KR20040002231A - Method for managing an electronic program guide in digital broadcast ing receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for managing electronic program guide of a digital broadcasting receiver is provided to effectively prevent the storing and managing of the display of a broadcasting channel having no program information on an electronic program guide display screen. CONSTITUTION: A method for managing electronic program guide of a digital broadcasting receiver includes the steps of reading broadcasting channel information and broadcasting program information included in SDT(Service Description Table) information and EIT(Event Information Table) information among SI information temporarily stored in a data buffer, and storing the read out information to a memory as electronic program guide information(S10). A controller checks whether broadcasting program information is existing in the EIT information(S11). If so, the broadcasting channel information read out from the SDT information and the broadcasting program information read out from the EIT information are stored and managed in relation to the electronic program guide information(S12). In the other case, a blank flag is set to '1' and this identification information is stored and managed as the electronic program guide information together with its corresponding broadcasting information(S13). If a user requests the display of the electronic program guide information(S14), broadcasting information of which blank flag is not '1' is read out(S15) and displayed to an OSD of a television(S16).

Description

{Method for managing an electronic program guide in digital broadcast ing receiver}

The present invention provides broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in service information (SI) of digital broadcasting as electronic program guide (EPG) information through a screen of an external connection device such as a television. An electronic program guide management method in a digital broadcast receiver for output display.

In general, digital broadcasting includes digital satellite broadcasting, digital cable broadcasting, and digital terrestrial broadcasting. In a digital broadcasting receiver such as a set top box for receiving the digital broadcasting, digital broadcasting of an MPEG transport stream is performed. After receiving a broadcast signal, reconstructing and signal processing the original video and audio signals, and transmitting the video and audio signals to a general television or the like, the user can watch a desired broadcast program.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in order to receive and signal digital satellite broadcast in the digital broadcast receiver, a satellite antenna 200 for receiving a digital broadcast signal transmitted through the broadcast satellite 100 is provided. The satellite antenna 200 has a low noise blockdown (LNB) converter for converting and amplifying a digital satellite broadcast signal of 3.5 GHz to 12 GHz band into an intermediate frequency of 1 GHz band and reducing noise. Consist of included.

Accordingly, since the digital broadcast receiver 300 receives the intermediate frequency of the 1 GHz band where the noise is reduced through the LNB converter, the digital broadcast signal of the MPEG transport stream is converted into the original video and audio signal as described above. After reconstruction to a signal and signal processing, the video and audio signals can be transmitted and output to a general television or the like.

Meanwhile, in the digital broadcast receiver 300, broadcast channel information and broadcast program information transmitted in service information (SI) of digital broadcast, for example, broadcast channel information such as broadcast channel number and channel name, broadcast program name and Broadcast program information such as program content is retrieved from the service information (SI), and then stored and managed in the device as electronic program guide (EPG) information.

In response to a user's request, the broadcasting channel information and the broadcasting program information are output and displayed as electronic program guide (EPG) information through an on-screen display (OSD) screen of the television 400.

Therefore, the user having the digital broadcast receiver 300, for example, as shown in Figure 2, through the electronic program guide (EPG) information that is output through the television (OSD) screen of the television, The desired broadcast channel or broadcast program can be easily searched and confirmed.

However, when only broadcast channel information is transmitted in the service information (SI), that is, when broadcast program information is not included in the service information and transmitted, as shown in FIG. 2, an electronic program guide (EPG) display screen is shown. Since there is a blank period in which no broadcast program information exists, a problem arises in that a user makes meaninglessly only broadcast channel information. In addition, the digital broadcast receiver does not have broadcast program information. There is a problem in that channel information is unnecessarily stored and managed.

Accordingly, the present invention was created to solve the above problems, and includes broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in service information (SI) of digital broadcasting in a digital broadcast receiver such as a set top box (STB), It provides the electronic program guide management method in the digital broadcast receiver for storing and managing as associated electronic program guide (EPG) information, but separately managing or deleting the broadcast channel information that the program information does not exist, The purpose is.

1 illustrates a state in which a general digital broadcast receiver is connected to a satellite antenna and a television, respectively.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of electronic program guide (EPG) information that is output and displayed through an OSD screen of a general television.

