KR101627859B1 - A method of providing application list based upon broadcasting information for an add-on television - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of generating an application list based on broadcast information of a program being watched by a user in an application providing server that provides a large number of applications and providing the application so that a user can easily select an application suitable for the user from a large number of applications to provide.

Add-on TV, Add-on TV, application, list, broadcast information, channel information, program information, customized, filtering options

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method of providing an application list based on broadcast information in an add-

The present invention relates to a so-called add-on TV or set-top box that can be used by installing an application.

More specifically, the present invention generates and provides an application list based on broadcast information of a program being watched by a user in an application providing server that provides a large number of applications, so that a user can easily select It provides a way to be able to.

Recently, as the functions of digital TVs have diversified, a TV capable of connecting to a network and communicating in both directions has appeared. In addition to the function of receiving and displaying a conventional broadcast signal, a TV which can install and use various applications has appeared. A TV that can additionally install such applications is commonly referred to as an add-on TV.

TVs with the add-on architecture can add new features through the installation of add-on applications. The add-on TV usually downloads the application through the network. The add-on application list is fetched from the application providing server and displayed on the screen, and the user selects one of them to install the program.

At this time, if there are a lot of add-on applications on the server, the user will not know which application to select.

In this case, the conventional method is to show the application to the user on the basis of the popularity (the number of downloads), the registration date, the search word, etc. In the trend that the types of applications executable on the TV become various and the number thereof increases, A more sophisticated method is needed to make the choice easier.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of selecting an application more convenient for a user by utilizing the characteristics of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus and using a TV channel type, program information, and the like.

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a network interface unit connected to a server providing an application through a network and receiving a list of applications related to broadcast information from the server; A storage unit for storing an application received from the server; A broadcast signal processing unit for receiving a broadcast signal to extract broadcast information being viewed by a viewer, processing the received broadcast signal as an outputable signal, and outputting the processed signal; A display unit for displaying a signal and an image processed by the broadcast signal processing unit; A user interface unit for receiving a command from a user; And a control unit for transmitting the broadcast information extracted by the broadcast signal processing unit to the server and controlling to receive an application list related to the broadcast information from the server.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing an application for a digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the method comprising: extracting broadcast information from a broadcast signal being viewed by a user; Transmitting an application list request related to broadcast information being viewed by a user to a server providing an application; Receiving a list of applications related to the broadcast information from the server; And displaying the received application list.

According to the present invention, by providing an application list to a user based on a broadcast program viewed by a user, a user can easily select an application desired from among a large number of applications.

In addition, according to the present invention, an application list suitable for a user can be provided by providing an application list that does not require a process of inputting and filtering a search word.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a network configuration diagram of a TV for providing an application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the TV 12 is connected to the server 11 which provides an application via a network. The network is typically a wired or wireless Internet, but may be provided by any two way wired or wireless communication. In the present invention, the TV 12 refers to a digital broadcasting receiver, and may be a digital TV or a set-top box. The TV 12 according to the present invention is called a so-called add-on TV, and is a TV that can download and install various applications such as games according to the user's needs.

As shown in FIG. 1, the TV 12 according to the present invention accesses the server 11 and requests an application list in order to download an application. At this time, the list request is transmitted to the viewer of the TV 12 And broadcast information of the program being watched is transmitted together. The broadcast information according to the present invention includes channel information or program information as detailed information on a program viewed by a viewer. For example, the broadcast information may include channel information such as sports channel, news channel, game channel, drama channel, movie channel, specific religious channel, goch channel, fishing channel, Plot, character, age limit information (grade information), and the like.

The list request of the TV 12 may be performed by the user's input or may be performed periodically or at any time regardless of the user's intention.

The server 11 receiving the broadcast information together with the list request generates and transmits a user-customized application list based on the broadcast information. For example, if the viewer is watching the go program, the broadcast information includes information indicating that the channel or the program is related to Go, and the server 11 may receive the application Search for applications related to Go and create a list. For example, the application associated with Go may be a Go game, a Go game application, or the like. In addition, if the current viewing program is a program that is viewable by 15 years or older, the program can be searched for a program suitable for a 15-year-old, that is, 15 to 17 years old.

