KR20100044949A - Display device and channel strucring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A display device and a channel structuring method are provided to set up a channel conveniently without an additional channel searching operation by selectively receiving channel information corresponding to a TV broadcasting region of the display device. CONSTITUTION: A network interface unit(110) receives regional channel information from a service provider, and a channel information storage unit(120) stores the channel information through a network interface unit. A channel information searching unit(170) searches the channel information corresponding to a TV broadcasting region of a current user from the channel information. A control unit(180) configures a channel map through searched channel information.

Description

Display device and channel strucring method}

The present invention relates to a display apparatus, and more particularly, to a channel setting apparatus and a channel setting method in IPTV.

Recently, as digital broadcasting is accelerating, high quality and high quality broadcasting through satellites, terrestrial waves, and cables are being started.

The advantage of broadcasting is that digital broadcasting provides various additional services as well as high definition and high sound quality, compared to existing analog display devices.

Digital broadcasting uses QPSK / VSB / QAM transmission method through existing satellite / ground / cable band by compressing high quality / high quality A / V using video / audio compression method (MPEG-2, AC-3). It can be delivered to each user, thereby providing a variety of services in one channel accordingly.

In the case of terrestrial waves, it is possible to provide more than 4 channels of SD level and 1 channel of HD level in one existing channel. In addition, the digital display device transmits additional information together with A / V data to provide various services. Using this information, a service such as a broadcast guide for an increased channel can be provided.

For example, if you are currently broadcasting on channels 2 through 69 of NTSC, you will be able to watch 272 broadcasts, which is four times the same, and you will be able to broadcast more on cable and satellite channels than ever before.

Conventional analog cable broadcasting uses channels 2 to 125, and the ATSC channel uses bands not used by NTSC terrestrial in the frequency bands 2 to 69.

In such a display device, if a user wants to watch a broadcast, the user automatically executes an automatic channel search function for automatically setting all channels. When this automatic channel search function is performed, the user can change the channel up / down of the key input unit mounted on the remote controller. By inputting a key, a channel can be selected, and in addition, a desired channel can be watched by inputting a key of a desired numeric channel.

As a result, unlike the past, which could only receive over-the-air channels, it is possible to effectively separate and manage at least 50 channels and more than 100 channels at the present time when it can receive various broadcast channels through cable or satellite broadcasting. Several methods are suggested.

In other words, the channel setting method of the display apparatus according to the related art has a method of configuring a channel map by checking whether there is a valid signal for all frequency bands.

In addition, if the channel information of a corresponding region is transmitted to a specific channel of analog or digital, the display apparatus extracts the corresponding local channel information through tuning of a specific channel, and uses the extracted local channel information. There is also a way to construct a map.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a channel map can be configured more simply and efficiently by using channel map information transmitted through a network in IPTV.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, channel map information suitable for an area where a user's display apparatus is located is selectively received from channel map information transmitted through a network in an IPTV.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, channel map information corresponding to a broadcast type of a current user may be selectively received among channel map information transmitted through a network in an IPTV.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a display apparatus includes: a network interface unit connected to a service provider through a network to receive regional channel information provided from the service provider; A channel information storage unit for storing channel information received through the network interface unit; A channel information retrieval unit for retrieving channel information corresponding to a viewing area of a current user from among regional channel information received from the network interface unit; And a controller configured to store the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit in the channel information storage unit to construct a channel map.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a channel setting method of a display apparatus includes: receiving channel information of a region provided from a service provider through a network; Checking a broadcasting viewing area of a user according to the position of the display apparatus; Retrieving channel information corresponding to the broadcasting viewing area from the received regional channel information; And constructing a channel map by storing the retrieved channel information.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a display apparatus and a channel setting method thereof selectively receive channel information corresponding to a viewing area of a display apparatus among channel information transmitted through a network, thereby allowing a user to conveniently search for channels without a separate channel searching process. It can be set, and also by detecting this when changing the channel information to update the previously stored channel information, there is an effect that can improve the user convenience and satisfaction.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments presented, and other embodiments included within the scope of other inventive inventions or the scope of the present invention can be easily made by adding, changing, or deleting other elements. I can suggest.

