KR20080028604A - Method for changing channel using channel name - Google Patents

Abstract

A channel switching method using a channel name is provided to enable a broadcasting signal receiver to extract the channel name from the supplementary information of a received broadcasting signal, store the extracted channel name with tuning information in a channel memory, search for a channel name having corresponding characters in the channel memory and display the channel name when a user inputs the character, thereby enabling the user to watch a desired channel by tuning the channel. A channel switching method using a channel name comprises the following steps of: allowing a control unit to extract the channel name from the supplementary information of a received broadcasting signal and store the channel name in a channel memory; and allowing the control unit to select a channel name having corresponding characters in the channel memory when a character signal is inputted from a command input unit and allowing a tuner unit to receive the broadcasting signal of an associated channel(S500,S514,S512).

Description

How to switch channels using channel name {METHOD FOR CHANGING CHANNEL USING CHANNEL NAME}

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a broadcast signal receiver to which the channel switching method of the present invention is applied;

2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an operation of storing a channel according to a channel switching method of the present invention;

3 is a diagram illustrating a terrestrial virtual channel table (TVCT) of a program and system information protocol (PSIP);

4 is a view showing 'extended_channel_name_descriptor ()' in TVCT of PSIP, and

5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an operation of switching a reception channel of a broadcast signal according to the channel switching method of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a channel switching method using a channel name for switching a channel for receiving a broadcast signal using a channel name.

As digital broadcasting is accelerating, digital broadcasting is being performed through various broadcasting media including satellites, terrestrial waves, and cables. The digital broadcasting is capable of providing various additional services as well as high quality and high sound quality compared to the existing analog broadcasting.

Such digital broadcasting compresses high-definition and high-quality audio and video (AV) signals using a video compression method such as MPEG-2 and a voice compression method such as AC-3, and through existing satellite, terrestrial or cable bands. It is transmitted by QPSK, VSB or QAM transmission method.

Therefore, it is possible to broadcast a plurality of programs through one physical channel. For example, terrestrial broadcasting can broadcast one HD (High Definition) program and three SD (Standard Definition) program on one physical channel, and provide various services to a digital broadcasting signal receiver. Broadcast additional information.

As the additional information, for example, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) is provided so that a user acquires information on a broadcast program in advance through the EPG, and provides services such as reservation recording.

Unlike in the past, when digital broadcasting was performed only through the airwaves, the number of channels increased to as little as 50 or more than 100, and the number of channels is expected to continue to increase in the future.

As the number of channels increases, users can receive and watch more programs. However, as the number of channels increases, a user spends a lot of time searching for a desired channel because the user needs to find a channel that broadcasts a desired program while switching a channel up or down key.

In addition, the user may store in advance the number of a channel broadcasting the desired programs, select the corresponding channel by pressing the stored channel number, and receive and watch the desired programs. However, this requires a user to remember the channel number of a favorite channel, which causes a lot of difficulties for the user.

Therefore, the conventional broadcast signal receivers have a preference channel function to store in advance a channel that the user wants to watch as a favorite channel, and when the user selects a favorite channel key, the broadcast signal receiver sequentially selects the stored preferred channels one by one. Is receiving.

However, the preferred channel function needs to check the broadcast signals received by the user and store them as the preferred channel, and it is difficult to store all the preferred channels due to the memory capacity limit of the memory storing the number of all channels designated by the user. In addition, when the number of preferred channels stored in the memory is large, there is a problem in that it takes a long time to find a channel broadcasting a program desired by a user.

An object of the present invention is to provide a channel switching method using a channel name that allows a user to select a desired channel using the channel name.

Another object of the present invention is to use a channel name that allows a user to extract and store a channel name from additional information broadcasted with a broadcast program, and to switch the channel to the stored channel name without storing the channel name. To provide a conversion method.

In the channel switching method using the channel name of the present invention having the above object, the control unit extracts the channel name from the additional information of the received broadcast signal and stores it in the channel memory; And selecting a channel name having a corresponding character from the channel memory to cause the tuner to receive a broadcast signal of the corresponding channel.

