KR20060023132A - Control of a system for access to teletext information - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of controlling a system for providing access to teletext information, comprising, an input for receiving a source signal, a channel selection system for selecting a program channel signal carried by the source signal and including embedded teletext data belonging to a teletext service, a teletext decoder for decoding teletext data embedded in a selected program channel signal, a coder for converting decoded teletext data into a video signal for displaying teletext information on a display device, memory for storing pre-set data including information identifying at least one pre- set program channel signal, an interface for receiving a switch command entered by a user, comprises receiving a switch command through the interface. The method further comprises, in response to the switch command, searching at least a part of decoded teletext data embedded in the pre-set program channel signal for identification information identifying a teletext information provider and directing the system to convert at least part of the decoded teletext data into a video signal if identification information is found corresponding to pre-set identification information included in the pre-set data.

Description

Control of a system for access to teletext information

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a system for providing access to teletext information, the system comprising:

An input for receiving a source signal,

A channel selection system comprising embedded teletext data belonging to a teletext service and selecting a program channel signal carried by said source signal,

A teletext decoder for decoding teletext data embedded in a selected program channel signal,

A coder for converting decoded teletext data into a video signal for displaying teletext information on a display device,

A memory for storing preset data comprising information identifying at least one preset program channel signal,

An interface for receiving a switch command input by a user,

The method includes receiving a switch command via the interface.

The present invention also relates to a system for providing access to teletext information.

An input for receiving a source signal,

A channel selection system including embedded teletext data belonging to a teletext service and selecting a program channel signal carried by said source signal,

A teletext decoder for decoding teletext data embedded in a selected program channel signal,

A coder for converting decoded teletext data into a video signal for displaying teletext information on a display device,

A memory for storing preset data comprising information identifying at least one preset program channel signal,

An interface for receiving a switch command input by a user, and a controller for controlling operation of the system, wherein the system is adapted to decode teletext data embedded in a preset program channel upon receipt of the switch command.

The invention also relates to a video device and a computer program product comprising such a system.

Examples of the methods and systems described above are known from, for example, JP-A-06-030386. This publication discloses a teletext receiver in which a microcomputer generates a table representing cross references between four color keys, a program location (channel) and a page in the storage means. When any one of the four color keys is pressed, the program position and page data corresponding to the pressed color key are read from the table of the storage means and stored in the RAM of the microcomputer. The data of the program position is then used to control the channel selection of the tuner. The page data is then supplied to the text signal processor to set up the page and automatically receive the teletext program. The content is displayed on a CRT (cathode ray tube).

A problem with known receivers is that before a viewer presses one of the color keys, the viewer has no confidence that the page displayed as a result currently contains information targeted to him.

1 is a schematic diagram at the component level of a system for providing access to teletext information operating in accordance with the present invention;

2 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method of implementing the present invention.

3 schematically illustrates some examples of an apparatus utilizing the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method, system, computer program and video device of the above-described types that can be used as means for providing access to occupancy information.

The object is in response to a switch command, retrieving at least a portion of the decoded teletext data embedded in the preset program channel signal for identification information identifying the teletext information provider, wherein the identification information is included in the preset data. If found to correspond to the predetermined preset identification information, instructing the system to convert at least a portion of the decoded teletext data into a video signal.

Thus, the identification information identifies occupancy information, ie information owned by an individual or a legal entity and kept up to date for the benefit of a particular listener. The preset identification information selects the specific listener. If the occupancy information is currently available to that listener, they are provided to them if they provide a switch command.

Advantageously, the method instructs the channel selection system to select at least one additional preset program channel signal comprising embedded teletext data if corresponding identification information is not found, and the teletext information provider; Retrieving at least a portion of the teletext data embedded in each additional program channel signal for identification information identifying a; and if the identification information is found to correspond to the preset identification information, at least a portion of the teletext data Instructing the system to decode and convert to a video signal.

Thus, providers of occupancy information are not limited to one channel. Users of the system controlled by this embodiment of the method may be provided access to a selected number of different sources of occupancy information.

A preferred variant of this embodiment includes storing information identifying the additional program channel signal as the start channel information when the identification information is found in the teletext data embedded in the additional program channel signal. Preferably in response to the second switch command, instructing the channel selection system to first select the program channel signal identified by the initiating channel information, and in the identified program channel signal for identification information identifying the teletext information provider. Retrieving at least a portion of the embedded teletext data and instructing the system to decode and convert at least a portion of the teletext data into a video signal if the identification information is found to correspond to the preset identification information. do. Thus, when a user requests access to the occupancy information a second time, assuming that it is embedded in the same program channel signal and still transmitted, it can be accessed much faster because the selected first program channel signal is already correct. .

In a preferred embodiment, the system comprises an input for receiving at least one additional source signal, wherein the method provides to the channel selection system a source signal carrying a preset program upon receipt of the switch signal. Instructing.

Otherwise, it allows the user to quickly access the occupancy information in an environment that may require a number of actions on the part of the user, that is, selection of the appropriate source, channel and page range depending on the latest information that should be close to the user. It is an implementation of a particularly advantageous method because

A preferred embodiment includes instructing the system to decode and convert teletext data into a video signal that encodes a range of at least one teletext page according to preset page identification data stored in memory.

