KR101564464B1 - Display device and channel strucring method - Google Patents

Abstract

A display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a network interface unit connected to a service provider through a network and receiving channel information for each region provided from the service provider; A channel information storage unit for storing channel information received through the network interface unit; A channel information searching unit for searching channel information corresponding to a current viewing area of the current channel information received from the network interface unit; And a controller for storing the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit in the channel information storage unit to construct a channel map.

Channel information, IPTV, channel map

Description

Display device and channel strucring method "

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a channel setting device and a channel setting method in IPTV.

Recently, as digital broadcasting is accelerating, high-definition / high-quality broadcasting through satellite / terrestrial / cable is starting.

Compared to existing analog display devices, digital broadcasting is an advantage of broadcasting, in addition to providing high quality and high quality sound, as well as various additional services.

This digital broadcasting compresses high definition / high quality A / V using video / audio compression method (MPEG-2, AC-3) and uses QPSK / VSB / QAM transmission method through existing satellite / terrestrial / cable band So that it is possible to provide various services to one channel.

In the case of terrestrial waves, one channel can provide more than four channels of SD class and one channel of HD class. In addition, the digital display device transmits additional information such as A / V data to provide various services , And can provide services such as broadcast guidance on the increased channel using such information.

For example, if the channel is currently being broadcast on channels Nos. 2 to 69 of NTSC, it is possible to view 272 broadcasts, which is four times as much, and to broadcast more than cable or satellite channels.

In the conventional analog cable broadcasting, channels 2 to 125 are used, and the ATSC channel uses the band not used by the NTSC terrestrial in the frequency band 2 to 69.

In such a display device, in order to view a broadcast, a user initially executes an automatic channel search function for automatically setting all channels. When the automatic channel search function is performed, a channel up / down The user can select a channel by inputting a key. In addition, a desired channel can be viewed by inputting a key of a desired numerical channel.

Accordingly, it is possible to effectively separate and manage more than 50 channels and more than 100 channels at present, which can receive various broadcast channels through cable or satellite broadcasting, unlike the past that was able to receive only the airwave channel Several methods are presented.

That is, the channel setting method of the display device according to the related art has a method of constructing the channel map by checking existence or nonexistence of the valid signal with respect to the entire frequency band.

In addition, when the channel information of the corresponding region is transmitted to a specific channel of the analog or digital in a more advanced method, the display device extracts the corresponding channel information through tuning of the specific channel, There is also a way to construct a map.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a channel map can be configured more simply and efficiently by using channel map information transmitted through a network in IPTV.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, among the channel map information transmitted through the network in the IPTV, the channel map information corresponding to the area where the user's display device is located can be selectively received.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to selectively receive the channel map information corresponding to the current user's broadcast type among the channel map information transmitted through the network in IPTV.

A display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a network interface unit connected to a service provider through a network and receiving channel information of each region provided from the service provider; A channel information storage unit for storing channel information received through the network interface unit; A channel information searching unit for searching channel information corresponding to a current viewing area of the current channel information received from the network interface unit; And a controller for storing the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit in the channel information storage unit to construct a channel map.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a channel setting method for a display device, the method comprising: receiving channel information for each region provided from a service provider through a network; Confirming a broadcast viewing area of the user according to the position of the display device; Retrieving channel information corresponding to the broadcast viewing area from the received channel information for each region; And configuring a channel map by storing the searched channel information.

The display device and the channel setting method according to the embodiment of the present invention selectively receive the channel information corresponding to the viewing area of the display device among the channel information transmitted through the network so that the user can conveniently And the channel information is updated when the channel information is changed to update the stored channel information, thereby improving user convenience and satisfaction.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the scope of the present invention to the embodiment shown, and that other embodiments falling within the scope of the present invention may be easily devised by adding, Can be proposed.

Although the terms used in the present invention are selected as general terms that are widely used at present, there are some terms selected by the applicant in specific cases. In this case, since the meaning is described in detail in the description of the present invention, It is to be understood that the present invention should be grasped as a meaning of a non-term.

