KR20070076699A - Method and apparatus for channel auto scanning and reducing display delay in satellite digital multimedia broadcasting - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for reducing an automatic search time and a screen display time in an SDMB(Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) channel are provided to enable a user to search other broadcasting programs through sub-channel screens while watching a main channel screen. A main channel receiver(110) receives one channel of SDMB. Each of the first and second sub-channel receivers(115,120) receives one of remaining channels except for the channel. A distributor(135) identifies a main channel stream received by the main channel receiver and sub-channel streams received by the first and second sub-channel receivers in accordance with corresponding PID(Packet Identification). A main channel buffer(150) and the first and second sub-buffer channels(155,160) buffer the main channel stream and the sub-channel streams, respectively. A switching unit(165) alternately outputs the buffered sub-channel streams at a constant interval. A controller(140) assigns a channel code of a channel selected by a user to the main channel receiver and alternately assigns channel codes of the remaining channels to the first and second sub-channel receivers.

Description

Method and apparatus for channel auto-scanning and reducing display time in satellite digital multimedia broadcasting channel {Method and apparatus for channel auto scanning and reducing display delay in Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting}

1 is a block diagram of a terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a full-screen split display according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating full screen division and screen display time reduction according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a terminal that supports satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (SDMB), and when an auto scanning mode for scanning all channels of the SDMB is required, except for the channel displayed on the main channel screen among the full screens. Provided are a method and an apparatus for displaying all channels at a predetermined interval on a subchannel screen.

In Europe, we developed Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) technology to replace the existing analog audio broadcasting system. Starting with the UK in 1995, the audio quality of CD sound and simple More than 600 DAB channels of text information broadcast to over 300 million recipients.

Korea has also prepared DAB since 1997 to convert analog audio broadcasting into digital broadcasting. Meanwhile, the Korean DAB was developed by applying the latest development technology of DAB and strengthening the multimedia providing capability such as video, and the new name is Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB).

Terrestrial DMB receivers and SDMB receivers for receiving DMB broadcasts are commercially available and applied to embedded devices such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), Portable Multimedia Players (PMPs), and Motion Picture Expert Group-3 Players (MP3Ps). And externally made products are available.

However, unlike terrestrial DMB receivers, SDMB receivers have a drawback of not being able to display the broadcast on the screen during the first channel selection or channel switching due to the delay time for deinterleaving and demultiplexing the data received from the satellite.

The present invention devised to solve such a problem provides a method and apparatus for splitting a screen during receiving a broadcasting channel in a terminal supporting SDMB to display channels except a channel being received as a main channel at a predetermined interval on a subchannel screen. .

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in a method for switching channels without delay in a terminal supporting satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (SDMB),

Receiving and displaying one channel of the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting on a full screen;

When the auto scanning mode is requested, dividing the entire screen into a main channel screen and a subchannel screen to display a channel of the full screen on the main channel screen;

Receiving a first channel, which is one of channels other than the channel displayed on the main channel screen, and displaying the first channel on the subchannel screen;

Receiving and buffering a second channel, which is another one of the other channels except for the channel of the main channel screen, while displaying the first channel;

And when the buffering of the second channel is completed, converting and displaying the first channel into the second channel on the subchannel screen.

The device of the present invention is a terminal device supporting satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB),

A main channel receiver for receiving one channel of the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting;

A sub1 channel receiver and a sub2 channel receiver each receiving any one of the remaining channels except for the channel received by the main channel receiver;

A distributor for identifying the main channel stream and the sub channel streams received by the main channel receiver, the sub 1 channel receiver, and the sub 2 channel receiver according to a corresponding packet identification (PID);

A main channel buffer, a sub1 channel buffer, and a sub2 channel buffer receiving and buffering the main channel stream and the subchannel streams from the distributor;

A switch for alternately selecting and outputting the subchannel stream buffered in one of the sub1 channel buffer and the sub2 channel buffer at an interval.

A controller for allocating channel codes of channels selected by a user to the main channel receiver, and alternately assigning channel codes of the remaining channels to the sub1 channel receiver and the sub2 channel receiver;

A codec for receiving and decoding the main channel stream from the main channel buffer and the subchannel stream from the converter;

And a display unit for displaying the main channel data and the sub channel data decoded by the codec on the main channel screen and the sub channel screen divided on the full screen.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should recognize that the disclosed concepts and specific embodiments of the invention may be readily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for achieving the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also recognize that structures equivalent to the invention do not depart from the spirit and scope of the broadest form of the invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may obscure the gist of the present invention will be omitted.

