The first demodulator 121 generates an AV packet containing the images stored in the image buffer, and outputs the first AV packet stream, which is output from the first demodulator 121 and encoded in the digital television broadcasting format such as ATSC, And a packaging unit 170 for creating an AV packet stream for display.

The digital broadcast decoder 165 and the analog broadcast decoder 164 generate sub-screens of a small size for thumbnails for all viewable channels (including digital / analog) and store them in the image buffer 169.

The creation and storage of the sub-screens may be performed simultaneously for a plurality of channels, but may be performed for only one channel at a time because of hardware limitations due to production costs. That is, for each time slot-divided time slots, the creation-save operation of the sub-screens may be performed for one channel in each type slot period.

The image of the sub-screen for the specific channel stored in the image buffer 169 according to the above operation is generated when the next time slot for performing the generation-save operation of the sub-screen images for the same specific channel is completed Can be stored. That is, the generation and storage of the images of the sub-screen for one channel can be performed again after a predetermined time elapses, thereby updating the sub-screen image stored in the image buffer 169. Depending on the implementation, the update periods of the sub-screen images of the respective channels may be all the same or may be shorter as the channel priority is higher.

The above-described operations can be applied to all channels including both analog broadcast channels and digital broadcast channels. Therefore, only one of the digital broadcast decoder 165 and the analog broadcast decoder 164 is executed in one time slot period.

Reduction of the image is to reduce the amount of data by reducing the resolution of the image (for example, from 1280x960 to 320x240), and compression of the image may be performed by applying a predetermined loss / lossless compression algorithm, such as JPEG, It is to reduce the amount.

Depending on the implementation, the image reduction block 167 and / or the image compression block 168 may be omitted. However, considering the limit of the capacity of the image buffer 169, it is preferable to provide it.

Although the image buffer 169 is implemented as a memory (register or the like) built in the channel browser 161, the image buffer of another implementation may be formed in a separate memory or a system memory of the digital broadcasting receiver .

The packaging unit 170 includes a packet filter 172 for selectively picking out (i.e., filtering) only those constituting the image among the packets constituting the AV packet stream of the selected channel output to the main screen; A sub-screen packaging unit 174 for packaging sub-screens for thumbnails stored in the image buffer 169; And a packet multiplexer 176 for combining packets output from the packet filter 172 and the sub-screen packaging unit 174 to generate an AV packet stream for display.

The integrated display processor 181 displays the AV packet stream output from the channel browser 161 on the screen. At this time, the integrated display processor 181 inspects each packet constituting the AV packet stream and displays it on the full screen according to the conventional method if it is the main screen of the selected channel, The display is performed with a small screen at a position according to a predetermined protocol.

To this end, the software for driving the integrated display processor 181 needs to be slightly modified. For example, in the case of the integrated display processor 181 that receives a transport stream as an input signal, it can indicate that it is a transport packet for a thumbnail sub-screen image in the PID of the transport stream, and the integrated display processor 181 May implement driving software to output the sub-screen image at a predetermined position of the display screen. Here, the predetermined position may be recorded in the transport packet of the sub-screen or may be determined in consideration of the thumbnail sub-screens output by the integrated display processor 181 on the current screen.

The digital broadcast decoder 165 and the analog broadcast decoder 164 may be implemented by conventional ones used in the conventional television technology. However, considering that it is intended to make a sub-picture of a small size for a thumbnail, it can be implemented with a sufficient low-resolution decoder for a small screen. In addition, it is preferable that the decoding speed is faster than the decoding quality is good.

In addition, the channel browser 161 may be implemented as a one-chip type device. In this case, a first digital AV input terminal BI receives a first AV packet stream for digital broadcasting for a channel selected for broadcasting. A second digital AV input terminal (DI) for receiving a second AV packet stream for digital broadcasting for a digital channel being browsed for a thumbnail; An analog AV input terminal (AI) for receiving a demodulated analog AV signal of an analog channel being browsed for a thumbnail; And an output terminal for outputting an AV packet stream for display combining packets for a thumbnail image to an external integrated display processor 181 according to the idea of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the operation of broadcasting a thumbnail image when a digital broadcast channel is being broadcasted by the digital broadcast receiver shown in FIG. 4A will be described as a case in which the AV packet stream is a transport stream.

The first tuner 111 is tuned to a channel that the user is watching, and the broadcast signal received by the first tuner 111 is demodulated in the VSB scheme, and the transport stream according to the ATSC scheme Stream to the first digital AV input terminal BI of the channel browser 161.