In general, IPTV can watch a broadcast program on the Internet, such as terrestrial, satellite, or cable broadcasting. The IPTV can receive a desired movie, music, electronic It means that services such as e-mail can be done on the television as if it is using the Internet as commerce and PC (personal computer).

As shown in FIG. 1, an IPTV system includes a content provider, a service provider, a network provider, and a consumer layer.

The content provider plays a role of providing content to a service provider, and is also called a content provider.

The service provider plays a role of providing services to the subscriber, collects various contents, transforms the signals according to the IP environment, and delivers the modified contents to the user. Here, the service provider may be a virtual entity.

The network provider connects the user and the service provider through the IP network. The transmission system can use various network networks such as an access network or a backbone network.

The user is a layer for receiving contents and receiving broadcasting, such as an IPTV, a set top box, a PC, or an IP phone.

Hereinafter, the concept of IPTV will be described in more detail.

2 shows a characteristic diagram of a system of IPTV.

Referring to FIG. 2, the system layer of IPTV can be broadly divided into a content provider 10, a service provider 20, and a consumer 30.

The content provider 10 is also referred to as a platform provider. These three groups have different roles, and the content provider is a large group that provides all the overall services and data for a broadcast program.

In addition, the service provider 20 transmits the multimedia data, and manages the maintenance of the transmission network so that the content can be received stably by the user. Also, Facilities and functions.

And a Consumer group 30 plays back data received by using an infrastructure such as xDSL or cable and reacts immediately to a user's request.

Most of them are made up of IPTV producers, and they can be divided into IPTV, set top box, PC or IP phone and so on. IP phones are not directly related to IPTV, but, in general, with IPTV, phone services can be serviced as well.

Herein, each of the above groups will be described in detail. First, a group of a content provider 10 may be a TV station or a radio station that creates a broadcast program.

A TV station means a conventional terrestrial or cable broadcasting station, which can create a program that can be viewed by the user, store it in a digital form, and transmit it. In general, it is intended to allow transmission in various broadcasting formats.

A radio station means a regular radio station, and although it may be a video channel occasionally, it can be said that it operates mostly without a video channel.

VoD, AoD, and MoD services have different characteristics from TV stations and Radio Stations. In other words, in the case of VoD or AoD, I can store desired programs, movies, and music, and then play them. For example, if there is a broadcast program that is not properly watched because there is no time for viewing the current broadcast program, the user can access the site providing the broadcast service and download the file or play the program immediately.

AoD also offers the ability to record audio programs in a difficult or real-time manner.

MoD service is an abbreviation of Music On Demand. This seems to be similar to AoD, but the service is likely to be a record label or a music distributor expanding existing web services.

The PF server is a service provider that manages all broadcasting information and location information provided by the content provider in place. This service mainly includes the broadcasting time of the broadcasting station, position information necessary for broadcasting, and information that the user can access.

The EPG service is one of convenient services that enables users to view broadcast programs by time zone and to grasp them by channel. The EPG service is a service that is frequently used so that the form provided by the TV guide company is representative, and the program is automatically installed on the customer side so that it can be executed.

The ECG service has all the functions that the user can conveniently use the content information of the content provider, the location of the access server, and the access right. Simply put, it is an electronic program guide (EPG) that provides detailed information on content and the ability to easily access servers with content.

Portal Server is a Web service provided by each broadcasting station and is connected to a web server of a broadcasting station or a service provider. The role of Portal Server is to search the list of programs provided by each broadcasting station or content providers providing content services, or to view the list.

The service provider 20 provides the stability and bandwidth of the network so that the multimedia data and broadcast data transmitted from the content provider 10 are normally transmitted.

Service providers can provide IPTV services using existing cable networks. In this case, it is necessary to change the equipment of the delivery network.

In other words, it is necessary to configure network equipment capable of real-time data transmission and configure the network considering bandwidth to the customer. These devices need to reduce the bandwidth by processing large amount of multimedia data using Multicast service which is the basic network service of IPTV.

