KR20090078471A - Method for displaying electronic program guide in a digital broadcasting reception system - Google Patents

Abstract

An EPG display method in a digital broadcasting receiving system is provided to implement a user interface for user satisfaction by performing reserved recording through a displayed search result event. A program guide of a broadcasting program is generated to a menu screen(300, 302). The generated EPG menu screen is mixed with the image signal of the broadcasting program which the display is displayed. The broadcasting program of the specific genre is searched by using the EPG menu screen(304). The related information of the desired broadcasting program is searched through the search result event menu screen. The subscription recording about the broadcasting program is performed.

Description

Electronic program guide display method in digital broadcasting reception system {METHOD FOR DISPLAYING ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE IN A DIGITAL BROADCASTING RECEPTION SYSTEM}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for displaying an electronic program guide. In particular, the present invention relates to displaying information about an area searched by a user in an electronic program guide (EPG) of a broadcast program received in a digital broadcasting reception system. A method for displaying an electronic program guide of a suitable digital broadcast receiving system.

In general, digital broadcasting includes not only digital satellite broadcasting but also digital cable broadcasting and digital terrestrial broadcasting, and a digital broadcasting receiving system such as a set-top box (STB) for receiving the digital broadcasting signal receives the original video and audio signals. After restoring the signal processing, display it on a TV monitor or the like.

On the other hand, the broadcast signals provided in digital broadcasting are largely PSIP (Program and Program), which is a set of tables designed to be operated in a broadcast program including user information such as video information, audio information, and caption data, and all TSs for digital broadcasting. System Information Protocol) information. The event information table (EIT) information having information on the dual broadcast content includes event information such as title and time for the virtual channel defined in the PSIP information, and one EIT information is, for example, an event of about 3 hours. It has information, and about 12 hours of information is transmitted with digital broadcasting at present time. A total of 128 EIT information can be transmitted from EIT-0 to EIT-127. The ETT information refers to an option table used to describe virtual channels and events in detail in the PSIP information. The ETT information configures and displays an EPG.

The electronic program guide refers to broadcast program information displayed on the screen of a TV monitor through data broadcasting using an empty frequency band or a spare channel. The electronic program guide includes information such as a program channel, a broadcast time, a title, a category, and the like. The electronic device may select and operate the electronic program guide through an input means and a remote controller to search for broadcast program information broadcast on the day as well as about one week later.

In addition, when a desired broadcast program name is selected from the displayed EPG, more detailed information (for example, broadcast program content, etc.) can be obtained, and through this, reservation recording of a broadcast program desired by the user can be performed.

In the case of a digital satellite broadcasting system that provides such an electronic program guide, in the case of a digital satellite broadcasting system, EPG data is binarized with the original image data, converted into packets for transmission, and received and stored in an internal storage medium. . In addition, according to the input of a specific key for displaying the stored electronic program guide is displayed on a TV monitor or the like.

1A to 1C illustrate a search event and a searched result event of an EPG according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1A, in the EPG received by the digital broadcast reception system, broadcast data for each time slot of each broadcast channel of the current broadcast date is represented by a horizontal bar. In this case, in order to know all the broadcast time zones of today's date, the airing time by time zone is checked by using the right arrow key. However, since it is cumbersome to find the desired broadcast information in this manner, when the user performs a search by date, genre, or movie as shown in FIG. 1B by using a search function in the provided EPG, FIG. As shown in 1c, each broadcast channel information including movie broadcast information of the current date is listed as a result event.

The user selects one of the listed channel information and checks the movie screening information of the corresponding broadcasting channel.

In the EPG display method of a broadcast program in a conventional digital broadcasting reception system operating as described above, as shown in FIG. 1A, broadcast data for each broadcast channel of a current broadcast date in a horizontal bar form is shown. .

