KR101674685B1 - A broadcast receiver and a method for editing channels and a method for browsing channels - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a user interface associated with a plurality of channels of a broadcast receiving apparatus. The present invention relates to a channel editing menu and a channel browsing method for providing information on a plurality of channels to a user, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a channel editing menu and a channel browsing method in which a screen is divided into two areas, A broadcast receiving apparatus and method capable of facilitating browsing are provided.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus, a channel editing method, and a channel browsing method.

The present invention relates to a user interface associated with a plurality of channels of a broadcast receiving apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a channel editing menu and a channel browsing method for providing information on a plurality of channels to a user, wherein the screen is divided into two areas and different channel groups are displayed in each area, A broadcast receiving apparatus and method capable of facilitating channel editing and channel browsing.

In recent years, digital TVs, which are widely popular, have a channel editing function for registering channels, which are mainly used by users, as preferred channels because there are several hundred channels. In addition, a channel browsing function is often provided to provide program information being received through a large number of channels.

In such channel editing and channel browsing, conventionally, it has been difficult to view other channel groups or simultaneously edit channel groups by displaying all the channels on one screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a channel editing method and a channel browsing method which divide a channel editing screen or a channel browsing screen into a plurality of areas and display different channel groups in each area, It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for facilitating editing.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast receiving apparatus including: a broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal; A broadcast signal processor for processing the received broadcast signal into a signal capable of being output; A user input unit for receiving a channel editing command from a user; A channel editing menu including a first area including a first channel group and a second area including a second channel group is displayed and a channel belonging to the first channel group and the second channel group is displayed A control unit for editing; A display unit for displaying a channel editing screen under the control of the controller; And a storage unit for storing the edited channel information.

A channel editing method of a broadcast receiving apparatus is provided according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method includes: displaying a channel editing menu including a first area including a first channel group and a second area including a second channel group; Editing a channel belonging to a first channel group and a second channel group according to a user's input; And storing the edited channel information.

According to the present invention, when a user performs a channel editing function or a channel browsing function, it is possible to provide a convenient user interface that allows a user to easily grasp information on channels and facilitate channel editing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 illustrates a network configuration diagram for providing contents to a broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows a channel editing method of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 8 illustrate a channel browsing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, a broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a broadcast receiving unit 101, a demultiplexing unit 102, a video signal processing unit 103, a display unit 104, a network interface An OSD generation unit 106, a user interface unit 107, a storage interface unit 108, a storage unit 109, an external signal input unit 111, and a control unit 110. [

Among the above components, the broadcast receiving unit 101, the demultiplexing unit 102, and the video signal processing unit 103 receive a broadcast signal, and process the processed broadcast signal in a form that can be output to the display unit 104 through various processes. A processing section can be constituted.

A digital broadcast 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 101 may include an antenna for receiving a broadcast signal transmitted from the outside and may include a tuner for tuning a broadcast signal having a frequency band corresponding thereto according to a tuning control signal of a controller 110, And a demodulator (demodulator) for outputting a broadcast signal of the tuned specific channel through a VSB (Vestigial Sideband) demodulation process, an error correction process, and the like in a transport stream format.

The broadcast signal received through the broadcast receiver 101 is demultiplexed into various additional data defined by a video signal, an audio signal, and program and system information protocol (PSIP) information by the demultiplexer 102, .

The video data separated through the demultiplexing unit 102 is processed by the video signal processing unit 103 and displayed on the display unit 104.

At this time, the video signal processor 103 may include an MPEG-2 decoder and a scaler for converting the video data to a vertical frequency, a resolution, an aspect ratio, etc. according to an output standard of the display unit 104.

Here, various types of display devices such as a digital light processing (DLP), a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a plasma display panel (PDP) may be used as the display unit 104.

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 102 is stored in the storage unit 109 through the storage interface unit 108 to be described later.

The storage device 109 may be implemented by an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) or the like.

The user interface unit 107 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 105 can transmit the content request through the network and receive the content. 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, bidirectional communication such as the Internet can be performed through the network interface unit 105. [

The OSD generating unit 106 generates a menu screen for receiving a user's judgment signal in the form of an OSD (On Screen Display).

That is, the OSD generating unit 106 may display information related to the broadcast signal received through the broadcast receiving unit 101 or information related to the content received through the network interface unit 105 through the display unit.

The external signal input unit 111 is an interface capable of receiving input from another reproducing apparatus, such as a DVD player, a game machine, or the like. It is possible to connect another playback apparatus to the external signal input unit 111 and output the multimedia stored in the playback apparatus to the display unit 104. [

The control unit 110 performs overall operation control according to a command input from the user interface unit 107. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the controller 110 may configure and display a channel editing menu for editing a plurality of channels, or provide a channel browsing screen for providing information on a plurality of channels, as described later do. This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8. FIG.