The extracting and storing of the channel name are performed when a channel scan command is input. When the channel scan command is input, the channel names are sequentially selected to receive a broadcast signal and receive additional information from the received broadcast signal. Extracting; Extracting a channel name from the extracted additional information; And storing the extracted channel name in the channel memory along with the tuning information of the corresponding channel.

The channel number is extracted from the additional information, and the extracted channel number is stored in the channel memory along with the channel name and the tuning information.

The receiving of the broadcast signal may include: searching for a channel name having the input character in a channel memory and displaying the channel name on the screen; selecting a channel name selected by a command input unit from the displayed channel names; And reading the tuning information of the selected channel name from a channel memory, and outputting the read tuning information to a tuner to receive a broadcast signal of a corresponding channel.

The channel name includes a broadcasting station name and an additional channel name, and the display of the channel name displays both the broadcasting station name and the additional channel name by searching both the broadcasting station name and the additional channel name having the same character as the input character. It is characterized by.

The channel name may be selected by moving the cursor according to a signal of a direction key input through the command input unit, and selecting a channel name where the cursor is located when the selection signal is input.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that when the channel number is input through the command input unit, the tuner unit receives the broadcast signal of the channel by reading the tuning information of the channel number from the channel memory.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the impedance control device and method of a portable terminal of the present invention will be described in detail. However, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a broadcast signal receiver to which the channel switching method of the present invention is applied. As shown, the broadcast signal receiver includes an antenna 100, a tuner unit 102, a multiplexer 104, an additional information memory 106, a decoder 108, and an OSD (on screen display) unit ( 110, a channel memory 112, a command input unit 114, and a control unit 116.

The antenna 100 receives a broadcast signal transmitted over the airwaves.

The tuner unit 102 receives a broadcast signal of a predetermined channel according to tuning information among broadcast signals received through the antenna 100 and extracts a transport stream (TS).

The multiplexer 104 separates additional information such as an audio and video (AV) stream and program and system information protocol (PSIP) information from the TS extracted by the tuner unit 102.

The additional information memory 106 stores additional information separated by the multiplexer 104 and provides the stored additional information to the controller 116.

The decoder 108 decodes the AV stream separated by the multiplexer 104 and outputs a video signal and an audio signal.

The OSD unit 110 generates an OSD signal under the control of the controller 116 and inserts the generated OSD signal into a video signal decoded by the decoder.

The channel memory 112 stores channel names and channel numbers of respective channels and tuning information of the corresponding channels under the control of the controller 116.

The command input unit 114 inputs various commands including a channel number or a text signal to the controller 116 according to a user's manipulation.

The controller 116 generates a tuning control signal to control the tuner 102 to receive a broadcast signal of a predetermined channel. In addition, the controller 116 controls the decoder 108 to decode the AV stream to output a video and audio signal, and the OSD unit 110 generates an OSD signal and inserts it into the video signal. In addition, the controller 116 extracts a channel name and a channel number from the additional information stored in the additional information memory 106 and stores the extracted channel name and the channel number in the channel memory 112 together with the tuning information of each channel. To control. In addition, the controller 116 controls the operation of the broadcast signal receiver according to an operation command input from the command input unit 114 and controls channel switching.

2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an operation of storing a channel according to the channel switching method of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the controller 116 determines whether a scan command to scan a channel for receiving a broadcast signal from the command inputter 114 is input (S200).

When the channel scan command is input, the controller 116 sequentially selects all channels that can be received by the broadcast signal receiver one by one (S202), and outputs tuning information for receiving broadcast signals of the selected channel (S202). S204).

The tuning information output by the controller 116 is input to the tuner 102, and the tuner 102 receives a broadcast signal of a predetermined channel according to the tuning information among the broadcast signals received through the antenna 100. do.

