KR19990052312A - How to Display Program Guide Screen of Composite Broadcast Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a user can record and refer to arbitrary arbitrary information in a CATV program item for which program information is not provided in the program guide screen for each channel provided by the composite broadcast receiver, thereby increasing the utilization efficiency of the program guide screen. The present invention relates to a method of displaying a program guide screen of a broadcast receiver. To this end, if a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input, the method comprises: a first step of displaying a program guide screen for each channel; A second step of switching the program guide screen to the additional information input mode when a key signal for inputting additional information is input for any cable channel among the plurality of channels included in the guide screen; A third step of storing the inputted additional information and releasing the additional information input mode for the program guide screen when additional information about the arbitrary cable channel is input; And displaying the stored additional information in the arbitrary channel column of the program guide screen.

Description

How to Display Program Guide Screen of Composite Broadcast Receiver

The present invention relates to a composite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a method for displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver suitable for efficiently using a program guide screen for each channel provided by the composite broadcast receiver.

In recent years, the broadcast method using satellites, which is rapidly expanding in use, is a method of providing a broadcast signal to a wider area by using a satellite (communication satellite) located at an altitude of about tens to hundreds of kilos on the surface of the earth. In this satellite broadcasting system, for example, an old band RF signal having a frequency band of 11.7 GHz to 12.0 GHz is used.

To this end, the antenna for satellite broadcasting reception is provided with a low noise blockdown converter for converting a radio frequency (RF) signal of a very high frequency into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and the low noise converter converts an ultra high frequency RF signal. It converts into an IF (intermediate frequency) signal in the hundreds to thousands of MHz bands (for example, 950 MHz-2050 MHz) that can be received by a satellite broadcasting receiver (receiver).

Therefore, in the satellite broadcasting tuner provided in the satellite broadcasting receiver (receiver), the user selects and tunes a channel selected by inputting an IF signal received through a low noise converter. The satellite broadcasting receiver maximizes channel utilization, video and audio signals. Along with the improvement of quality and the ease of transmitting additional digital service data, the significant improvement of the user interface is a big advantage.

In recent years, as well as satellite broadcasting, CATV broadcasting using cable has been rapidly spreading. If a subscriber (ie, one receiver) wants to receive all of these broadcasting signals, the frequency band of each broadcasting is used. Because of this difference, a satellite tuner, a cable tuner, and a terrestrial tuner will all need to be equipped separately.

Accordingly, in order to accommodate various types of broadcasts as described above, various types of internal or external tuners may be provided, or each type of broadcast may have a separate signal processing path (that is, a satellite broadcast signal processing path and a cable broadcast signal). It may be considered that the receiver employs an integrated complex tuner for processing through a processing path, but this causes not only an unnecessary increase in hardware of the receiver itself, but also an excessive increase in the cost of the receiver. Is caused.

On the other hand, in view of the above, a complex tuner capable of simultaneously receiving a satellite broadcast signal, a cable broadcast signal, and a terrestrial broadcast signal through a single tuning path has been developed. It is also being developed.

The composite broadcast receiver controls the passband of the received signal and tunes the bandpassed signal based on the user selection signal when a satellite broadcast signal or a cable broadcast signal is received at the input side, and according to the tuned signal and the user selection. Tuning the corresponding channel of the desired broadcast signal by mixing the oscillating frequencies generated, and the tuned signals are provided to corresponding demodulators through separate signal processing paths (BS path, DSR path, CATV path) respectively provided It is.

On the other hand, since a bit stream of a general satellite broadcast signal is transmitted with program information and various additional information for each channel, more various services and information can be provided to a user.

For example, when a program guide screen for program information for each channel is requested from the user, program information for each channel inserted in the bit stream is extracted and displayed as a guide screen of a predetermined type, and the user operates a key input means. By scrolling the screen left and right, you search for the broadcast program you want.

On the other hand, since the CATV broadcast signal does not include program information for each channel and additional additional information as in the satellite broadcast signal described above, program information for each channel is not provided.

Therefore, the program guide screen for each channel provided by the composite broadcast receiver capable of receiving the satellite broadcast signal and the CATV broadcast signal displays respective program information only on the satellite broadcast channels CH 100 and CH 101 as shown in FIG. 4. The corresponding program information is not displayed on each CATV broadcast channel (CH 157, CH 158).

