KR100678844B1 - How to Provide Broadcasting Information - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for providing broadcast guide information, and sets, according to a user's request, broadcast guide information to be displayed on a screen from among a large amount of broadcast guide information registered in a predetermined mass broadcast guide information storage device. Broadcast guide information and surrounding broadcast guide information for screen display waiting to be determined to be adjacent are extracted and stored as caching information, and the caching information is provided to the user through the display screen according to a user's request. It's more efficient and faster for your users.

Broadcast, Guidance, Caching, Information, DB, PVR

Description

How to provide program guide information {Method for providing program guide information}

1 is a view showing a system to which the present invention is applied as an example;

2 is a diagram illustrating the PSIP-based DBMS of FIG. 1 as an example;

3 is a view for explaining the surrounding broadcast guide information for the screen display standby of the present invention;

4 is a view for explaining a caching aspect used in the present invention,

5 is a diagram illustrating a method for providing broadcast guide information according to the present invention;

6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating an example of providing a screen of broadcast guide information.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: video and audio signal processing block

110: tuner unit 120: VSB / QPSK decoder

130: transport stream demultiplexer 140: MPEG-2 and AC-3 decoder

150: image processor 160: microcomputer

200: PSIP-based DBMS 210: Broadcasting Information DB

220: broadcast guide information DB manager

The present invention relates to a broadcast guide information providing method for providing a desired broadcast guide information among a large amount of broadcast guide information more efficiently and quickly to the corresponding user.

Recently, program information is received through a broadcasting network or a server to provide a user with broadcasting time and detailed information on each broadcasting. The Korean broadcasting company transmits broadcasting information in accordance with the PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol) standard, and PVR ( Personal Video Recorder) processes these PSIP data to provide broadcast guidance to users.

The PSIP information is transmitted in the form of a table, a System Time Table (STT) indicating a date and time, a Master Guide Table (MGT) providing a version, size, and PID (Program IDentifier) of all other tables, and a transport stream. Provide Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table (TVCT) that provides the attributes for all virtual channels within it, Rating Region Table (RRT) to provide rating information for Multiple Geographic Regions (MGR), and provide event information on the virtual channel It includes an Event Information Table (EIT) and an Extended Text Table (ETT) that provides a detailed description of virtual channels and events.

However, PVR typically causes many problems by processing such PSIP information as follows. For example, when a user selects a broadcast guide, all the program information is stored in memory in order to show the broadcast information within a limited time. come. That is, the system booting time becomes longer because all program information stored in the file is imported in advance when the system is booted. In addition, since all PSIP program information is stored in a memory, a problem of inferior memory efficiency is caused, and a delay in accessing the information has caused a problem of lengthening a display response time.

In particular, in recent years, not only airwaves but also cable broadcasts are being prepared to provide broadcast guide information, and thus the number of broadcast channels and broadcast programs is expected to increase considerably. When processed in the same manner and provided to the user, not only the memory efficiency is lowered, but also the response time of the guidance information provided to the user becomes considerably longer, which further exacerbates the above-mentioned problems.

Accordingly, the present invention has been developed to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast guide information providing method that can provide a large amount of broadcast guide information more efficiently and quickly to the user.

In accordance with this purpose, the present invention, according to the user request, among the large-capacity broadcasting guide information registered in the predetermined large-capacity broadcasting guide information storage device, to set the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen, and the set screen display broadcast guide information In addition, by extracting the surrounding broadcast guide information for screen display, which is determined to be adjacent, and storing it as caching information, the caching information is provided to the user through the display screen according to the user's request. We want to provide it to the user quickly.                         