Thus, the occupancy information can reserve multiple dedicated pages in the teletext service. Moreover, this embodiment has the advantage that it is not necessary to provide each of the pages containing occupancy data with identification information. Instead, the individually transmitted identification information instructs the system that pages containing the updated occupancy information are within a preset range.

According to another aspect of the invention, the system according to the invention is characterized in that it is adapted to be controlled by a controller by the method according to the invention.

Thus, the advantages of the method according to the invention are provided and no external control means are required to carry out the method.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a video device comprising a system according to the invention.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a computer program product is provided that can enable a computer device to perform a method according to the present invention when executed on a computing device.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Two examples of video devices that may include the system of the present invention are provided in FIG. 1. A DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) -recorder 1 is connected to the television set 2 by an analog video link. Another suitable portion of the video device may be a set top box. In the above example, it can be assumed that the present invention is implemented in the television set 2. Note that a system for providing access to teletext information does not need to be included in one individual part of the device but may include distributed components. An example of such an implementation is a personal computer in which a separate (possibly external) television tuner is connected to a separate board in a computer and a teletext decoder chip is fitted to the board or a software teletext decoder is installed on the computer. In an alternative implementation of the invention, the system may be controlled by software instructing the operation of each of the above-mentioned components constituting a system for realizing on a personal computer and providing access to teletext information.

Returning to the example of FIG. 1, the television set 2 is controlled by the user by the remote control unit 3. Although not essential to the invention, it can be assumed herein that the television set 2 is a digital television set. An example of a reference design for a digital television is provided in FIG. 2.

The digital television set 2 comprises, for example, an input 4 for digital television signals provided by cable, satellite, or terrestrial digital broadcasting. The signal may for example conform to ATSC or DVB standards. The tuner 5 is used to tune the broadcast signal of a particular carrier frequency and extract the MPEG transport stream. An MPEG transport stream is a multiplex of a number of elementary streams whose number forms a program channel signal.

The digital television set 2 can also receive an analog video signal from another source, such as a video recorder or an analog television tuner, for example via the analog input 6. The analog signal is passed to a video decoder 7 capable of handling video in one or more of known analog video formats, for example PAL, NTSC or SECAM.

The home entertainment engine 8 processes incoming transport stream signals or converted analog video signals. Moreover, the home entertainment engine 8 controls the operation of the various components of the system. If the incoming MPEG transport stream contains multiple program channel signals, it also selects the appropriate one by demultiplexing the transport stream. The home entertainment engine is also included in the program channel signal, ie embedded in the elementary stream of a bouquet of streams embedded in or forming the program channel signal in the signal received from the video decoder 7 and received from the tuner 5. A teletext decoder for decoding the data.

The home entertainment engine 8 is connected to the random access memory (RAM) 9 via a dedicated interface and to the system bus 10 via another interface. Also connected to the system bus 10 is an interface unit 11 for receiving and converting commands input by the user by the remote control unit 3 (FIG. 1).

The home entertainment engine provides an output signal to video encoder 12 which converts the output signal into a video signal in a format suitable for a display device. This may be an RGB-component signal for the cathode ray tube of the television set 2. In alternative embodiments, the term video signal may refer to an MPEG-2 signal, for example. Audio signals are provided by the audio encoder 13.

Note that the home entertainment engine may have access to memory devices other than RAM 9 such as, for example, EEPROM 14 via the system bus 10.

According to the invention, the viewer can switch to receiving proprietary information by watching a program on the television set 2 or a general teletext page and entering a signal switch command. Preferably, the command is entered by pressing one single dedicated key 15 on the remote control unit 3. In this context, proprietary information means information targeted to a particular part of a listener, such as, for example, subscribers. One suitable example relates to providing up-to-date coverage of sports matches, such as cricket games. While watching another program, for example a movie, subscribers to the occupancy information may switch to receiving the updated score by pressing only one dedicated key 15.

The switch command is passed by the interface unit 11 via the system bus 10 to the home entertainment engine 8. In response, the home entertainment engine executes the algorithm shown schematically in FIG.

After receiving the switch command in step 16, the home entertainment engine 8 consults the preset data stored in the EEPROM 14. The preset data includes an entry comprising information identifying a program channel signal, a range of one or more pages on which occupancy information is transmitted, and identification information uniquely identifying a provider of proprietary information.

If video is being watched when a switch command is issued, the system may first be instructed to switch the source signal from the digital input 4 instead of the analog input 6. The tuner 5 can then direct tuning to the correct MPEG transport stream and the home entertainment engine can ensure that the de-multiplexing mechanism it contains extracts program elementary streams belonging to the preset program channel. These streams form a program channel signal from which embedded teletext data is extracted and decoded. Thus, the first preset channel is selected at step 17. When the occupancy information retrieval facility is first used, the first preset channel may simply be the channel selected when the key marked '1' on the remote control unit 3 is pressed. In other cases, the first preset channel is preferably a channel for which occupancy information has already been found. In an alternative embodiment, the first preset channel can be programmed in particular or by the user of the digital television set 2.

