KR20060124363A - Television receiver and method for auto changing channel according to reception signal intensity - Google Patents

Abstract

A TV receiver for automatically converting a channel according to the strength of a receiving signal and a method therefor are provided to considerably reduce the button press number of a remote controller when a channel is selected by automatically converting a channel having a weak receiving signal into an adjacent channel when a user converts a channel by using the remote controller. A tuner(104) selectively tunes a plurality of channels received from broadcasting stations, and outputs an analog voltage which is in proportion to the strength of a broadcasting signal received through the tuned channel. When the broadcasting signal of the channel is received, a signal detecting unit(110) detects the analog voltage outputted from the tuner(104). A signal converting unit(111) converts the analog voltage detected by the signal detecting unit(110) into a digital voltage. A control unit(112) controls the tuner(104) according as a channel up/down command is received, and moves a channel. The control unit(112) controls the tuning of the tuner(104) to automatically convert a current channel into an adjacent channel according to whether signal strength indicated by the detection voltage transmitted through the signal converting unit(111) is greater than certain reference signal strength. If the receiving signal strength of a channel being outputted on a screen is weaker than the certain reference signal strength, the control unit(112) converts the channel tuned by the tuner(104) into another channel.

Description

Television receiver and method for auto changing channel according to reception signal intensity

1 is a block diagram of a television receiver for the automatic switching of the channel according to the received signal strength according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatically switching channels according to received signal strength in a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A and 3B are exemplary views illustrating a process of automatically switching channels according to received signal strength in a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: TV receiver 101: Tuner

102: screen 103: speaker

104: A / D converter 105: video processing unit

106: audio processor 107: image processor

108: amplifier 109: storage unit

110: signal detector 111: signal converter

112: control unit

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to television receivers, and more particularly, to television receivers and methods capable of automatically switching channels according to the strength of a signal received from a broadcast station.

Along with the rapid development of science and technology, the multimedia field that combines various types of information such as video and audio, in the rapid development of information and communication, which is also called the digital revolution, the form of storage and existence of information is becoming digital from analog. Due to the development of MPEG technology, which is a compression standard for moving picture data for compressing digital video data that requires relatively large amounts of data, the size of digital video data is gradually getting smaller. Digital video and audio services have been provided in all fields, and digital devices for providing such services have emerged.

Among them, TV occupies an important place as an easy and effective information transmission medium in daily life, and thanks to the above digital technology, video data and audio data are compressed and transmitted by MPEG technology, which makes a large amount of information faster and more stable. With the advent of digital TV, which can be provided by the user, more broadcasts can be easily enjoyed at home with clearer picture quality and more vivid sound.

With the spread of digital TV, viewers can store various programs and information about the programs, and select and watch programs according to the user's preferences with the information. In addition, the spread of digital TV broadcasts a variety of programs that are dozens of times than the conventional analog TV, and if satellite digital TV is universally distributed, it is possible to watch programs around the world. This would allow viewers to sit and watch hundreds or thousands of programs in their homes. In order to find information about the program and TV guide while watching thousands of such programs, the program is searched through the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) on a limited screen. Of course, there is an advantage that the program information is easily available through the EPG, but when the viewer just wants to know what the next program is while watching TV, the EPG should be full. Or, you can pop up a pop-up menu to see the next program name.In this case, the OSD (On Screen Display) and information, which are not necessary to see only the next program name, are obstructing the viewing of the program you are currently viewing. You will see until. In addition, if hundreds of programs are pressed by pressing the remote control key to find the next program one by one, the user will have to spend a lot of time and effort to find the required program name. In order to solve this problem, Korean Patent Application No. 2002-0079801 proposes an automatic channel setting method of a multi-channel system that allows users to search channels by skipping without tuning a channel set to ignore when automatically setting or moving a channel. have.

Briefly with respect to the domestic patent application invention, if the user is set to the automatic channel search storage to tune the channel to determine whether the tuned channel is the neglected channel, if the channel is ignored channel to perform the determination process to go to the next channel; If it is determined that the channel is not the neglected channel, it is determined whether there is a broadcast signal, and if there is a broadcast signal, the tuned channel is stored and stored in the memory unit, and if not, the process is repeated and erased. Determining whether the channel has been completed and ending the automatic channel search storage when all the channels are completed, and determining whether the user selects the storage channel mode, and if the user selects the storage channel mode, For each channel stored in the unit, it is ignored according to the user Setting the step and it is determined that the user selected channel to determine whether to use a channel to be ignored is characterized in that comprising the step of storing it in the memory unit.

