KR20060074271A - A method and apparatus that connects tv channel with web site - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, when a television broadcast program screen is interlocked with a web browser and outputs the received television broadcast program signal, the television broadcast program signal is parsed to obtain position information of a web page related to the television broadcast program. Storing; and outputting the television broadcast program; inspecting whether there is a user input requesting switching to the web browser; and if the inspection result is a user input, the web according to the stored location information. Executing a page, parsing the deployment information in the web page, checking whether a picture-in-picture (PIP) is necessary between the television program broadcast screen and the web page; The television program broadcast screen and the web page It is possible to implement an interactive broadcasting service by using the same technology configured in the existing Internet web page without any new consideration for broadcasting middleware. By allowing direct access to a web page, the concept of using the Internet through a TV can be naturally connected, and thus there is an effect of receiving an interactive service in which broadcasting and communication are converged.

TV, Web site, XML, PSIP, ETT

Description

Method and Apparatus that Connects TV Channels and Internet Websites {A Method and Apparatus that connects TV Channel with Web site}             

1 is a view schematically showing the structure of a set-top box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing a detailed configuration of the output of FIG.

3 is a view showing the structure of an ETT table according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow chart for the operation of the set-top box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention particularly relates to an apparatus for interworking a TV broadcast program screen with a web browser. A method and apparatus for simultaneously outputting a TV broadcast program screen and the TV broadcast program related web page.

Digital services currently implemented in set-top box-type devices that support digital broadcasting services include one-way services such as Electronic Program Guides (EPGs), Advanced Common Application Platform (ACAP), and Opencable Common Aplication Platform (OCA). ), It is divided into two-way service implemented by loading middleware such as MHP (Multimedia Home Paltform) and DASE (DTV Application Software Environment).

Set-top boxes equipped with an Internet browser, an application suitable for implementing interactive digital services, have already been used for open web or TV portal services. However, the Internet browser is not provided with the DTV in the set-top box device due to the middleware standards that implement the interactive service on the On Screen Display (OSD). 'S meaning as an additional service.

 Specifically, in the case of the existing set-top box with a built-in web browser, most of them have a form that is provided as a separate program, even if both a web browser and a TV channel module is provided. That is, when the TV channel is seen on the TV screen, the web browser is invisible, and when the web browser is visible, the TV channel is invisible.

 The apparatus supporting the digital broadcasting service according to the related art operating as described above, in order to post opinions about a program that is currently being broadcast on the bulletin board of the program in the bidirectional aspect of TV broadcasting and the user, turn on the PC and turn on the Internet browser. There was an inconvenience to go directly to the web page of the broadcast program.

In addition, on a set-top box, dual services are implemented by integrating OCAP, MHP, ACAP, etc. into the device and implementing two-way broadcasting separately from the web browser, which increases the unit price of the product and integrates the middleware into ACAP. Although the standard is different according to broadcasting type, it was difficult to make integrated set-top box because different middleware such as ATSC-DASE, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) -MHP, cable-OCAP etc. must be loaded according to broadcasting type. .

 Therefore, in the case of a set-top box with a built-in web browser, a method for interworking TV channels with the Internet is required.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention, which was created to solve the problems of the prior art operating as described above, provides an interactive service to a user in various ways by interlocking the TV broadcast and the Internet in a set-top box-type device having a web browser. It is.

 Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of replacing a web browser by using skins or graphic components of a web browser without using a separate UI or middleware.

 It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method in which a user can directly go to a web page related to a TV broadcast program being viewed.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for designating a layout on a web page when a broadcast screen is continuously displayed on the moved web page.

The method according to the embodiment of the present invention, which was created to achieve the above object, in the method for outputting the television broadcast program screen and the web browser in conjunction with,

Receiving the television broadcast program signal, parsing the television broadcast program signal to store location information of a web page associated with the television broadcast program;

Outputting the television broadcast program;

Checking whether there is a user input requesting the switch to the web browser,

Executing the web page according to the stored location information if there is a user input as a result of the inspection;

Parsing deployment information in the web page to determine whether a picture-in-picture (PIP) is necessary between the television program broadcast screen and the web page;

If the PIP is required as a result of the checking, the television program broadcasting screen and the web page are simultaneously output.

Apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a device for outputting a television broadcast program screen and a web browser in conjunction,

A television unit which receives a broadcast signal for the television broadcast program and processes the television broadcast program screen;

An internet unit for parsing web page location information related to the television broadcast program from the broadcast signal to process a web browser;

After storing the processing result of the Internet unit and the television unit in each allocated frame buffer, whether one or both of the web browser and the television broadcast program screen are output at the same time according to a request from the user to the web browser. Characterized in that the output portion is determined.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operating principle of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Like reference numerals are used to designate like elements even though they are shown in different drawings, and detailed descriptions of related well-known functions or configurations are not required to describe the present invention. If it is determined that it can be blurred, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present invention, and may be changed according to intentions or customs of users or operators. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

 The present invention includes Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) information in addition to the Extended Text Table (PST) in the Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) used by the EPG for interworking of a TV broadcast program on a TV screen and a web browser. The TV broadcast screen is built in a web page structure by using an existing TV broadcast screen and an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) which is a popular and powerful markup language used on the Internet. The size and location information of the TV broadcast screen which is located on the web browser when the built-in form is needed is designated on the web page source as an XML element.

First, a description will be given of a method of moving to a website associated with a TV broadcast program that a user is currently watching.

Among the tables of the PSIP, web site URI information that the service provider wants to provide to the viewer is added to the ETT in association with the broadcast program. Then, when parsing the ETT information of the PSIP, the URI information is filtered and stored as one variable value. The URI information may be stored in an arbitrary file or implemented in various forms in a message queue or shared memory through IPC (Inter Process Communication).

 When the user presses the remote control switch button, the corresponding variable value storing the URI information is passed to the URI argument value to the Internet browser. In other words, the user can access the relevant TV broadcasting program related site without accessing the PC separately or searching the URI in the browser embedded in the TV separately.

In general, the size of the ETT has a unit of bytes, the maximum table has a size of '4096' and the size of a physical table per channel is '520'. It's Bites. Therefore, since all URI information occupies one byte for each character in English characters, URI information can be contained together with simple program information in the ETT.

Next, a method of designating the position and size of the TV broadcast program screen on the web page will be described.

Since a general HTML tag is a reserved keyword that cannot be extended, HTML provides a size and position information of a TV picture in picture (PIP) screen on a web page using XML that is more extensible and flexible than the HTML. . By interlocking with DTV application using XML, TV screens can be displayed in various forms, and provide room for more diverse forms.

Specifically, when moving to a web page associated with a TV broadcast program using XML, when the broadcast program screen that the user is watching continuously needs to be shown in a PIP form on the web page, not only the associated web page is shown. In order to designate the deployment of the TV PIP screen according to the design intention of the web page, the deployment information is provided in a predetermined tag.

 <TVDeployment> <PIP /> Yes <TVWidth /> 480 <TVHeight /> 360 <TVXLocation /> 120 <TVYLocation /> 100 </ TVDeployment>

The source shows an example of providing the deployment information of the TV PIP screen as an XML tag.

Specifically, as the deployment information, whether a broadcast program screen is used as a PIP sub-screen or a main screen in a web page, and when the television program screen is output as a PIP sub-screen or a main screen, width and , Height, and x / y axis coordinate values. The deployment information may further implement other necessary information according to the mutual needs of the web page creator and the device creator such as a web browser and a set-top box supporting the web page creator.

1 is a view schematically showing the structure of a set-top box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a PC unit 110 processing a web browser in a set-top box 100, a TV unit 120 processing a TV broadcast program screen, the PC unit 110, and a TV unit 120. The output unit 130 stores the processing result in each allocated frame buffer and determines whether a web browser or a broadcast screen is displayed on the screen according to a user input.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the output unit of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the output unit 130 separately separates a path on a circuit into a path 1 132 for processing a main screen and a path 2 134 for processing a sub screen to implement a PIP function. Configure. There is a main screen and a sub-screen separated by the path 1 132 and the path 2 134, so that it is possible to simultaneously display a web browser and a TV broadcast program screen on one screen. Using this PIP function, a web browser and a broadcast program screen are simultaneously displayed.

 3 is a view showing the structure of an ETT table according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

 Referring to FIG. 3, the ETT table of the PSIP includes 'ETT_id' which is a header field of the ETT table and 'ETM_id' which is an ID field of the Extended Text Message (ETM). And 'extended_text_message' and a message having a multiple string structure. It consists of 'Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) _32' which is a field containing an error correction code. Here, the 'extended_text_messge' field includes 'URI information' indicating location information of a web browser associated with a TV broadcast program. After parsing and storing the URI information separately during PSIP parsing, the web browser and the broadcast program screen are simultaneously displayed on the PIP according to a user input, and the web browser is automatically connected to the corresponding URI web site.

4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the set-top box according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step 401, when the set-top box receives a TV broadcast program signal, the set-top box parses the PSIP in step 403 and stores URI information in the ETT in step 405. Here, the URI information is location information of a web page related to the received TV broadcast program.

In step 407, the set-top box outputs the received TV broadcast program on a TV screen, and in step 409, checks whether there is a user input for switching the browser. If there is no user input, the process returns to step 409, and if there is a user input, in step 411, a corresponding web browser web page is output according to the stored URI information.

