KR20100045196A - Method and apparatus for providing information of channel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and an apparatus for providing information on a channel are provided to confirm the popular contents on other channels by confirming the information about other channels while watching a current TV program. CONSTITUTION: A channel information providing apparatus receives the information on the number of TV viewers and/or the current audience rating survey(110). Based on the information, the channel information providing apparatus determines at least one recommended channel among channels(120), and the channel providing apparatus outputs the information on the one or more decided recommended channels(130).

Description

Method and Apparatus for Providing Information on a Channel {Method and Apparatus for providing information of channel}

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing information about a channel.

The widespread use of digital TV has allowed users to view content provided through numerous channels of digital TV.

As such, as the user can watch more content, an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as "EPG") has been proposed to easily select a content that the user wants to watch from among a large number of contents.

The EPG provides various information such as channel number, broadcast time, and synopsis of each content, so that the viewer can easily grasp information about the contents.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing information about a channel.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing information on a channel, the method comprising: receiving at least one of information on a current viewer number and information on a current viewer rating for each of a plurality of channels; Determining at least one recommendation channel among the plurality of channels based on at least one information among the current viewer number and the current viewer rating; and outputting information on the determined at least one recommendation channel. do.

Preferably, in the outputting, information on the at least one recommendation channel is output while content is played through one of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the step of outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel outputs the information on the at least one recommendation channel in the form of at least one of a pop-up, a picture in picture (PIP), and a thumbnail. .

Preferably, the information on the at least one recommendation channel includes at least one of the current viewer number of the at least one recommendation channel, the current viewer rating, the content currently being broadcast in the at least one recommendation channel, and the channel of the at least one recommendation channel. Include a number.

Preferably, the determining of the at least one recommendation channel includes determining, as the recommendation channel, a channel in which at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating increases by a predetermined speed or more.

Preferably, the determining of the at least one recommendation channel determines as the recommendation channel a channel whose at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Preferably, the method for providing channel information according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes the step of outputting information on the plurality of channels, the information on the plurality of channels to the at least one recommendation channel. Include information about

Preferably, the outputting of the information on the plurality of channels outputs at least one of a current viewer number and a current rating of the plurality of channels and a channel number of the at least one recommendation channel.

Preferably, the outputting of the information on the plurality of channels comprises sorting the information on the plurality of channels in order based on at least one of a current viewer number and a current viewer rating of each of the plurality of channels. ; And outputting information on the plurality of channels in the sorted order.

Preferably, the step of outputting the information on the at least one recommendation channel further outputs information on the channels currently watched by predetermined viewers among the viewers currently watching the plurality of channels.

In addition, an apparatus for providing information about a channel according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object receives at least one of information on the current viewer number and information on the current viewer rating for each of a plurality of channels Receiving unit; A determining unit determining at least one recommendation channel among the plurality of channels based on at least one of the current viewer number and the current viewer rating; and reproducing content through one of the plurality of channels. And an output unit for outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel.

In addition, to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of receiving at least one of information on the current viewer ratings and information on the current viewer number for each of the plurality of channels; Determining at least one recommendation channel among the plurality of channels based on at least one information of the current viewer number and the current viewer rating; and while playing content through one of the plurality of channels. A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing a method for providing channel information comprising outputting information on the at least one recommended channel.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

In operation 110, at least one of information on a current viewer number and information on a current viewer rating of each of the channels is received from the plurality of channels.

In this case, information about the number of viewers currently watching each of the plurality of channels and information about the current viewer rating of each channel may be received from a server that collects information about the number of viewers and the viewer rating of each channel. It may be received directly from each of the two channels.

In operation 120, at least one recommendation channel is determined among the plurality of channels based on at least one information among the current viewer number and the current viewer rating.

In this case, the recommendation channel may be determined based on the number of viewers and the rate at which the viewer rating increases. For example, when the number of people who watch channel 1 increases by 100 or more per second, the channel may be determined as the recommended channel.

In addition, the recommendation channel may be determined according to whether at least one of the current viewer number and the current viewer rating exceeds a predetermined threshold. For example, if the current rating of CH 1 exceeds 20%, the channel may be determined as the recommended channel.

On the other hand, the criteria for determining the recommendation channel is not limited to the above criteria, a criterion created by combining the current viewer number and the current viewer rating or other criteria selected by the user may be used.

In operation 130, information about the determined at least one recommended channel is output.

In this case, the information about the recommended channel may be a channel number of the recommended channel, the current viewer number, the current viewer rating, the content currently being broadcast in the recommended channel, and the like.

In addition, the information on the recommended channel may be output in the form of a pop-up, picture in picture (PIP), thumbnail, or the like.