Only the TS packets including the image among the TS (Tranport Stream) packets constituting the transport stream for the viewed channel are input to the integrated display processor 181 by the packet filter 172. The use of the packet filter 172 to remove TS packets that do not include images is intended to prevent overload of the integrated display processor 181 due to unnecessary TS packet processing and delay of image processing time.

The TS packets passed through the first tuner 111, the first demodulator 121, the packet filter 172 and the packet multiplexer 176 are input to the integrated display processor 181 to broadcast the channel selected by the user The integrated display processor 181 decodes input TS packets and broadcasts a video of the selected channel on the screen.

The second tuner 141, the second demodulator 151, the digital broadcasting decoder 165, the image reducing block 167, and the image compressing block 168 are simultaneously displayed on the screen The storage operation for the sub-screen images for the thumbnail to the image buffer 169 is continued. In a time-sharing manner, a storage operation for a thumbnail sub-screen image is performed for all viewable channels, and the stored image for each channel is updated in accordance with a predetermined period. That is, while broadcasting a video of the selected channel, operations for storing and updating thumbnail sub-screen images for all channels that can be viewed as a background job can be performed.

On the other hand, a user may want to watch thumbnail sub-screens for three to five channels at the same time, for example, at the bottom or left / right end of the screen with the image of the selected channel.

When the user instructs to simultaneously output the thumbnail sub-screens on the channel being watched by the user, the image of the channel selected by the user is displayed on the display screen of the television, and the thumbnail screen is displayed on the predetermined area (the lower end or left / right end of the screen) The screens are displayed overlaid (see Figs. 9A and 9B).

In this case, TS packets for thumbnail sub-screen images read from the image buffer 169 and TS packets for the channel being viewed are simultaneously input to the packaging unit 170 of the illustrated channel browser 161 . The packaging unit 170 mixes the TS packets for the sub-picture and the TS packets for the viewing channel and provides them to the integrated display processor 181 as a transport stream for display.

Since the transport stream is a series of independent TS packets, the mixing of the TS packets can be a relatively simple task. The integrated display processor 181 receiving the transport stream for display can check the PID of each TS packet constituting the transport stream to determine whether it is for a main image or a sub-screen. The integrated display processor 181 performs an image display operation suitable for each TS packet.

The sub-screen may be a movie clip for a predetermined time or one or a plurality of still images.

FIG. 4B shows a flow of a signal when a digital broadcast receiver having the structure of FIG. 3 is watching an analog broadcast channel. Thus, the components of FIG. 4B, including the channel browser, have the same internal configuration as in FIG. 4A.

The packet filter 172 constituting the channel browser 181 of FIG. 4B does not operate when an analog channel is being broadcast to the main video.

The integrated display processor 181 receives an analog broadcast signal received from the first tuner 111 as an analog input terminal AI and receives an analog broadcast signal received from the channel browser 161 through a digital input terminal DI, The packet stream can be input. In this case, the AV packet stream is composed of AV packets for the thumbnail sub-screen and does not include AV packets for the main screen.

Hereinafter, with respect to the broadcasting operation of the thumbnail image when the analog broadcast channel is being broadcasted by the digital broadcast receiver shown in FIG. 4B, the case where the movie packet stream is the transport stream will be described in detail.

The first tuner 111 is tuned to a channel that the user is viewing and the broadcast signal received by the first tuner 111 is input to the analog input terminal AI of the integrated display processor 181. The analog broadcast signal is demodulated and decoded by a CVBS demodulator (not shown) and an NTSC decoder (not shown) incorporated in the integrated display processor 181, and displayed on the screen.

The second tuner 141, the second demodulator 151, the digital broadcast decoder 165, the image reduction block 167, the image compression block 168, The storage operation for the sub-screen images for the thumbnail is continuously performed in the image buffer 169. [ In a time-sharing manner, a storage operation for thumbnail sub-screen images is performed for all viewable channels, and each image stored for each channel is updated in a predetermined cycle. That is, while broadcasting a video of the selected channel, operations for storing and updating sub-screen images for thumbnails for all channels that can be viewed as a background job are performed.

On the other hand, a user may want to watch thumbnail sub-screens for three to five channels at the same time, for example, at the bottom or left / right end of the screen with the images of the channel selected.