In this state, the controller 116 determines whether there is a broadcast signal received by the tuner 102 (S206). When there is no broadcast signal received as a result of the determination, the controller 116 determines whether the broadcast signal receiver has completed the scan operation for all channels (S214). When the scan operation for all channels is not completed as a result of the determination, the control unit 116 selects a next channel (S202), outputs tuning information of the selected channel (S204), and the tuner 102 receives the broadcast. The operation of determining whether there is a signal is repeatedly performed (S206).

When there is a broadcast signal received as a result of the determination, the tuner unit 102 extracts the TS of the received broadcast signal, and the extracted TS is input to the multiplexer 104 to extract the AV stream and the additional information. The information is stored in the additional information memory 106 (S208).

The controller 116 extracts a channel name and a channel number from the additional information stored in the additional information memory 106 (S210), and extracts the extracted channel name and the channel number into the channel memory 112 together with the tuning information of the corresponding channel. Save (S212).

For example, the additional information stored in the additional information memory 106 is a Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table (TVCT) of a Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) as shown in FIG. 3, and the TVCT is used in terrestrial digital television broadcasting. Syntax representing channel information in the PSIP standard.

Referring to FIG. 3, the TVCT defines that a channel name is transmitted in the form of Unicode in a 'short_name' field. In the TVCT, 'descriptor ()' may include 'extended_channel_name_descriptor ()' as shown in FIG. 4, and in the 'long_channel_name_descriptor ()' in the 'long_channel_name_text ()' field, the name of a channel that is more detailed about the channel. It is regulated to transmit.

In addition, in the TVCT, a major channel number is inserted into a 'major_channel_number' field and a minor channel number is inserted into a 'miner_channel_number' field to be transmitted.

In the present invention, the channel name is extracted from 'short_name' and 'long_channel_name_text ()' in the TVCT, and the channel number is extracted from 'major_channel_number' and 'miner_channel_number' (S210). It is stored in the channel memory 112 together with tuning information that can be tuned.

In this case, the channel name typically consists of only a broadcast station name or a sum of a broadcast station name and an additional channel name. For example, a channel name broadcasted by an 'MBC' broadcaster may consist of 'MBC' only, or 'MBC DRAMA', 'MBC SPORT', and a program that mainly broadcasts a predetermined channel by an 'MBC' broadcaster. 'MBC MOVIE', etc.

In the present invention, when storing a channel name in the channel memory 112, the broadcasting station name and the additional channel name are stored separately.

In this way, after storing the channel name and the channel number for one channel and the tuning information in the channel memory 112, the controller 116 determines whether the broadcast signal receiver has completed scanning for all channels ( S214). When the scan operation for all channels is not completed as a result of the determination, the control unit 116 selects a next channel (S202), outputs tuning information of the selected channel (S204), and the tuner 102 receives the broadcast. The operation of determining whether there is a signal is repeatedly performed (S206), and when the scan operation for all channels is completed, the channel scan operation is terminated.

5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an operation of switching a reception channel of a broadcast signal according to the channel switching method of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, the controller 116 determines whether a text signal or a channel number is input from the command input unit 114 (S500 and S502).

When the character signal is input as a result of the determination, the controller 116 searches for a channel name having the corresponding character in the channel memory 112 (S504), and controls the OSD unit 110 according to the searched channel name to display the OSD signal. In step S506, the channel name is displayed on the screen.

In this case, when searching for a channel name, it is preferable to search for both the broadcasting station name and the additional channel name separately. For example, suppose that 'MBC', 'MBC DRAMA', 'MBC SPORT' and 'MBC MOVIE' are stored as channel names, and the user inputs 'M' as a text signal. 'MBC', 'MBC DRAMA', 'MBC SPORT' and 'MBC MOVIE' are all displayed. Also, when the user inputs 'D' as a text signal, 'MBC DRAMA' is displayed on the screen as an OSD signal.

As such, the controller 116 moves the cursor according to the signal of the direction key input from the command input unit 114 in the state in which the channel name having the character input by the user is displayed on the screen as the OSD signal (S506). It is determined whether or not it is input (S508), and it is determined whether or not a text signal is input (S510).