In step 18, the home entertainment engine receives the portion of decoded teletext and retrieves identification information corresponding to preset identification information stored in the EEPROM 14. The identification may be included in the headers for the pages identified in the preset data. Alternatively, the identification may be a code in a dedicated packet that is independent of a particular page, such as packet 8/30 as defined by European telecommunication standard ETS 300 707. The latter variant has the advantage that the data in the pages is limited to occupied information.

If the identification information is found in step 18, the home entertainment engine 8 consults the preset data stored in the EEPROM 14 to retrieve information identifying the range of one or more teletext pages into which the occupancy information is inserted. The teletext decoder is instructed to decode these pages. The decoded teletext information is provided to video encoder 12 for output on the screen of television set 2 in step 19. Preferably, the occupancy information is contained within pages outside of the normally accessible range. This allows pages on the remote control unit to enter only the numbers in the range 100-109, for example, so that pages containing occupancy information are for example hexadecimal ranges such as 10A-10E, 20A-200E, 30A-30E. It means you can be inside.

If no occupancy information is found, the home entertainment engine may instruct the tuner 5 and the de-multiplexing mechanism to select additional preset channel program signals in step 20 and repeat step 18. If all preset channels are found, the algorithm proceeds to step 21 where the watched channel is again displayed before the switch command is received. This specifies the end of the algorithm.

Preferably, if occupancy information is found on the channel selected in step 20, information identifying this channel is stored. Therefore, when a switch command is input a second time, the channel identified by this information can be selected first in step 17.

After step 19 an alternative embodiment is also possible in which the user may press an additional key such as, for example, an 'up' or 'down' key to select an additional preset channel, and then retrieved in a step similar to step 18. .

The foregoing embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and it should be noted that those skilled in the art may be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The elements shown in the singular do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising a number of individual elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the device claim enumerating multiple means, many of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The fact that certain means are recited in different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these means cannot be used to advantage.

Claims (9)

A method of controlling a system for providing access to teletext information, the system comprising: Inputs 4 and 6 for receiving a source signal, A channel selection system 5, 7, 8 that includes embedded teletext data belonging to a teletext service and selects a program channel signal carried by the source signal; A teletext decoder 8 for decoding teletext data embedded in the selected program channel signal, A coder 12 for converting the decoded teletext data into a video signal for displaying teletext information on the display device 2, A memory 14 for storing preset data comprising information identifying at least one preset program channel signal, An interface (3; 8, 10, 11) for receiving a switch command input by a user, The method includes the step of receiving a switch command via the interface (3; 8, 10, 11). Responsive to the switch command, retrieving at least a portion of the decoded teletext data embedded in the preset program channel signal for identification information identifying a teletext information provider, wherein the identification information is included in the preset data. Instructing the system to convert at least a portion of the decoded teletext data into a video signal when it is found to correspond to the predetermined preset identification information. 2. The method according to claim 1, in which the channel selection system (5, 7, 8) is instructed to select at least one additional preset program channel signal comprising embedded teletext data if no corresponding identification information is found. Retrieving at least a portion of teletext data embedded in each additional program channel signal for identification information identifying a teletext information provider, wherein the identification information is found to correspond to the preset identification information. If at least part of the teletext data, instructing the system to decode and convert the teletext data into a video signal. 3. The system control of claim 2, comprising storing information identifying the additional program channel signal as start channel information when identification information is found in teletext data embedded in the additional program channel signal. Way. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: in response to a second switch command, instructing the channel selection system to first select a program channel signal identified by the start channel information and for identification information identifying a teletext information provider. Retrieving at least a portion of the teletext data embedded in the identified program channel signal, and if identification information is found to correspond to the preset identification information, decode and convert at least a portion of the teletext data into a video signal Instructing the system to do so. 5. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system comprises inputs (4, 6) for receiving at least one additional source signal, the method comprising: upon reception of the switch signal, Instructing the system to provide a source signal carrying a setup program to the channel selection system. 6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the system is adapted to decode and convert teletext data into a video signal according to preset page identification data stored in memory. Instructing the system control method. A system for providing access to teletext information, Inputs 4 and 6 for receiving a source signal, A channel selection system 5, 7, 8 that includes embedded teletext data belonging to a teletext service and selects a program channel signal carried by the source signal; A teletext decoder 8 for decoding teletext data embedded in the selected program channel signal, A coder 12 for converting the decoded teletext data into a video signal for displaying teletext information on the display device 2, A memory 14 for storing preset data comprising information identifying at least one preset program channel signal, An interface (3; 8, 10, 11) for receiving a switch command input by a user, A controller 8 for controlling the operation of the system, Wherein the system is adapted to decode teletext data embedded in a preset program channel upon receipt of a switch command; The system is characterized in that it is adapted to be controlled by the controller (8) by means of the method according to claim 1. A video device comprising the system according to claim 7. A computer program product, when executing on a computing device, may enable a computer device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.