However, since the number of channels set by the conventional automatic channel setting method as described above is at least 30 or more, even if the channel is set through the automatic channel setting process, the viewer can reduce the number of buttons on the remote control to search for the channel. There is still the hassle of pressing the channel as many times as many times as necessary to select the channel you want.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver and a method capable of automatically switching channels according to the strength of a signal received from a broadcasting station.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver and method that can significantly reduce the number of button presses of the remote control when selecting a channel by automatically switching a channel having a weak reception signal to an adjacent channel when the user switches a channel using a remote controller or the like. .

It is still another object of the present invention to automatically switch to a channel where a signal is normally received when the strength of a received signal of a current channel decreases while watching one of a plurality of broadcast channels, so that a viewer can always watch a high quality screen. To provide a television receiver and method.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a television receiver for receiving a broadcast signal of a broadcast channel and outputting it on a screen, selectively tuning a plurality of channels received from broadcast stations, and receiving the tuned channel. A tuner for outputting an analog voltage proportional to the broadcast signal signal strength; A signal detector for detecting an analog voltage output from the tuner when a broadcast signal of a channel is received; A signal converter for converting the analog voltage detected by the signal detector into a digital voltage; And control the tuner to move a channel as a channel up / down command is input, and change the current channel according to the magnitude of a signal represented by a detection voltage transmitted through the signal converter and a predetermined reference signal strength. A control unit for controlling tuning of the tuner to automatically switch to an adjacent channel, and converting a channel tuned by the tuner to another channel when the received signal strength of the channel being output to the screen becomes weaker than the predetermined reference signal strength. Include.

The present invention provides a method for switching a broadcast channel received through a tuner in a television receiver that receives a broadcast signal of a broadcast channel and outputs it on a screen, wherein the channel shifting process by the viewer is performed or which viewer is watching. A first step of determining whether one channel is continuously received and outputted; As a result of determination, if the channel up / down command is input, the received signal strength of the current channel is detected in the process of moving the channel according to the input of the channel up / down command, and according to the magnitude of the detected received signal strength and the predetermined reference signal strength A second step of switching a channel to an adjacent channel; And if it is determined that one of the channels is being watched, after detecting the received signal strength of the current channel while continuing to maintain the current channel being viewed, the received signal strength becomes smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength, and then the channel switching command This input includes a third step of switching the current channel to another channel.

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

1 is a block diagram of a television receiver for automatically switching channels according to received signal strength according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the television receiver 100 of the present invention includes a tuner 101 for receiving a composite video signal transmitted from a broadcasting station and outputting an analog video signal and a sound signal, and a screen for displaying the video signal. 102, a speaker 103 for outputting a sound signal, an A / D converter 104 for converting an analog video signal output from the tuner 101 into a digital video signal, and an A / D converter 104 The video processor 105 makes the digital image signal output from the video signal suitable for the screen 102, and the audio processor 106 makes the sound signal output from the tuner 101 into a signal suitable for the speaker 103. And an image processor 107 for outputting the video signal output from the video processor 105 to the screen 102, and an amplifier for amplifying and outputting the sound signal output from the audio processor 106 to the speaker 103. 108).

The television receiver 100 of the present invention includes a storage unit 109 for storing various image and text information and storing reference signal strength used for automatic switching of a channel, and a tuner when a broadcast signal of a channel is received. A signal detector 110 for detecting an analog voltage output from 101, a signal converter 111 for converting the analog voltage detected by the signal detector 110 into a digital voltage, and a channel input through a remote controller The channel is moved according to an up / down command, and the current channel is adjacent to each other according to the magnitude of the signal strength represented by the detection voltage transmitted through the signal converter 111 and the reference signal strength stored in the storage unit 109. If the received signal strength of the channel being output to the screen 102 becomes weaker than the reference signal strength stored in the storage unit 109, the channel is being received through the tuner 101. A control unit 112 for switching a null to another channel is provided.

The tuner 101 receives broadcasts transmitted through a plurality of channels, and tunes a channel indicated by the controller 110 to output the broadcasts of the received channels, and comprises an analog video signal that forms a composite video signal of the broadcast. The sound signal is separately output to the A / D converter 104 and the audio processor 106, and the tuner 101 outputs a voltage proportional to the received signal strength when a signal of each channel is received.

The screen 102 displays an image signal processed by the image processor 107, and also transmits OSD information, a picture in picture (PIP) screen, or a pop-up screen through the image processor 107 while the image is being output. The OSD information is displayed on a screen on which an image is output, or a PIP screen or pop-up screen processed by the image processor 107 is output on one side of the right screen on which the image is output. Here, a predetermined menu item is displayed on an OSD screen, a PIP screen, or a pop-up screen displayed on the normal screen, and a signal is normally received when the received signal strength of the current channel becomes weak while the viewer is watching one channel. Outputs an OSD screen that displays a query asking whether to switch to a channel.