If the bandwidth can not be secured, the service provider re-transcodes the multimedia broadcast data from the optical cable network or the content provider in an attempt to secure the bandwidth, and transmits the data in the form of MPEG-4 or MPEG-7 It can be transformed and transmitted.

The service provider 20 is required to provide a number of services in order to achieve this, and it is designed to provide a size NMS (Network Management System), a DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol), and a CDN service.

The NMS service manages the delivery network and the IPTV receiver of the customer that the service provider can transmit to each user. In other words, using this service, it is possible to confirm how much traffic is generated for a certain broadcast and in which area the bandwidth is insufficient.

The DHCP service is used to automatically assign an IP address to a customer's IPTV receiver and to inform the address of the CDN server. The DHCP service is also a good way to assign IP to a PC in a normal network. The IPTV receiver should be able to connect to the IPTV receiver to allow access to the IPTV receiver when the user first accesses the IPTV receiver.

The CDN service is the data provided by the service provider. When the IPTV receiver is powered on for the first time, the CDN service is received by the service provider while receiving the IP by the DHCP service. This information contains the registration and authentication of users of IPTV operators and the PF information mentioned above.

The user 30 may have various types of IPTV receivers. For users with ordinary TVs, users can rent IPTV STBs to enjoy IPTV inexpensively. Service providers can also pay for additional services at an inexpensive price and can also apply for an IP phone. .

The IPTV receiver basically has a network interface capable of connecting to a network. The IPTV receiver has an internet protocol, and receives and processes data packets coming from the network. In the case of multimedia data, the IPTV receiver can reproduce data on the screen. It is necessary to transmit the data packet to the network quickly and obtain the information from the server and react.

That is, the IPTV receiver must operate in a bidirectional manner to transmit user's requests while processing multimedia data. It should also be provided with buttons for IPTV on the remote control so that the service can be used.

3, the display device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a network interface unit 110, a channel information storage unit 120, a user interface unit 130, a GPS transceiver 140 A GPS satellite 150, an earth station 160, a channel information searching unit 170, and a control unit 180.

The network interface unit 110 receives channel-specific channel information received from the network. That is, the service provider receives the channel information provided from the service provider through the network, and the contents provided from the service provider include various broadcast programs in addition to the channel information, and information about the broadcast programs.

Here, the channel information provided from the service provider may be a multicast transmission packet according to a multicast transmission scheme.

That is, the transmission method of the Internet is classified into the unicast, broadcast, and multicast transmission methods by being distinguished from the viewpoint of the sender and the receiver participating in the transmission.

The unicast transmission scheme is a scheme in which one sender transmits data to another recipient, and all ordinary Internet application programs use the unicast scheme.

That is, the unicast transmission scheme is a scheme in which one sender transmits image and voice data for e-mail, video conferencing, etc. on the Internet to the other recipient at a ratio of 1: 1. This is a concept corresponding to a multicast scheme in which information is not sent to each recipient at a time but is simultaneously transmitted to two or more other recipients.

In this transmission method, data is transmitted only to the IP address of the receiver designated by the sender of data transmission. That is, when multiple recipients want the same data, the sender must copy the data multiple times and send it to each recipient's IP address. Therefore, since the data packets must be repeatedly sent to the number of recipients, the efficiency of the communication network is lowered, and the users have to share the limited line capacity.

The broadcast transmission scheme is a scheme in which one sender transmits data to all receivers on the same sub-network.

That is, the above-mentioned broadcast transmission method physically transmits a plurality of copied traffic to all the receivers existing in the network by the connected network equipment (switch, hub, etc.).

Accordingly, the receiver may receive the transmitted traffic if the transmitted traffic exists on the network even though the transmitted traffic is not its own, thereby adversely affecting the performance of the network.

On the other hand, the multicast transmission scheme is used in applications such as Internet video conferencing, distance education, software distribution, stock price information delivery, and news, in which one or more senders transmit data to specific one or more receivers.

The difference between a multicast scheme and a general unicast internet application is that it is in the transport packet first. In general, an Internet application program on TCP / IP transmits the Internet address of the receiver to which the sender of the data receives the packet, in the header of the transmission packet.