When the user instructs to simultaneously output the thumbnail sub-screens on the channel being watched, the image of the analog channel selected by the user is displayed on the display screen of the television as a whole, Thumbnail sub-screens are overlaid and displayed (see Figs. 9A and 9B)

In this case, only the TS packets for the thumbnail sub-screens read from the image buffer 169 are input to the packaging unit 170 of the illustrated channel browser 161. The packaging unit 170 forms a transport stream for display only on the TS packets for the sub-screen and provides it to the integrated display processor 181.

The integrated display processor 181 receiving the transport stream for display can check the PID of each TS packet constituting the transport stream to determine whether it is for a sub screen or not, ), The display of the thumbnail sub-screen according to each TS packet is performed.

For this operation, the software for driving the integrated display processor 181 needs to be slightly modified. For example, in the case of the integrated display processor 181 that receives a transport stream as an input signal, the PID of the transport stream can indicate that it is sub-screen data for thumbnail, and the integrated display processor 181, The driving software may be implemented to output the sub-screen data to a predetermined position of the display screen of the display device. Here, the predetermined position may be recorded in the transport packet of the sub-screen or may be determined in consideration of the thumbnail sub-screens output by the integrated display processor 181 on the current screen.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing channel browsing for a digital television broadcast in which movie data is transmitted in a transport stream, and transporting and packetizing the digital television broadcast according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the channel browsing function is used in FIG. 5, one of route # 1 and route # 3 is selectively performed depending on whether the selected channel is a digital broadcast channel or an analog broadcast channel. At this time, along with the selected one route, route # 2 for channel browsing can be performed.

When the selected channel is an analog broadcast channel, that is, when route # 3 is selected, the AV signal of the selected analog channel is directly output to the external integrated display processor. At this time, sub-screen images for channel browsing can be TS packetized with any PIDs. This is because the AV packets of the selected analog channels and the TS packets containing the sub-screen images for channel browsing are transmitted to the external integrated display processor through their respective paths.

The channel browsing and display method shown in FIG. 5 is defined as a process performed in a channel browser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The channel browsing method includes: (A) acquiring a transport stream for a channel selected; (B) browsing the channels not yet tuned at the same time as the step (A), and creating TS packets for the sub-screen; (C) mixing the transport stream obtained in the step (A) and the TS packet created in the step (B); And (D) outputting the mixed transport stream to an external integrated display processor.

More specifically, the step (A) comprises: (S110) tuning a tuned digital channel; (S 120) of referring to the PSI / SI information, identifying the PIDs used in the transport stream acquired in the selected channel, and filtering the transport stream.

In order to secure a PID that can be used for TS packetization of sub-screen images for channel browsing, the loop of steps S122 to S126 is repeated to bypass the first packet to the last packet constituting each transport stream PID can be read.

In step S128, the TS packets that are not loaded with image data are filtered using the PID. As a result, in step S180, only the TS packets containing the image data are mixed with the TS packets containing the sub-screen image (generated in step S70).

The step S128 may be omitted depending on the implementation. In this case, all the TS packets of the channel selected in step S180 are mixed with the TS packets having the sub-screen image (generated in step S70).

In the case of a digital television capable of viewing both a digital broadcasting channel and an analog broadcasting channel, the step (A) comprises: confirming whether the selected channel is an analog channel or a digital channel (S105); If the selected channel is an analog channel, performing the analog channel broadcasting (route 3); If the selected channel is a digital channel, step (a) to step (d) may be performed (route 1).

The step of broadcasting the analog channel (route 3) comprises the steps of tuning the selected analog channel (S210); And outputting the analog broadcast signal received through the analog channel to an external integrated display processor (S290).

The step (B) may include: tuning a channel to be browsed (S10); Extracting an image from a received signal of the channel to be browsed (S20); Storing the extracted image as a sub-screen (S30); (n) creating a TS packet for the stored sub-screen image (S70).

In the case of a digital television capable of viewing both a digital broadcasting channel and an analog broadcasting channel, step S10 is performed to confirm whether the channel to be browsed is an analog channel or a digital channel. If the channel to be browsed is an analog channel, the TS packet is decoded by an analog method to generate a TS packet. If the channel is a digital channel, the TS packet is digitally decoded to generate a TS packet.

In the case of the digital channel, step S20 includes: obtaining a transport stream for a channel to be browsed; And decoding the transport stream to extract a sub-picture image.

In the case of an analog channel, the step S20 may include decoding an analog broadcast signal received through the analog channel and extracting an image.

