KR19990056474A - Memory Management Method of Satellite Broadcast Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention checks the remaining space of the memory means provided in the receiver and adaptively stores the program information inserted and transmitted in the satellite broadcast signal, thereby preventing the overflow of the memory means. The present invention relates to a management method. To this end, when the receiver is powered on, the present invention extracts the packet information and program information for each channel inserted into the satellite broadcast signal, and then extracts the extracted program information into units of sections. Sequential storage and calculating the remaining space from the total size of the memory means for storing the program information, calculating the size of the remaining space of the memory means with the next section of the program information, and comparing As a result of the comparison, if the remaining space of the memory means is larger, Storing the next section of the program information, repeating the second step, and if the size of the next section of the program information is larger than the remaining space of the memory means; Terminating.

Description

Memory Management Method of Satellite Broadcast Receiver

The present invention relates to a satellite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for efficiently managing a memory provided in a satellite broadcast receiver for storing various packet information provided from a satellite.

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, which is a high frequency RF signal. Is converted into an IF (intermediate frequency) signal in the hundreds to thousands of MHz bands (for example, 950 MHz to 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 IF signal received through the low noise converter is inputted to tune the channel selected by the user. The satellite broadcasting receiver maximizes channel utilization, image and sound. Along with the improvement of signal quality and the ease of transmitting additional digital service data, the significant improvement of the user interface is a big advantage.

Meanwhile, in satellite broadcasting, a transmission signal of a digital broadcasting signal received from a satellite through a fixed channel to a satellite broadcasting receiver is restored to a transport stream through a process of converting to an intermediate frequency, demodulating, and correcting an error. The stream includes various information such as broadcast signals (video data and audio data) for each channel, an event information table (EIT), a time data table (TDT), and the like.

Then, the program guide information stored in the memory area is used to tune a specific channel selected in a transport stream received through a satellite channel when a specific channel is selected by the user, and also by the user. When the provision of broadcast program information of the channel (i.e., display) is requested, it is composed of a menu screen and displayed on the monitor.

On the other hand, the general satellite broadcasting receiver limits the size of the memory that can store the above-described program information to 512 Kbytes or less. If the size of the program information transmitted from the transmitting side is 512 Kbytes, which is acceptable in the receiver, If exceeded, there is a problem in that an overflow of a memory provided at the satellite broadcasting receiver side causes the system to be down.

That is, if the total number of channels of the satellite broadcasting system increases, the amount of program information for each channel also increases in proportion to the size of the memory (512 Kbytes) currently defined in the satellite broadcasting receiver. .

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and compares the size of the program information amount and the capacity of the memory means transmitted in the process of storing the program information transmitted from the satellite in the memory means of the satellite broadcasting receiver. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver that can be adaptively processed.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a satellite for receiving broadcast signals for a plurality of channels provided from satellites, and storing and displaying various packet information extracted from the broadcast signals and program information for each channel in a memory means. In the memory management method of a broadcast receiver, when the power of the receiver is turned on, the packet information inserted into the satellite broadcast signal and the program information for each channel is extracted to sequentially store the extracted program information in units of sections. A first step of making; A second step of calculating the remaining space from the total size of the memory means for storing the program information; A third step of calculating and comparing the calculated remaining space of the memory means with respect to the next section of the program information, respectively; A fourth step of storing a next section of the program information and repeating the second step if the remaining space of the memory means is larger as a result of the comparison; As a result of the comparison, when the size of the next section of the program information is larger than the remaining space of the memory means provides a memory management method of the satellite broadcasting receiver comprising the step of terminating the storing process for the program information.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view for explaining a memory management method of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

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

110: key input unit 120: microcomputer

130 tuner and demodulator 140 memory unit

150: MPEG Decoder 160: Video Encoder

170: OSD unit 180: image synthesizing 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 satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a key input unit 110, a microcomputer 120, a tuner and a demodulator 130, The memory unit 140 includes an MPEG decoder 150, a video encoder 160, an OSD unit 170, and an image synthesizer 180.

Referring to FIG. 1, the key input unit 110 is configured with key metrics on a remote controller or its own panel to generate a corresponding key signal by a user's operation and provide the corresponding key signal to the microcomputer 120, and the microcomputer 120 provides a key. Each control signal is generated based on a key signal from the input unit 110 to perform a corresponding function. For example, a user processor selects a user broadcast channel from the outside, including a microprocessor that controls overall operation of the receiver. When a signal is input, a corresponding tuning control signal is generated and provided to the tuner and demodulator 130 to be described later.

The tuner and demodulator 130 tunes a broadcast channel selected by a user in a broadcast signal received through a broadcast signal receiver (ie, a satellite reception antenna), not shown, based on a tuning control signal provided from the microcomputer 120. The tuned broadcast channel signal is restored to a transport stream through a process of converting to an intermediate frequency, demodulation, and error correction, and the restored transport stream is provided to the next MPEG decoder 150.

At this time, the microcomputer 120 stores various additional information, program information, and various packet information output from the tuner and the demodulator 130 in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140, and when arbitrary information is requested from the user, Various menu screens are displayed using this.

Meanwhile, the memory unit 140 stores information on various menu screens in another predetermined area in addition to the above-described additional information, program information, and packet information, and for each channel of the entire area of the memory unit 140. The area for storing program information is currently limited to 512 Kbytes in the satellite broadcasting receiver standard.

On the other hand, in the MPEG decoder 150, on the basis of a control signal provided from the microcomputer 120, a compressed and encoded audio signal and a video signal of a broadcast channel provided from the tuner and demodulator 130, for example, a video signal. Considering the spatiotemporal and spatial correlations, the compressed coded video signal is restored to the original signal before encoding using a decoding technique such as variable length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, and motion compensation, and the digital broadcast video signal reconstructed here. Is provided to the next video encoder 160, and the reconstructed audio signal is provided to an audio signal processor (not shown).

