KR20110019091A - Method for searching channal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for searching a channel is provided to effectively search a channel, thereby reducing channel searching time. CONSTITUTION: A method for searching a channel comprises the following steps. A digital channel is searched at every predicted frequency interval(S1). A channel list which can be skipped during analog searching is made based on searched digital channel information. An analog channel is searched using a channel list which can be skipped during analog searching.

Description

How to Search for Channels {METHOD FOR SEARCHING CHANNAL}

The present invention relates to a method for searching a channel, and more particularly, to a method for searching a digital channel and an analog channel more effectively.

In general, a television set is an apparatus for receiving an external input signal such as a radio signal transmitted from a broadcasting station and displaying a corresponding image for each channel. Users can select and watch a desired channel among the channels.

There are many ways to change channels on television. One of the most commonly used methods is to directly press the channel number using the remote control, and the other is to search all channels using the auto setup function and then change the channel using the channel up / down buttons. It is a way. Another way is to use the previous channel memory function to change to the previously watched channel. Such methods are very useful when the number of channels is less than 10.

Recently, with the spread of CATV and digital satellite broadcasting, various types of broadcasting have been provided, leading to a significant increase in the number of channels of television, reaching dozens. As such, when the number of channels reaches several tens, users may spend a lot of time searching for a desired channel. In addition, when searching for both digital and analog channels in one television set, searching for a channel takes a lot of time, making the user uncomfortable.

The present invention provides a channel search method that can reduce the channel search time by effectively searching the channels of the device providing the analog channel and the digital channel.

The present invention comprises the steps of searching for a digital channel at predetermined frequency intervals; Creating a channel list which may be skipped during an analog search based on the information found in the searching of the digital channel; And searching for an analog channel by using a channel list which may be skipped during the analog search.

In addition, the step of making a list of channels that may be skipped in the analog search of the present invention comprises the steps of selecting a digital channel to search; Checking whether there is a digital broadcast signal in the selected digital channel; Registering a digital channel if there is a digital broadcast signal in the checking step; If there is no digital broadcast signal in the checking step, checking whether there is an analog signal; And if there is no analog signal in the step of checking whether there is an analog signal, registering as a channel which may be skipped when searching for an analog channel.

The channel list which may be skipped in the analog search includes a searched digital channel list and a list of channels without an analog signal searched in the digital channel search.

Searching for an analog channel using a channel list which may be skipped in the analog search of the present invention includes: selecting an analog channel to be searched; Checking whether the selected analog channel is in the channel list; If yes, selecting an analog channel to search for next; If not present, checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal; And if there is an analog broadcast signal in the step of checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal, storing the analog broadcast signal in an analog channel list.

The method for searching the digital channel may be performed in a PAL or SECAM broadcasting environment. In addition, the digital channel is characterized in that the search in the range of 45.25MHz ~ 855.25MHz. The channel list is characterized by searching whether there is a digital signal in the selected digital channel and how much the power level of the channel is.

The present invention also includes selecting a digital channel to search for a digital channel; Checking whether there is a broadcast signal in the selected channel; Registering as a digital channel list when a digital broadcast signal is detected in the checking step; If an analog broadcast signal is not detected in the checking step, registering a channel list which may be skipped during analog search; Selecting an analog channel to search; Checking whether the selected analog channel is in the digital channel list or a channel list which may be skipped in the analog search; If yes, selecting an analog channel to search for next; If not present, checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal; And checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal and storing the analog broadcast signal in an analog channel list.

In addition, the method for searching the digital channel may be performed in a PAL or SECAM broadcasting environment. In addition, the digital channel is characterized in that the search in the range of 45.25MHz ~ 855.25MHz.

The present invention can greatly reduce the channel search time of a television set that provides both analog and digital channels. Therefore, since the user can feel convenience in using the television set adopting the present invention, it can contribute to increase of market share.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in order to facilitate a person skilled in the art to easily carry out the technical idea of the present invention. do.

When setting up a television set, the channel is searched. In the past, there weren't many channels to search, so the process of searching for and registering channels didn't take much time. However, since there are so many channels recently, the process of searching and registering all channels takes a lot of time. In addition, since digital broadcasting has recently been implemented, it takes much time to search for and register both analog broadcasting and digital broadcasting.

In particular, it is not possible to know which frequency is present in a place different from Korea, for example, PAL / SECAM. Therefore, in order to search a channel of a television set in a PAL / SECAM method, it is necessary to check whether there is a broadcast signal at a very narrow frequency. For example, changing channels at intervals of 1MHz from 45.25MHz to 855.25MHz should be checked for broadcast signals. Moreover, in order to search for digital broadcasts and to search for all analog broadcasts, there is a problem that a lot of search time is required because the available frequency band has to be searched twice.

The PAL / SECAM method refers to a method of television broadcasting. Currently, NTSC (color TV broadcasting method of Korea, Japan, USA, Latin America), PAL (color TV broadcasting method of Germany, China, Europe, Asia), SECAM (color TV broadcasting method of France, Soviet Union and former communist countries) Nine different broadcasting methods are used.

NTSC stands for National Television System Committee and is a method of broadcasting based on a series of standard protocols for transmitting and receiving TV broadcasts established in December 1953. However, since NTSC method requires high performance of transmission circuit for high band compression, Germany proposed PAL (Phase Alternation Line) method and France proposed SAM (Squentiel Couleur Mmoire) method.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a channel searching method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The channel search method according to the present embodiment is a method of scanning faster and avoiding signals that can be avoided in the conventional channel search method. The digital signal is searched first when the digital signal and the analog signal are mixed, and the information of the channel is collected so that the search can be made faster by searching the analog channel. The digital signal can be retrieved later, and the analog signal can be retrieved first.

