KR20050122397A - Method and apparatus for providing channel lock service in digital broadcasting system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a parental control technology of a PVR built-in digital broadcasting system, and further comprising: recognizing a parental pattern in a received broadcast program and proceeding to a lock setting mode if the recognized parental pattern is greater than or equal to a preset parental rating; Storing the lock setting information when the input of the information is completed; determining whether the recording mode is selected; determining whether an arbitrary channel is selected in the recording mode; determining whether the selected channel is the lock setting channel; Recording a broadcast program of the channel on the disk together with the lock setting information. According to the present invention, when the parental control pattern information displayed on the upper right side of the TV broadcast screen is recognized and above a predetermined level, a lock can be set for a corresponding channel to prevent indiscriminate watching of a TV by a child or a teenager. In addition, on the basis of such lock information, when a corresponding channel is automatically recorded on a disc, a rating and password are automatically set, thereby eliminating the trouble of having to separately set lock information during DVD recording.

Description

Channel lock device and method of PBR built-in digital broadcasting system {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING CHANNEL LOCK SERVICE IN DIGITAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting system, and more particularly, to a channel lock apparatus and method for a PVR built-in digital broadcasting system capable of limiting viewing by determining a rating of a received broadcast.

Recently, with the development of digital technologies such as digital image compression and digital modulation / demodulation, the standardization and commercialization of digital television broadcasting is rapidly progressing. Also, in the conventional terrestrial, satellite, and cable broadcasting, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Based on this trend, digitalization is on the rise.

In digital broadcasting, a plurality of broadcast programs encoded on the basis of MPEG are multiplexed and transmitted in the form of a transport stream, which is received by a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box (STB) installed on the receiving side. The multiple broadcast programs included in the transport stream are demultiplexed.

Therefore, only one broadcast program desired by a user can be selected. Also, in a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box, a general television after restoring the selected broadcast program to an original audio and video signal using an MPEG decoder included in the receiver. It transmits to A / V output device such as

In addition, a large-capacity hard disk (HDD) is additionally provided in a digital broadcast receiver such as a set-top box, and a program stored in the hard disk is stored on a hard disk after being transmitted to an A / V output device such as a television. Digital broadcasting system has been developed and released with the addition of a digital broadcast recording / playback function, for example, a 'PVR (Personal Video Recorder)' function, which reproduces and outputs a broadcast program recorded on a disk. Is as follows.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital broadcasting system equipped with such a PVR function. A demultiplexer 100, a parser 102, a buffer memory 104, a storage unit 106, and an MPEG decoder ( 108, a control unit 110, a key input unit 112, and the like.

In the demultiplexer 100, a plurality of digital broadcast programs selectively output a transport stream of any one broadcast program among transport streams of a multiplexed multi-program.

The parser 102 separately outputs 188-byte transport packets constituting the transport stream of any one of the broadcast programs described above into video and audio data and navigation data.

In the buffer memory 104, video and audio data output through the above-described parser 102 are temporarily stored, and then recorded and stored in the storage unit 106, for example, a hard disk, in units of a predetermined recording size.

The MPEG decoder 108 decodes the video and audio data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 104 into original video and audio data, and outputs them as video and audio through the screens and speakers of a connected general television.

The key input unit 112 is a means for generating a predetermined key signal according to a user's input action, and performs a function of generating a key signal for performing various modes of the digital TV as well as an electronic program guide (EPG) key input signal. .

The controller 110 performs an overall function of controlling the demultiplexer 100, the parser 102, etc. in response to the key input signal of the key input unit 112. The controller 110 records the received digital broadcast program in the storage unit 106. Control or video and audio data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 104 are output through the TV screen and the speaker, respectively.

However, in such a digital broadcasting system, as in general analog broadcasting systems, there has been a problem of unilaterally supplying a broadcasting program to an unspecified majority without considering the gender, age, and status of the viewer.

In order to prevent the indiscriminate supply of programs that are not helpful to the emotions of the youth, a method of limiting viewers' views is proposed by setting a rating level for each broadcasting program. In this way, the broadcasting station provides the rating information on the broadcast program, and the viewer sets the viewing rating of the broadcast program based on the rating information received by the broadcast receiving apparatus so that the broadcast program below the set rating is displayed on the screen and the speaker of the broadcast receiving apparatus. The method of not outputting through is being used.