In this case, since it is difficult to see a desired broadcast, a search result as shown in FIG. 1C may be obtained through a search as shown in FIG. 1B, but this also does not provide movie broadcasting information for each broadcast channel at a time. Since the movie broadcasting information can be checked only by selecting a channel, this provides a user with a hassle, which greatly reduces the viewing satisfaction.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an electronic program guide display in a digital broadcast receiving system capable of searching for an event desired by a user when displaying an EPG of a broadcast program in a digital broadcasting receiving system and displaying a search result in a date or time calendar format. Provide a method.

In addition, the present invention, when displaying the EPG of the broadcast program in the digital broadcast receiving system to search for the event desired by the user, display the search results in the form of calendar by date or time, and scheduled recording through the displayed search result event Provided are an electronic program guide display method in a digital broadcast receiving system that can be performed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of generating an electronic program guide (EPG) of a broadcast program received by a digital broadcast reception system as a menu screen, and mixing the generated EPG menu screen with an image signal of a broadcast program being displayed. And a process of searching for a broadcast program of a specific genre by date and broadcasting channel by a user search request event by using the EPG menu screen, and displaying the searched result event in a calendar format.

In the present invention, the effects obtained by the representative ones of the disclosed inventions will be briefly described as follows.

According to the present invention, when an EPG of a broadcast program is displayed, a user searches for an event desired and displays a search result in a date or time calendar format, so that the user can easily check the search result event, and the displayed search result By displaying the schedule recording conveniently through an event, there is an effect of realizing a user interface that enhances user satisfaction.

Hereinafter, the operating principle of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, terms to be described below are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present invention, which may vary according to a user's or operator's intention or custom. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

When the EPG of a broadcast program is displayed in a digital broadcasting reception system, the present invention searches for an event desired by a user and displays a search result in a date or time calendar format, so that the user can easily check the search result event. It is to conveniently perform reservation recording through the search result event.

2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiving system capable of displaying an EPG according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the digital broadcast reception system 200 includes a key input unit 202, a control unit 204, a tuning unit 206, a demux unit 208, a storage unit 210, and a decoding unit 212. , A menu generator 214 and a signal processor 216.

The key input unit 202 is, for example, generates a signal input by a user to perform a key input or through a remote controller. When a specific key for displaying an EPG is input, the key input unit 202 generates an operation signal according to the control unit 204. When a key for selecting a specific menu is input through the displayed EPG, an operation signal is generated accordingly and provided to the controller 104.

In addition, the controller 104 performs overall operation control of the digital broadcast reception system 200. In order to perform such operation control, the controller 104 provides a control signal for tuning the digital broadcast channel to the tuning unit 206 and demux. The EPG packet transmitted from the unit 208 is stored in the storage unit 210, a control signal for decoding the broadcast signal is provided to the decoding unit 212, and the storage and detection in the storage unit 210 are controlled.

In addition, the control unit 204 detects the relevant information for display of the electronic program information stored in the storage medium 210 according to the operation signal provided from the key input unit 202 and provides it to the menu generation unit 214. And a control signal for generating a menu screen (OSD screen) to the menu generation unit 214, and a control signal for mixing the decoded video signal and the generated EPG menu screen on the screen and displaying the control signal on the screen. )

In addition, when the controller 204 receives a user search request event for the EPG menu screen displayed through the key input unit 202, that is, when a user inputs a broadcast program of a specific genre by date or broadcast channel. In response to this, a search is performed in the EPG stored in the storage 210, and the search result event is transmitted to the menu generator 214 in a calendar format. Here, the calendar format is shown as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4B and will be described in detail below.

The tuning unit 206 tunes any one of a plurality of broadcast channels received through an antenna when a tuning control signal is provided from the control unit 204. Restored to the transport stream through the process of conversion, demodulation and error correction.

In addition, the demux unit 208 extracts the video and audio data of the digital broadcast program from the reconstructed transport stream and transmits the decoded unit 212 to the decoding unit 212, and additional information (that is, channel information and EPG information) inserted on the transport stream. Etc.) Packet data is extracted and transmitted to the controller 204.