However, for multicast transmission, instead of the address of the receiver, the packet is transmitted by indicating the group address in which the receivers participate.

The group address for the multicast transmission is D-class IP address (224.0.0.0 ~ 239.255.255.255), unlike the A, B, and C-class IP addresses that represent individual Internet hosts worldwide, The receiver receiving the multicast transmission packet having the group address determines whether the packet belongs to the group of the transmitted packet and determines whether to accept the packet.

That is, the transmitted channel information differs depending on the area where the display device is installed, that is, the broadcast viewing area according to the current user's location.

Accordingly, in order to easily receive the channel information according to the user's area, the channel information is transmitted as a multicast transmission packet, so that the display device receives only the packets belonging to the group of the multicast transmission packets transmitted, It is possible to construct a channel map according to the channel map.

In addition, the packet belonging to the user's own group may be different from the local information on which the current user is located, and accordingly, the display device can display only the channel information corresponding to the area where the current user is located, Thereby selectively configuring the channel map.

 Here, the method of confirming the area where the user is located includes an automatic checking method and a manual checking method according to user selection.

The manual confirmation method according to the user selection is a method of confirming using the area information previously selected by the user. That is, the user selects an area where the user is currently located using the user interface unit 130, and the controller 180 stores the selected area information from the user.

Also, the automatic checking method is performed by transmitting and receiving GPS signals.

That is, the GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140 transmits GPS signals to the GPS satellites 150 and receives the coordinate data of the display devices. The GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140 receives GPS signals from the GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140 to the GPS satellites 150 The earth station 160 calculates precise coordinates according to the position of the display device based on the data transmitted from the GPS satellite 150 and transmits the coordinate data to the GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140.

Then, the controller 180 checks the viewing area of the current user, that is, the area where the display device is located, using the coordinate data transmitted from the GPS signal transmitting and receiving part 140.

When the viewing area of the user is confirmed through the automatic checking method or the manual checking method, the controller 180 transmits the viewing area information to the channel information searching unit 170 and the channel information searching unit 170 So that channel information corresponding to the delivered viewing area information is retrieved.

The channel information searching unit 170 searches channel information corresponding to the area information transmitted through the controller 170 among the channel information periodically supplied from the service provider and transmits the channel information to the controller 170. [ .

That is, the channel information transmitted in the form of the multicast transmission packet includes channel information, local information, version information, and broadcast type information.

The channel information represents actual channel map information and forms a channel map according to a user's display device based on the channel information. The local information is generally configured in the form of a region code, The version information provides information on a version of the channel information, and the channel type information provides information on a broadcast type such as terrestrial broadcast, cable, and satellite broadcast.

Accordingly, the channel information searching unit 170 compares the local information included in the channel information transmitted in the form of the multicast transmission packet with the local information transmitted through the controller 180, The channel information having the same local information as the channel information is retrieved.

In addition, the channel information searching unit 170 identifies broadcast type information preset by a user, and selectively searches for channel information according to a broadcast viewing state of the current user.

That is, when the current user's broadcast type is terrestrial broadcast, the channel information corresponding to the terrestrial broadcast is searched. If the broadcast type of the user is a cable broadcast, channel information corresponding to the cable broadcast is searched. Similarly, As shown in FIG.

The control unit 180 receives the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit 170 and determines whether to update the channel information previously stored in the channel information storage unit 120 using the received channel information.

That is, when the channel information previously stored in the channel information storage unit 120 does not exist, the controller 180 stores the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieving unit 170 in the initial setting process, Unit 120 to form a channel map.

However, if the channel information already stored in the channel information storage unit 120 exists, the control unit 180 updates the version information of the channel information already stored and the channel information that is retrieved from the channel information search unit 170 And if the searched channel information is newer than the already stored channel information, updates the previously stored channel information using the searched channel information, If the stored channel information is the same version or older version, the channel map configuration operation using the searched channel information is not performed.

