KR20070088903A - Apparatus and method for taking channel information using multi-tuner - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for detecting channels by using a multi-tuner are provided to provide a detecting unit, a computing unit and a determining and reading unit, thereby reducing a channel detecting time of an analog signal and a digital signal by using the multi-tuner. An apparatus for detecting channels by using a multi-tuner comprises the following parts: a detecting unit(110) for successively detecting channels without overlapping multi-tuners each other; a computing unit(120) for adding channels according to the detected signals; and a determining and reading unit(130) for reading digital channel information of a digital signal when the digital signal is detected by a first tuner among the multi-tuners. The channel is increased through the computing unit by a second tuner while reading the digital channel information by the first tuner.

Description

Apparatus and method for taking channel information using multi-tuner}

1 is a block diagram of a channel detection apparatus using a multiple tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart of a method for sequentially detecting channels that do not overlap each other using a multiple tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 illustrates a method of sequentially detecting channels that do not overlap each other using multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart of a method for detecting a channel in a manner of switching between multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 illustrates a method of detecting a channel in a manner of switching between multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

110: detector

120: Arithmetic

130: reading unit

140: switching unit

The present invention relates to a channel detection apparatus and method using a multi-tuner, and more particularly, to channel detection using a multi-tuner to shorten the channel detection time by appropriately distributing the channel detection of analog and digital signals using the multi-tuner. An apparatus and method are provided.

As the output of television receivers is enlarged, picture in picture (PIP) technology and multiple tuners, which can watch multiple broadcasts, are becoming more common, and television receivers with multiple tuners provide users with automatic channel detection using multiple tuners. Doing. The television receiver receives a radio signal transmitted from a broadcasting station or an external input signal such as a CATV, and when a user selects a broadcast channel by operating a remote control transmitter or a key panel, the television receiver tunes and outputs a broadcast signal corresponding to the selected channel.

In general, (MPEG2 compatible) digital broadcasting basically transmits a program association table (PAT) and a program map table (PMT) defined in ISO 13818-1. In case of ATSC (Advanced Television System Committee), the program related table (PAT) and the program map table (PMT) are transmitted together, but PSIP defined by ATSC for screen playback without receiving the two tables (PAT and PMT). A packet guide (PID) of a desired channel can be determined through a master guide table (MGT) and a virtual channel table (VCT) according to (Program and System Information Protocol). For documents related to the ATSC, refer to "Program and System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision B)".

The PSIP of the ATSC includes the modulation information of each channel, the carrier frequency, the PID, the configuration of the service, the rating information to be applied to the program, and the detailed information (program title, start) Time, length, content summary), time information indicating current time, and also specify the transmission period and transmission speed.

Meanwhile, analog broadcasting is tuned by NTSC (National Television System Committee), and digital broadcasting is tuned by VSB (Vestigial Side-Band Modulation). Analog broadcasting can detect channel information by simply receiving channel frequency (signal) strength through NTSC, while digital broadcasting is transmitted as a digital signal compressed by MPEG2 method, so digital channel information (PSIP) defined by ATSC for screen reproduction ) To find the packet identifier (PID) for video / audio, and to detect channel information, master guide table (MGT) and virtual channel table (VCT) according to digital channel information (PSIP). ) Should be interpreted.

As described above, the digital broadcasting has a problem in that the detection time of the channel information is delayed due to the time of reading the digital channel information (PSIP) compared to the time of detecting the channel (information) of the analog broadcasting.

In addition, conventionally, a channel is detected using a multiple tuner, but most of the methods are used to detect a signal by simply separating a channel region without considering a digital channel detection process. For example, the first tuner detects 2 to 35 channels and the second tuner detects 36 to 69 channels.