An important aspect of the present invention is that if an auto scanning mode is required while a terminal capable of receiving satellite digital multimedia broadcasting receives one channel of the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting and displays it on the full screen, the entire screen is displayed on the main channel screen and the subchannel screen. The display is divided into an electronic program guide (EPG) screen and a channel guide screen.

At this time, the sub 1 and 2 channel receivers operate to alternately receive all channels except for the channel displayed on the main channel screen. The subchannel screen alternately displays the channels received by the sub1 and 2 channel receivers for a predetermined time. There is a program that you want to watch on the subchannel screen that is automatically changed, and when the user selects a channel of the subchannel screen, the main channel screen is changed to a channel of the selected subchannel screen. Thereafter, the display returns to the full screen by a menu selection key or automatically to display the selected channel on the full screen.

1 is a block diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Herein, a part overlapping with the configuration of the existing satellite digital multimedia broadcasting terminal is omitted, and only a part which is considered important for the terminal operation is illustrated. The solid line is the flow of data, and the dotted line represents the control operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tuner 100, the CDM (Code Division Multiplexing) demodulator 105, the main channel receiver 110, the sub 1 channel receiver 115, the sub 2 channel receiver 120, and the EPG are illustrated. Receiver 125, Transport Stream Buffer 130, Splitter 135, Controller 140, EPG Storage 145, Main Channel Audio / Video (A / V) Buffer 150 And a sub one channel A / V buffer 155, a sub two channel A / V buffer 160, a switcher 165, a codec 170, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display; LCD) 175. .

2 illustrates a screen division display diagram of the LCD 175 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The full screen is composed of a divided main channel screen 210, sub-channel screen 220, EPG screen 230, channel guide screen 240, the screen split configuration represents an embodiment, the intention of the producer It may vary.

The controller 140 shown in FIG. 1 performs the overall control operation of the terminal and shortens the screen display time during channel automatic search as will be described later.

When the tuner 100 receives the SDMB broadcast signal, the controller 140 assigns a channel code to the CDM demodulator 105. When the channel code is allocated, the CDM demodulator 105 transfers the channel signal obtained by despreading the broadcast signal to the main channel receiver 110 and transmits the EPG signal obtained by despreading the broadcast signal. 125). The broadcast stream decoded by the main channel receiver 110 and the EPG stream decoded by the EPG receiver 125 have packet identification (PID) for each packet, and are sequentially transmitted to the transport stream buffer 130. Stored as. The distributor 135 receives the broadcast stream and the EPG stream, checks each PID, transfers the EPG stream to the controller 140, stores the EPG stream in the EPG storage unit 145, and stores the EPG stream by the main channel receiver 110. The received broadcast stream is delivered to the main channel A / V buffer 150.

The broadcast stream buffered in the main channel A / V buffer 150 is transmitted and decoded to the codec 170 in units of frames and displayed on the entire screen of the LCD 175.

The EPG stream of the EPG storage unit 145 displays broadcast channel information on the full screen or part of the full screen of the LCD 175 when an EPG output instruction is issued by the controller 140.

When the auto scanning mode is indicated, the terminal scans the remaining channels except the main channel while receiving the main channel. It demonstrates in detail below.

Since the controller 140 assigns the channel code corresponding to the main channel to the CDM demodulator 105, the channel 140 other than the channel code is additionally allocated. The CDM demodulator 105, which is allocated the channel codes of the sub1 channel and the sub2 channel to scan, transmits the channel signals obtained by despreading the broadcast signal to the sub1 channel receiver 115 and the sub2 channel receiver 120, respectively. To pass. The broadcast streams decoded by the sub 1 channel receiver 115 and the sub 2 channel receiver 120 are stored in the transport stream buffer 130 according to packet identification (PID), and the main channel receiver 110. And the channel decoded broadcast stream and EPG stream in the EPG receiver 125 are sequentially stored.

The distributor 135 receives the broadcast streams and checks each PID so that the broadcast stream received by the sub 1 channel receiver 115 is a sub 1 channel A / V buffer 155 and the sub 2 channel receiver 120. The broadcast stream received by) is delivered to the sub-channel A / V buffer 160, respectively.

The broadcast stream received by the main channel receiver 110 while the subchannels are received is continuously displayed on the main channel screen 210 of the LCD 175 via the main channel A / V buffer 150.