The storage unit 210 stores information related to the received digital broadcast program for a predetermined period of time, for example, for 1 to 2 weeks, and transmits the information to the controller 204 when the user requests EPG information of the broadcast program. do. Meanwhile, the decoding unit 212 restores the compressed and encoded broadcast signal (broadcast program signal) of a specific channel to the original signal before encoding by using a decoding technique such as variable length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, motion compensation, and the like. Forward to 216.

The menu generator 214 generates a corresponding menu screen by using various menu data provided from the controller 204 when the user requests an interface, and provides the same to the signal processor 216. That is, the EPG information provided from the controller 204 is generated as a menu screen for the EPG and transmitted to the signal processor 216. In addition, when the search result event information in the calendar format is received from the controller 204, a menu screen for this is generated and transmitted to the signal processor 216.

Subsequently, the signal processor 216 mixes the decoded video signal and the generated EPG menu screen or search result event on the screen, and delivers the result to the display unit 218 for display.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a display procedure of an EPG in a digital broadcast reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step 300, the digital broadcast receiving system receives an EPG together with a broadcast signal, generates an EPG received as a menu screen in step 302, and displays an image signal of a broadcast program displaying the generated EPG menu screen. Perform the display by mixing. Thereafter, in step 304, the user performs a user search request event for searching for a broadcast program of a specific genre by date and broadcast channel desired by the user using the EPG menu screen.

That is, in step 306, the search result event is displayed in a calendar format that is easy for the user to view. At this time, the calendar format is to display a broadcast program of a genre corresponding to the vertical broadcasting channel and the horizontal date of the searched result event as shown in FIG. 4A.

In operation 308, the user may search for relevant information of a desired broadcast program through the displayed search result event, select a broadcast program to be recorded from the searched broadcast programs, and perform scheduled recording of the selected broadcast program. .

4 is a diagram illustrating a search result event of an EPG according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a search result event searched by a user is displayed, and reference numeral 400 represents a movie broadcasting time of each broadcasting channel by a date searched by the user, and reference numeral 402 is a time zone of a specific date. Indicates the movie broadcast time of the broadcast channel. As such, the search result searched by the user is displayed in a calendar format, so that the user can easily grasp the movie broadcast date and time of each broadcasting channel.

On the other hand, reference numerals 400 and 402 may be displayed according to the user's selection method, and when the user clicks on a specific date while performing the display of reference number 400, for a specific date as shown by reference numeral 402 It may represent the movie broadcast information of each broadcast channel for each time zone.

That is, when the user selects a specific date from the search result event menu screen, the broadcast genre corresponding to the vertical broadcast channel and the horizontal time zone is displayed on the selected date.

On the other hand, when the user selects at least one of the displayed movie broadcast information, it is possible to perform the broadcast time notification, reservation recording, etc. for the selected channel.

As described above, in the present invention, when the EPG of a broadcast program is displayed in the digital broadcasting reception system, the user searches for an event desired and displays the search result in a date or time calendar format, thereby allowing the user to easily display the search result event. You can check and conveniently perform reservation recording through the displayed search result event.

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

1A to 1C illustrate a search event and a searched result event of an EPG according to the prior art;

2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiving system capable of displaying an EPG according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a display procedure of an EPG in a digital broadcasting reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4A-4B illustrate search result events of an EPG in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (4)

Generating an electronic program guide (EPG) of a broadcast program received by the digital broadcast receiving system as a menu screen; Displaying the generated EPG menu screen by mixing the generated EPG menu screen with a video signal of a broadcasting program being displayed; Searching for a program of a specific genre of a user search request event by date and broadcasting channel by using the EPG menu screen; Displaying the searched result event in a calendar format Electronic program guide display method in a digital broadcast receiving system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The calendar format, And displaying a broadcast program of a genre corresponding to the found result event by vertical broadcasting channel and horizontal date. The method of claim 1, The method, And searching for relevant information of a desired broadcast program through the search result event menu screen, and performing reservation recording for the broadcast program. The method of claim 1, The method, If a specific date is selected on the search result event menu screen, the electronic program guide display in the digital broadcast receiving system further comprises displaying a broadcast genre corresponding to a vertical broadcast channel and a horizontal time zone on the selected date. Way.

Images