In step 413, the set-top box parses XML information in the web page, and stores deployment information on the output web page in step 415. The deployment information may include information on whether the received broadcast program screen is used as a PIP sub-screen or a main screen in a web page, and an area for outputting the television program screen as a PIP sub-screen or a main screen ( width), height, and x / y axis coordinate values.

In step 417, the set-top box checks whether the PIP between the received broadcast program screen and the web page is necessary in the deployment information. If there is no need for the PIP, the set top box outputs only the web page in step 419.

If the PIP needs to be determined as a result of the check, in step 421, the set-top box simultaneously outputs the TV broadcast program and the web page screen based on the location information through the deployment information.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

 In the present invention operating as described in detail above, the effects obtained by the representative ones of the disclosed inventions will be briefly described as follows.

The present invention is a simple method of loading URI information of a web page associated with a program of a channel being broadcast to an ETT to a TV broadcaster, by utilizing the techniques configured in the existing Internet web page without any new consideration for the broadcasting middleware. The service can be implemented. In addition, if there is a browser, it is possible to replace it by using a skin or graphic component of the browser without using a separate UI (Uniform Identifier) or middleware.

  In addition, the present invention is capable of advertising and sales of PPL (Product Placement) products and the like through a web page, and has a great effect in commercial and educational aspects such as interactive distance education using a web page and a broadcast screen simultaneously. In addition, by allowing a viewer to directly access a web page associated with a TV program, the concept of using the Internet through a TV can be naturally connected, and thus an interactive service in which broadcasting and communication are combined can be received.

Claims (14)

In the method of outputting the television broadcast program screen and the web browser in conjunction, Receiving the television broadcast program signal, parsing the television broadcast program signal to store location information of a web page associated with the television broadcast program; Outputting the television broadcast program; Checking whether there is a user input requesting the switch to the web browser, Executing the web page according to the stored location information if there is a user input as a result of the inspection; Parsing deployment information in the web page to determine whether a picture-in-picture (PIP) is necessary between the television program broadcast screen and the web page; And outputting the television program broadcast screen and the web page simultaneously if the PIP is required as a result of the checking. The method of claim 1, wherein in the process of checking whether the PIP is required, If no PIP is required, the method further comprises outputting only the web page. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of the web page, Method included in the Extended Text Table (ETT) in the Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) used in the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The method of claim 3, wherein the ETT is, ETT header field, 'ETM_id' which is ID field of Extended Text Message (ETM), 'extended_text_message' including the URI, and 'CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) _32' which is a field containing 32-bit error correction code. Characterized in that the method. The method of claim 1, wherein the deployment information is Whether to use the television program screen as a PIP sub-screen or main screen in the web page; and the width and height of outputting the television program screen as a PIP sub-screen or main screen. And x / y-axis coordinate values. The method of claim 5, wherein the deployment information, Method that is set by the tag of XML (eXtensible Markup Languge), a powerful markup language. A device for outputting a television broadcast program screen in conjunction with a web browser, A television unit which receives a broadcast signal for the television broadcast program and processes the television broadcast program screen; An internet unit for parsing web page location information related to the television broadcast program from the broadcast signal to process a web browser; After storing the processing result of the Internet unit and the television unit in each allocated frame buffer, whether one or both of the web browser and the television broadcast program screen are output at the same time according to a switch request from the user to the web browser. And an output unit to be determined. The method of claim 7, wherein the location information of the web page, Device included in the Extended Text Table (ETT) in the Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) used by the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The cyclic redundancy field of claim 8, wherein the ETT header field, 'ETM_id' which is an ID field of an extended text message (ETM), 'extended_text_message' including the URI, and 'CRC (Cyclic Redundancy)' Check) _32 '. The method of claim 7, wherein the output unit, Check whether there is a user input requesting the switch to the web browser, and if there is a user input, execute the web page according to the stored location information, Parsing the deployment information in the web page to determine whether a picture-in-picture (PIP) is necessary between the television program broadcast screen and the web page, and if the PIP is necessary as a result of the check, the television program broadcast screen and the web And output a page at the same time. The method of claim 10, wherein the deployment information, Whether to use the television program screen as a PIP sub-screen or main screen in the web page; and the width and height of outputting the television program screen as a PIP sub-screen or main screen. And x / y-axis coordinate values. The method of claim 11, wherein the deployment information, Device set as a tag of the XML (eXtensible Markup Languge), a powerful markup language. The method of claim 11, wherein the output unit, In order to implement the PIP function, a circuit path is divided into a first path for processing a main screen and a second path for processing a sub-screen, respectively. The method of claim 13, wherein the output unit, According to the deployment information, the television broadcast program screen or web page is divided into a corresponding first path or a second path by a corresponding width, height, and x / y-axis coordinate values. Device.

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