KR20010001086A - Apparatus and method for materializing program guide of digital tv receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for implementing a program guide screen is provided to display program titles corresponding to time/channel groups when a program guide screen outputting the command of a user is inputted, and to simultaneously display page number lists of screens for displaying whole program titles of the time group and page number lists of screens for displaying whole program titles of the channel group, so as to easily retrieve information of the program guide screen. CONSTITUTION: A controller(28) generates and stores program guide screen configuring information including page number lists of screens for displaying every program title of a channel group or a time group, by using program guide information. The controller(28) outputs the stored program guide screen configuring information, according to a program guide screen requesting command of a user. A memory(27) stores the program guide screen configuring information. A key input circuit(29) inputs the program guide screen requesting command and an operation-related command. A program guide screen generator(24) generates a program guide screen by using the output program guide screen configuring information. A display unit(26) displays an output of the program guide screen generator(24) on a screen.

Description

Apparatus and method for implementing program guide screen of digital TV receiver {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MATERIALIZING PROGRAM GUIDE OF DIGITAL TV RECEIVER}

The present invention relates to a digital TV receiver, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver.

In general, a TV is a device for selecting and displaying a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcasting station according to a user's selection. The TV is gradually changing from an analog method to a digital method according to the development of multimedia technology.

In particular, digital TVs have added additional services such as home shopping, electronic newspapers, stock information, etc., which cannot be received in the conventional analog system, and many channels for receiving broadcasts have been added due to the efficient use of bandwidth.

In line with this trend, standard guidelines for interactive services such as online games and on-demand video services are being established, and manufacturers are actively researching the interface between the user and the interactive service.

Therefore, the currently developed digital TV receiver or Internet TV is provided with a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that is the same level as a personal computer.

At this time, an electronic program guide (EPG), which is a guide information screen for a broadcast program, is a type of graphical user interface that displays programs of each station on a screen by date and time. In order to increase user convenience in response to the complexity / variance of the channel, more technical development is required.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the related art will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the related art.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the related art is a tuner 11 for tuning a broadcast signal and a broadcast signal tuned through the tuner 11, that is, multiplexed in time. A demultiplexer 12 for demultiplexing a transport stream, a video signal processor 13 for performing image processing so that demultiplexed broadcast information can be displayed on a screen, and program guide related information. A program guide screen generation unit 14 constituting a program guide screen in an OSD form by using the switching unit 15, and a switching unit 15 for selectively switching the output of the image signal processing unit 13 and the output of the program guide screen generation unit 14; Controls the operations of the display unit 16, the memory unit 17, and the TV units for displaying the output of the switching unit 15 on the screen, The control unit stores the RAM guide screen configuration information in the memory unit 17 and reads the program guide screen configuration information stored in the memory unit 17 according to a user's program guide screen request command and transmits the configuration information to the program guide screen generation unit 14. And a key input unit 19 for the user to input a program guide screen request command and various operation related commands.

A method of implementing a program guide screen of the related art configured as described above is as follows.

First, the transport stream tuned through the tuner 11 is demultiplexed through the demultiplexer 12 and separated into additional information including broadcast information and program guide related information, and additional information including program guide related information is controlled by the controller ( Under the control of 18), it is stored in the memory of the memory unit 17.

Subsequently, the broadcast information is signal-processed to be displayed on the screen by the image signal processor 13 and displayed on the screen through the display unit 16 via the switching unit 15.

On the other hand, when a user requests a program guide screen output by operating a key input unit 19, i.e., a key of a remote controller or a main body, the control unit 18 reads the program guide screen configuration information stored in the memory unit 17 and the program guide screen. Transfer to the generation unit 14.

Subsequently, the program guide screen generation unit 14 OSD-processes the program guide screen configuration information transmitted by the controller 18 and is displayed through the switching unit 15 and the display unit 16.

In this case, the conventional program guide screen lists broadcasting program titles corresponding to the channel / time zone of the date selected by the user. Due to the limitation of the screen size, all broadcasting station or all time zone program titles are not displayed on one screen. In order to check a program of a broadcasting station or a time zone that is not displayed on the screen, up / down or left / right scrolling should be performed.