3 is a block diagram of a digital broadcast receiver to which the electronic program guide management method according to the present invention is applied;

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a method for managing an electronic program guide in a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention;

5 is a diagram illustrating syntax of an event information section to which the electronic program guide management method according to the present invention is applied;

6 is a table illustrating electronic program guide (EPG) information stored and managed in a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention.

7 illustrates an embodiment of electronic program guide (EPG) information displayed and output by the electronic program guide management method according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of code for main part of drawing

100: broadcast satellite 200: satellite antenna

300: digital broadcast receiver 400: television

30: tuner unit 31: Demux

32: audio buffer 33: video buffer

34: data buffer 35: MPEG decoder

36: signal synthesizing unit 37: control unit

38: OSD generator 39: memory

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing an electronic program guide in a digital broadcast receiver, the method comprising: searching and reading broadcast channel information and broadcast program information transmitted in service information of a digital broadcast; Storing and managing the broadcast channel information and broadcast program information as electronic program guide information, and additionally recording identification information in broadcast channel information in which the broadcast program information does not exist; And electronic program guide information in which the broadcast channel information and the broadcast program information are normally stored in association with the identification information. Characterized in that it comprises three steps of output display through the screen of the external connection device,

In addition, the electronic program guide management method in the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention comprises: a first step of searching and reading broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in the service information of the digital broadcast; And storing and managing the broadcast channel information and the broadcast program information as electronic program guide information, and excluding broadcast channel information in which the broadcast program information does not exist from the electronic program guide information. do.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of an electronic program guide management method in a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 shows a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver to which the electronic program guide management method according to the present invention is applied. A tuner for tuning a digital broadcast channel to a digital broadcast receiver 300 such as a set top box (STB) is shown in FIG. A demux 31 for parsing an MPEG transport stream received through respective services multiplexed on the broadcast channel into audio, video and data, and the audio, video and data. Audio buffer 31, video buffer 33 and data buffer 34 for temporary storage, and an MPEG decoder for decoding and outputting the temporarily stored audio, video and data to original audio and video signals. 35 is configured to include.

In addition, the digital broadcast receiver 300 outputs and displays broadcast channel information such as digital broadcast channel number and channel name, and broadcast program information such as broadcast program name and program content as an OSD image of electronic program guide (EPG) information. An OSD generating unit 38, a control unit 37 for operation controlling the components, and a memory 39 for storing the data necessary for the operation control and the electronic program guide information. do.

On the other hand, when the control unit 37 performs the channel selection operation according to the user's key input, the tuner unit 30 and the demux 31 are operated to tune the digital broadcast channel and the service. In this case, the SI information of the digital broadcast transmitted through the digital broadcast channel and the service is temporarily stored in the data buffer 34.

In addition, the electronic program stores broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in service description table (SDT) information and event information table (EIT) information among the SI information temporarily stored in the data buffer 31 in the memory 39. When the program information does not exist in the EIT information, it is stored and managed in association with the information (EPG) information. For example, identification information for identifying the program information, for example, a blank flag (Blank_Flag), may be used. Is additionally recorded in the broadcast channel information that does not exist and separately managed or deleted, thereby preventing the broadcast channel information without the broadcast program information from being displayed as electronic program guide information.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing an electronic program guide in a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention. As described above, the controller 37 performs a broadcast channel tuning operation according to a user's request. In this case, the tuner unit 30 and the demux 31 are operated to temporarily store SI information transmitted and received through a corresponding broadcast channel and a service in the data buffer 34, and temporarily store the SI information. The broadcasting channel information and the broadcasting program information included in the SDT information and the EIT information of the information are read out and stored in the memory 39 in association with the electronic program guide (EPG) information (S10).

Then, the control unit 37 checks whether broadcast program information exists in the EIT information (S11). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, an event information section of the EIT information (Event Information Section). ) Includes a service ID (service_id) information for identifying corresponding broadcast channel information, and a descriptor for recording various broadcast program information such as a broadcast program name and program content.

Accordingly, the control unit 37 searches and checks the descriptor of the event information section and, when broadcast program information is recorded, broadcast channel information searched and read from the SDT information and broadcast program searched and read from the EIT information. The information is stored and managed in association with the electronic program guide information (S12).