After the step S30, it is preferable to change the channel to be browsed (S50) and repeat the steps S10 to S30. By the endless loop type operation, sub-screen images can be extracted and stored for all viewable channels, and sub-screen images of a previously stored channel can be periodically updated.

In operation S70, when the user inputs an instruction to display the main screen for the channel selected on the display screen and the sub-screens for channel browsing together, the operation of the route 2 is completed.

While waiting for the user's instruction, the above-mentioned steps S10 to S50 are repeatedly performed.

That is, when the operation of storing a sub-screen image for a thumbnail for one channel is completed, the digital broadcast receiver of the present embodiment continuously performs a task of storing a sub-screen image for a next channel in the background while changing channels.

Depending on the implementation, the payload of the TS packet created in the image buffer (in this case, the TS header may be stored together or may be created later). In this case, the process of creating the TS packet (S70) is performed before the step S20 and the subsequent step S30.

FIG. 6 shows a structure of a transport stream composed of TS packets used to implement the concept of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the TS packet includes a TS header and a TS payload. Bibliographic information on the TS packet is recorded in the TS header.

The parameters recorded in the TS header are as follows. In particular, the value of the PID must be determined appropriately during TS packetization.

1. Sync Byte: Always set to 0x47

2. Transport Error Indicator: Always set to '0'

3. Payload Unit Start Indicator

  A. It is set to '1' when it is the first TS Packet (i: it means that TS payload contains the first data of one video information)

  B. Set to '0' for other TS Packet.

4. Transport Priority: Always set to '0'.

5. PID

  A. When the image information is TS packetized for insertion into the Digital Main transport stream, it should be set to a PID value that does not match the PID of the Main transport stream. To do this, all PIDs used in the Main transport stream must be confirmed through the PSI / SI information of the Main transport stream.

  B. It should be set to the appropriate PID value when performing channel browsing with analog broadcasting.

6. Transport Scrambling Control: Always set to "00" (Not Scrambled).

7. The value of Adaptation Field Control is always set to "01" (Payload Only).

8. Continuity Counter

  A. Channel It is set to "0000" when the first image information that is browsed is converted into TS Packet, and thereafter it sequentially increases and circulates.

FIG. 7 illustrates a concrete example of a transport stream carrying a sub-screen image for channel browsing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the illustrated transport stream, the PID is appropriately set to a value not included in the transport stream for the main picture, indicating that the TS packet contains the sub-picture image. Then, the Continuity Counter is increased, and a plurality of successive TS packets (9 in the drawing) are used to capture a sub-screen image.

At this time, data for one sub-screen image is divided into units of 184 bytes, and each TS packet is stored. Also, if the data size of the last TS packet for one sub picture is 1 ~ 183 bytes, as shown in the figure, 184 - residue block size is added to the last TS packet.

The TS packets containing the sub-screen images for thumbnail shown in Fig. 7 are mixed with the TS packets constituting the transport stream obtained in the selected channel constituting the main screen, Stream can be formed.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a basic receiver having a structure similar to that of a conventional digital broadcasting receiver using the idea of the present invention more practically, and a channel browser function according to an embodiment of the present invention, And a browsing receiver for supporting the digital broadcasting receiving system.

The basic receiver BD shown in the figure includes an integrated display processor 182 for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the AV packet stream, and displaying it on a screen; A first tuner (112) for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first digital demodulator 122 for demodulating a signal received by the first tuner 112 and outputting a first AV packet stream; An output terminal (O1) for outputting the first AV packet stream to the following browsing receiver (AD); An input terminal I1 for receiving the AV packet stream from the browsing receiver AD and delivering it to the integrated display processor 182; And a switch block 192 for switching connection between the first digital demodulator 122 and the integrated display processor 182.

The browsing receiver AD includes an input terminal I2 for receiving the first AV packet stream from the basic receiver; A second tuner (142) for receiving a broadcast signal of viewable channels; A second digital demodulator 152 for demodulating a signal received by the second tuner 142 and outputting a second AV packet stream; A channel browser (162) for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream to create an AV packet stream for display according to the protocol; And an output terminal O2 for outputting the display AV packet stream to the basic receiver BD.

The switch block 192 may be implemented such that the user manually switches the switch block 192 so that the basic receiver BD is in the closed state when the basic receiver BD is not connected to the browsing receiver AD, It is preferable to detect the connection with the browsing receiver AD and open it automatically.