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned point, and it is possible to record various information desired by the user in the CATV item of the program guide screen for each channel provided by the composite broadcast receiver. Its purpose is to provide a method for displaying a program guide screen.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a broadcast signal processing path for processing a plurality of terrestrial broadcast channels and cable broadcast channels tuned through a composite tuner and a broadcast signal for processing a plurality of satellite broadcast channels tuned through the composite tuner. A method for displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver for displaying program information for each channel in a composite broadcast receiver having a processing path, wherein when a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input, the program for each channel is input. A first step of displaying a guide screen; A second step of switching the program guide screen to the additional information input mode when a key signal for inputting additional information is input for any cable channel among the plurality of channels included in the guide screen; A third step of storing the inputted additional information and releasing the additional information input mode for the program guide screen when additional information about the arbitrary cable channel is input; And a fourth step of displaying the stored additional information in the arbitrary channel column of the program guide screen.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a method for displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view for explaining a method for displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program guide screen provided by a conventional satellite broadcasting receiver.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

105: tuner and demodulator 110: MPEG decoder

115: video encoder 120: NTSC processing unit

125 control unit 130 memory unit

135: OSD unit 140: switching unit

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

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

1 is a block diagram of a composite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a method for displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and includes a tuner and a demodulator 105, an MPEG decoder 110, and a video encoder. 115, an NTSC processor 120, a controller 125, a memory 130, an OSD unit 135, and a switching unit 140.

Referring to FIG. 1, the tuner and the demodulator 105 may perform a broadcast signal received through a broadcast signal receiver (ie, an antenna, a cable, etc.) not shown based on a tuning control signal provided from the controller 125. Tunes the broadcast channel selected by the user and demodulates the tuned broadcast channel signal into the original signal before transmission. In this case, when the satellite broadcast signal is tuned, the demodulated satellite broadcast channel signal is provided to the MPEG decoder 110, and the cable broadcast is performed. When the signal or the terrestrial broadcast signal is tuned, the demodulated broadcast channel signal is provided to the NTSC processor 120.

That is, the tuner and demodulator 105 is composed of a composite tuner capable of receiving and tuning all satellite broadcast signals, CATV broadcast signals, and terrestrial broadcast signals provided through an antenna or transmission line (not shown).

In the MPEG decoder 110, the compressed and encoded video signal of the tuned satellite broadcast channel provided by the tuner and the demodulator 105, for example, the compressed and encoded video signal in consideration of the spatial and spatial correlation of the video signal, A decoding method such as variable length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, and motion compensation is used to recover the original signal before encoding, and the restored digital video signal is provided to the video encoder 115 of the next stage.

Next, the video encoder 115 converts the tuned digital video signal provided by the MPEG decoder 110 described above into an NTSC or PAL analog video signal and provides the converted signal to the switching unit 140.

In addition, the NTSC processor 120 processes the tuned analog video signal (ie, cable broadcast channel signal or terrestrial broadcast signal) provided from the tuner and demodulator 105, for example, level amplification, noise cancellation, gain control, and the like. Various signal processing is performed to provide the switching unit 140.

On the other hand, the control unit 125 is a microprocessor that performs overall operation control of the reception system. When the user broadcast channel selection signal (that is, the operation signal) is input from the outside, the control unit 125 generates a corresponding tuning control signal and the tuner described above. Provided to the demodulator 105, and stores each channel information provided to the satellite broadcast receiver and program information for each channel of the satellite broadcast receiver in a predetermined region of the memory unit 130.

When the controller 125 needs to send a message or a guide screen to a monitor (not shown), the controller 125 extracts the corresponding OSD data from a predetermined area of the memory 130 and provides the OSD data to the OSD unit 135.

In addition, the controller 125 generates a switching control signal for switching the output of a broadcast signal corresponding to a broadcast mode currently being viewed or a broadcast mode that the user wants to switch based on a user manipulation signal from the outside, which will be described later. Provided to the unit 140.

The OSD unit 135 configures the OSD screen data based on the vertical and horizontal synchronizing signals generated for the purpose of setting the position to transmit the various OSD data provided from the control unit 125, and switches through the mixer 140 through the mixer. ).

On the other hand, the switching unit 140 is provided from the control unit 125, the video signal output of the tuned cable or terrestrial broadcast (or mixed video signal mixed with OSD data) and the video signal output of the tuned satellite broadcasting channel By selectively switching based on the switching control signal, the video signal of the broadcast mode is provided to the display side, not shown.

When the user inputs a request signal for a program guide screen for each channel of the composite broadcast receiver in the composite broadcast receiver configured as described above, the controller 125 responds to the input key signal. By reading the guide screen information stored in a predetermined region of the memory unit 130 and the program information for each channel and providing the guide screen information to the OSD unit 135, the program guide screen for each channel as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed.

In addition, the user searches for a desired broadcast program by moving a cursor displayed on the screen left, right, or up and down using a key input means (not shown), wherein the CATV channel of the displayed program guide screen is displayed. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the broadcast program information for each time zone is not displayed at (CH 157 and CH 158).

Therefore, the user can produce other information he / she wants in the CATV channel column of the program guide screen, for example, a telephone number of a system operator (SO) who is responsible for the maintenance of CATV's relay business and transmission line or a broadcast program for each channel. When the user generates the additional information input key signal using a key input means (not shown) to directly input other additional information such as a telephone number of a program provisor (PP), the controller 125 is based on the input key signal. The CATV channel column in which the cursor is located in the guide screen is switched to the additional information input standby mode.

