KR20080080065A

KR20080080065A - Iptv with grid typed menu channel and method thereof

Info

Publication number: KR20080080065A
Application number: KR1020080054635A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 안지윤
Original assignee: 안지윤
Priority date: 2008-06-11
Filing date: 2008-06-11
Publication date: 2008-09-02

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for selecting an IPTV menu are provided to check a channel previously and select the channel easily if a user touches a grid button of a remote controller corresponding to an array position of the grid button on a monitor screen to change the color of the selected grid button. An apparatus for selecting an IPTV(Internet Protocol) menu includes a remote controller(270) and an STB(Set Top Box)(130). The remote controller includes grid buttons, dual switches for recognizing touch and press at the same time and ordering a signal. The STB includes a remote control signal receiver(104). The remote control signal receiver receives the dual switching order signal of the grid buttons of the remote controller. The STB recognizes an order through the remote control signal receiver in a microcomputer(102), selects a channel corresponding the order from contents channel stored in a contents memory unit(210), and outputs the selected channel to a display device(260). The display device displays the output of an OSD(On Screen Display) generator so that an initial menu screen can be the same as the array of the grid buttons of the remote controller.

Description

IPTV with grid typed menu channel and method

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of selecting an iPiT menu through a grid button through a remote control button and a display device on which a menu screen is displayed. The present invention relates to a menu selection device and method for checking a channel after a touch and pressing again to select a channel.

In general, IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) is a service that combines communication and broadcasting that provides broadcasting, video content, and information to a TV through an IP network, and is a TPS that integrates high-speed Internet, VoIP, and IPTV based on an IP network. It is evolving as (Triple Play Service). To use IPTV, you need a television receiver, an IPTV-STB, and an Internet line. You can add a set-top box or a modem to the television set and turn it on just as you turn on the television. Therefore, even those who are not familiar with computers can use the remote control to provide various contents and additional services provided by the Internet, such as simply watching the Internet, watching movies, home shopping, home banking, online games, and MP3s. The IPTV is not different from general cable broadcasting or satellite broadcasting in that it provides broadcasting contents including video, but it is characterized by the added interactivity.

As described above, the Internet can only be viewed using a computer. However, with the appearance of IPTV, a web service on the Internet can be used through a TV. Conventional TVs are modeled after the Internet function on an existing computer. However,

There are some problems caused by the difference between the computer and the TV, the difference is the biggest problem. In other words, existing TVs use channel up-down keys and four-way keys when using more complex menus.However, with the introduction of IPTV, content and services grow exponentially. There is a limit to the existing TV interface based on. In the case of a computer, a mouse and a keyboard are used to guarantee freedom of use, but in the case of a TV, a conventional remote control cannot efficiently access a large amount of contents and services.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration for a general Internet TV broadcast, and FIG. 2 is an example showing a sequence of a general Internet TV broadcast.

A system for providing television broadcasting over the Internet is shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 1, a broadcast server system 120 for providing television broadcasting services via the Internet 102, and connected to the Internet 102 to request a client. And a plurality of web servers 110 for providing a web page according to the present invention, and are connected to the Internet 102 and operated according to a user's remote controller 150 to receive a television broadcast provided by the broadcast server system 120. Or it may be configured to be configured as an IPTV set-top box 130 to request a web page to the web server 110 and output through the display device 140.

Referring to FIG. 1, the web server 110 is a typical website for providing a web page via the Internet 102, and the broadcast server system 120 is a web server 122 and video content for providing a web service. Or a streaming server 124 for providing a TV broadcast program via the Internet 102.

The IPTV set-top box 130 is equipped with a web browser for using a web service and a multimedia player for playing a video through the Internet 102. The IPTV set-top box 130 receives a TV broadcast or a web page according to a user's remote controller 150. Receives and outputs to the display device 140. The display device 140 is a conventional CRT, LCD, or PDP television or monitor.

An example of an order of serving Internet broadcasts in such a system is as shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, the browser of the IPTV set-top box 130 requests a meta file of a television broadcast to be accessed by accessing the web server 122 of the broadcasting server system (S1). Accordingly, the web server 122 provides the meta file, and the browser of the IPTV set-top box 130 provides the meta file to the media player (S2, S3). The media player of the IPTV set-top box 130 connects to the streaming server 124 using the corresponding metafile, establishes a connection, and requests a play (S4 to S6). Accordingly, the streaming server 124 provides the corresponding audio / video stream to be played by the media player, and terminates the streaming transmission when requesting termination (S7 to S10).

3 is a block diagram illustrating an IPTV set-top box, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a channel allocation concept.

As shown in FIG. 3, the hardware of the IPTV set-top box 130 includes a network interface unit 131, a decoder 132, an audio processor 133, a video processor 134, a remote controller receiver 135, and a processor ( 136, the on-screen display unit (OSD) 137, the memory 138, and the storage device 139, the processor 136 controls the overall operation in accordance with the button operation of the remote controller 150.