However, such a conventional program restriction technique requires a viewer to confirm rating information of a broadcast program in advance, and there is a hassle in that the viewing restriction of a broadcast program can only be set with reference to the received rating information.

The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above-mentioned limitations of the prior art, by recognizing a rating pattern in a received broadcast program, a broadcasting channel having a predetermined rating or higher is set to lock and automatically records the locked channel on a disc. An object of the present invention is to provide a channel lock apparatus and method for a PVR built-in digital broadcasting system in which a rating and password are set and recorded.

According to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, as a digital broadcasting system capable of recognizing a rating pattern of a broadcast program, a rating pattern for recognizing a rating pattern of a broadcast program received by the digital broadcasting system A control for comparing the recognition means with the ratings pattern of the received broadcast program and the previously stored ratings pattern, advancing the digital broadcasting system to the lock setting mode according to a result of the comparison and tabulating the lock setting information input by the user; A channel lock apparatus of a PVR embedded digital broadcasting system is provided.

According to another embodiment for achieving the object of the present invention, a viewing restriction method of a digital broadcasting system that can recognize a rating pattern of a broadcast program, the viewing rating pattern is recognized by recognizing a rating rating pattern in a received broadcast program Proceeding to the lock setting mode if the rating is equal to or greater than the preset rating; storing the lock setting information when input of the lock setting information is completed; determining whether to be in the recording mode; and selecting a random channel if the recording mode is used. Determining whether the selected channel is a lock setting channel, and if the lock setting channel is selected, recording a broadcast program of the channel on a disc together with the lock setting information. Provides a channel lock method.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a PVR built-in digital broadcasting system capable of recording limited broadcast programs by recognizing a viewer rating pattern according to the present invention, and includes a demultiplexer 200, a parser 202, a buffer memory 204, and a storage unit ( 206, MPEG codec 208, video output unit 210, audience rating pattern recognition unit 212, control unit 214, lock information table 216, key input unit 218, and DVR module 220. do.

In the demultiplexer 200, a plurality of digital broadcast programs selectively output a transport stream of any one broadcast program among transport streams of a multiplexed multi-program.

The parser 202 separately outputs 188 bytes of transport packets constituting the transport stream of any one of the broadcast programs described above into video and audio data and navigation data.

The buffer memory 204 temporarily stores video and audio data output through the parser 202 described above. In this case, in the PVR, data of the buffer memory 204 may be recorded and stored in a storage means, for example, the hard disk 206, in units of a predetermined recording size.

The MPEG codec 208 decodes the video data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 204 into original video data and provides the video output unit 210 to the video output unit 210. The video output unit 210 provides the decoded video data to the screen and the speaker of the television. The video will be displayed through the output.

The audience rating pattern recognition unit 212 recognizes a audience rating pattern, for example, pattern information of "?" Representing "viewable for 19 years or older" in a received broadcast program, and provides the recognition result to the controller 214. It plays a role. This rating pattern information is displayed on the upper right of the TV screen as is well known.

The controller 214 performs an overall function of controlling the demultiplexer 200, the parser 202, etc. in response to the key input signal of the key input unit 218. The controller 214 controls to record the received digital broadcast program in a storage means or buffers. The video and audio data temporarily stored in the memory 204 are controlled to be output through the TV screen and the speaker, respectively. In addition, as described below, the controller 214 sets the lock of the corresponding channel with reference to the audience rating pattern recognition information of the received broadcast program, and records the set lock information in the lock information table 216.

The key input unit 218 is a means for generating a predetermined key signal according to a user's input action, and performs a function of generating a key signal for performing various modes of the digital TV as well as an EPG key input signal.

Hereinafter, the channel locking procedure of the digital broadcasting system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

First, in step S300 and step S302, the controller 214 searches for a broadcast channel that can be received through an auto channel search function.

While performing the channel search process, the controller 214 examines the audience rating pattern information provided from the audience rating pattern recognition unit 212. That is, it is determined whether the rating information pattern, for example, the pattern information of "?" Indicating "viewable for 19 or older" is provided from the rating rating pattern recognition unit 212 in the received broadcast program (S304) (S306). .