When the user inputs the additional information desired by the user using the key input means, the controller 125 displays the additional information input by the user in the CATV channel column in which the current cursor is located, and displays the input additional information in the memory unit. The data is stored in a predetermined area of the 130.

For example, in a state where a program guide screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, a user moves the cursor to CATV CH 157, and then operates a key input unit to input a sub information input key signal, and then again uses the key input unit. When the additional information to be stored in the corresponding channel column CH 157 is inputted as 'SO 498-6000', the controller 125 inputs the input additional information as the corresponding channel column CH 157 of the guide screen as shown in FIG. 2. ) Is displayed.

In this case, the additional information input by the user is stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit 130 by the controller 125, so that the additional information input by the user whenever a program guide screen for each channel is displayed at the request of the user. Is displayed in the CATV channel column.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying a program guide screen of a composite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the series of processes described above with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail.

During the normal viewing mode in which the operation of the composite broadcast receiver receives a broadcast signal of a channel selected by a user and displays the signal through a predetermined signal processing process (step 301), a program guide key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input. In operation 303, the controller 125 reads out program information and guide screen format information for each channel previously stored in the memory unit 130, and displays the program guide screen as shown in FIG. 4 through the OSD unit 135. Display (step 305).

In this case, program information for each time zone is not displayed on each CATV channel in the displayed guide screen. When a key signal for inputting additional information into the CATV channel is input to the controller 125 (step 307), the current screen is displayed. The program guide screen is switched to the standby mode for inputting additional information (step 309).

On the contrary, in step 307 described above, instead of the key signal for inputting additional information, a key signal for turning off the program guide screen displayed on the current screen is input or for performing another specific command for a predetermined time. If no key signal is input (step 319), the program guide screen displayed on the current screen by the controller 125 is automatically turned off and the overall operation of the composite broadcast receiver is returned to the normal viewing mode as in the initial step 301 described above. The transition is made (step 321).

On the other hand, when the program guide screen is switched to the additional information input standby mode through the above-described step 309, when additional information to be input to the CATV channel where the cursor is located is input again through the key input means (step 311), the controller 125 stores the input additional information in a predetermined area of the memory unit 130 (step 315). Similarly, in step 311 described above, a key signal for inputting additional information for a predetermined time is input. If not (step 313), the program guide screen is automatically turned off by the controller 125 and the overall operation of the composite broadcast receiver is switched to the normal viewing mode as in the initial step 301 described above (step 321).

On the other hand, if the additional information input by the user through the above-described step 315 is stored in the predetermined area of the memory unit 130, the controller 125 guides the additional information input by the user as shown in FIG. The additional information input in the corresponding CATV channel column of the screen, that is, the channel column for the current cursor is displayed, and the input standby mode of the guide screen switched in step 309 is released (step 317).

When a predetermined time elapses without inputting a key signal for turning off the currently displayed program guide screen or inputting a key signal for performing another specific command (step 319), driving of the OSD unit 135 is stopped. By blocking, the program guide screen displayed in step 305 described above is turned off, and the operation of the broadcast receiver is switched to the normal viewing mode as in the initial step 301 (step 321).

As a result, the user can insert the information he / she wants in the CATV channel column where the program information for each time zone is not displayed on the program guide screen.

As described above, according to the present invention, by inserting and displaying additional information input by the user in the CATV channel column in which program information for each time zone is not displayed on the program guide screen for each channel provided by the composite broadcast receiver, a wider variety of users are provided. There is an effect that can meet the needs of.

Claims (3)

In a composite broadcast receiver having a broadcast signal processing path for processing a plurality of terrestrial broadcast channels and cable broadcast channels tuned through a composite tuner and a broadcast signal processing path for processing a plurality of satellite broadcast channels tuned through the composite tuner. In the program guide screen display method of the composite broadcast receiver for displaying program information for each channel, A first step of displaying a program guide screen for each channel when a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input; A second step of switching the program guide screen to the additional information input mode when a key signal for inputting additional information is input for any cable channel among the plurality of channels included in the guide screen; A third step of storing the inputted additional information and releasing the additional information input mode for the program guide screen when additional information about the arbitrary cable channel is input; And displaying the stored additional information in the arbitrary channel column of the program guide screen. The method of claim 1, wherein the second step comprises automatically turning off the program guide screen when a key signal for inputting the additional information is not input for a predetermined time while the program guide screen is displayed. Program guide screen display method of the composite broadcast receiver further comprising. The method of claim 1, wherein the third step comprises: automatically turning off the program guide screen when the additional information is not input for a predetermined time while the program guide screen is switched to the additional information input mode. Program guide screen display method of the satellite broadcast receiver further comprising.