The term used in the present invention is selected as a general term widely used as possible at present, but in certain cases there is also a term arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case the meaning is described in detail in the description of the invention, the name of a simple term It should be clear that the present invention is to be understood as a meaning of terms.

Here, in general, IPTV can watch a broadcast program over the Internet, such as terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting, and uses desired services such as movies, music, and electronics. It means that the service such as e-mail can be performed on the television as the internet is used for commerce and personal computer (PC).

First, referring to the system layer of IPTV, as shown in FIG. 1, the IPTV system is composed of a content provider, a service provider, a network provider, and a user layer.

The content provider serves to provide content to a service provider and is also referred to as a content provider.

The service provider serves to provide a service to subscribers, collects various contents, and modifies a signal according to an IP environment and delivers it to a user. Here, the service provider may be a virtual existence.

The network provider connects a user and a service provider through an IP network. The transmission system may use various network networks such as an access network or a backbone network.

The user is provided with content and receives broadcasts. The user may include an IPTV, a set top box, a PC, or an IP phone.

Hereinafter, the concept of IPTV will be described in more detail.

2 shows a characteristic diagram of a system of IPTV.

Referring to FIG. 2, the system layer of the IPTV may be broadly divided into a content provider 10, a service provider 20, and a user 30.

The content provider 10 is also called a platform provider in other words. These three groups have different roles. A content provider is a large group that provides all the services and data for a broadcast program.

In addition, the service provider 20 transmits multimedia data, and provides a basis for network management to the content provider and maintenance of the transmission network to enable stable reception of content to the user. Provide facilities and functions.

The user 30 group plays a role in reproducing the incoming data using an infrastructure such as xDSL or cable and immediately responding to the user's request.

Most are made up of companies that produce IPTV, which can be divided into IPTV, set top box, PC or IP phone. IP Phone does not have a direct relationship with IPTV, but generally, if there is IPTV, phone service can be provided as well.

In detail, each of the groups described above may include a TV station and a radio station for creating a broadcast program.

TV Station refers to existing terrestrial or cable stations, which can create and store programs that users can watch and transmit them digitally. In general, it is to be able to transmit in various broadcast forms.

Radio Station means a general radio station, and although there may be video channels at times, it can be said that most of them operate without a video channel.

VoD, AoD, and MoD services have different characteristics from TV stations and radio stations. In other words, in the case of VoD or AoD, it saves the broadcasting program, movie and music that I want and then plays it for viewing. For example, if there is a broadcast program that was not properly viewed because there is no time to watch the current broadcast program, it is possible to access a site that provides such a broadcast service and download the file or play it immediately.

AoD also offers the ability to record audio programs in real time or make it difficult to record audio programs.

MoD stands for Music On Demand and you can download and listen to the music you want. This seems to be a function similar to AoD, but the service is likely to be a record company or a record distributor expands existing web services.

The PF server is serviced by a company that manages all broadcasting and location information provided by the content provider. This service mainly contains broadcasting time or location information necessary for broadcasting and information that a user can access.

The EPG service is one of convenient services that allows a user to search a broadcast program by time zone and to grasp by channel. EPG service is a service that is frequently used so that the type provided by TV guide company is representative, and the program can be automatically installed and executed on the customer's side.

The ECG service has all the functions for the user to conveniently use the information of the content provider (content provider), the location and access rights of the access server. In short, it is an electronic content guide (EPG) that provides detailed information about the content and the functions that make it easy to access servers with content.

Portal Server is a web service provided by each broadcasting station. The portal server is connected to a web server of a broadcasting company or a service provider. The role of Portal Server is to search or view the list of programs provided by each broadcaster or content providers that provide content services.

The service provider 20 provides stability and bandwidth of the network so that multimedia data and broadcast data transmitted from the content provider 10 are normally transmitted.

Service providers may also provide IPTV services using existing cable networks. In this case, equipments of a delivery network need to be changed.

In other words, network equipment that can transmit data in real time should be configured, and network should be configured in consideration of bandwidth to customer. These devices need to reduce bandwidth by processing large amounts of multimedia data using multicast service, which is the basic network service of IPTV.