In order to implement the latter, a sensor for detecting the connection state of the input terminal I1 and the output terminal O1 of the basic receiver BD may be provided or a sensor may be physically connected to the input terminal I1 and the output terminal O1. When the connector is connected, it may have a structure such that the switch block 192 is opened according to the mechanical structure.

The illustrated components are similar to those of FIG. 2 or 3 except for the input / output terminals and the switch for adjusting the interconnection relationship, so the detailed description of the redundant components will be omitted.

The illustrated digital broadcast receiving system can be sold separately from each other. First, when only the basic receiver BD is purchased and used, only the broadcast of the selected channel is broadcast on the entire screen in a state in which the switching block 192 is always closed, as in a general digital broadcast receiver.

Thereafter, when the user desires to add a browsing function, the user can purchase the browsing receiver AD and use the browsing receiver AD in connection with the basic receiver BD. In this case, the switching block 192 is in an open state.

In this state, when the user instructs to simultaneously output the thumbnail sub-screens to the channel being viewed, the channel browser 162 creates the transport stream for display according to the above-described mapping of the present invention, ).

When the integrated display processor 182 receives the transport stream for display, the integrated display processor 182 displays the image in the first AV packet stream on the full screen, Display the image on a small screen.

9A and 9B illustrate examples of screens displayed by a digital broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9A, a predetermined number (five) of thumbnail sub-screens may be arranged at the lower end of the main screen for broadcast of the selected channel, or as shown in FIG. 9B, A predetermined number (five) of thumbnail sub-screens may be arranged on the right side (or left side) of the screen. In addition, as shown in the figure, the thumbnail sub-screens may be displayed so as to cover a part of the main screen image.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. In addition, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various embodiments are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above description, The browser  Create and transmit to the integrated display processor AV  packet Stream 'And' digital The demodulator  Generating AV  packet Strim 'All of these transports Stream in  In case Specifically,  Respectively. One skilled in the art, however, The browser  AV packets that are created and transmitted to the integrated display processor Stream 'And' digital The demodulator  Generating AV  packet Stream 'Is a program stream, or PES Stream in  The present invention is not limited thereto.

1 is a block diagram of a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver;

2 is a block diagram of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4A is a block diagram illustrating an AV packet stream processing path according to an embodiment of the present invention when the digital broadcast receiver of FIG. 3 is broadcasting a digital channel as a main screen.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an AV packet stream processing path according to an embodiment of the present invention when the digital broadcast receiver of FIG. 3 broadcasts an analog channel on a main screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an AV packet creation and transmission process for outputting a sub-picture according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a data structure diagram showing the structure of a transport stream made up of TS packets used to implement the concept of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a data structure diagram showing a concrete example of a transport stream carrying a sub-screen image for channel browsing according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a configuration of a digital broadcasting receiving system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 9A illustrates a display screen in which thumbnail sub-screens are arranged at the bottom of the main screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

9B is a display screen showing that thumbnail sub-screens are arranged on the left side of the main screen according to the idea of the present invention.

Claims (20)

