KR19990086455A - How to Display Program Information on Satellite Broadcasting Receivers - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, when the position of the cursor is located in the pay broadcasting program on each program guide screen provided by the satellite broadcasting receiver, the program information display of the satellite broadcasting receiver capable of automatically displaying price information about the pay broadcasting program is displayed. The present invention relates to a method for displaying a program guide screen for each channel when a program guide screen request key signal for each channel is input; Detecting a position of a cursor displayed in the guide screen and checking whether a broadcast program corresponding to the position of the detected cursor is a paid broadcast program; In the case of a pay broadcasting program, extracting price information on the pay broadcasting program from the stored program information for each channel and displaying the price information on the program guide screen; When a key signal for moving the cursor to any other broadcast program among the plurality of programs displayed on the guide screen is input, the cursor is moved to a position corresponding to the key signal and displayed. And repeating the process after the step.

Description

How to Display Program Information on Satellite Broadcasting Receivers

The present invention relates to a satellite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a method of displaying program information of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for displaying detailed information on a paid program among various broadcast programs provided to the satellite broadcast receiver.

Satellite broadcasting is a broadcasting system that can receive a broadcast signal from a ground station (broadcasting earth station) using a broadcasting satellite and receive it directly from a satellite receiving antenna in each home. Receives a digital broadcast signal, extracts a broadcast signal of a selected channel among broadcast signals received by a transport demultiplexor, and decodes the extracted broadcast signal using a MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) method to provide a display device. Is configured to.

In addition, unlike conventional terrestrial broadcasting, broadcast programs provided by such a satellite broadcasting system include general broadcasting programs and pay broadcasting programs, and program information for each channel is provided as a guide screen in a predetermined form. With reference to the program guide screen, it is possible to more conveniently select a desired broadcast program or channel.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a program guide screen provided by the conventional satellite broadcast receiver. When the user requests a program guide screen by using a key input unit of the satellite broadcast receiver, FIG. As described above, program information for each channel is sequentially displayed for each time zone, and the user can again search for a desired program by scrolling the screen left / right or up / down using a key input means. In addition, in the program guide screen for each channel provided by the conventional satellite broadcasting receiver, a separate paid display 401 for a paid program is provided as shown in the same drawing, so that a user can easily perform a general broadcast program and a paid broadcast program. When a detailed information screen is requested to refer to price information of each paid program by operating a key input unit, as shown in FIG. 4B, a detailed information screen 403 for the paid program is displayed. do.

However, in the conventional satellite broadcasting receiver, it is inconvenient for the user to repeatedly perform a cumbersome key operation in order to refer to the price information of each pay program. In detail, in order to refer to the price information of any paid program while the program guide screen for each channel is displayed, the user first moves the cursor displayed on the screen left / right or up / down to position the pay program. After pressing the detailed information key (for example, the confirmation key or the selection key) for the corresponding program, a detailed information screen including price information is displayed as shown in FIG. 4B.

In addition, in order for the user to refer to the price information of another arbitrary paid program, the above-described process may be repeated to check price information of the corresponding paid program. That is, in order to refer to the price information of any paid program on the program guide screen provided by the conventional satellite broadcasting receiver, it is inconvenient to repeatedly perform the cumbersome key manipulation process as described above.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and the cursor movement key signal input by the user is determined on the program guide screen for each channel provided by the satellite broadcasting receiver so that the position of the cursor can be positioned in any paid broadcasting program. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for displaying program information of a satellite broadcast receiver that can automatically display price information on a corresponding paid broadcast program.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention receives and displays broadcast signals for a plurality of channels provided through a satellite, and stores program information for each channel in a memory means to display them by a request signal input from the outside. A method for displaying program information of a satellite broadcasting receiver, comprising: a first step of reading program information for each channel and displaying the program information for each channel when the program guide screen request key signal for each channel is input; Detecting a position of a cursor displayed in the guide screen and checking whether a broadcast program corresponding to the position of the cursor is a paid broadcast program; A third step of extracting price information on the paid broadcasting program from the stored program information for each channel and displaying the price information on the program guide screen in the case of the pay broadcasting program; When a key signal for moving the cursor to any other broadcast program among the plurality of programs displayed on the guide screen is input, the cursor is moved to a position corresponding to the key signal and displayed. Provided is a method of displaying program information of a satellite broadcasting receiver comprising a fourth step of repeatedly performing a subsequent process.

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

2 is a view for explaining a program information display method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying program information of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a view for explaining a program information display method provided by a conventional satellite broadcast receiver.