The image processing unit 107 processes the video signal of the channel tuned through the tuner 101 under the control of the control unit 110 as a full screen and outputs the image signal to the screen 102. The screen is processed and output on the screen 102. In addition, when the contents for querying the channel switching are transmitted from the controller 110, the image processing unit 107 processes the input query contents as the OSD screen while the video signal of the current channel is output on the screen, and displays the screen ( 102).

The storage unit 109 is a storage medium for storing various types of information, and may be implemented as a memory device such as RAM or EEPROM or a hard disk driver (HDD). Reference signal strength used for automatic switching of the channel is stored at 109. The reference signal strength is set as a default, and the reference signal strength can be changed and reset by the user.

When the broadcast signal of each channel is received by the tuner 101, the signal detector 110 detects an analog voltage output from the tuner 101, that is, an analog voltage indicating the strength of the received signal and outputs the signal to the signal converter 111. do.

The signal converter 111 converts the analog detection voltage input from the signal detector 110 into a digital detection voltage and transmits the analog detection voltage to the controller 112.

The controller 112 automatically switches the channel according to the strength of the received signal during the channel movement process or the viewing of a specific channel by a user.

When the user presses the channel up / down button on the remote controller, the controller 112 controls channel tuning of the tuner 101 to move the channel whenever the channel up / down button is pressed. When the channel is moved in this way, if the received signal strength of the current staying channel detected by the signal detector 110 is greater than the reference signal strength stored in the storage unit 109, the controller 112 can input a channel up / down command. If the current channel is maintained until the received signal strength is smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength, the controller 112 controls channel tuning of the tuner 101 to switch the current channel to the adjacent channel.

While the viewer is watching one of the channels, if the received signal strength of the current channel detected by the signal detector 110 is greater than the reference signal strength stored in the storage unit 109, the controller 112 displays the current channel being viewed. Keep it. If the received signal strength of the current channel is smaller than the reference signal strength stored in the storage unit 109, the controller 112 displays the content of querying channel switching on the screen 102.

In response to the query for channel switching, when the user instructs channel switching, the controller 112 searches for broadcast information on all channels received through the tuner 101 and transmits the same broadcast as the broadcast of the current channel. Find your channel If there is a channel that transmits the same broadcast as a result of the search, the controller 112 controls channel tuning of the tuner 101 to switch to another channel that transmits the same broadcast. However, if there is no channel transmitting the same broadcast as a result of the search, the control unit 112 switches the channel to the adjacent channel of the current channel.

A process of automatically switching the channel according to the received signal strength of the channel by the televiser receiver having the configuration and function as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatically switching channels according to received signal strength in a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, when a user presses a menu button on a remote controller, as shown in FIG. 3A, the television receiver 100 displays certain top-level menu items including an “automatic channel switching” item on an OSD screen (see FIG. 3A). S201). In this state, when the user selects the automatic channel switching item using the remote controller (S202), the television receiver 100 sets the "auto channel switching mode" for automatically switching the channel according to the received signal strength of the channel (S203). .

However, the automatic channel switching mode for the disclosure of the present invention is not necessarily set only through the above-described process, and when the hot key button is attached to the remote controller, the automatic channel switching mode may be set by pressing the hot key button. In addition, the automatic channel switching mode may be set as a default without going through a separate setting process by the user.

As described above, when the automatic channel switching mode is set, the television receiver 100 determines whether a channel moving process by the user is being executed or which channel the viewer is watching (S204). If the channel up / down button on the remote control is pressed, the channel is moved (S205).

In the process of moving the channel, the television receiver 100 detects the received signal strength of the current channel (S206), and determines whether the detected received signal strength is smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength (S207). If the detected received signal strength is large, the current channel is maintained until the channel up / down command is input, and the process moves to the channel shifting process (S205).

If the received signal strength is less than the predetermined reference signal strength in the determination process (S207), the television receiver 100 switches the current channel to the adjacent channel (S208) until the channel up / down command is input. The changed channel is maintained and the process moves to the channel moving process (S205).

The channel automatic switching process in the channel shifting process is performed until one channel is finally selected by the user.

If the determination result (S204) is a state in which one of the channels is being watched, the television receiver 100 detects and detects the received signal strength of the current channel at a predetermined period while continuing to maintain the current channel being viewed. It is determined whether the received signal strength is smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength (S209). If the received signal strength is large as a result of the determination, the current channel is maintained until a channel switching command is input.