If bandwidth is not secured, Service Providers retranscode multimedia broadcasting data coming from optical fiber network configuration or content provider in an effort to secure bandwidth in the form of MPEG-4 or MPEG-7. It can also be modified and transmitted.

The service provider 20 has to provide some services for this purpose. The size of the network management system (NMS), dynamic host control protocol (DHCP), and CDN services is provided.

The NMS service allows the Service Provider to manage the delivery network and IPTV receivers of the customer, which can be transmitted to each customer. In other words, this service can be used to determine how much traffic is generated for which broadcasts and in which areas the bandwidth is insufficient.

DHCP service is used to automatically assign IP to customer's IPTV receiver and to inform the address of CDN server. DHCP services are also a good way to assign IP to PCs in the general network. The IPTV receiver should be sent an address that allows access to the licensed IPTV receiver so that the user can register during the initial connection.

The CDN service is data provided by a service provider. When the IPTV receiver is powered on for the first time, the CDN service receives the CDN information from the service provider while receiving an IP by the DHCP service. This information contains the registration or authentication of the user of the IPTV provider and the aforementioned PF information.

The user 30 may have various types of IPTV receivers. If you have a regular TV, you can rent IPTV STB to enjoy IPTV at a low price, and the service provider can pay for the additional service at a low price and also apply for an IP phone. .

The IPTV receiver basically has a network interface to connect to the network, and has an Internet protocol so that it can receive and process data packets from the network and play them on the screen in the case of multimedia data. Data packets must be sent quickly over the network to get the information from the server and react.

That is, the IPTV receiver should operate to transmit the user's requirements in both directions while processing the multimedia data. You must also provide buttons for IPTV on the remote control to use the service.

As shown in FIG. 3, the display apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention in the IPTV as described above has a network interface unit 110, a channel information storage unit 120, a user interface unit 130, and a GPS transceiver 140. ), A GPS satellite 150, an earth station 160, a channel information search unit 170, and a controller 180.

The network interface unit 110 receives regional channel information received from the network. That is, channel information provided from a service provider is received through a network, and contents provided from the service provider include various broadcast programs and information about the channel information in addition to the channel information.

Here, the channel information provided from the service provider is preferably a multicast transmission packet according to a multicast transmission scheme.

In other words, the transmission methods of the Internet are classified into unicast, broadcast, and multicast transmission methods by dividing them in terms of senders and receivers participating in the transmission.

In the unicast transmission method, one sender transmits data to another receiver, and all general Internet applications use this unicast method.

That is, the unicast transmission method is a method in which one sender transmits e-mail and video / audio data for video conferencing to another receiver 1: 1 in the Internet. The concept corresponds to the multicast scheme of simultaneously transmitting information to two or more other receivers without sending information to each receiver.

In this transmission method, data is transmitted only to the IP address of the receiver side designated at the sender side that sends the data. That is, when multiple receivers want the same data, the sender must copy the data multiple times and send it to each recipient's IP address. Therefore, the number of recipients has to send data packets repeatedly so that the efficiency of the communication network is reduced, and the transmission burden is also large due to the problem that the users have to share the limited line capacity with each other.

In the broadcast transmission method, one sender transmits data to all receivers on the same subnetwork.

That is, the broadcast transmission method is to physically transmit a plurality of copied traffics to all the recipients in the network by the connected network equipment (switch, hub, etc.).

Accordingly, the receiver side receives the transmitted traffic if it exists on the network even if the transmitted traffic is not its own, which may adversely affect the performance of the network.

On the other hand, the multicast transmission method is a method in which one or more senders transmit data to a specific one or more receivers, and is used in applications such as Internet video conferencing, distance education, software distribution, stock price information, and news.

The difference between the multicast scheme and the general unicast Internet application is in the transport packet. In general, Internet applications on TCP / IP send the data sender by marking the Internet address of the receiver to whom the sender will receive it.

However, for multicast transmission, the packet is transmitted by indicating the group address where the receivers participate in the header instead of the recipient's address.