To this end, the present invention, the first step of setting the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen based on a predefined setting flag of the large-scale broadcast guide information registered in the predetermined mass broadcast guide information storage device according to a user request;

A second process of extracting the predetermined screen display broadcast guide information set in the first process and the screen broadcast waiting ambient broadcast guide information determined to be adjacent based on a predefined adjacent discriminating flag;

Disclosed is a method of providing broadcast guide information comprising a third process of caching the surrounding broadcast guide information extracted in the second process and providing the screen to the screen according to a user's request.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a broadcast guide information providing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

1 is a diagram illustrating a PVR to which the broadcast guide information providing method of the present invention is applied, and the PVR to which the present invention is applied is largely a conventional video and audio signal processing block 100 and a PSIP-based DBMS block according to the present invention. It consists of 200.

First, the existing video and audio signal processing block 100 includes a tuner unit 110 for receiving a broadcast program transmission packet stream through an antenna, and a broadcast program transmission packet stream received by the tuner unit VSB (Vestigial). Broadcast video, audio information, PSIP information, and the like are respectively obtained from the VSB / QPSK decoder 120 decoding Side Band (QPK) / Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) and the broadcast program transmission packet stream decoded by the VSB / QPSK decoder 120. Video signal processing of the separated transport stream demultiplexer (130), the MPEG-2 and AC-3 decoders (140) for decoding audio information and video information separated from the transport stream demultiplexer (130), and the decoded video information. The image processor 150 and the microcomputer 160 for managing and controlling the system operation of the PVR according to a user command through the command input unit.

In addition, the microcomputer 160 separates the internal timer for periodically outputting time information while performing variable set / reset, a channel management application that is checked according to a user command, and the transport stream demultiplexer 130. PSIP processing application for processing and managing the PSIP information is included.

In addition, the PSIP-based DBMS block 200 according to the present invention is a broadcast guide information database (DataBase) 210 in which a predetermined table corresponding to each preset broadcast guide group is preset and corresponding broadcast guide information is registered in each table. And the broadcast guide information DBMS manager 220 for parsing the PSIP data input from the outside, extracting the broadcast guide information, registering it in a corresponding table in the broadcast guide information database 210, and managing an input / output service.

In the PVR to which the present invention is applied, the microcomputer 160 first outputs PSIP information separated from the broadcast program transmission packet stream by the transport stream demultiplexer 130.

Then, the broadcast guide information DBMS manager 220 calls the designated call function in the API (Application Programming Interface) and parses the PSIP information for each table by table, such as TVCT, EIT, ETT, and the like. If there is predetermined broadcast guide information, the information is extracted from a specific table in record units.

That is, according to the present invention, if the PSIP information is input with the unique table ID set in advance for each broadcast guide group in the DBMS manager 220 under the control of the PSIP processing application of the microcomputer 160, the input PSIP information is designated. After parsing each function, a plurality of table IDs and a set unique table ID are compared with each other. If the same information exists, the information included in the corresponding table in the PSIP data, that is, broadcast guide information, is extracted in units of records.

The broadcast guide information is extracted by dividing the preset broadcast guide group into groups, and the broadcast guide group defined in the present invention is included in a predetermined table in the PSIP information, and each grouping of a series of broadcast guide information necessary to represent specific information is grouped. This is set to make it corresponding to each specific table that contains the corresponding broadcast guide information.

In addition, the broadcast guide information is preselected and set in advance according to a user setting. For example, the broadcast guide information includes at least one selected from channel information in TVCT or CVCT, program information in EIT, channel and program detail information in ETT. desirable.

Meanwhile, when the broadcast guide information is extracted, the broadcast guide information DBMS manager 220 registers the extracted broadcast guide information in the database 210. That is, the DBMS manager 220 registers the extracted broadcast guide information in a table in the DB preset corresponding to the broadcast guide group to which the information belongs one-to-one.

At this time, the remaining PSIP information other than the broadcast guide information extracted according to the present invention is discarded or stored in a separate file system. The processing of the remaining PSIP information is beyond the technical idea of the present invention and the detailed description will be omitted here. do.

On the other hand, when the broadcast request information is registered in the DB, when a user request is input, under the control of the microcomputer 160, the DBMS manager 220 is predefined in a large amount of broadcast guide information registered in the database 210, Set broadcast guide information to display on the basis of setting flag.