In the process of searching for digital signals, more information can be obtained than in the process of searching for analog signals. It may be more advantageous to search for the digital signal first because it can be obtained whether there is a digital signal or not, how much power is in the channel of the current reception area, and so on.

There is no analog signal in the band with digital signal, and there is no picture even if it exists. Also, if the power of any channel is below a certain level, the analog signal is low enough that it will not appear on the screen. Therefore, after performing the digital channel search and before the analog channel search, the channels belonging to the above two cases are subtracted and the analog channel search can be performed more quickly than the search for all channels.

Referring to FIG. 1, channel tuning for digital channel registration is started (S1), the signal of the selected channel is monitored, and the magnitude of the AGC signal is received (S2). When the digital broadcast is detected as a result of the monitoring, it is locked (S3), stored as a digital channel (S4), and registered in the digital channel list (S7). If the digital broadcast is not detected, it is determined whether the size of the AGC signal is greater than or equal to the threshold (S5). If there is no analog broadcast when it is less than the threshold value, it is stored as a channel to skip during analog broadcast search (S6) and registered as a channel list which may be skipped (S8). Subsequently, it is determined whether the channel to be searched is the last channel (S9). If the channel is the last channel, the digital channel search is terminated (S11). If not the last channel is tuned to the next channel (S10). Subsequently, the signal is monitored on the tuned channel again and the magnitude of the AGC signal is received (S2). The AGC signal is a signal for performing an automatic gain control operation in processing the RF signal. In addition, AGC signals were used to check for the presence of analog signals. However, other types of signals can be used to check for the presence of analog signals.

Let's look at the process of searching for analog channels.

When the analog channel search is started (S12), first, a channel for checking whether there is a broadcast signal is selected (S13). Subsequently, it is checked whether it is in the channel list S8 which may be skipped (S14). If not, the channel is monitored (S15), and it is checked whether a channel has a broadcast signal (S16). If there is a broadcast signal (S17), it is stored as an analog channel (S18) and registered in the analog channel list (S19). If there is no broadcast signal (S17), it checks whether it is the last channel (S20) and terminates if it is the last channel. If not, it selects another channel again (S13). If the selected channel is in the channel list (S8) which may be skipped (S14), it is checked whether it is the last channel (S20).

As described above, since the channel search method according to the present embodiment searches an analog channel using the analog channel list searched in the digital search, the time for searching the analog channel can be greatly reduced. In particular, as described above, when searching for a broadcast of another method (for example, PAL / SECAM method), since the channel is not configured at what interval, the search between the channels can be made as narrow as possible. For example, changing channels at intervals of 1MHz from 45.25MHz to 855.25MHz should be checked for broadcast signals. In such a case, if the channel searching method according to the present embodiment is applied, the searching time can be greatly reduced when searching for a channel.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Will understand. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the scope of the appended claims, as well as the appended claims.

1 is a flow chart showing a channel search method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

S4: Save Digital Channel S6: Save Analog Skip Channel

S7: Save digital channel list S8: Channel list that can be skipped

S14: Determine whether the channel is skipped S16: Check channel

Claims (10)

Searching for digital channels at predetermined frequency intervals; Creating a channel list which may be skipped during an analog search based on the information found in the searching of the digital channel; And And searching for an analog channel by using a channel list which may be skipped during the analog search. The method of claim 1, The steps to create a list of channels that can be skipped Selecting a digital channel to search; Checking whether there is a digital broadcast signal in the selected digital channel; Registering a digital channel if there is a digital broadcast signal in the checking step; If there is no digital broadcast signal in the checking step, checking whether there is an analog signal; And And if there is no analog signal in the step of checking whether there is an analog signal, registering as a channel which may be skipped when searching for an analog channel. The method of claim 1, The channel list which may be skipped in the analog search is A channel search method comprising a list of searched digital channels and a list of channels without analog signals searched in a digital channel search. The method of claim 1, Searching for an analog channel using a channel list which may be skipped when performing the analog search Selecting an analog channel to search; Checking whether the selected analog channel is in the channel list; If yes, selecting an analog channel to search for next; If not present, checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal; And And if there is an analog broadcast signal in the step of checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal, storing the analog broadcast signal in an analog channel list. The method of claim 1, The method for searching for the digital channel is performed in a PAL or SECAM broadcasting environment. The method of claim 5, The digital channel is a channel search method for searching in the range of 45.25MHz ~ 855.25MHz. The method of claim 1, The channel list is A channel search method for searching whether there is a digital signal in a selected digital channel and how much the power level of the channel is. Selecting a digital channel to search for a digital channel; Checking whether there is a broadcast signal in the selected channel; Registering as a digital channel list when a digital broadcast signal is detected in the checking step; If an analog broadcast signal is not detected in the checking step, registering a channel list which may be skipped during analog search; Selecting an analog channel to search; Checking whether the selected analog channel is in the digital channel list or a channel list which may be skipped in the analog search; If yes, selecting an analog channel to search for next; If not present, checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal; And Checking whether there is an analog broadcast signal and storing the analog broadcast signal in an analog channel list. The method of claim 8, The method for searching for the digital channel is performed in a PAL or SECAM broadcasting environment. The method of claim 8, The digital channel is a channel search method for searching in the range of 45.25MHz ~ 855.25MHz.

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