Therefore, there is a need to reduce the channel detection time by effectively distributing the channel detection of the analog signal and the digital signal using the multiple tuner effectively.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for detecting a channel using multiple tuners.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, a channel detection apparatus using a multi-tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a detector for sequentially detecting a channel that the multi-tuner does not overlap each other and an arithmetic unit for increasing the channel in accordance with the detected signal; And a readout unit configured to read digital channel information of the digital signal when the first tuner of the multiple tuners detects the digital signal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a channel detection method using multiple tuners includes sequentially detecting channels in which multiple tuners are not overlapped with each other, increasing channels according to the detected signals, and first tuner among the multiple tuners. And reading the digital channel information of the digital signal when detecting the signal, wherein the second tuner increases the channel while reading the digital channel information, and the first tuner after the increased channel when the reading of the digital channel information is completed. Detects the channel.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a channel detection apparatus using a multiple tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The channel detection apparatus 100 using the multiple tuner includes a detector 110, an arithmetic unit 120, a reader 130, and a switch 140.

The detector 110 detects a channel (information) through an analog signal or a digital signal. For example, in case of a multiple tuner, if a digital signal is not detected, a channel is detected through an analog signal. In this case, the multiple tuners may sequentially detect channels that do not overlap each other.

The arithmetic unit 120 increases the channel according to the signal detected by the detector 110. For example, when the first tuner detects a digital signal in the multi-tuner, the digital channel information PSPS of the digital signal is read, and at the same time, the second tuner checks whether the detected signal is a digital signal and performs the arithmetic unit 120. To increase the channel. A method of increasing the channel will be described below in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5 and will be omitted below.

The readout unit 130 reads digital channel information PSIP of the detected digital signal when a predetermined tuner among the multiple tuners detects the digital signal. In other words, unlike analog signals, digital broadcasting is transmitted as a digital signal compressed by MPEG2 method. Therefore, the digital channel information (PSIP) defined by ATSC is read for packet playback, and the packet identifier (PID) for video / audio is read. The master guide table (MGT) and the virtual channel table (VCT) according to the digital channel information (PSIP) are analyzed to find out the channel information.

When the signal detected by a predetermined tuner (eg, the first tuner) of the multiple tuners is a digital signal, the switching unit 140 switches to the target tuner (eg, the second tuner) to detect the channel. That is, the target tuner (second tuner) detects the channel while the tuner (first tuner) that detects the digital signal reads the digital channel information (PSIP) through the readout unit 130. The switching unit 140 may be omitted in other embodiments, which will be described later in more detail with reference to FIG. 5.

The 'unit' may be expressed as a 'module', and the 'module' refers to a hardware component such as software or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Play some roles However, modules are not meant to be limited to software or hardware. The module may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute one or more processors. Thus, as an example, a module may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines. , Segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided by the components and modules may be combined into a smaller number of components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

2 is a flowchart of a method for sequentially detecting channels that do not overlap each other using a multiple tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The multiple tuners (eg, the first tuner and the second tuner) sequentially detect channels (information) that do not overlap each other in the analog signal or the digital signal through the detector 110 (S301).

When a predetermined tuner (for example, the first tuner) detects a digital signal, the digital channel information PSIP of the digital signal is read through the readout unit 130, and at the same time, the target tuner (for example, the second tuner) is read. Detects the channel by increasing the channel through the arithmetic unit 120 (S311, S321).

When the reading of the digital channel information PSIP of the digital signal is completed, the process (S301) is repeated while increasing the channel again after the channel detected by the target tuner (S331). Hereinafter, the process will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

3 illustrates a method of sequentially detecting channels that do not overlap each other using multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), when a user performs auto tuning, for example, in a tuning menu of a remote controller, multiple tuners (eg, a first tuner and a second tuner) do not overlap each other. Channel (information) is detected sequentially.

If the first tuner detects a digital signal, it reads digital channel information (PSIP) and at the same time the second tuner checks whether the detected signal is a digital signal and increments the channel.

When the first tuner completes the decoding of the digital channel information (PSIP), the channel is increased again by checking whether the signal detected after the channel detected by the second tuner is a digital signal.

The above process is divided into three steps for convenience and will be described in more detail with reference to the following example.

In the first step, the first tuner starts with channel # 1 and checks whether the detected signal is a digital signal, increases the channel, and detects a channel (information) through an analog signal when no digital signal is detected. At the same time, the second tuner detects a channel by increasing a channel that does not overlap with the channel of the first tuner. Like the first tuner, when a digital signal is not detected, the second tuner detects a channel (information) through an analog signal. do.