If the received signal strength is smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength in the determination process (S209), the television receiver 100 inquires about channel switching, for example, "Do you want to switch channels?" On the screen 102 as an OSD screen (S210). In response to this, when the user instructs channel switching using the remote controller (S211), the television receiver 100 searches for broadcast information on all channels received through the tuner 101, and broadcasts the same broadcast as the broadcast of the current channel. It is determined whether there is a channel for sending water (S212). If there is a channel for transmitting the same broadcast as a result of the determination, the television receiver 100 switches the current channel to another channel for transmitting the same broadcast (S213).

If there is no channel that transmits the same broadcast as a result of the determination in step S212, the television receiver 100 switches the channel to an adjacent channel of the current channel (S214).

Although the technical spirit of the present invention has been described in detail according to the above-described preferred embodiment, it should be noted that the above-described embodiment is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that various embodiments are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

As described above, the present invention provides convenience for the user by automatically switching a channel having a weak reception signal to an adjacent channel when the user switches a channel received by the television receiver using a remote controller or the like and is received by the television receiver. If the received signal strength of the current channel is weakened while watching one of the channels, the channel is automatically switched to the channel where the signal is normally received, thereby providing the viewer with a good picture at all times. It can increase.

Claims (10)

A television receiver for receiving a broadcast signal of a broadcast channel and outputting it on a screen, A tuner for selectively tuning a plurality of channels received from broadcast stations, and outputting an analog voltage proportional to the strength of the broadcast signal signal received through the tuned channel; A signal detector for detecting an analog voltage output from the tuner when a broadcast signal of a channel is received; A signal converter for converting the analog voltage detected by the signal detector into a digital voltage; And As the channel up / down command is input, the channel is moved by controlling the tuner, and the current channel is adjacent to the signal intensity indicated by the detection voltage transmitted through the signal conversion unit and the magnitude of the predetermined reference signal in the channel shifting process. A control unit for controlling tuning of the tuner to automatically switch to a channel, and converting a channel tuned by the tuner to another channel when the received signal strength of the channel being output on the screen becomes weaker than the predetermined reference signal strength. TV receiver comprising a. The method of claim 1, And said predetermined reference signal strength is set to a default, but reset by a user. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the control unit automatically switches the current channel to an adjacent channel if the received signal strength of the current channel remains less than the predetermined reference signal in the channel shifting process. A method for switching a broadcast channel received through a tuner in a television receiver that receives a broadcast signal of a broadcast channel and outputs it on a screen, A first step of determining whether a channel movement process by the viewer is being performed or whether the viewer is continuously receiving and outputting one of the channels being viewed; As a result of determination, if the channel up / down command is input, the received signal strength of the current channel is detected in the process of moving the channel according to the input of the channel up / down command, and according to the magnitude of the detected received signal strength and the predetermined reference signal strength A second step of switching a channel to an adjacent channel; And As a result of the determination, if one channel is being watched, the channel switching command is issued after the received signal strength of the current channel is detected to be smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength while continuing to maintain the current channel being viewed. A third step of switching the current channel to another channel once inputted Automatic channel switching method comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein A fourth step of setting an automatic channel switching mode for automatically switching channels according to the received signal strength of the channel Channel automatic switching method further comprising. The method of claim 5, The fourth step, A step 4-1 of displaying predetermined top menu items including an automatic channel switching item on the screen as a predetermined menu selection is made; And Step 4-2 of setting the automatic channel switching mode according to the automatic channel switching item being selected; Automatic channel switching method comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein An automatic channel switching method for automatically switching a channel according to a received signal strength of a channel is set as a default. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, In the second step, if the detected received signal strength is greater than the predetermined reference signal strength, the current channel is maintained until a channel up / down command is input, and the detected received signal strength is the predetermined reference signal. If less than the intensity channel automatic switching method characterized in that the current channel is switched to the adjacent channel. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, The third step, If the detected received signal strength is smaller than the predetermined reference signal strength, step 3-1 of displaying the content of querying channel switching on the screen; And Step 3-2 of switching a current channel to another channel when a channel switching command is input in response to the query; Automatic channel switching method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, The third step, A step 3-1 of retrieving broadcast information carried on all channels received through the tuner as a channel switching command is input and determining whether there is a channel that transmits the same broadcast as the broadcast of the current channel; If there is a channel for transmitting the same broadcast as a result of the determination, step 3-2 of switching the current channel to another channel for transmitting the same broadcast; And If there is no channel transmitting the same broadcast as a result of the determination, step 3-3 of switching the current channel to the adjacent channel Automatic channel switching method comprising a.

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