An integrated display processor for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream on a screen; A first tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first demodulator for demodulating an output signal of the first tuner and outputting a first AV packet stream; A second tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of a channel that is not tuned; A second demodulator for demodulating the output signal of the second tutor and outputting a second AV packet stream; And The first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream are mixed to create a display AV packet stream conforming to the protocol, and a channel browser Lt; / RTI > The channel browser comprises: The apparatus comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive only a packet including image data of a broadcast signal of the selected channel among a first AV packet stream, A digital broadcasting receiver for mixing the packet including the image data of the broadcasting signal of the selected channel and the packet of the second AV packet stream including the image data of the broadcasting signal of the non-selected channel, Broadcasting receiver. The method according to claim 1, The AV packet stream includes: Is a transport stream conforming to the ISO standard. 3. The method of claim 2, The channel browser comprises: And generates a TS packet including an image obtained by reducing an image formed by the second AV packet stream, and mixes the TS packet with a packet including image data of a broadcast signal of the selected channel. The method of claim 3, The channel browser comprises: And a PID not included in the first AV packet stream is assigned to the created TS packet. The method according to claim 1, The channel browser comprises: And a packet filter for filtering packets not including an image in the first AV packet stream. The method according to claim 1, The channel browser comprises: A digital broadcast decoder for decoding the second AV packet stream; An image buffer for storing images output from the digital broadcast decoder; And A packaging unit for creating AV packets containing images stored in the image buffer and mixing them with packets containing image data of broadcast signals of the selected channel, And a digital broadcast receiver. The method according to claim 1, The integrated display processor includes: Upon receipt of the display AV packet stream, Wherein the image displayed on the first AV packet stream is displayed on a full screen, and the image displayed on the second AV packet stream is displayed on a small screen in a partial area. The method according to claim 1, The first demodulator includes a first digital demodulator for demodulating a digital broadcast signal and a first analog demodulator for demodulating an analog broadcast signal, Wherein the second demodulator includes a second digital demodulator for demodulating a digital broadcast signal, and a second analog demodulator for demodulating the analog broadcast signal. 9. The method of claim 8, An output signal of the first analog demodulator is input to the integrated display processor, Wherein the output signal of the first digital demodulator, the output signal of the second digital demodulator, and the output signal of the second analog demodulator are input to the channel browser. The method according to claim 1, The first tuner and the first demodulator are connected, and the second tuner and the second demodulator are connected, The second tuner and the first demodulator are connected to each other, and a switching block for switching the state in which the first tuner and the second demodulator are connected, And a digital broadcast receiver. Two digital AV input terminals for receiving a first AV packet stream and a second AV packet stream encoded in a digital television broadcasting format; A digital broadcast decoder for decoding the second AV packet stream; An image buffer for storing images output from the digital broadcast decoder; Creating AV packets containing images stored in the image buffer, A packaging unit mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream to create an AV packet stream for display; And An output terminal for outputting the AV packet stream for display to the outside Lt; / RTI > The packaging unit includes: Only the packet including the image data of the broadcast signal of the channel selected from the first AV packet stream is filtered, And mixes the AV packet with a packet including image data of a broadcast signal of the selected channel to create the AV packet stream for display. 12. The method of claim 11, An analog AV input terminal for receiving an analog AV signal; An analog broadcast decoder for decoding an AV signal encoded in an analog television broadcast format; And A switching block for selecting one of the digital broadcasting decoder or the analog broadcasting decoder Wherein the channel browser further comprises: 12. The method of claim 11, And an image reduction block for reducing an image output from the digital broadcast decoder. 12. The method of claim 11, And an image compression block for compressing an image output from the digital broadcast decoder. 12. The method of claim 11, The packaging unit includes: A packet filter for filtering a packet including image data of a broadcast signal of the selected channel among packets constituting the first AV packet stream; A sub-screen packaging unit for packaging images stored in the image buffer; And And a packet multiplexer for mixing the packets output from the packet filter and the sub-screen packaging unit and generating the AV packet stream for display Wherein the channel browser comprises: 12. The method of claim 11, The AV packet stream includes: Wherein the transport stream is a transport stream according to the ISO protocol. An integrated display processor for receiving an AV packet stream packaged according to a predetermined protocol, decoding the AV packet stream, and displaying the decoded AV packet stream on a screen; A first tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of the selected channel; A first digital demodulator for demodulating a signal received by the first tuner and outputting a first AV packet stream; An output terminal for outputting the first AV packet stream to a following browsing receiver; An input terminal for receiving the AV packet stream from the browsing receiver and delivering it to the integrated display processor; A basic receiver having a switch block for switching connection between the first digital demodulator and the integrated display processor; An input terminal for receiving the first AV packet stream from the basic receiver; A second tuner for receiving a broadcast signal of viewable channels; A second digital demodulator for demodulating a signal received by the second tuner and outputting a second AV packet stream; A channel browser for mixing the first AV packet stream and the second AV packet stream to create an AV packet stream for display according to the protocol; And And an output terminal for outputting the AV packet stream for display to the basic receiver And a digital broadcast receiving system. 18. The method of claim 17, The switch block includes: And closes when the basic receiver is not connected to the browsing receiver, and opens when the basic receiver is connected to the browsing receiver. 18. The method of claim 17, The channel browser comprises: A digital broadcast decoder for decoding the second AV packet stream; An image buffer for storing images output from the digital broadcast decoder; And A packaging unit for creating AV packets containing images stored in the image buffer, mixing the AV packets with the first AV packet stream, and creating the AV packet stream for display The digital broadcast receiving system comprising: 18. The method of claim 17, The integrated display processor includes: Upon receipt of the display AV packet stream, Wherein the display unit displays the image stored in the second AV packet stream in a small screen in a part of the screen in a state of displaying the image in the first AV packet stream on the full screen.

Images