Meanwhile, in another embodiment, information on at least one recommendation channel may be output while content is played through one of the plurality of channels.

In such a situation, while the user is watching a certain content, many other viewers can know the information about the channels providing the preferred content, so that the user can be provided from the other channel without searching the other channels. There is an effect that can identify the popular content.

2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example in which information about recommended channels is output in the form of a pop-up 220 while the user is watching channel 9 through the digital TV 210.

For example, in FIG. 2, a user may search for more than 20% of the viewer rating, increase the viewer rating by 2% every second, or search for more than 4000 channels even while the digital TV 210 is playing a predetermined content. In this case, the reference may be set in advance so that the digital TV 210 outputs the found channels through the pop-up 220.

However, such a criterion is not limited to the above example and can be arbitrarily set by the user.

When the channels satisfying the criteria set as described above are searched, the digital TV 210 determines the searched channels as recommended channels, and outputs information about the channels determined as the recommended channels in the form of a pop-up 220. .

In the example of FIG. 2, the viewer rating of channel 1 is 22%, which is a standard viewer rating of 20% or more, and the viewer rating of channel 2 increases by 3% every second, exceeding the increase rate of 2% viewer rating every second, Since the number of viewers on channel 3 exceeds 4000, which is the standard of 5,000 viewers, the digital TV 210 determines channel 1, channel 2 and channel 3 as recommended channels, and channel 1, channel 2 and channel 3 The information on the popup 220 is outputted.

In FIG. 2, although the current viewership and the current viewership of the channel 9 that the user is currently watching are not displayed, according to an embodiment, the current viewership and the current viewership for the channel that the user is currently watching may also be displayed. have.

3 is a diagram illustrating a second embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, channel 9 is reproduced on the entire screen of the digital TV 310, and information (320a, 320b, 320c, 320d) regarding recommended channels is output in a thumbnail form at the bottom of the digital TV 310. On the right side of the digital TV 310, channels 330a, 330b, 330c, and 330d that are currently watched by predetermined viewers among the viewers who are currently watching the plurality of channels are displayed.

The predetermined viewers may be friends of the user of the digital TV 310 or viewers who prefer a kind of content similar to that of the user.

In this case, the user and predetermined viewers may be connected to each other through an IP address.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, since the contents 320a, 320b, 320c, and 320d that are currently broadcasted on the recommended channels Channel 1, Channel 2, and Channel 3 are output in the form of thumbnails, the thumbnail is displayed while the user is watching channel 9. There is an advantage that the content output in the form (320a, 320b, 320c, 320d) can be viewed at the same time.

In addition, in FIG. 3, channels 1, 7, 9, and 3 which are channels that are watched by predetermined viewers x, y, z, and w are displayed on the right side of the digital TV 310.

In this case, x, y, z, and w may be viewers who prefer content of a similar kind to the user, and the user may thus be based on information on the channel that x, y, z, and w are currently watching. This makes it easier to select a channel that broadcasts the user's favorite content.

Meanwhile, according to the exemplary embodiment, the information 320a, 320b, 320c, and 320d of the recommended channels output to the digital TV 310 or the channels 330a, 330b, and 330c currently watched by predetermined viewers may be provided. , 330d may be desired to receive information on other channels provided by the digital TV 310.

4 is a diagram illustrating a third embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

The left digital TV 410 of FIG. 4 outputs the numbers of channels provided by the digital TV 410 in the order of channel numbers, and outputs the current number of viewers for each channel to the right of the channel numbers.

In this case, the identifiers indicated by black circles to the right of each channel number indicate the current viewer number for each channel.

If we assume that one identifier represents 1000 people, the current viewership of channels 1 to 5 will be 3000, 5000, 2000, 0 and 7000 respectively.

In this way, the user may select a channel to be watched more easily by referring to the current number of viewers that are output together beside the channel numbers.

Meanwhile, the right digital TV 420 of FIG. 4 rearranges the channel numbers output from the left digital TV 420 in the order of channel numbers according to the number of current viewers and outputs the rearranged channels.

Accordingly, the right digital TV 420 sequentially outputs channel 5, which is the channel with the largest number of viewers, to channel 4, which is the channel with the smallest number of viewers.

However, the right digital TV 420 may not sort the channel numbers based only on the current number of viewers, but may also sort the channel numbers based on at least one of the current number of viewers and the current rating, or by other criteria. You can also sort them.

Since the user selects a channel to watch based on the channel numbers output in order according to the number of current viewers, the user can select a channel to watch relatively more easily than when selecting a channel in the left digital TV 420. Can be.