For example, when a user request is input, the DBMS manager 220 refers to the information output from the channel management application and the internal timer, that is, referring to the channel information and the current time information. Sets broadcast guide information to be displayed on screen among guide information.

Subsequently, on the basis of a predefined flag for adjoining discrimination, the set broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen and ambient broadcast guide information for screen display waiting to be determined to be adjacent are extracted.

That is, a predetermined neighboring flag, for example, uplink or downlink channel corresponding to the channel of the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen adjacent to the broadcast guide information for screen display standby broadcast information to extract it, One channel flag is only one embodiment of the adjacent discriminating flag of the present invention, and may be used without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

Finally, the DBMS manager 220 caches the extracted neighboring broadcast guide information in an internal buffer memory and provides it to the screen through the image processor 150 under the control of the microcomputer 160 according to a user's request. When the peripheral broadcast guide information for display waiting is provided on the screen, the displayed peripheral broadcast guide information is set as the broadcast guide information to be displayed, and it is deleted from the buffer memory and the cached broadcast guide information is re-cached. It is repeated sequentially until the command.

In addition, the DBMS manager 220 is based on the control of the microcomputer 160, based on the pre-determined adjacent discriminating flag, the screen display standby ambient broadcast which is determined to be adjacent to the predetermined screen display broadcast guide information. When there are a plurality of guide information, each of them is extracted, and the plurality of extracted neighboring broadcast guide information are cached, and the corresponding neighboring broadcast guide information is selectively provided on the screen according to a user's request.

As described above, according to the present invention, the screen display broadcast guide information is set among the broadcast guide information registered in the predetermined mass-capacity broadcast guide information storage device, and the screen display broadcast guide information is determined to be adjacent to the set screen display broadcast guide information. It will extract the surrounding broadcast guide information for display display and store it as caching information, and provide the caching information to the user through the display screen according to the user's request. It becomes possible.

Next, the broadcast guide information management used in the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

In accordance with the present invention, the broadcast guide information processing type DBMS manager 220 extracts the broadcast guide information from the PSIP information for each broadcast guide group, and registers in a table in the DB set to correspond one-to-one to the broadcast guide group. It was built to manage its input / output services at the request of.

In the DBMS manager 220, first, the low-level relational API processing unit 221 sets a unique table ID for each broadcast guide group and compares the broadcast guide information included in the corresponding table in the PSIP when there is the same comparison with the table ID in the PSIP data. It extracts and supports a predetermined interface function to provide the broadcast guide information registered in the broadcast guide information-based DB to the outside at the user's request. In addition, it supports an interface that provides basic database functions. It creates and manages tables and performs queries on a table basis.

Then, the record manager 222 manages input / output of the broadcast guide information in units of records in the table, and the buffer manager 224 displays a predetermined screen set according to a user's request to display the current screen according to the present invention. The broadcast guide information and the peripheral broadcast guide information for the first screen display standby, which are determined to be adjacent to each other based on the predetermined flag information, are extracted and cached in the buffer 223, and the peripheral broadcast guide information for the first screen display standby is extracted. If the information is provided on the screen, the information is deleted from the buffer page, and the second neighboring broadcast guide information is extracted and cached.

In addition, the DB device manager 225 directly accesses the database through a physical address. In addition, a transaction manager (not shown) supports an interface associated with maintaining and managing a transaction. In this case, a transaction constitutes one logical task. It is a collection of a series of operations. In addition, the record index manager is a module that manages indexes so that records can be searched quickly. Each configuration described above is the same as that provided in a general DB system, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

Finally, as shown, the broadcast guide information database 210 is constructed to improve memory efficiency, and a predetermined table is generated to correspond one-to-one to each broadcast guide group grouping related broadcast guide information. / Managed, under the management of the DB administrator, the broadcast guide information belonging to the corresponding broadcast guide group is registered / managed in each table.