According to the embodiment, the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to the present invention can output a 3D image. The menu screen of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 may be provided in 3D, and when the content provided by the content provider 200 is 3D content, the menu screen may be received and output. In this case, a 3D formatter (not shown) for displaying 3D images may be further included.

As described above, the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be equipped with the network interface unit 105, and can receive and reproduce contents from the server through the network. The broadcast receiving apparatus 100 accesses servers of various content providers providing content, and displays a menu provided by the content provider server to a user. A user can select a desired content through a menu, and can view or download the content by streaming or downloading the content for a fee or free of charge.

FIG. 2 shows a network configuration diagram for implementing the above-mentioned contents provisioning.

2, a broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention corresponds to a network TV 100, and further includes a network operator 300, at least one content provider (CP) 200, which may be interconnected by a network, e.g., the Internet.

The network operator 300 can transmit the basic software necessary for the content provider 200 to operate normally in the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 or the software necessary for the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 to operate in the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 to provide. The content provider 200 also provides hardware information of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 required for the content to be normally executed in the broadcast receiving apparatus 100.

For example, the network operator 300 provides a basic screen frame required when providing contents provided by content providers to the broadcast receiving apparatus 100, and allows a user to select contents, input various commands, It is possible to provide a user interface for display.

The content provider 200 generates various contents that can be provided on the network and configures the contents into a format that can be reproduced by the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 and provides the contents according to a request of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100. The content according to the present invention may be any multimedia content that can be served through a network.

The content provider 200 may provide the content provided by the content provider 200 directly to the broadcast receiver 100 through the Internet or may be provided to the broadcast receiver 100 via the network operator 300. [ ). ≪ / RTI >

The broadcast receiving apparatus 100 receives the content from the content provider 200 and reproduces or executes the content. More specifically, the content provider 200 may be a company that creates or distributes various contents to be provided to the broadcast receiving apparatus 100. The content provider 200 may include a TV station, a radio station, a VOD provider, an AOD provider, a game provider, a video phone service provider, a weather information provider, a photo related service provider, and the like.

The broadcast receiving apparatus 100 basically has a network interface that can be connected to a network, receives an IP address and receives a data packet through a network, and when the data packet is multimedia data such as video and audio, .

The broadcast receiving apparatus 100 can operate to transmit the user's request in both directions while processing the multimedia data. In addition, a user input unit such as a remote controller or an operation button for controlling the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 may include buttons for controlling operations of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 to receive and reproduce or execute contents through the network, Buttons for selection may be provided.

The broadcast receiving apparatus 100 of the present invention may receive and display a broadcast signal transmitted in one direction, such as a terrestrial broadcast signal, a satellite broadcast signal, or a cable broadcast signal. In some cases, .

In the case of receiving a broadcast signal, the broadcast signal received through the broadcast receiving unit 101 is displayed. When the content is received through the network system, the content received through the network interface unit 105 is displayed.

A channel editing method of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

When a user performs a channel editing function by selecting a menu for editing a channel using a remote controller or by using a hot key of a remote controller, the channel editing menu shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 .

3, the channel editing menu according to an embodiment of the present invention is divided into two areas, and channels belonging to different groups are displayed in the first area 61 and the second area 62, respectively, do. Each channel may be displayed in a small window including the name and image of each channel, as shown in FIG. The window may include a representative image of each channel, such as a preview image or a thumbnail image.

On the one side of the screen, various menu buttons such as a deleted channel view 63, automatic sorting 64, editing end 65, favorite channel registration 66, and exit 67 can be displayed.

Different groups of channels are displayed in the first area 61 and the second area 62. A user can register favorite channels among a plurality of channels as a group, and a plurality of preferred channel groups can exist. Different preference channel groups may be displayed in the first area 61 and the second area 62, or a preferred channel group may be displayed in one area and all channels capable of being received by the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 may be displayed in the other area .

For example, it is assumed that the preferred channel group 1 68 is displayed in the first area 61 and the entire channel is displayed in the second area 62, as shown in FIG. The user can see what channels are included in the preferred channel group 1 set by himself / herself by comparing with the entire channels.

3, the user may register a new channel in the preferred channel group 1 68 or delete the registered channel. For example, if the user selects one channel belonging to the entire channel group 62 and then selects the favorite channel registration button 66, the selected channel can be registered in the new favorite channel group 1 68. Also, if the user selects a channel belonging to the preferred channel group 1 68 and then selects a 'delete from the preferred channel' button (not shown), it may be deleted from the preferred channel group 1 68. When the user selects a channel of the entire channel group, the button 66 becomes 'Favorite Channel Registration', and when the channel of the preferred channel group 1 is selected, 'Change to Favorite Channel' is displayed.