<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: menu generating unit 180: image synthesizing unit

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 method for displaying program information of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and includes a key input unit 110, a microcomputer 120, a tuner, and a demodulator 130. ), A memory unit 140, an MPEG decoder 150, a video encoder 160, a menu generator 170, and an image synthesizer 180.

Referring to FIG. 1, the key input unit 110 is composed of key metrics on a remote controller or its own panel to generate a corresponding key signal by a user's operation and provide it to the microcomputer 120, and the microcomputer 120 receives a receiver. As a microprocessor that performs overall operation control of the controller, the microprocessor generates respective control signals for performing corresponding functions based on the provided key signals from the key input unit 110, for example, from the key input unit 110. When a user broadcast channel selection signal is input, a corresponding tuning control signal is generated and provided to the tuner and demodulator 130 which will be described later.

The tuner and demodulator 130 receives a broadcast signal received through a broadcast signal receiver (i.e., a satellite reception antenna), not shown, based on a control signal provided from the microcomputer 120, and receives an intermediate signal with respect to the received broadcast signal. After the conversion to the frequency, demodulation and error correction process is restored to the transport stream. In addition, the tuner and demodulator 130 extracts broadcast signals and PAT / PMT data for each channel, and extracts EIT data of video and audio and service data for each channel from the broadcast signal and PAT / PMT data for each channel, and provides them to the microcomputer 120. do.

The microcomputer 120 stores various additional information (including EIT information) extracted from the tuner and the demodulator 130 described above in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140. It includes program information for each channel, multiplexing and language information, and paying broadcasting. When the user selects an arbitrary broadcast channel, the microcomputer 120 reads various additional information and service data stored in the memory unit 140 to output a video signal for the selected channel through the tuner and demodulator 130. The audio signal is demultiplexed so that only the video and audio signals corresponding to the broadcast signal having the set PID are transmitted.

The MPEG decoder 150 converts the compressed and encoded video signal in consideration of spatiotemporal and spatial correlation of the compressed and encoded audio signal and the video signal of the bit stream output from the transport demultiplexer 20, for example, the video signal. A decoding method such as length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, and motion compensation is used to restore the original signal before encoding. At this time, the digital audio signal decoded and output from the MPEG decoder 150 is converted into an analog audio signal through an audio signal processor (not shown) and output through an speaker not shown. The digital video signal decoded from the MPEG decoder 150 is converted into an NTSC or PAL analog video signal through a predetermined signal processing by the video encoder 160 and then provided to the image synthesizer 180.

In addition, the menu generator 170 reads from the memory unit 140 and provides various types of data provided through the microcomputer 120 into a menu screen of a predetermined type and provides the image screen to the image synthesizer 180. That is, the menu generator 170 pre-stores various types of menu screen format information provided by the satellite broadcasting receiver, and receives various additional data stored in the memory 140 from the microcomputer 120 to provide a menu of a predetermined type. It is configured as a screen and provided to the image synthesizing unit 180. Accordingly, the image synthesizing unit 180 superimposes and displays the decoded video signal provided from the MPEG decoder 150 and the menu screen provided from the menu generator 170.

Various broadcast channels provided by the user to the satellite broadcast receiver through the key input unit 110 while the operation of the satellite broadcast receiver configured as described above operates in the normal viewing mode in which the broadcast signal for the specific channel selected by the user is tuned and displayed. When requesting program information for each time zone for the microcomputer 120, the microcomputer 120 extracts program information for each channel stored in a predetermined region of the memory unit 140 based on a key signal provided from the key input unit 110 to control signals. Together with the menu generator 170 is provided. In this case, the menu generator 170 configures a control signal provided from the microcomputer 120 and program information for each channel into a predetermined program guide screen, that is, a program guide screen as shown in FIG. 2A. The image synthesizer 180 is provided.

Accordingly, the image synthesizing unit 180 superimposes and displays the program guide screen for each channel provided from the menu generator 170 on the broadcast channel signal currently output from the video encoder 160, as shown in FIG. 2A. The same program guide screen is displayed. In this case, a separate paid display 201 is displayed on each pay broadcasting program item on the program guide screen for each channel, as shown in the drawing, and the scrolling of the guide screen is performed at a predetermined position (for example, the first priority). Cursor is displayed at the current time zone in the channel

On the other hand, while the program guide screen for each channel is displayed through the above-described process, the user can move the cursor of the guide screen by operating the key input unit 110, the guide screen based on the user's operation signal Is scrolled left / right or up / down. When the cursor is moved, the microcomputer 120 determines whether the program where the cursor is located is a paid program. If the cursor is moved to any paid program displayed in the program guide screen by the user's operation, the microcomputer ( 120 reads information about each program stored in the memory unit 140 and automatically displays price information for the corresponding program in the guide screen.