The generated application list is transmitted to the TV 12 and displayed to the user. The user selects an application from the displayed application list, and downloads and installs the selected application. With this configuration, a user can reduce the time required for searching for a desired application among a large number of applications.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the TV 12 will be described in detail. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The TV 12 can access various servers through a network to receive contents such as an application or VOD streaming, or receive broadcast signals in the form of RF signals wirelessly through the broadcast receiver 100.

2, the TV 12 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a broadcast receiver 100, a demultiplexer 110, a video signal processor 120, a display 130, a network interface An OSD generation unit 150, a user interface unit 160, a storage interface unit 170, a memory unit 180, and a control unit 190.

In the case of digital broadcasting, a digital broadcasting signal is transmitted in the form of a packetized transport stream by time division multiplexing a video signal, an audio signal, and additional data.

The broadcast receiving unit 100 receives an externally transmitted broadcast signal through an antenna and includes a tuner for tuning a broadcast signal having a frequency band corresponding thereto according to a tuning control signal of a controller 190 to be described later, And a demodulator (demodulator) for outputting the broadcast signal of the channel in the form of a transport stream through a VSB (Vestigial Sideband) demodulation process and an error correction process.

The broadcast signal received through the broadcast receiver 100 is demultiplexed into various additional data defined by a video signal, an audio signal, Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) .

The video data separated through the demultiplexing unit 110 is processed by the video signal processing unit 120 and displayed on the display unit 130.

At this time, the video signal processing unit 120 includes an MPEG-2 decoder and a scaler for converting the video data to a vertical frequency, a resolution, an aspect ratio, and the like, which match the output specifications of the display unit 130.

The display unit 130 may include various types of displays such as a DLP (Digital Light Processing), an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and a PDP (Plasma Display Panel).

The audio signal is processed by a voice signal processor (not shown) and output to a speaker. The voice signal processor may include an AC-3 decoder.

The additional data included in the additional data separated through the demultiplexing unit 110 is stored in the memory unit 180 through the storage interface unit 170 to be described later.

The memory unit 180 may be implemented by an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) or the like.

 The user interface unit 160 is a means for receiving a request command from a user, and typically includes an infrared receiver for receiving an infrared signal input through a remote controller or a local key input unit provided on one side of the panel.

The network interface unit 140 receives contents or applications from the server 11 via a network, for example, the Internet. That is, it receives contents such as broadcasts, games, VOD, broadcast signals, and the like provided from a content provider through a network and information related thereto. In addition, the network interface unit 140 transmits an application list request to the server 11, and receives an application list and an application from the server 11.

The OSD generating unit 150 generates a menu screen for receiving a user's judgment signal in the form of an OSD (On Screen Display).

That is, the OSD generation unit 150 may display the application list received through the network interface unit 140 through the display unit 130.

The control unit 190 performs overall operation control according to a command input from the user interface unit 160. The control unit 190 controls the above components to extract the broadcast information, transmit the extracted broadcast information to the server 11, and receive the application list related to the broadcast information from the server 11, as described later.

The broadcast receiving unit 100, the demultiplexing unit 110, the video signal processing unit 120, the OSD generating unit 150, and the control unit 190 are components for processing a broadcast signal in a form capable of receiving and outputting a broadcast signal. A broadcast signal processing unit, and can be implemented as a single chip.

The broadcast processing unit receives information on channel information such as a sports channel, a news channel, a game channel, a drama channel, a movie channel, a specific religious channel, a goch channel, a fishing channel, , A story, a character, age restriction information (rating information), and the like. Such broadcast information can be extracted from PSIP or EPG among the outputs of the broadcast signal demultiplexing unit.

The form in which information is expressed using PSIP data is EPG. That is, the EPG can be generated by analyzing the PSIP. PSIP is composed of STT (System Time Table), MGT (Master Guide Table), VCT (Virtual Channel Table), RRT (Rating Region Table), EIT (Event Information Table) and EET (Extended Text Table). STT represents information on the current date and time, and MGT represents the PID value and version information of the remaining tables except STT. The VCT represents information on the virtual channel. The RRT represents rating information for program contents. The EIT represents the program title and start time information for all channels in the VCT. The EET contains detailed descriptions of the program, such as background, plot, and characters.

When requesting the application list to the server 11, the TV 12 transmits the broadcast information extracted by the broadcast processing unit together. The server 11 generates a user-customized application list based on the received broadcast information and transmits the list to the TV 12.