For example, the channel DB 211, which is a channel table for registering channel information extracted from TVCT or CVCT in PSIP data, the program DB 212, which is a broadcast program table for registering program information extracted in EIT in PSIP data, and the ETT in PSIP data. A detailed information DB 213, which is a detailed information table for registering extracted channel and program detailed information, is constructed in the broadcast guide information database 210. Each of the above-described information is set in advance.

Next, the neighboring broadcast guide information according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3.

The present invention extracts a predetermined screen display broadcast guide information set according to a user's request for display on a current screen and peripheral broadcast guide information for screen display waiting, which is determined to be adjacent on the basis of the predetermined flag information, to a buffer. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the broadcast information corresponding to the uplink channel and the downlink channel adjacent to the current display broadcast guide information, that is, the first peripheral broadcast guide information and the second peripheral broadcast guide information, In addition, the broadcast information of the adjacent previous time and the next time adjacent to the currently displayed broadcast guide information, that is, the third peripheral broadcast guide information and the fourth peripheral broadcast guide information, respectively, are extracted in advance from the large-capacity broadcast guide information and cached. After that, the caching information is provided to the user by referring to the caching information, so that the broadcasting guide information can be accessed more quickly.

Next, the caching aspect according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

The present invention provides a buffer page by extracting predetermined screen display broadcast guide information set according to a user's request for display on a current screen and surrounding broadcast guide information for screen display waiting, which is determined to be adjacent based on predetermined flag information. As shown in FIG. 4, the neighboring broadcast guide information from the first buffer page to the n-th buffer page is sequentially extracted and cached according to a predetermined extraction order, for example, as shown on the right side. As shown in the figure, upstream channel broadcast guide information, downlink channel broadcast guide information, previous time broadcast guide information, next time broadcast guide information are sequentially cached from the first buffer page to the fourth buffer page, and among the cached information After one is displayed on the screen, it resets the buffer page again and focuses on the previous display broadcasting information. Broadcast information is cached in the buffer around the page.

Next, a preferred embodiment of a method for providing broadcast guide information according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 5, the broadcast guide information providing method according to the present invention calls a designated call function in an API (Application Programming Interface) and includes a plurality of tables including PSIP information such as TVCT, EIT, and ETT. Each of the tables is parsed, and if there is predetermined broadcast guide information, the corresponding information is extracted from a specific table in record units and registered in the mass broadcasting information storage device (S500).

That is, according to the present invention, when PSIP information is input in a state where a unique table ID is set in advance for each broadcast guide group, a plurality of table IDs and set unique table IDs are parsed by parsing the input PSIP information with a designated call function. After each comparison, if there is the same information, the information contained in the corresponding table in the PSIP data, that is, the broadcast guide information is extracted in a record unit and registered in the large-capacity broadcast information storage device preset in one-to-one correspondence for each broadcast guide group.

At this time, the remaining PSIP information other than the broadcast guide information extracted according to the present invention is disposed of or stored in a separate file system. The processing of the remaining PSIP information is beyond the technical idea of the present invention, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here. do.

Next, when a user request is input while the broadcast guide information is registered in the mass broadcast information storage device, the screen is displayed based on a predefined setting flag among the mass broadcast guide information registered in the mass broadcast information storage device. Set the broadcast guide information (S501).

For example, when a user request is input, among the large-capacity broadcasting guide information registered in the large-capacity broadcasting information storage device with reference to the information output from the channel management application and the internal timer inside the PVR, that is, the channel information and the current time information. Set broadcast guide information to display.

Subsequently, the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen and the neighboring broadcast guide information for screen display waiting to be determined to be adjacent to each other are extracted and cached based on a predefined adjacent discriminating flag (S502). The broadcast guide information is provided to the user through the display screen (S503), and then waits for a subsequent user request (S504).

Then, according to the user's request (S504), the neighboring broadcast guide information for waiting to display the corresponding broadcast guide information of the predefined adjacent flag, for example, the uplink channel or the downlink channel that is closest to the channel of the screen display broadcast guide information Set this to extract (S509, S510), or set the relevant broadcast guide information of the previous time and the next time of the screen display broadcast guide information as the ambient broadcast guide information for screen display waiting for extraction (S511, S512) step Provided to the screen according to the user's request (S504).

