KR19980079030A - TV automatic channel switching method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an automatic channel reservation method for a television that can select and watch a broadcast signal of a desired channel among broadcast signals received from an antenna, wherein the key signal for setting a plurality of channel reservations from the outside is input while the television is in operation. A first step of converting the television into a reservation setting mode and sequentially storing a plurality of channel reservation data; When the reserved channel switching key signal is input to the television, the mode of the television is switched to the reserved channel switching mode and the plurality of stored channel reservation data are read out to sequentially change channels, and the number of channel changes is set to the maximum reservation. If the number of times is exceeded, returning to the channel before the channel switching mode and operating the television.

Description

TV automatic channel switching method

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic channel switching method for televisions, and more particularly, to an automatic channel switching method for televisions capable of automatically switching channels in a reserved order after a plurality of channels are reserved.

In recent years, in addition to the ability to output video and audio, televisions are equipped with various functions that can facilitate user convenience. For example, there are voice multiplexing function, stereo function and channel memory switching function.

Here, the voice multiple function is used in foreign films, news and conversation programs, and the stereo function is used in performances, show programs, soap operas, and the like. The color adjustment function is a function that can match the color best suited to the user's taste, and the channel memory switching function is a method of skipping and switching unnecessary channels by memorizing frequently viewed channels in order.

However, in the conventional channel switching method, the channel is switched by a manual operation of a user. For example, if a user wants to switch to channel 11 while watching channel 9, the user performs channel switching by manipulating the number buttons of the wireless remote controller or controlling the up / down (+/-) buttons. In addition, channel switching was performed using channel switching means (increase or decrease buttons or rotary switches) mounted on the set of televisions.

However, the conventional channel switching method of the television has a cumbersome problem that the user has to manually switch the channel to be watched every time when a plurality of channels are alternately switched.

Disclosure of Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic channel switching method of a television which can automatically switch channels according to a reserved order after reserving a plurality of channels. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an automatic channel reservation method for a television that can select and watch a broadcast signal of a desired channel from a broadcast signal received from an antenna, wherein the television is operated from a plurality of channels from the outside. A first step of converting the television into a reservation setting mode and sequentially storing a plurality of channel reservation data when a key signal for reservation setting is input; When the reserved channel switching key signal is input to the television, the mode of the television is switched to the reserved channel switching mode, the plurality of stored channel reservation data are read out, and the channel change is sequentially performed, wherein the number of channel changes is set to the maximum reservation. If the number of times is exceeded, returning to the channel before the channel switching mode and operating the television.

The above objects and various advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the preferred embodiments of the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by those skilled in the art.

1 is an overall block diagram of a television for performing the automatic channel switching method of the present invention;

2 is a detailed flowchart of an automatic channel switching method of a television according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

5: key input unit 10: control unit

15: Tuner part 20: Decoder

25: video signal processor 30: OSD unit

35: monitor 40: audio signal processing unit

45: speaker 50: storage unit

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

1 is an overall block diagram of a television for performing the automatic channel switching method of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a television is provided with a tuner unit 15 that selects a broadcast signal of a desired channel from a broadcast signal received from an antenna, and receives and decodes a broadcast signal of a desired channel received by the tuner unit 15. Decoder 20 for separating and outputting as an audio signal, video signal processing unit 25 for receiving a decoded video signal from decoder 20 and processing the signal for output to monitor 35 for display and TV reservation setting In the mode, the audio signal for receiving the decoded audio signal from the OSD unit 30 and the decoder 20 outputting the menu screen for channel reservation setting to the monitor 35 and outputting the signal to the speaker 45 by processing the signal. A processing unit 40, a storage unit 50 for storing data for channel reservation, a key input unit 5 for outputting a channel reservation setting key signal and a reserved channel switching key signal, and a channel reservation setting and Outputting a control signal for performing channel switching, and about a counter controller 10 for counting the operation time corresponding to the reserved channel to a built-in (not shown).

Fig. 2 shows a detailed flowchart showing a preferred embodiment of the automatic channel switching method of the present invention, and the automatic channel switching method of Fig. 2 is performed using the television of Fig. 1 described above. Therefore, the following description will be made with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, when the television is in the operation mode, the broadcast signal received through the antenna is provided to the tuner unit 15. The tuner unit 15 tunes a broadcast signal of a desired channel among the broadcast signals received from the antenna and provides the same to the decoder 20. The decoder 20 receives and decodes a broadcast signal of a desired channel and divides the video signal into a video signal and an audio signal and provides the decoded video signal to the video / audio signal processor 25 or 40. Then, the video signal processor 25 processes the decoded video signal to output an image of the desired channel through the monitor 35, and the audio signal processes the decoded audio signal to process the desired channel through the speaker 45. Outputs the voice of (S1).

Next, when the video and audio of the desired channel is output, the control unit 10 determines whether the channel reservation setting key signal is provided through the key input unit 5 (S2). Switch to the setting mode (S3).