In addition, according to the embodiment, it is also possible to register and delete a favorite channel by dragging and dropping a window of each channel from one area to another area using a so-called motion recognition remote controller.

The operation recognition remote controller can transmit / receive data to / from the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 through an RF signal or a radio signal, and a motion sensor such as an acceleration sensor is mounted therein. In addition, a pointer is displayed on the display of the broadcast receiving apparatus 100, and the pointer moves according to the movement of the motion recognition remote controller. You can select objects or execute commands while moving the pointer in space, just as you would use a mouse on a computer. For example, if the window of the channel belonging to the preferred channel group 1 is dragged and dropped to the second area 62 in FIG. 3, the window of the channel belonging to the entire channel group is deleted from the first area 61 , It can be configured to be registered in the preferred channel group 1.

With the above configuration, the user can edit channels while watching the favorite channel group and the entire channel or another preferred channel group registered at the same time.

In FIG. 3, when the user selects the tabs of the other preferred channel groups 2, 3, and 4, the preferred channel group displayed in the first area 61 may be changed.

The above-described example relates to a case where the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 receives and outputs a broadcast signal. However, the same can be applied to the case where the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 receives contents through the network system of FIG.

In this case, the user can register a plurality of content providers or contents as a preference group. In FIG. 3, icons indicating contents providers or contents registered by the user as a preference group are displayed in the first area 61, and icons indicating the entire content providers or contents are displayed in the second area 62. The user can edit the content provider or the content just as if each icon was selected to edit the channel.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a channel browsing screen in which a plurality of channels are arranged in different areas on a display can be provided.

A channel browsing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the user selects a menu for the channel browsing function of the broadcast receiving apparatus, a channel browsing menu is displayed as shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, the channel browsing menu according to an embodiment of the present invention is divided into a plurality of areas, and channels of different groups are displayed in each area. Each channel is indicated by a window containing the channel name and the preview image. The preview image is obtained by tuning the tuner mounted on the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 in order and extracting a video signal received through each channel. 4, the user can confirm at a glance what programs are being broadcast to a plurality of channels.

Channels belonging to different groups are displayed in the first area 71 and the second area 72. For example, the first area 71 may display channels having a large number of viewing times or a long viewing time based on the viewing history of the user. Also, it is possible to display channels that the user mainly watches at the current time zone. Accordingly, the channels displayed in the first area 71 may be different for each time slot.

According to an embodiment, if the user information can be input to the broadcast receiving apparatus 100, the first region 71 may display channels to be mainly watched for each user.

In the second area 72, the entire channel or the preferred channel group that can be received by the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 may be displayed. FIG. 4 shows a case where the entire channel is displayed in the second area 72. 4, the user can view a browsing screen for the entire channel together with a browsing screen for the channels he / she mainly watches.

On the screen of Fig. 4, the user can edit a channel to be watched many times. For example, if one of the channels included in the second area 72 is selected and then a button (not shown) for registering the channel as a frequently viewed channel is selected, the selected channel can be registered as a channel that is mostly viewed.

In the screen of FIG. 4, when the user selects the favorite channel view button 73, the favorite channel groups can be displayed as shown in FIG. When the user selects the number change button 74, the number of channels to be watched many times, that is, the number of channels displayed in the first area 71, can be changed. The channel editing button 75 is selected, and the channel editing screen as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed to edit the preferred channel group.

5 is a screen displayed when the user selects the favorite channel view button 73 on the screen of Fig. 4, as described above. A window 78 of channels belonging to the preferred channel groups is displayed. When a different preferred channel group is selected, a window of channels belonging to another preferred channel group is displayed. In the state of FIG. 5, when the user presses the all view button 77, the state of FIG. 4 can be returned.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, when the channel browsing function is executed, channels to be watched frequently are displayed in the first area 71 and all channels are displayed in the second area 72. However, according to the embodiment, The channels displayed in the first area 71 and the second area 72 may be changed. For example, one of the preferred channel groups may be displayed in the second area 72. The user may designate the channel group to be displayed in the first area 71 and the second area 72. [

According to an embodiment of the present invention, more information can be provided to a user through a channel browsing screen.

Referring to FIG. 6, when a user selects a window 81 of one channel on the channel browsing screen, the selected channel is tuned again and the latest broadcasting signal can be displayed as a preview image.