The broadcast streams buffered in the sub1 channel A / V buffer 155 and the sub2 channel A / V buffer 160 are either buffered according to the channel switching function of the converter 165. The codec 170 is sequentially transmitted from the broadcast stream.

The codec 170 is capable of processing at least two broadcast streams within one frame period, and receives the broadcast stream from the main channel A / V buffer 150 and the broadcast stream from the converter 165 and decodes the broadcast data into broadcast data. The main channel screen 210 and the sub channel screen 220 of the LCD 175 are displayed.

A detailed operation of the converter 165 will be described as an example.

While the broadcast stream of the sub1 channel is first selected and output to the subchannel screen 220 of the LCD 175, the broadcast stream of the sub2 channel is transferred through the sub2 channel receiver 120 to the sub2 channel A / V buffer ( Buffered at 160). When the broadcast stream of the sub 2 channel is sufficiently buffered, for example, by one frame, the converter 165 transfers the broadcast stream of the sub 2 channel A / V buffer 160 to the codec 170 to transmit the sub stream. The channel screen 220 converts the broadcast stream of the sub1 channel into the broadcast stream of the sub2 channel and outputs the broadcast stream.

While the broadcast stream of the sub2 channel is output on the subchannel screen 220, the controller 140 assigns a code of one channel that is not scanned to the sub1 channel receiver 115 and the sub1 channel receiver 115 Broadcast stream of the sub1 channel is buffered in the sub1 channel A / V buffer 155.

This operation is controlled by the controller 140, thereby alternately outputting all channels except the main channel to the sub-channel screen 220. That is, while one channel is displayed on the screen, the other channel is received and buffered within a predetermined time and displayed on the screen.

The EPG stream of the EPG storage unit 145 is connected to the main channel screen 210 and the subchannel screen 220 on the EPG screen 230 of the LCD 175 according to the EPG output instruction of the controller 140. Displays information of all broadcast channels displayed in the

When the full screen of the terminal is divided, the main channel screen 210 displays the broadcasting channel that the terminal is displaying on the full screen as it is, and the sub channel screen 220 is a channel displayed by the main channel screen 210. Except for, the sub channel 1, 2 channel receivers 115 and 120 received through any one of the buffer channel is completed to display the switching to a predetermined interval.

While displaying the sub1 and 2 channels, when a channel of the subchannel screen 220 is selected by the user, the controller 140 assigns a channel code of the selected channel to the main channel receiver 110. The selected channel is displayed on the main channel screen 210 or full screen.

The EPG screen 230 displays EPG information of all broadcast channels displayed on the main channel screen 210 and the subchannel screen 220, that is, a start time, an end time, a reservation recording, program information, and the like. You can find it by entering the station. The terminal status screen 240 may indicate a reception state and a current time of a broadcast signal, and may additionally display battery information when the terminal is portable.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart showing screen display time reduction according to full screen division and channel auto scanning according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

After extracting the EPG stream from the broadcast signal and delivering it to the controller 140, the terminal acquires information on all channels (310), and in step 320, the broadcast stream of the channel selected by the user is the main channel receiver 110. Received by and displayed on the full screen of the terminal.

When the auto scanning mode is requested in step 330 while the selected channel is displayed on the full screen, the process proceeds to step 340 in which the main channel screen 210, the sub channel screen 220, and the EPG screen 230 are displayed. The channel guide screen 240 becomes the full screen.

The main channel screen 210 displays a channel displayed on the full screen, and the sub channel screen 220 initially displays a standby screen stored in advance, and the sub 1 and 2 channel A / V buffers 155 ( Since any one of the channels 160 is full, the received channels are switched at a predetermined interval except for the channel displayed by the main channel screen 210 and displayed.

Here, the constant interval means a time required for receiving and buffering a broadcast stream of a channel to be displayed in sequence.

If the user selects one channel among the channels displayed on the subchannel screen 220 at a predetermined time interval in step 350, the process proceeds to step 360 in which the selected channel of the subchannel screen is the main channel screen. Is switched to and is displayed. When returning to the full screen by the user or automatically in step 370, the channel of the main channel screen is displayed on the full screen.

In other cases, the step 360 is omitted, and the channel selected in the subchannel screen is directly displayed on the full screen.

If the auto scanning mode is not requested in step 330, the full screen continuously displays the selected channel in step 380.