As such, when the television is switched to the channel reservation setting mode, the control unit 10 controls the OSD unit 30 to stop the output of the video signal provided from the video signal processing unit 25 and to display the inside of the OSD unit 30. A menu screen for setting a plurality of channel reservations stored is output through the monitor 35 (S4). Then, the user can perform a plurality of channel reservations through the menu screen output to the monitor 35. Through these menu screens, the user can input a plurality of channel numbers to be reserved and an operation time corresponding to each channel. will be.

Then, the controller 10 determines whether the channel reservation setting end key signal is input through the key input unit 5 (S5), and if the channel reservation setting end key signal is not input, the above-described menu screen is displayed on the monitor 35. The OSD unit 30 is controlled to continue displaying.

On the other hand, when the channel reservation setting end signal is input through the key input unit 5, the controller 10 stores a plurality of channel reservation data input by the user, for example, channel numbers and an operation time corresponding to each channel. It provides to the part 50. Then, the storage unit 50 stores the plurality of channel reservation data provided. In addition, the controller 10 controls the OSD unit 30 to remove the menu screen displayed on the monitor 35 (S6).

Then, the controller 10 controls the respective constituent members of the television to release the television mode from the channel reservation setting mode to perform normal operation (S7).

By this process, when the reservation of the plurality of channels is completed, the controller 10 changes the mode of the television to the reserved channel switching mode when the reserved channel switching key signal is input through the key input unit 5 (S8). (S9).

Next, when the TV mode is changed to the reserved channel switching mode, the control unit 10 determines whether a plurality of channel reservation data, that is, reserved channel numbers and an operation time corresponding to each channel, are stored in the storage unit 50. Determine (S10).

When the channel reservation data is stored in the storage unit 50, the control unit 10 sets the reserved channel execution count (n: integer) to the initial value 1 (S11).

Subsequently, when the reserved channel execution number n is set to the initial value 1, the controller 10 reads the channel reservation data set first among the plurality of channel reservation data from the storage unit 50 (S12).

Next, the controller 10 refers to the channel reservation data set first to be read out, and when the two channels match in comparison with the currently running channel, the controller 10 operates as the currently running channel and the two channels described above do not match. In the case of performing channel switching to the reserved channel (S13).

As described above, when the channel is switched to the reserved channel, the controller 10 counts the operation time corresponding to the corresponding channel with a counter built in the controller 10, and determines whether the operation time has elapsed (S14).

As a result of the determination in step S11, when the operation time corresponding to the channel elapses, the controller 10 increases the number of reserved channel executions (n: integer) once (S15).

However, after the number of reserved channel executions n is increased once, the controller 10 determines whether the number of times the reserved channel execution number n once increased is greater than the maximum number of reserved channels (K: integer) (S16). If the execution number n is not greater than the maximum reserved channel number K, the process returns to step S12 to read the next stored channel reservation data. Therefore, the channel is automatically switched according to the operation time of each channel in the reserved channel sequentially.

On the contrary, if the number of reserved channel executions n is greater than the maximum number of reserved channels K, the controller 10 releases the television mode from the reserved channel switching mode (S17).

As described above, when the television mode is released from the reserved channel switching mode, the controller 10 switches the channel to the channel before the reserved channel switching mode to operate the television (S14).

For example, if the user is watching channel 6, the channel reservation data-1. (channel 9 and operation time 3 minutes) and 2. (channel 11 and operation time 5 minutes)-are set. When the channel switching key signal is input, the control unit 10 reads out the channel reservation data -1 (channel No. 9 and operation time 5 minutes) set first from the channel reservation data in the storage unit 50. Then, the reserved channel number (No. 9) is compared with the watching channel (No. 6). As a result of comparison, the number of the reserved channel does not coincide with the number of the channel being viewed, so channel switching is performed to the reserved channel number (No. 9). Then, the controller 10 controls an internal counter to count an operation time (five minutes). As a result of counting the operation time, when the operation time ends, the controller 10 increases the number of reserved channel executions once (n = 2) and compares the maximum reservation setting number (K = 2). At this time, since the number of reserved channel executions is not greater than the maximum number of reserved settings, channel switching is performed by reading the next channel reservation data 2. (channel 11 and operation time 5 minutes). However, if the number of channel reservation executions exceeds the maximum reservation setting number, the channel is returned to the channel (No. 6) before the reserved channel switching to operate the television.

As described above, the automatic channel switching method of the television according to the present invention has the advantage of allowing the user to automatically switch channels according to the reserved order after reserving a plurality of channels.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, changes and omissions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (1)

In the automatic channel reservation method of the TV that can select and watch the broadcast signal of the desired channel from the broadcast signal received from the antenna, A first step of converting the television into a reservation setting mode and sequentially storing a plurality of channel reservation data when a key signal for a plurality of channel reservation setting is input from the outside while the television is in operation; When the reserved channel switching key signal is input to the television, the mode of the television is switched to the reserved channel switching mode and the plurality of stored channel reservation data are read out to sequentially change channels, and the number of channel changes is set to the maximum reservation. And a second step of returning to the channel before the channel switching mode to operate the television if the number of times is exceeded.