The group address for the multicast transmission is a D-class IP address (224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255). Unlike the A, B, and C-class IP addresses representing individual Internet hosts around the world, an address representing an actual host is used. Instead, the receiver receiving the multicast transmission packet having the group address determines whether the packet belongs to the group of the transmitted packet to determine whether to accept the packet.

That is, the transmitted channel information differs depending on the broadcasting viewing region according to the current user's location, that is, the region where the display apparatus is installed.

Accordingly, in order to easily receive channel information according to a user's region, the channel information is transmitted in a multicast transmission packet, and accordingly, the display apparatus receives only the packets belonging to its own group among the transmitted multicast transmission packets. It is possible to construct a channel map according to.

In addition, the packet belonging to the group of the user may be different from the region information where the user is currently located, so that the display device can obtain only the channel information corresponding to the region where the current user is located among various regional channel information provided from the service provider. Optionally receive and configure a channel map accordingly.

 Here, the automatic confirmation method and the manual confirmation method according to the user selection exist in the method of confirming the area where the user is located.

The manual confirmation method according to the user selection is a method of confirming using local information previously selected by the user. That is, the user selects a region where the user is currently located by using the user interface unit 130, and the controller 180 stores the region information selected by the user.

In addition, the automatic confirmation method is made through the transmission and reception of a GPS signal.

That is, the GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140 transmits a GPS signal to the GPS satellites 150 and receives coordinate data of the display device accordingly, and the GPS signal is transmitted from the GPS signal transmitting and receiving unit 140 to the GPS satellites 150. When transmitted, the earth station 160 calculates the exact coordinates according to the position of the display device based on the data transmitted from the GPS satellite 150, and transmits the coordinate data to the GPS signal transceiver 140.

In addition, the controller 180 checks the viewing area of the current user, that is, the region in which the display apparatus is located, by using the coordinate data transmitted from the GPS signal transceiver 140.

In addition, when the viewing area of the user is identified through the automatic confirmation method or the manual confirmation method, the controller 180 transmits the corresponding viewing area information to the channel information retrieval unit 170 and transmits the channel information retrieval unit 170. Control channel information corresponding to the transmitted viewing area information through the search.

The channel information retrieval unit 170 retrieves channel information corresponding to the area information transmitted through the control unit 170 among the channel information periodically supplied from the service provider, and the channel information retrieved accordingly is retrieved according to the control unit 170. To pass on.

That is, channel information transmitted in the form of the multicast transport packet includes channel information, region information, version information, and broadcast type information.

The channel information refers to actual channel map information, and a channel map according to the display device of the user is configured based on the channel information. The area information is generally configured in the form of a region code to provide area information on the channel information. The version information provides information about a version of the channel information, and the broadcast type information provides information on any broadcast type of terrestrial broadcast, cable, and satellite broadcast.

Accordingly, the channel information retrieval unit 170 compares the area information included in the channel information transmitted in the form of the multicast transmission packet with the area information transmitted through the control unit 180, and accordingly, the received area information. Search for channel information having the same local information as.

In addition, the channel information retrieval unit 170 checks preset broadcast type information from the user, and thereby selectively searches for channel information according to the broadcast viewing state of the current user.

That is, if the broadcast type of the current user is a terrestrial broadcast, search for channel information according to the terrestrial broadcast, and if the broadcast type of the user is a cable broadcast, search for channel information corresponding to the cable broadcast. Retrieve channel information corresponding to.

The controller 180 receives the channel information retrieved from the channel information search unit 170 and determines whether to update the channel information previously stored in the channel information storage unit 120 using the received channel information.

That is, when the channel information previously stored in the channel information storage unit 120 does not exist, that is, the controller 180 stores the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit 170 in the initial setting process. Stored in the unit 120 to configure a channel map.

However, when the channel information already stored in the channel information storage unit 120 exists, the controller 180 may determine the version information of the already stored channel information and the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit 170. Compare version information, and if the searched channel information is newer than the already stored channel information, update the prestored channel information using the searched channel information, and the searched channel information is If it is the same or older version as the stored channel information, the channel map construction operation using the retrieved channel information is not performed.