The digital TV receiver according to the related art can identify a broadcast program that is not currently displayed on the screen by scrolling, but the program information is not known because the amount of the total information, that is, how many screens the program title of each broadcasting station or time zone is composed of There is a problem that the search is not easy.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver, which enables the user to easily search for the information content of a program guide screen.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the related art.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a program guide screen according to the present invention;

4 is a view showing another embodiment of a program guide screen according to the present invention;

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

21: Tuner 22: Demultiplexer

23: video signal processor 24: program guide screen generation unit

25: switching unit 26: display unit

27: memory unit 28: control unit

29: key input unit

An apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention is a digital TV receiver having a demultiplexer. To generate and store program guide screen configuration information including a page number list of screens for displaying all program titles on the channel or time axis, and to output the stored program guide screen configuration information according to a user's program guide screen request command. To use the control unit, a memory unit for storing program guide screen configuration information, a key input unit for inputting a program guide screen request command and an operation related command, and a program guide screen configuration information output from the memory unit. And the program guide to generate a program guide display screen generation unit, and a program guide display generated output portion characterized by comprising: a display adapted to displaying on the screen.

In the method of implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention, in the method of implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver, when a user outputs a program guide screen output command, a program title corresponding to a time / channel axis is displayed. And a page number list of screens configured to display the full program title of the time axis and a page number list of screens configured to display the full program title of the channel axis.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a program guide screen according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a program according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows another embodiment of a guide screen.

As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus for implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver according to the present invention includes a tuner 21 for tuning a broadcast signal and a broadcast signal tuned through the tuner 21, that is, a temporally multiplexed transformer. A demultiplexer 22 for demultiplexing a transport stream, a video signal processor 23 for processing a demultiplexed broadcast information through the demultiplexer 22 on a screen, and an automatic channel search result Program guide screen configuration information including a page number list of screens for displaying all program titles of a channel axis or a time axis using program information for each channel and program guide information extracted from the demultiplexed additional information through the demultiplexer 22. Create and save the program according to the user's program guide screen request command A control unit 28 for outputting gram guide screen configuration information, a memory unit 27 for storing the program guide screen configuration information, and a key input unit for a user to input a program guide screen request command and an operation related command ( 29), a program guide screen generation unit 24 for generating a program guide screen in the OSD form using the program guide screen configuration information output from the memory unit 27, and the image signal processing unit 23 or program guide. A display unit 26 for displaying the output of the screen generator 24 on a screen, and switching between the output of the image signal processor 23 and the output of the program guide screen generator 24 to switch the display unit 26; It is configured to include a switching unit 25 for outputting.

The first and second embodiments of the program guide screen implementing method of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

First Embodiment

First, the present invention analyzes additional information included in a transport stream to obtain information for configuring a program guide screen such as a title and a plot of a broadcast program for each time / channel.

At this time, since the additional information detected as the channel selection for one channel provides only program related information for one channel, the program information screen cannot be configured because the program information of all channels cannot be known by this alone.

Therefore, the control unit 28 performs a user's selection or search for all broadcasting channels automatically and uses the additional information for each channel to determine the program title, number of programs, etc. for all the channels, and then the program guide screen. The configuration information is generated and stored in the memory unit 27.

In this case, the program guide screen configuration information generation process will be described in detail as follows.

For example, if the total number of programs detected through automatic channel search is 27 and the number of program titles that can be displayed for each channel on the screen is three, three screens are required to form a program guide screen for all channels.

Therefore, program guide screen configuration information for displaying the three screens is generated as follows.

First, the three screens are displayed in the multi-layer OSD format on the same screen, and the corresponding program titles are listed on the horizontal axis as the time axis and the vertical channel axis for each screen.

Second, the program guide screen is composed of three and the page number is given to each screen so that it is easy to recognize which page the user is currently viewing.

Third, the page number list is separately displayed on the right side of the screen.

When the user inputs a program guide screen output command while the program guide screen configuration information is generated as described above, the control unit 28 reads the program guide screen configuration information stored in the memory unit 27 and generates a program guide screen generation unit ( 24) to display the above-described program guide screen.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the program guide screen in which the program titles are listed in the horizontal axis as the time axis and the vertical channel axis is displayed in the multi-layer OSD format, and the current screen for the final page number is displayed on the bottom left of the currently displayed program guide screen. The page number of is displayed and the list of page numbers of the entire screen is displayed on the right side of the screen.

In addition, an underlined or high light process is performed on the currently displayed page number in the screen page number list, thereby making it easier for the user to recognize the program guide screen.

On the other hand, the user selects the desired page number from the page number or page number list displayed on each program guide screen by using the key input unit 29 (for example, by clicking and positioning the cursor of the mouse). Or), by entering the number key corresponding to the page number to the program guide screen.