Referring to FIG. 3, the network interface unit 131 connects to a high speed network under the control of the processor 136 and transmits and receives data according to a predetermined communication protocol such as TCP / IP, UDP / IP, IGMPv2, and a received data packet. Decomposes and transmits the transport stream TS including the television broadcast signal to the decoder 132. The decoder 132 decomposes the TS packet into PES packets, decodes the video or audio data according to a predetermined standard, and delivers the audio data to the audio processor 133, and delivers the video data to the video processor 134. . The audio processor 133 converts digital audio data into an analog audio signal and outputs it. The video processor 134 converts digital video data into an analog video signal and outputs the analog video signal. The on-screen display unit 137 displays additional information such as menu settings and channel display on the screen under the control of the processor 136, and software and data are stored in the memory 138 and the storage device 139. have. In particular, the storage device 139 may store recorded data during recording.

The remote control receiver 135 receives the infrared signal from the remote controller 150, decodes the corresponding scan code, and transmits button information to the processor 136.

The processor 136 performs an operating system and processes various communication protocols for application programs or web communications such as a web browser, media player, and the like, and performs all operations as required by the user according to button information received from the remote control receiver 135.

To control. In particular, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, when the channel allocation command is received from the user, the processor 136 performs the allocation unit 20 function to generate the channel list 23, and when the channel number is input. The processor 21 performs a function to find and receive a broadcast or web page corresponding to a channel in the channel list 23.

Referring to FIG. 4, the IPTV set-top box 130 includes a channel list 30 having channel information, an allocator 20 for allocating a web page address to a channel, and a processor 21 for receiving and processing a channel number. It includes, and the viewer can assign a channel number to the web page and then enter the channel number with the remote control 150 to view the web page to facilitate the movement of the web page.

The channel list 23 having the channel information stores all the channels in the system as a list, and with reference to the channel list 23, the channel information can be known and moved to a specific channel. An example of such a channel list may include a channel number, a channel type, and a channel reference position. Here, the channel number has a unique value for each channel to facilitate channel selection, and the user inputs this value to the remote controller 150 to select a channel. The channel type is a value that determines whether this channel is a video channel or a web page channel. This value determines the channel type and executes different commands with the channel reference position value. The channel reference position varies depending on the channel type. If the channel type is video, the video address is located, and if it is a web page, the address of the web page is located.

Therefore, when the user inputs the channel number 1, it can be seen that the channel number 1 is the video channel by referring to the channel list in Table 1, and therefore, the reference position "mms: // Server / A5 ". You can also channel

If you enter the number 5, you can see that the channel number 5 is a web page by referring to the channel list in Table 1, so you can go to the "http://www.yahoo.com" web page of the channel reference location through the web browser. Connect.

Therefore, this method has the advantage of selecting a site or channel set by the channel number by specifying the channel, but there is a problem that the channel must be set in advance.

An object of the present invention is to form a grid menu screen, the operation remote control is also configured in a grid form by recognizing the touch of the remote control button corresponding to the desired menu position, and then press to select the corresponding channel, anyone can easily channel It is an object of the present invention to provide a menu selection apparatus and method of IPT that enables to select accurately.

To this end, the present invention configures the remote control in the grid state, each button is composed of a double button that implements the touch switch and the tact switch function at the same time, the corresponding IP menu is also arranged to match the grid of the remote control Provides a menu selection device and method.

As described above, in the present invention, the arrangement of the buttons of the remote controller is the same as the grid arrangement of the monitor, and when the grid button of the remote controller corresponding to the arrangement position is touched, the color is changed so that the position of the corresponding screen can be identified and the channel is first identified. Then, the tact switch is operated so that the channel can be easily selected.

This makes it possible for people who do not know the text to easily select a channel through the remote control with the screen position of the monitor.

In addition, since the grid button on the remote control corresponding to the menu screen of the grid position corresponding to the computer window method is pressed, even a little child who does not know letters can be easily used even by specifying the position.

5 is a cross-sectional view of a button portion used in the present invention, and includes a button 10, a touch switch substrate 11, an elastic member 12, a dome switch 13, and a tact switch substrate 14. And the button assembly of the present invention preferably further comprises a guide plate 15 for assembly. According to the structure of FIG. 5, a dual switch may be implemented to simultaneously implement a pressing function of a touch switch and a tact switch in one button structure.

5, the touch key signal is generated by a light touch of the button 10 by the touch switch 10, 11 combination, and the tact switches 10, 10-1, 13-1. , 14 combination) to generate a tact key signal by pressing and holding the button 10.

The button 10 is provided with an actuating projection 10-1 of the dome switch 13-1 at the center of the bottom surface. The button 100- is preferably provided with a non-conductive member such as plastic. This technique is to use the technical principle of Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0096327.

6 is an exemplary diagram of a remote control and a corresponding menu screen of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a corresponding table of grid buttons and a menu screen of the remote control of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a grid button and a menu screen of the remote control showing another example of FIG. 9 is a corresponding scheme including a grid button of the remote control of FIG. 6 and a grid address of a menu screen, and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the present invention;

In FIG. 10, a remote controller 270 including a grid button 271 that is a dual switch which commands and recognizes touch and press at the same time, and a remote controller that receives a dual switching command signal of the grid button 271 of the remote controller 270. It consists of a set-top box 130 including a (104).