On the other hand, when broadcast program information is not recorded in the descriptor of the event information section, a blank flag (Blank_Flag) indicating that there is no identification information for identifying this, for example, broadcast program information, is' After setting to 1 ', as shown in FIG. 6, storage management is performed in association with the corresponding broadcast channel information as electronic program guide information (S13).

When the electronic program guide (EPG) is requested to be displayed through a user's key input (S14), the control unit 37 broadcasts broadcast channel information for which the blank flag is not set to '1', that is, broadcast. In addition to selecting and reading broadcast channel information in which program information is normally stored in association (S15), the broadcast channel information and broadcast program information are electronically transmitted through an OSD screen of an external connection device such as a television 400. The output is displayed as the program guide information (S16).

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, only the broadcast channel information in which the broadcast program information exists is selected from the electronic program guide (EPG) information displayed through the OS screen of the television 400, and the broadcast program information. The output can be displayed in the form of a list.

On the other hand, the control unit 37, when the electronic program guide (EG) information filtering operation is requested from the user (S17), and performs a series of operations to select and delete the broadcast channel information associated with the blank flag is set. (S18).

That is, by selecting and deleting broadcast channel information in which broadcast program information is not stored in association, it is possible to prevent only broadcast channel information from being outputted and displayed without meaning.

Meanwhile, the controller 37 stores and maintains broadcast channel information in which the blank flag is set to '1' without deleting the broadcast channel information, but does not include broadcast program information. It can also be controlled so that it is displayed in the middle.

In addition, when the program information does not exist in the EIT information, the control unit 37 does not store the corresponding broadcast channel information in the memory 39 as the electronic program guide information. It is possible to fundamentally prevent broadcast channel information in which information does not exist, from being irrelevant by the user or unnecessarily stored and managed.

For reference, the control unit 37 accumulates the broadcasting channel information or the program information selected by the user based on the number of times of user selection or the viewing time, etc., and then gives priority to the broadcasting channel information or the program information preferred by the user. You can also display the output.

In addition, when the user selects a broadcasting channel using electronic program guide (EPG) information, the control unit 37 can identify the number of times of use of electronic program guide information corresponding to the broadcasting channel. After the additional recording, the electronic program guide information may be preferentially displayed, or a series of electronic program guide information management operations for deleting the remaining electronic program guide information may be performed.

Or more, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above, for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art, within the technical spirit and the technical scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims below, to further improve various other embodiments Changes, substitutions or additions will be possible.

The electronic program guide management method in the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention constructed and constructed as described above may include broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in the service information (SI) of digital broadcasting, such as a set-top box (STB). In the digital broadcast receiver, the program information is stored and managed as electronic program guide (EPG) information, and the broadcasting program information is displayed and output through an external connection device such as a television by separately managing or deleting the broadcasting channel information. On the electronic program guide (EPG) display screen, only the broadcasting channel information without the broadcasting program information is displayed meaninglessly, or the broadcasting channel information without the broadcasting program information can be effectively prevented from unnecessary storage management. It is a very useful invention.

Claims (5)

Searching and reading broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in service information of digital broadcasting; Storing and managing the broadcast channel information and broadcast program information as electronic program guide information, and additionally recording identification information in broadcast channel information in which the broadcast program information does not exist; And Referring to the identification information, electronic program guide information normally stored in association with the broadcasting channel information and the broadcasting program information. Electronic program guide management method for a digital broadcast receiver comprising the three steps of output display through the screen of the external connection device. The method of claim 1, The broadcast channel information and the broadcast program information are included in the service description table (SDT) information and the event information table (EIT) information transmitted and included in the service information, respectively. The electronic program guide management in the digital broadcast receiver Way. The method of claim 1, In the digital broadcast receiver, the identification information is one or more bits for indicating when the program information does not exist in the event information table (EIT) information, and is additionally recorded in the corresponding broadcast channel information. How to manage electronic program guide The method of claim 1, And selecting and deleting the broadcasting channel information in which the broadcasting program information is not stored in association with the identification information, and managing the electronic program guide in the digital broadcasting receiver. Searching and reading broadcast channel information and broadcast program information included in service information of digital broadcasting; And And storing and managing the broadcast channel information and broadcast program information as electronic program guide information, and excluding broadcast channel information in which the broadcast program information does not exist from the electronic program guide information. Electronic program guide management method in digital broadcasting receiver.