Second Embodiment

First, since the information for configuring the program guide screen of the present invention is obtained using additional information through automatic channel search as in the first embodiment of the present invention, the detailed description is omitted and the method of configuring the program guide screen is different. Therefore, this will be described in detail.

For example, if the total number of programs detected through automatic channel search is 27 and the number of program titles that can be displayed for each channel on the screen is three, three screens are required to construct a program guide screen for each channel for all channels.

In addition, if you set the program to be displayed for three hours on one screen, eight screens are required to display the program for 24 hours.

Therefore, the program guide screen configuration information is generated as follows.

First, arrange the title of the program horizontally as the time axis and vertically as the channel axis.

Second, the program guide screen for each channel is composed of three and the page number is assigned with the final page number so that it is easy to recognize which page the user is currently viewing, and the page number list, that is, the channel page number. List is displayed separately on the right side of the screen.

Third, since the hourly program guide screen is composed of eight pages, the page number list, that is, the time page number list, is displayed at the bottom of the screen so that it is easy to recognize which page the user is currently viewing.

When the user inputs a program guide screen output command while the program guide screen configuration information is generated as described above, the control unit 28 reads the program guide screen configuration information stored in the memory unit 27 and generates a program guide screen generation unit ( 24) to display the above-described program guide screen.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the program guide screen in which the corresponding program titles are displayed with the horizontal axis as the time axis and the vertical axis as the channel axis is displayed, and the page number of the current screen for the final page number is indicated on the lower left of the currently displayed program guide screen. The channel page number list is displayed on the right side of the screen, and the time page number list is displayed on the bottom of the screen.

In addition, the underlined or high light process is performed on the currently displayed page number in the channel and time page number list, thereby facilitating user's recognition of the program guide screen.

On the other hand, the user selects the desired page number from the page number or channel and time page number list displayed on each program guide screen by using the key input unit 29 (for example, the cursor of the mouse (Cursor) Go to the location and click), or enter the numeric key corresponding to the page number to move to the program guide screen.

The apparatus and method for implementing the program guide screen of the digital TV receiver according to the present invention lists the program title corresponding to the channel / time on the program guide screen and simultaneously displays the page number and channel / time page for each channel / time of the screen currently viewed by the user. The number list can be displayed and the page number can be directly selected by using a key input device such as a mouse or the corresponding number key can be moved to a desired screen, thereby maximizing the convenience of program search.

Claims (9)

Create and store program guide screen configuration information including a page number list of screens for displaying all program titles on the channel axis or time axis using program guide information, and configure the stored program guide screen according to a user's program guide screen request command. A control unit for outputting information; A memory unit for storing the program guide screen configuration information; A key input unit for inputting a program guide screen request command and an operation command; A program guide screen generation unit for generating a program guide screen by using the program guide screen configuration information output from the memory unit; And a display unit configured to display an output of the program guide screen generator on a screen. In the program guide screen of the digital TV receiver, When the user outputs a program guide screen output command, the program number corresponding to the time / channel axis is displayed according to the additional information included in the broadcast signal, and the page number list of the screens configured to display the entire program title on the channel axis is displayed. Program guide screen implementation method of the digital TV receiver characterized in that. The method of claim 2, And executing a predetermined display operation on the page number of the currently displayed screen of the page number list. The method of claim 3, wherein The predetermined display operation may be performed by underlining the corresponding page number or by highlighting the corresponding page number. The method of claim 2, A method of implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver, characterized in that the user directly selects a desired page number from the list of page numbers displayed on the screen and switches to a corresponding program guide screen. The method of claim 2, A method of implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver, characterized in that the screen is switched to a corresponding program guide screen by inputting a numeric key corresponding to a page number desired by the user from the list of page numbers displayed on the screen. In the program guide screen of the digital TV receiver, When a user outputs a program guide screen output command, the program title corresponding to the time / channel axis is displayed and the page number list of the screens configured to display the entire program title on the time axis is displayed. How to implement the program guide screen. In the program guide screen of the digital TV receiver, When the user inputs a program guide screen output command, the program number corresponding to the time / channel axis is displayed, and the page number list of the screens configured to display the full program title of the time axis and the full program title of the channel axis are configured. A method of implementing a program guide screen of a digital TV receiver, characterized by displaying a list of page numbers of screens. The method of claim 8, And displaying screens configured to display the entire program title of the channel axis on a screen in a multi-layer format.