For example, when the cursor in the guide screen is moved to the paid program as shown in FIG. 2B by the user's key manipulation, the microcomputer 120 reads information about the corresponding program from the memory unit 140 and FIG. 2C. As shown in FIG. 2, price information 203 for the corresponding program is displayed on the guide screen. That is, the most necessary information for the user in the pay broadcast program included in the program guide screen is the price of the program, the microcomputer 120 determines the moving position of the cursor and automatically price information about the pay program without a separate key operation Will be displayed.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying program information of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. A series of processes described above with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail as follows.

While the satellite broadcast receiver is operating in a normal viewing mode in which a broadcast signal for a specific channel selected by a user is tuned and displayed on a screen through a predetermined signal processing process (step 301), the satellite broadcast receiver is input from the key input unit 110. When a program guide screen request key signal for displaying broadcast program information for each channel provided in step 303 is input (step 303), the microcomputer 120 reads program information for each channel stored in a predetermined region of the memory unit 140. By providing it to the menu generator 170, a program guide screen as shown in Fig. 2A is displayed (step 305).

On the other hand, the program guide screen displayed at this time is provided with a cursor to enable the user to select a specific program or to scroll left / right or up / down the guide screen displayed on the screen, through the above-described step 305 In the state where the program guide screen is displayed, the cursor is positioned at a predetermined position (for example, a program position corresponding to a current time zone in a channel currently being viewed or a channel having the highest priority). Then, the microcomputer 120 determines the position of the cursor included in the current guide screen (step 307), and checks whether the determined position is a pay broadcast program or a general broadcast program (step 309). In the case of a broadcast program, the program guide screen displayed on the current screen is maintained to switch to the standby state for executing a specific command input from the key input unit 110 (step 311).

On the contrary, when the determined cursor position is a pay broadcast program, that is, when the broadcast program located at the current cursor is a pay broadcast program, the corresponding pay program is stored among the program information stored in the predetermined area of the memory 140 again. The price information for is read (step 313). Subsequently, the microcomputer 120 provides the read price information to the menu generating unit 170 to display price information on the paid program as shown in FIG. 2C in the program guide screen (step 315). ).

On the other hand, the position of the cursor through the key input unit 110 in the state in which the price information for the pay-TV program in which the cursor is located or the displayed program guide screen is maintained through the above-described steps 311 and 315. When a key for moving (for example, a left / right or up / down moving key) signal is input (step 317), the microcomputer 120 moves the cursor to a position corresponding to the key signal, and then the step 307 described above. By repeating the subsequent process to determine the position of the moved cursor again, if the program located in the moved cursor is a pay broadcast program is automatically displayed price information for the program.

Repeating this process, while the program guide screen displayed on the screen is scrolled in response to the key signal input from the key input unit 110, the key signal for turning off the program guide screen currently displayed from the key input unit 110 again. If is input (step 319), the microcomputer 120 generates a control signal to the menu generator 170 to turn off the program guide screen displayed on the screen (step 321), the overall operation of the satellite broadcast receiver described above Switch to normal viewing mode as in step 301.

The program guide screen for each channel provided by the satellite broadcasting receiver is displayed to identify the movement position of the cursor and to automatically display the price information for the paid broadcasting program without any additional key operation, thereby reducing the number of cumbersome key manipulations. There is an effect to improve the convenience of the user accordingly, and accordingly there is an effect that can satisfy the needs of a variety of users more.

Claims (1)

A method of displaying program information of a satellite broadcast receiver, which receives and displays a satellite broadcast signal, and stores program information for each channel in a memory means and displays the same by a request signal input from the outside. When the program guide screen request key signal for each channel is input, reading the program information for each channel and displaying the program guide screen in a preset form; Detecting a position of a cursor displayed in the guide screen and checking whether a broadcast program corresponding to the position of the cursor is a paid broadcast program; A third step of extracting price information on the paid broadcasting program from the stored program information for each channel and displaying the price information on the program guide screen in the case of the pay broadcasting program; When a key signal for moving the cursor to any other broadcast program among the plurality of programs displayed on the guide screen is input, the cursor is moved to a position corresponding to the key signal and displayed. And displaying a fourth step of repeating the following steps.