In addition, the video encoder 160 converts the selected digital broadcast video signal provided by the MPEG decoder 150 to an NTSC or PAL analog video signal and then provides the image synthesizer 180 to the video synthesizer 180. The OSD unit 170 In addition, various menu screen information and message information provided from the microcomputer 120 are configured as a guide screen in a predetermined form and provided to the image synthesizing unit 180.

Accordingly, the image synthesizing unit 180 transfers the analog satellite broadcasting signal output from the video encoder 160 to a display side, not shown, or omits a screen in which various menu screen data displayed through the OSD unit 170 are mixed. To the display side.

When the power of the satellite broadcast receiver configured as described above is turned on, the tuner and demodulator 130 restores the bit stream transmitted to the satellite through a predetermined signal processing process. Various packet information and program information for each channel are inserted. The program information for each channel is generally composed of program information of about one week and stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140 by the microcomputer 120. do.

Meanwhile, an area for storing program information for each channel as described above in the entire area of the memory unit 140 is limited to 512 Kbytes in accordance with the standard of the satellite broadcasting receiver, and the microcomputer 120 includes a tuner and a demodulator 130. The program information extracted from the demodulated bit streams of the sequential bit stream is sequentially stored for each section. In this case, each section of the program information divides the program information for one channel by a predetermined time unit and transmits the program information. Will insert information to distinguish each section into program information and send it.

In addition, whenever each section of the program information is stored, the microcomputer 120 continuously calculates the currently remaining space of the entire area 512 Kbytes allocated for storing the program information in the memory unit 140.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, whenever the program information is stored in each section unit, the remaining area 142 is calculated from the entire area of the memory unit 140 except for the area 141 in which the current data is stored. The remaining area 142 and the section size of the next program information inserted in the bit stream are compared.

As a result of the comparison, when the remaining area 142 of the memory unit 140 is larger than the section of the next program information, the next section of the program information extracted from the bit stream is stored in the memory unit 140 and vice versa. When the remaining area 142 of the unit 140 is smaller than the next section of the program information, that is, when the next section of the program information cannot all be stored, the program information storing process is terminated.

Therefore, the satellite broadcasting receiver can prevent the overflow of the memory unit 140 provided for storing program information for each channel.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a memory management process of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A series of processes described above with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail as follows.

When the overall operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver is in the standby mode for performing a specific command input from the key input unit 110 (step 301), when the user operates the key input unit 110 to turn on the receiver power. (Step 303), the microcomputer 120 receives the satellite broadcast signal transmitted from the satellite through the tuner and demodulator 130 (step 305), the microcomputer 120 is output from the tuner and demodulator 130 Various packet information and program information are extracted from the demodulated bit stream to be stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140 (step 307).

Meanwhile, the program information stored in the memory unit 140 is stored in each section unit, and the microcomputer 120 calculates the remaining space 142 of the memory unit 140 whenever the program information of each section unit is stored. (Step 309).

Then, the size of the next section of the program information output from the tuner and demodulator 130 is calculated (step 311) and compared with the remaining space 142 of the memory unit 140 (step 313). As a result, when the remaining space 142 of the memory unit 140 is larger than the size of the next section of the program information, the process after step 307 described above is repeated to store the next program information.

On the contrary, if, as a result of the comparison in step 313, the remaining space 142 of the memory unit 140 is smaller than the size of the next section of the program information, that is, the next program information is stored in the memory unit 140. If the remaining space 142 cannot be stored, the program information storing process as described above is terminated (step 315).

In addition, the microcomputer 120 generates a tuning control signal through the tuner and the demodulator 130 to tune the preset channel or the most recently watched past viewing channel by the user to undergo a predetermined signal processing process and then display on the screen. By displaying, the overall operation of the satellite broadcast receiver is switched to the user in normal viewing mode (step 317).

On the other hand, when the program information for each channel is stored through the above-described process, and the version of the program information inserted in the bit stream provided from the satellite is updated while the operation of the satellite broadcast receiver is performed in the normal viewing mode. In step 319, all program information stored in the memory unit 140 is deleted (step 321), and the subsequent steps 307 and subsequent steps are repeated to store updated program information in the memory unit 140 for each section. Done.

As a result, in the process of storing the program information provided from the satellite in the memory unit 140 of the satellite broadcasting receiver, the size of the program information and the remaining amount of the memory unit are detected and adaptively stored.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the process of storing the program information transmitted from the satellite, by overflowing the memory unit by adaptively storing the transmitted program information according to the remaining space of the memory provided in the satellite broadcasting receiver There is an effect that can be prevented, thereby preventing the malfunction of the satellite broadcast receiver.

Claims (2)

A memory management method of a satellite broadcast receiver for receiving broadcast signals for a plurality of channels provided from a satellite, and storing and displaying various packet information extracted from the broadcast signal and program information for each channel in a memory means, A first step of extracting the various packet information and program information for each channel inserted into the satellite broadcast signal and sequentially storing the extracted program information in units of sections when the receiver is powered on; A second step of calculating the remaining space from the total size of the memory means for storing the program information; A third step of calculating and comparing the calculated remaining space of the memory means with respect to the next section of the program information, respectively; A fourth step of storing a next section of the program information and repeating the second step if the remaining space of the memory means is larger as a result of the comparison; And a fifth step of terminating the storing process for the program information when the size of the next section of the program information is larger than the remaining space of the memory means. The method of claim 1, wherein in the fifth step, when the version of the program information is updated during the normal viewing mode of the satellite broadcasting receiver, all program information stored in the memory means is deleted, and after the first step, The memory management method of the satellite broadcasting receiver further comprising the step of repeating the process.