The set-top box 130 recognizes the command through the remote control receiver 104 in the microcomputer 102 to select the content channel stored in the content memory unit 210 to output to the display device 260. Works.

In this case, the display 260 is provided through the OS generating unit 245 so that the menu screen having the grid arrangement as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 appears so that the initial menu screen is the same as the grid button 271 array of the remote controller 270. Display the output. Functions and operations of the remaining set-top box is the same as in the method of FIG.

In addition, the present invention has been described on the basis of IP, it is equally applicable to general TV to select the desired various channels (content) through the initial menu screen.

The present invention configured as described above is a grid button 271 of the remote control 270 (the button itself having a physical configuration is a button 10 of FIG. 5, the grid button acting as a grid function applied to the present invention is a button 10 6) and 7), the touch and push action signals through the grid button 271 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are received through the remote control receiver 104. .

In this case, the remote controller 270 that transmits an input signal has a grid button 271 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the grid button 271 has a corresponding menu screen 1 (F1), sub-menu screen 12 (F12), The sub-sub menu screen 13 (F13) is driven to display the sequence selection screen.

That is, when the corresponding grid button 271 of the remote controller 270 is touched (for example, 1 and 8 in FIG. 6 and 7, and A in FIG. 8), this is a channel diagram of an over-the-air broadcasting. However, it is also possible to select the content through the various portal server, it should be represented as an indication for identification, not just a channel, it is shown separately in the figure that can be represented as a figure 8, not a number), The menu screen changes color (the desktop screen becomes darker or lighter, so it is distinguished from other menu positions so that you can check whether the desired channel matches first), and then if you press the corresponding grid button 271, the menu screen is displayed (F1). When the screen is changed to the sub screen F12, and the desired menu is pressed again, the sub sub screen F13 appears so that the corresponding channel or content can be viewed.

That is, although the previously pressed number was recognized as the channel number, the present invention does not recognize the channel number in the control unit microcomputer 102, but instead corresponds to the corresponding grid address as shown in FIG. 9 (for example, the display 260 of FIG. 7). When the control unit 100 commands the OSD generating unit 245 through the output port P1 to select the grid address X1Y1 corresponding to the channel 1 CH1 of the menu screen F1), the menu screen Display the channel of the corresponding grid address X1Y1 on the main screen.

Similarly, when the same grid button 271 is pressed (for example, 1), if the sub-menu screen 12 (F12) is on the display 260, it acts to display the desired channel 11 (CH11) there. .

Therefore, people who do not know the text can see the menu screen of the screen and select the desired channel in a grid easily.

Of course, for easy understanding, the grid address is simply labeled as X1Y1, but in practice, the beginning (X11) and last (X1n) and the beginning (Y11) and last (Y1n) of the row of the corresponding channel screen should be marked. The correct driving will be possible to drive in the OSD generator 245, but since this can be specifically implemented by conventional techniques, the grid address is simply shown in FIG. 9 in the form of a point. This principle is equally applied to other menu screens. You will know.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration for general Internet television (TV) broadcasting;

2 illustrates an example of a general Internet TV broadcast.

3 is a block diagram illustrating an IPTV set-top of FIG. 2;

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a channel allocation concept of FIG. 2;

5 is a cross-sectional view of the button unit used in the present invention,

6 is an exemplary view of a remote control and a corresponding menu screen of the present invention.

6 is a corresponding scheme of a grid button and a menu screen of the remote control of the present invention;

7 is a corresponding scheme of a grid button and a menu screen of the remote controller shown in the example of FIG. 6;

8 is a corresponding scheme of a grid button and a menu screen of the remote control according to another example of FIG. 6;

9 is a table showing grid buttons and corresponding menu screens and corresponding grid addresses which are recognized and commanded by the control unit of the present invention;

10 is a block diagram illustrating a remote controller and a set-top box of the present invention.

Claims

In this device, which selects a channel as a menu screen displayed on the display device,

A remote controller 270 having a grid button 271 arranged in a grid-like menu screen;

A set-top box having a control unit 100 for recognizing a remote control grid button operation of a menu screen corresponding position as a corresponding channel selection;

The grid button 271 is an intuitive menu selection device, characterized in that the touch switch for recognizing the touch and the tact switch for recognizing the press is a double button operated by the same button.

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the grid button (271) of the remote controller (270) is provided with a screen shift button (272) for commanding left and right movement of the menu screen.

In the method of selecting a menu,

A designation step of designating an address for each grid position of a menu screen in a control unit of a set-top box;

Grid method of pip mode display device, characterized in that the operation button of the remote control is the same grid arrangement as the menu screen, and when the button of the remote control is touched, the controller of the set-top box sequentially performs a selection step of recognizing this as a preliminary selection command of the channel number. Channel selection method.