As a result of the determination in step S306, when the pattern information indicating that the viewer is over 19 years old is provided to the control unit 214, the control unit 214 proceeds to step S308 to determine whether lock setting is requested through the key input unit 218. FIG. Judge. This step (S308) is a process for recognizing whether the lock is set again after recognizing the pattern information indicating that the user can view over 19 years old, and omitting such a process immediately after the lock setting step, that is, password input mode You can also proceed.

If the lock setting is requested as a result of the determination in step S308, the controller 214 proceeds to step S310 to switch the digital broadcasting system to the password input mode. In the padword input mode, the user may input the password information to implement the OSD process, and this fact can be easily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. do.

In step S312, it is determined whether the password input by the user is completed, and when the password input is completed, the controller 214 proceeds to step S314, and the corresponding lock information, that is, the rating information, the channel information, the password information, etc. The included channel lock information is stored in the lock information table 216.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of recording a locked channel of FIG. 3 on a disc according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step S400, the controller 214 determines whether the current digital broadcasting system is in a recording mode, and in step S402, the controller 214 determines whether an arbitrary channel is selected.

As a result of the determination in step S402, if an arbitrary channel is selected, the controller 214 proceeds to step S404 to determine whether the selected channel matches the channel information stored in the lock information table 216. That is, it is determined whether the selected channel is a locked channel.

If it is determined in step S404 that the selected channel is the locked channel, the controller 214 proceeds to step S408 to record the broadcast program on the disc together with the lock information including the channel information and the password information. Do it.

That is, this process is to record the lock information (viewing grade, channel, password information) when the corresponding channel is a locked channel when recording the broadcast program on the disc.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims below.

According to the present invention, when the parental control pattern information displayed on the upper right side of the TV broadcast screen is recognized and above a predetermined level, a lock can be set for a corresponding channel to prevent indiscriminate watching of a TV by a child or a teenager. In addition, on the basis of such lock information, when a corresponding channel is automatically recorded on a disc, a rating and password are automatically set, thereby eliminating the trouble of having to separately set lock information during DVD recording.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a typical PVR embedded digital broadcasting system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a PVR built-in digital broadcasting system capable of recording a limited broadcast program by recognizing a viewer rating pattern according to the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of setting a channel lock by recognizing a rating pattern of a digital broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of recording a locked channel of FIG. 3 on a disc according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

200: demultiplexer 202: parser

204: buffer memory 206: storage

208: MPEG codec 210: video output

212: viewer rating pattern recognition unit 214: control unit

216: lock information table 218: key input unit

220: DVR Module

Claims (6)

Digital broadcasting system that can recognize the audience rating pattern of the broadcast program, Viewer rating pattern recognition means for recognizing a rating pattern of a broadcast program received by the digital broadcasting system; Control means for comparing the ratings pattern of the received broadcast program and the previously stored ratings pattern, and proceeds the digital broadcast system in the lock setting mode according to the comparison result and to table the lock setting information input by the user Channel lock device of the PVR built-in digital broadcasting system. The method of claim 1, And the audience rating pattern is numeric information displayed on an upper right side of the output screen of the digital broadcasting system. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The control means compares the ratings pattern of the received broadcast program with the previously stored ratings pattern and advances to the lock setting mode when the ratings of the broadcast program are higher than the previously stored ratings. The channel lock device of the PVR built-in digital broadcasting system. As a method of restricting viewing of a digital broadcasting system capable of recognizing a rating pattern of a broadcasting program, Recognizing a rating pattern in a received broadcasting program and proceeding to a lock setting mode if the recognized rating pattern is equal to or greater than a preset rating; Storing the lock setting information when the input of the lock setting information is completed; Channel lock method of the PVR embedded digital broadcasting system comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein The method, Determining whether the recording mode; Determining whether an arbitrary channel is selected in the recording mode; Determining whether the selected channel is a lock setting channel; Recording the broadcast program of the channel on the disc together with the lock setting information in the lock setting channel. Channel lock method of the PVR embedded digital broadcasting system comprising a. The method according to claim 4 or 5, And the lock setting information comprises audience rating information, channel information, and password information, respectively.