In a second step, if the first tuner detects a digital signal on five channels 302, the second tuner is reading on the first tuner while the first tuner reads digital channel information (PSIP) from the digital signal. The channel is increased after 5 channels 302 (i.e., 6 channels) to increase the channel by checking whether the detected signal is a digital signal.

In the third step, when the first tuner completes the decoding of the digital channel information PSIP, the corresponding channel information (i.e., five channels 302) is stored, and the channel that the second tuner is detecting (for example, nine channels) After that, the first step is repeated by increasing the channel (10 channels).

As shown in FIG. 3 (b), since multiple tuners sequentially detect channels that do not overlap each other, a channel search process may be provided to a plurality of search screens to a user.

4 is a flowchart of a method for detecting a channel in a manner of switching between multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a multiple tuner (eg, a first tuner and a second tuner), a predetermined tuner (eg, a first tuner) detects a channel (information) from an analog signal or a digital signal through the detector 110 (S401).

When the signal detected by the first tuner is a digital signal, the channel is detected by switching to the target tuner (for example, the second tuner) through the switching unit 140 (S411 and S421). That is, the target tuner (second tuner) detects a channel while the tuner (first tuner) that detects the digital signal reads the digital channel information PSIP through the readout unit 130.

When the reading of the digital channel information PSIP of the digital signal is completed, the target tuner is in a waiting state until the digital signal is detected. When the target tuner detects the digital signal, the target tuner is switched again to detect the target tuner. The above process is repeated after the channel (S431, S441). Hereinafter, the embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

5 illustrates a method of detecting a channel in a manner of switching between multiple tuners according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5 (a), for example, when the first tuner detects a digital signal during channel detection, the digital tuner reads the digital channel information PSIP, and then switches to the second tuner and is detected through the second tuner. Increases the channel by checking whether the signal is a digital signal.

If the first tuner completes decoding of the digital channel's information (PSIP) while the second tuner is increasing the channel, the first tuner will be idle for a while until the second tuner detects the digital signal, at which time the second tuner Detects the digital signal, it switches back to the first tuner and repeats the above process after the channel detected by the second tuner.

The above process will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

The first tuner detects a digital signal and detects an analog signal when no digital signal is detected. When the first tuner detects a digital signal in the fifth channel 502, it switches to the second tuner and increases the channel after the fifth channel 502 (that is, six channels) to check whether or not the detected signal is a digital signal. Increase.

If the first tuner completes decoding of the digital channel's information (PSIP) while the second tuner is increasing the channel, the first tuner will wait for a while until the second tuner detects the digital signal. If the second tuner detects the digital signal in the eight channels 504, the second tuner switches to the first tuner to increase the channel after nine channels and detect the channel. At this time, like the first tuner, the second tuner decodes the digital channel information PSIP.

As shown in FIG. 5 (b), the channel search process is performed through the tuner switching, and thus the user can be provided as one search screen to the user. In addition, by enabling the sequential increase of channels, a quick channel detection result can be obtained, and the user can be provided to select a channel detection range.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the channel detection apparatus and method using the multiple tuner of the present invention as described above, there is an advantage of reducing the channel detection time of the analog signal and the digital signal using the multiple tuner.

Claims (5)

A detector that sequentially detects channels in which multiple tuners do not overlap each other; An arithmetic unit for increasing a channel according to the detected signal; And And a readout unit configured to read digital channel information of the digital signal when a first tuner of the multiple tuners detects a digital signal. The method of claim 1, While the first tuner reads the digital channel information, the second tuner increases the channel through the arithmetic unit and when the reading of the digital channel information is completed, the first tuner detects the channel after the increased channel. Channel detection device using multiple tuners. The method of claim 2, And a switching unit configured to detect the channel by switching to the second tuner when the first tuner detects the digital signal. Sequentially detecting channels in which multiple tuners do not overlap each other; Increasing the channel in accordance with the detected signal; And Reading digital channel information of the digital signal when a first tuner of the multiple tuners detects a digital signal, wherein the second tuner increases the channel and reads the digital channel information while reading the digital channel information. And the first tuner detects the channel after the increased channel upon completion of reading. The method of claim 4, wherein If the first tuner detects the digital signal, switching to the second tuner to detect the channel.

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