As such, the display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention selectively receives channel information corresponding to a viewing area of the display apparatus among channel information transmitted through a network, so that a user may conveniently set a channel without a separate channel searching process. In addition, it is possible to improve user convenience and satisfaction by updating the previously stored channel information by detecting it when changing channel information.

In the channel setting method of the display apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 4, it is first determined whether an automatic channel map configuration command is input from a user (S110).

Subsequently, when the automatic channel map configuration command is input from the user (S110), the user's viewing area and broadcasting type are checked (S120). That is, the region information selected by the user is checked, or the broadcasting viewing region of the user is confirmed based on the coordinate data of the display apparatus received according to the GPS signal transmission. In addition, it checks whether the user's current broadcast type corresponds to a terrestrial, cable, or satellite broadcast.

In operation S130, channel information corresponding to the checked region and broadcasting type is searched for among regional channel information supplied from a service provider.

Subsequently, it is determined whether channel information corresponding to the checked region and broadcasting type has been searched among regional channel information supplied from the service provider (S140).

If the channel information corresponding to the checked region and broadcasting type is not found, the determination result (S140) is terminated. Otherwise, the version information of the found channel information is checked (S150).

Subsequently, the checked version information is compared with the version information of the previously stored channel information, and accordingly, it is determined whether the found version of the channel information is newer than the previously stored channel information (S160).

If the version of the found channel information is the same or older version as the previously stored channel information, the determination result (S160) is terminated. If the version of the found channel information is newer than the previously stored channel information, the found channel information Update previously stored channel information by using (S170).

 As described above, the control method of the display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention selectively receives channel information corresponding to a viewing area of the display apparatus among channel information transmitted through a network, thereby allowing a user to conveniently search for channels without a separate channel searching process. It is possible to make settings, and also to detect the change of the channel information and update the previously stored channel information, thereby improving user convenience and satisfaction.

1 is a diagram illustrating a system layer of a general IPTV.

2 is a diagram illustrating a characteristic diagram of a general IPTV system.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart for explaining a channel setting method of a display apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

<< Explanation of symbols for main part of drawing >>

10: content provider 20: service provider

30: User

110:

Claims (9)

A network interface unit connected to a service provider through a network to receive regional channel information provided from the service provider; A channel information storage unit for storing channel information received through the network interface unit; A channel information retrieval unit for retrieving channel information corresponding to a viewing area of a current user from among regional channel information received from the network interface unit; And, And a controller configured to store the channel information retrieved from the channel information retrieval unit in the channel information storage unit to form a channel map. The method of claim 1, And a GPS signal transmitting / receiving unit configured to receive coordinate data of the display apparatus through GPS signal transmission and confirm local information on a user's location. The method of claim 1, Channel information transmitted from the service provider is a multicast packet, And the region information, channel information and version information are included in the multicast packet. The method of claim 3, And the controller selectively updates channel information previously stored in the channel information storage unit based on version information of the channel information retrieved from the channel information search unit. In the channel setting method of the display device, Receiving regional channel information provided from a service provider through a network; Checking a broadcasting viewing area of a user according to the position of the display apparatus; Retrieving channel information corresponding to the broadcasting viewing area from the received regional channel information; And, And storing the retrieved channel information to construct a channel map. The method of claim 5, Receiving the channel information for each region Receiving region-specific channel information in the form of a multicast packet provided from the service provider, And the multicast packet comprises local information, channel information, and version information. The method of claim 5, The step of checking the broadcast viewing region of the user Confirming the region information selected by the user or checking the broadcasting viewing region of the user based on the coordinate data of the display apparatus received according to the GPS signal transmission. The method of claim 5, The method of setting a channel of the display apparatus further comprising the step of checking whether the broadcast viewing type of the user belongs to the type of terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting and satellite broadcasting. The method of claim 6, Configuring the channel map by storing the retrieved channel information Comparing version information of previously stored channel information with version information of the retrieved channel information; And if the version of the found channel information is a new version according to the comparison, updating the previously stored channel information with the found channel information.

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