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. As an example of a modification, only the example of the SDMB terminal has been described, but the present invention can be easily applied to a device including a portable SDMB device or an SDMB module, which is an SDBM receiving apparatus without significant modification.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

The present invention receives all channels except for the main channel screen and the channel displayed on the main channel screen by dividing the full screen when the auto scanning mode is required in the terminal supporting the SDMB; It is divided into sub-channel screens that are displayed at regular intervals, and other broadcast programs can be found on the sub-channel screen while viewing the main channel screen.

The present invention satisfies the desire of the user to find and view other channels even while receiving one channel, and additionally receives all channels, thereby reducing the delay time for deinterleaving and demultiplexing the broadcast channels. There is an advantage to that.

Claims (12)

In a method for switching channels without delay in a terminal that supports satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (SDMB), Receiving and displaying one channel of the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting on a full screen; When the auto scanning mode is requested, dividing the entire screen into a main channel screen and a subchannel screen to display a channel of the full screen on the main channel screen; Receiving a first channel, which is one of channels other than the channel displayed on the main channel screen, and displaying the first channel on the subchannel screen; Receiving and buffering a second channel, which is another one of the other channels except for the channel of the main channel screen, while displaying the first channel; And when the buffering of the second channel is completed, converting the first channel into the second channel and displaying the second channel on the sub-channel screen. The method of claim 1, wherein when the subchannel screen is selected by the user while alternately displaying the remaining channels on the subchannel screen, switching the selected channel of the subchannel screen to the full screen is displayed. Channel switching method characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying EPG information representing the main channel and the subchannels on an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) screen, which is at least a part of the remaining portion except for the main channel screen and the subchannel screen of the full screen. Channel switching method characterized in that it further comprises. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying a reception state of a broadcast signal and battery information on a terminal status screen which is at least a part of the remaining portion except for the main channel screen, the subchannel screen, and the EPG screen of the full screen. Channel switching method characterized in that. The method of claim 2, wherein the switching to the full screen and displaying the sub-channel screen comprises: selecting a channel of the sub-channel screen by the user while alternately displaying the remaining channels on the sub-channel screen. And converting the selected channel into the main channel screen and displaying the main channel screen by switching to the full screen when a user inputs a key. In a terminal device supporting satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), A main channel receiver for receiving one channel of the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting; A sub1 channel receiver and a sub2 channel receiver each receiving any one of the remaining channels except for the channel received by the main channel receiver; A distributor for identifying the main channel stream and the sub channel streams received by the main channel receiver, the sub 1 channel receiver, and the sub 2 channel receiver according to a corresponding packet identification (PID); A main channel buffer, a sub1 channel buffer, and a sub2 channel buffer receiving and buffering the main channel stream and the subchannel streams from the distributor; A switch for alternately selecting and outputting the subchannel stream buffered in one of the sub1 channel buffer and the sub2 channel buffer at an interval. A controller for allocating channel codes of channels selected by a user to the main channel receiver, and alternately assigning channel codes of the remaining channels to the sub1 channel receiver and the sub2 channel receiver; A codec for receiving and decoding the main channel stream from the main channel buffer and the subchannel stream from the converter; And a display unit for displaying the main channel data and the sub channel data decoded by the codec on the main channel screen and the sub channel screen divided on the full screen. The method of claim 6, wherein the controller, When the channel of the sub-channel screen is selected by the user, the channel code of the selected channel is assigned to the main channel receiver, so that the selected channel is displayed on the main channel screen or full screen of the display unit Device. The terminal apparatus of claim 6, further comprising an EPG receiver configured to receive an electronic program guide (EPG) signal for the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting channels. The method of claim 8, wherein the EPG stream output from the EPG receiver is received through the distributor and the controller and stored as EPG information, and further comprises an EPG storage for transmitting to the controller at the request of the controller Terminal device characterized in that. The EPG information of claim 9, wherein the display unit displays the main channel and the subchannels on an electronic program guide (EPG) screen which is at least a part of the rest of the full screen except for the main channel screen and the subchannel screen. Terminal device characterized in that for displaying. The display apparatus of claim 10, wherein the display unit displays a reception state of a broadcast signal and battery information on a terminal status screen which is at least a part of the remaining portions except the main channel screen, the subchannel screen, and the EPG screen of the full screen. Channel switching method characterized in that. The method of claim 6, wherein the display unit, if the channel of the sub-channel screen is selected by the user during the alternate display of the remaining channels on the sub-channel screen, the selected channel of the sub-channel screen to the main channel And converting the display into a screen and displaying the main channel screen by switching to the full screen when a user inputs a key.

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