When the character signal is input as a result of the determination, the controller 116 searches for the channel name having the entire input character in the channel memory 112 (S502), and displays the searched channel name on the screen as an OSD signal. Repeatedly performed (S504).

When the selection signal is input as a result of the determination, the controller 116 reads out the corresponding tuning information of the channel name at which the current cursor is located from the channel memory 112, and outputs the read tuning information to the tuner unit 102. The user receives a broadcast signal of a desired channel (S512).

In addition, in the present invention, the user may switch the channel by inputting the channel number, and the controller 116 determines whether the channel number is input through the command input unit 114 (S514). When the channel number is input through the command input unit 114 as a result of the determination, the control unit 116 reads out the tuning information corresponding to the input channel number from the channel memory 112, and reads out the tuning information from the tuner unit 102. And outputs the broadcast signal of the desired channel to the user (S512).

On the other hand, while the present invention has been shown and described with respect to specific preferred embodiments, various modifications and changes of the present invention without departing from the spirit or field of the invention provided by the claims below It can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.

For example, in the above description, a broadcast signal receiver capable of receiving digital terrestrial television broadcasting extracts a channel name from TVCT of PSIP, stores it in a channel memory, and tunes a desired channel by inputting a channel name.

In the present invention, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a broadcast signal receiver capable of receiving various television broadcast signals including cable broadcasting and satellite broadcasting may provide OOB (Out Of Band) SI (Syatem Information) or 'Gemstar'. A channel name may be extracted from various information including an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and the like and stored in the channel memory 112, and the user may select a desired channel using the channel name.

As described in detail above, the present invention extracts the channel name from the additional information of the carrier signal received by the broadcast signal receiver and stores the channel name in the channel memory along with the tuning information. When the user inputs a text signal, the channel name having the corresponding character is searched in the channel memory and displayed on the screen. When the user selects the channel name, the channel is tuned and viewed.

Therefore, the user does not need to memorize the channel number of his favorite channel among the channels of numerous channels, and remembers the channel name or additional channel name of the preferred station, and saves the channel name or additional channel name of the stored station. By using it, it is possible to simply find and select the desired channel.

Claims (9)

Extracting, by the controller, the channel name from the additional information of the received broadcast signal and storing the channel name in the channel memory; And When the character signal is input from the command input unit, the control unit selects a channel name having the character from the channel memory, and the tuner receives a broadcast signal of the channel. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting and storing the channel name comprises: A channel switching method using a channel name, which is performed when a channel scan command is input. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting and storing the channel name comprises: Receiving a broadcast signal by sequentially selecting channels when a channel scan command is input, and extracting additional information from the received broadcast signal; Extracting a channel name from the extracted additional information; And And storing the extracted channel name in the channel memory along with the tuning information of the corresponding channel. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the channel name comprises: a; A channel switching method using a channel name, characterized in that it comprises a broadcast station name and the additional channel name. The method of claim 3, wherein And extracting a channel number from the additional information and storing the extracted channel number in the channel memory along with the channel name and the tuning information. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the broadcast signal comprises: Searching for a channel name having the input character in a channel memory and displaying the channel name on a screen; Selecting a channel name selected by the command input unit from the displayed channel names; Reading tuning information of the selected channel name from a channel memory; And And outputting the read tuning information to a tuner to receive a broadcast signal of a corresponding channel. The method of claim 6, wherein the channel name; Includes the station name and additional channel name, The display of the channel name; A channel switching method using a channel name characterized by displaying both a station name and an additional channel name by searching for both a station name and an additional channel name having the same character as the input character. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the selection of the channel name comprises; And moving a cursor according to a signal of a direction key input through the command input unit, and selecting a channel name where the cursor is located when a selection signal is input. The method of claim 1, And when the channel number is input through the command input unit, reading the tuning information of the corresponding channel number from the channel memory, and receiving the broadcast signal of the corresponding channel by the tuner unit.

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