As described above, the display device according to the embodiment of the present invention selectively receives channel information corresponding to the viewing area of the display device among the channel information transmitted through the network, so that the user can conveniently set the channel without performing a separate channel search process Also, when the channel information is changed, the channel information is updated to update the stored channel information, thereby improving user convenience and satisfaction.

As shown in FIG. 4, the channel setting method of the display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as described above determines whether an automatic channel map configuration command is input from a user (S110).

When the automatic channel map configuration command is input from the user as a result of the determination (S110), the viewing area and the broadcasting type of the current user are confirmed (S120). In other words, the user can confirm the predetermined area information of the user based on the coordinate data of the display device received according to the GPS signal transmission. Also, it confirms whether the current broadcasting type of the user corresponds to any one of terrestrial, cable, and satellite broadcasting.

Then, channel information corresponding to the confirmed region and the broadcast type is searched for in the region-specific channel information supplied from the service provider (S130).

In step S140, it is determined whether channel information corresponding to the identified region and broadcast type is searched among the channel-specific channel information supplied from the service provider.

If the channel information corresponding to the confirmed region and broadcast type is not found, the process ends (S140). Otherwise, the version information of the searched channel information is checked (S150).

Next, the verified version information is compared with the version information of the previously stored channel information, and it is determined whether the version of the searched channel information is newer than the previously stored channel information (S160).

If the version of the searched channel information is newer than the previously stored channel information, the control unit terminates the process if the version of the searched channel information is newer than the previously stored channel information, (Step S170).

 As described above, the control method of the display device according to the embodiment of the present invention selectively receives the channel information corresponding to the viewing area of the display device among the channel information transmitted through the network, so that the user can easily It is possible to improve the user's convenience and satisfaction by updating the previously stored channel information by detecting the change of the channel information.

1 shows a system layer of a general IPTV.

2 is a diagram showing a characteristic diagram of a general IPTV system;

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a channel setting method of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

10: content provider 20: service provider

30: User

110:

Claims (9)

A network interface unit connected to a service provider through a network and receiving channel information provided from the service provider; A channel information extracting unit for extracting local information for each channel included in the channel information and comparing the extracted local information with user viewing area information for each channel to search for a channel having matching local information in all channels provided from the service provider, A search unit; A channel information storage unit for storing channel information retrieved by the channel information retrieval unit; And And a controller configured to construct a channel map based only on the channel searched by the channel information searching unit Display device. The method according to claim 1, And a GPS signal transmitting / receiving unit for receiving coordinate data of the display device through GPS signal transmission and confirming local information of the user. The method according to claim 1, If the pre-stored information does not exist in the channel information storage unit, the controller stores information of the searched channel in the channel information storage unit Display device. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the controller compares the first version information included in the information of the searched channel with the second version information included in the previously stored information when the previously stored information exists in the channel information storage unit, If the version is newer than the second version information, the pre-stored information is updated with the information of the searched channel Display device. A channel setting method of a display device, Receiving channel information provided from a service provider through a network; Confirming a broadcast viewing area of the user according to the position of the display device; Extracting local information for each channel included in the channel information; Comparing the extracted local information with the broadcast viewing area for each channel to search for a channel having corresponding local information in all channels provided from the service provider; Storing information of the searched channel; And And constructing a channel map using only the searched channel. 6. The method of claim 5, The step of receiving the channel information Receiving channel information of a multicast packet type provided from the service provider, Wherein the multicast packet includes local information, channel information, and version information. 6. The method of claim 5, The step of confirming the broadcast viewing area of the user And confirming the selected area information from the user or confirming the broadcasting viewing area of the user based on the coordinate data of the display device received according to the GPS signal transmission. 6. The method of claim 5, The step of storing information of the searched channel And storing information of the searched channel if the pre-stored information does not exist in the channel information storage unit. 9. The method of claim 8, Comparing the first version information included in the information of the searched channel with the second version information included in the previously stored information if the pre-stored information exists in the channel information storage unit; And updating the pre-stored information with the information of the searched channel if the first version information is newer than the second version information as a result of the comparison.

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