Figure 7 shows the window 81 of the selected channel in Figure 6 in more detail. 7, in addition to the channel name 82 and the preview image 83 for the selected channel, an indicator 84 indicating the progress time of the program broadcasted through the current channel may be displayed. The user can know how far the current program has progressed through the indicator 84 on the channel browsing screen. In FIG. 7, a progressive bar type indicator is displayed, but it may be displayed in other ways such as the total running time versus the current progress time. The next program information to be displayed next to the current program can also be displayed in the window 81. [ The button 85 is displayed in the window 85. When the user selects the button 85 on the channel browsing screen, the name or information of the next program can be displayed. The progress time of the broadcast and the next program information can be extracted from the EPG information received through each channel.

With the above configuration, the user can be informed of the program progress time and the next program for each channel without displaying the other channel on the entire screen through the channel browsing screen.

Also, in the channel browsing screen, when tuning to each channel, it is possible to indicate that the tuning is in progress for the currently tuned channel. Referring to FIG. 8, it takes a few seconds to perform tuning for the channels when the channels are sequentially tuned or the user selects a specific channel as shown in FIG. During the time required for the tuning, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, by displaying the indicator 86 on the window 81, the user can be informed of the current tuning progress status. When the tuning is completed, a preview image of the corresponding channel can be displayed as shown in (c).

FIGS. 4 to 8 illustrate the case where the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 receives and outputs a broadcast signal. However, the same can be applied to the case where the broadcast receiving apparatus 100 receives contents through the network system of FIG.

In this case, channel browsing corresponds to displaying information about contents provided by each content provider by sequentially connecting to a plurality of content providers. In the first area 71 of FIG. 4, an icon representing a content provider or content frequently accessed by a user may be displayed, and an icon representing an entire content provider or content may be displayed in the second area 72. The tuning of each channel may correspond to an operation of accessing each content provider server and receiving and displaying the content information provided by the content provider.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to various embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications may be made to the embodiments described above, and these variations are also included within the scope of the present invention.

100: broadcast receiving apparatus 101: broadcast receiving unit
102: demultiplexer 103: video signal processor
104: Display unit 105: Network interface unit
106: OSD generation unit 107: User interface unit
108: storage interface unit 109: storage device
110: control unit 111: external signal input unit
200: content provider
300: network operator 61, 71: first area
62, 72: second area 68, 78: preferred channel group 1
81: Channel window 82: Channel name
83: Preview image 84: Progressive bar
85: Next button

Claims (15)

A broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal;
A broadcast signal processor for processing the received broadcast signal into a signal capable of being output;
A user interface unit for receiving a channel browsing command; And
And a controller for displaying a channel browsing screen including a first area including a first channel group and a second area including a second channel group,
Wherein,
Wherein the channels included in the first channel group are different for each time slot on the basis of a viewing history of each user by time slot. The method according to claim 1,
And a display unit for displaying the channel browsing screen. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the channel browsing screen includes an indicator indicating a progress time of a program received through each of the channels. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the channel browsing screen includes a preview image of each channel. The method according to claim 1,
The user interface unit receives a channel editing command,
Wherein,
In response to the received channel editing command, displays the channel editing menu including the first channel group in the first area and the second channel group in the second area, And compiles each channel belonging to the channel groups according to an input. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first channel group is a preferred channel group, the second channel group is an entire channel group that the broadcast receiving apparatus can receive,
Wherein,
And registers at least one channel as a preferred channel in the first channel group or deletes at least one channel registered in the first channel group. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the channel browsing screen displays next program information of each channel. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the channel browsing screen indicates tuning while tuning to the selected channel if any one channel included in the channel browsing screen is selected. A channel editing and browsing method of a broadcast receiving apparatus,
Receiving a browsing command for receivable channels; And
Displaying a channel browsing screen including a first area including a first channel group and a second area including a second channel group in response to the received browsing command,
Wherein the first channel group is different from the channels included in each time slot based on a viewing history of each user by the time slot. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the channel browsing screen includes an indicator for indicating a progress time of a program received through each of the channels. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the channel browsing screen includes a preview image of each channel. 10. The method of claim 9,
Receiving a channel editing command;
Displaying a channel editing menu including the first channel group in the first area and the second channel group in the second area in response to the received channel editing command; And
And editing each channel belonging to the channel groups based on the input received by the broadcast receiving apparatus. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the first channel group is a preferred channel group, the second channel group is an entire channel group that the broadcast receiving apparatus can receive,
Wherein the editing includes:
And registering at least one channel as a preferred channel in the first channel group or deleting at least one channel registered in the first channel group. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the channel browsing screen displays next program information of each channel. 10. The method of claim 9,
And displaying the channel browsing screen being tuned during tuning to the selected channel if any one channel included in the channel browsing screen is selected.

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