Lastly, after any one of the screen display waiting ambient broadcast guide information cached in step S502 is provided on the screen as described above according to the user's request, the displayed ambient broadcast guide information is displayed as the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen. In this case, the information is deleted from the buffer memory and cached around the broadcast guidance information (S513). The sequence is repeatedly performed until the end instruction of the user.

As described above, the present invention sets broadcast guide information to be displayed on a screen among a large amount of broadcast guide information registered in a predetermined mass broadcast guide information storage device according to a user's request. It is possible to provide a large amount of broadcasting guidance information more efficiently and quickly by providing the caching information to the user through the display screen according to the user's request while extracting the surrounding broadcasting guidance information for screen display that is determined to be stored. Will be available to the user.

Next, with reference to Figures 6a and 6b will be described taking the surrounding broadcast guide information extraction mode according to the present invention as an example.

According to the present invention, a predetermined screen display broadcast guide information set according to a user's request for display on a current screen and peripheral broadcast guide information for screen display waiting, which are determined to be adjacent to each other based on predetermined flag information, are extracted and buffered. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the broadcast information of the previous time (08: 00) and the next time (11: 00) adjacent to the current screen display broadcast guide information is used as the surrounding broadcast guide information. After setting and extracting and caching in advance from each of the large-capacity broadcast guide information, and providing it to the user at the request of the user, or as shown in Figure 6b, upstream channel (channel 4) and adjacent to the currently displayed broadcast guide information and The broadcast information of the downlink channel (channel 81) is set as the surrounding broadcast guide information, and extracted and cached in advance from each of the large-capacity broadcast guide information. Only, and any number may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention to various modifications are possible.

As described in detail above, the method for providing broadcast guide information according to the present invention sets broadcast guide information to be displayed on a screen from among a large amount of broadcast guide information registered in a predetermined mass broadcast guide information storage device according to a user's request. By setting the broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen and the surrounding broadcast guide information for screen display waiting to be determined to be adjacent, and storing it as caching information, the caching information is provided to the user through the display screen according to the user's request. There is an effect that can provide a large amount of broadcast guide information more efficiently and quickly to the desired user.

Although the invention has been described in detail only with respect to the specific examples described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations are possible within the spirit of the invention, and such modifications and variations belong to the appended claims.

Claims (6)

A first step of setting 'screen display information to be displayed on a screen' to be displayed on a screen among all broadcast guide information for digital broadcasting stored in a storage medium; A second step of extracting the 'broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen' from the storage medium and caching it in a buffer; As the broadcast guide information adjacent to the 'broadcast guide information to be displayed on screen', at least one 'broadcasting ambient broadcast guide information for screen display' having the same items as the 'broadcast guide information to be displayed on screen' is extracted from the storage medium. Caching in a buffer; And A fourth step of displaying, on the screen, at least one of the cached 'broadcasting guide information for waiting for display' on the screen while displaying the cached 'broadcasting guide information for screen display' on a screen; Broadcast guide information providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1, And resetting the 'broadcasting guide information for waiting to be displayed on the screen' to the 'broadcasting guide information to be displayed on the screen' according to the fourth step, and repeating the third and fourth steps. Broadcast guide information providing method characterized in that. The method of claim 1, The first step, the method of providing broadcast guide information, characterized in that the information contained in the configuration item of the 'broadcast guide information to display the screen' of the entire broadcast guide information for the digital broadcast stored in the storage medium. The method of claim 1, When the 'broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen' is broadcast guide information of a predetermined time and channel, the 'broadcast guide information for waiting to be displayed on the screen' is broadcasted in an adjacent time zone or adjacent channel of the 'broadcast guide information to be displayed on the screen'. Broadcast guide information providing method characterized in that the guide information. The method of claim 1, The broadcast guide information is broadcast guide information providing method comprising channel information and broadcast program information. delete

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