5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a channel information providing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the apparatus for providing channel information according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a receiver 510, a determiner 520, and an output 530.

In this case, the channel information providing apparatus includes a digital TV, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, and all other devices capable of playing content.

The receiver 510 receives at least one of information on a current viewer number and information on a current viewer rating for each of the plurality of channels.

The determination unit 520 determines at least one recommendation channel from among the plurality of channels based on at least one information among the current viewer number and the current viewer rating.

The output unit 530 outputs information on at least one recommended channel while playing content through one of the plurality of channels.

Meanwhile, the above-described embodiments of the present invention can be written as a program that can be executed in a computer, and can be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that operates the program using a computer-readable recording medium.

The computer-readable recording medium may be a magnetic storage medium (for example, a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.), an optical reading medium (for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD, etc.) and a carrier wave (for example, the Internet). Storage medium).

현될 수 있음을 이해할 수 있을 것이다. 그러므로 개시된 실시예들은 한정적인 관점이 아니라 설명적인 관점에서 고려되어야 한다. 본 발명의 범위는 전술한 설명이 아니라 특허청구범위에 나타나 있으며, 그와 동등한 범위 내에 있는 모든 차이점은 본 발명에 포함된 것으 로 해석되어야 할 것이다.So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can make the present invention modified in the form without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention.

It can be understood that it can be manifested. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

1 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a second embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a third embodiment of a method for providing channel information according to the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a channel information providing apparatus according to the present invention.

Claims (21)

In the method for providing information about a channel, Receiving at least one of information on a current viewer number and information on a current viewer rating of each of the channels from a plurality of channels; Determining at least one recommendation channel among the plurality of channels based on at least one of the current viewer number and the current viewer rating; and And outputting information on the determined at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 1, The outputting step And outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel while playing content through one of the plurality of channels. The method of claim 1, The step of outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel is And outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel in at least one of a pop-up, a picture in picture (PIP), and a thumbnail. The method of claim 1, Information about the at least one recommendation channel And a channel number of the at least one recommendation channel and at least one of the current viewer number of the at least one recommendation channel, the current viewer rating, the content currently being broadcast in the at least one recommendation channel, and the channel number of the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 1, Determining the at least one recommendation channel And determining a channel in which at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating increases by a predetermined speed or more as a recommended channel. The method of claim 1, Determining the at least one recommendation channel And determining a channel for which at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating exceeds a predetermined threshold value as a recommended channel. The method of claim 1, Outputting information on the plurality of channels; The information on the plurality of channels includes the information on the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 7, wherein The step of outputting information on the plurality of channels And outputting at least one of a current viewer number and a current viewer rating of the plurality of channels and a channel number of the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 7, wherein The step of outputting information on the plurality of channels Arranging information on the plurality of channels in order based on at least one of a current viewer number and a current viewer rating of each of the plurality of channels; And And outputting information on the plurality of channels in the sorted order. The method of claim 1, The step of outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel is Channel information providing method, characterized in that for outputting information on the channels currently being watched by a predetermined viewer among the viewers currently watching the plurality of channels. An apparatus for providing information about a channel, A receiver configured to receive at least one of information on a current viewer number and information on a current viewer rating of each of the channels from a plurality of channels; A determination unit determining at least one recommendation channel among the plurality of channels based on at least one of the current viewer number and the current viewer rating; and And an output unit configured to output information on the determined at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 11, The output unit And outputting information on the at least one recommendation channel while playing content through one of the plurality of channels. The method of claim 11, The output unit And outputting information on the at least one recommended channel in the form of at least one of a pop-up, a picture in picture (PIP), and a thumbnail. The method of claim 11, Information about the at least one recommendation channel And at least one of a current viewer number of the at least one recommendation channel, a current viewer rating, at least one of content currently being broadcast in the at least one recommendation channel, and a channel number of the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 11, The determining unit And at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating is determined to be a recommended channel. The method of claim 11, The determining unit And at least one of the current viewer number and the viewer rating determines a channel exceeding a predetermined threshold value as a recommended channel. The method of claim 11, The output unit Further outputs information on the plurality of channels, And the information on the plurality of channels includes information on the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 17, The output unit And at least one of a current viewer number and a current viewer rating of the plurality of channels and a channel number of the at least one recommendation channel. The method of claim 17, The output unit Based on at least one of a current viewer number and a current viewer rating of each of the plurality of channels, information about the plurality of channels is arranged in order, and information about the plurality of channels is output in the sorted order. Channel information providing apparatus, characterized in that. The method of claim 11, The output unit The apparatus for providing channel information, characterized by further outputting information on channels currently being watched by predetermined viewers among viewers currently watching the plurality of channels. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

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