The information describing the application may be from several tens to several hundreds, such as the type of application, file size, optimum system specification, application developer information, and the like. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when creating an application list in the server 11, it is possible to set, as a default, which one of these pieces of information is to be created based on which of the filtering options is included, If an option is specified, an application list corresponding to the option can be generated and transmitted.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a filtering option to be included at the time of application list creation at the time of requesting the application list from the TV 12 to the server 11 may be transmitted together. The server 11 having received the filtering option can generate an application list including the corresponding filtering option and transmit it to the TV 12.

The filtering options transmitted by the TV 12 to the server 11 according to the present invention may include the number of downloads, the number of recommendations, the latest registration date, broadcast information, and the like. The filtering option may be set to the default on the TV 12, preset by the user in advance, or set each time the application is downloaded.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an application list including a filtering option according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the example of FIG. 3, the application list is requested by setting the filtering option to broadcast information, download count, recommendation count, and uploaded date.

The server 11 searches the application based on the broadcast information received from the TV 12, extracts the information designated by the filtering option from the information about the searched applications, and generates a list by sorting by the filtering options.

For example, in FIG. 3, the broadcast information filtering option tab 21 is a list of retrieved applications in alphabetical order, the download order tab 22 is arranged in a download order, And the latest data order (24) is sorted in the order of latest upload.

By arranging the applications according to the filtering options specified by the user as described above and providing the application list, the user can conveniently select the desired application without editing the received application list or searching for additional information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an application providing method performed by the digital broadcasting receiving apparatus, that is, the TV 12 of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S41, the TV 12 extracts broadcast information from the received broadcast signal. Then, in step S42, the server 11 transmits a list request including the broadcast information of the broadcast currently being viewed by the user. In step S43, the application list is received from the server 11. As described above, the application list is a user-customized application list that the server 11 searches based on broadcast information. In step S44, the received application list is displayed. If the user selects one of the displayed applications in step S45, the selected application is downloaded from the server 11 in step S46.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention.

1 is a network configuration diagram of a TV for providing an application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a TV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an application list including a filtering option according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an application providing method performed by the digital broadcasting receiving apparatus, that is, the TV 12 of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (12)

A network interface unit connected to a server providing an application via a network and receiving an application list from the server; A storage unit for storing an application received from the server; A broadcast signal processing unit for receiving a broadcast signal to extract broadcast information being viewed by a viewer, processing the received broadcast signal as an outputable signal, and outputting the processed signal; A display unit for displaying a signal and an image processed by the broadcast signal processing unit; A user interface unit for receiving a command from a user; And And a control unit for transmitting the broadcast information extracted by the broadcast signal processing unit to the server and controlling to receive the application list from the server, The application list includes: Searches for applications related to the broadcast signal from applications that the server can provide based on the extracted broadcast information, extracts information designated as a filtering option from the information about the searched applications, Lt; / RTI > The filtering option may include: Including at least one of the number of downloads, recommendations, and the latest uploaded date Digital broadcast receiving apparatus. The method according to claim 1, The network interface unit transmits an application list request to the server by an input of a user or at predetermined time intervals Digital broadcast receiving apparatus. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the broadcast information is extracted from the PSIP or EPG of the broadcast signal. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the broadcast information is extracted from one of an EIT (Event Information Table), an ETT (Extended Text Table), and an RRT (Rate Region Table) among the PSIP of the broadcast signal. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the application list request includes at least one filtering option. delete Extracting broadcast information from a broadcast signal being viewed by a user; Transmitting an application list request related to broadcast information being viewed by a user to a server providing an application; Receiving an application list associated with the broadcast information from the server; And Displaying the received application list; Lt; / RTI > The application list includes: Searches for applications related to the broadcast signal from applications that the server can provide based on the extracted broadcast information, extracts information designated as a filtering option from the information about the searched applications, and arranges the information according to the filtering option Generated list, The filtering option may include: Including at least one of the number of downloads, recommendations, and the latest uploaded date A method of providing an application of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus. 8. The method of claim 7, Receiving an input for selecting one from the application list; And And downloading the selected application according to the received input. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the broadcast information is extracted from the PSIP or EPG of the broadcast signal. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the broadcast information is extracted from one of an EIT (Event Information Table), an ETT (Extended Text Table), and an RRT (Rate Region Table) among the PSIP of the broadcast signal. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the application list request includes at least one filtering option. delete

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