KR19990056473A - Program Information Processing Method of Satellite Broadcast Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for processing program information of a satellite broadcast receiver that can efficiently use the memory of the receiver by separately storing and storing program information provided to the satellite broadcast receiver on a specific time basis. Program information of a predetermined time unit among the various packet information inserted into the satellite broadcast signal and program information for each channel is stored in the first area of the memory means, and program information of the remaining time zone is stored in the remaining area of the memory means. In order to sequentially store as much as the size of the second area, and when a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input, the display unit sequentially reads and displays the time unit for the screen based on the current time zone, and displays the displayed guide screen. The key signal for moving to another time zone If it is input, it is determined whether program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal is stored in the memory means. If program information of the corresponding time zone exists, the program information of the time zone corresponding to the key signal is displayed, and program information exists. Otherwise, extracting program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal to update program information of a second area, and displaying the same.

Description

Program Information Processing Method of Satellite Broadcast Receiver

The present invention relates to a satellite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a program information processing method of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for efficiently processing program guide information inserted and transmitted separately into a satellite broadcast signal.

In recent years, the broadcast method using satellites, which is rapidly expanding in use, is a method of providing a broadcast signal to a wider area by using a satellite (communication satellite) located at an altitude of about tens to hundreds of kilos on the surface of the earth. In this satellite broadcasting system, for example, an old band RF signal having a frequency band of 11.7 GHz to 12.0 GHz is used.

To this end, the antenna for satellite broadcasting reception is provided with a low noise blockdown converter for converting a radio frequency (RF) signal of a very high frequency into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, which is a high frequency RF signal. Is converted into an IF (intermediate frequency) signal in the hundreds to thousands of MHz bands (for example, 950 MHz to 2050 MHz) that can be received by a satellite broadcasting receiver (receiver).

Therefore, in the satellite broadcasting tuner provided in the satellite broadcasting receiver (receiver), the IF signal received through the low noise converter is inputted to tune the channel selected by the user. The satellite broadcasting receiver maximizes channel utilization, image and sound. Along with the improvement of signal quality and the ease of transmitting additional digital service data, the significant improvement of the user interface is a big advantage.

Meanwhile, in satellite broadcasting, a transmission signal of a digital broadcasting signal received from a satellite through a fixed channel to a satellite broadcasting receiver is restored to a transport stream through a process of converting to an intermediate frequency, demodulating, and correcting an error. The stream includes various information such as broadcast signals (video data and audio data) for each channel, an event information table (EIT), a time data table (TDT), and the like.

Then, the program guide information stored in the memory area is used to tune a specific channel selected in a transport stream received through a satellite channel when a specific channel is selected by the user, and also by the user. When the provision of broadcast program information of the channel (i.e., display) is requested, it is composed of a menu screen and displayed on the monitor.

For example, when a user inputs a key signal for displaying program information for each channel by using a key input means, the program information for each channel stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit is displayed on a guide screen as shown in FIG. 4. Then, the user operates the key input means to scroll the screen left, right, or up and down to search for a desired broadcast program.

On the other hand, in the general satellite broadcasting receiver, since the size of the memory for storing the program information as described above is limited to 512 Kbytes or less, it is difficult to provide more information to the user, and the total number of channels of the satellite broadcasting is increased. As a result, the amount of program information for each channel that can be provided to the user is reduced by that much.

That is, the current satellite broadcasting reception system provides program information for each channel by about one week. If the total number of channels of the satellite broadcasting system increases, each channel has a data size of 512 Kbytes as described above. In providing the program information for, the amount of data that can be transmitted is reduced, thereby causing a problem that only one or two days of information can be provided.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, by controlling the memory area for storing the program information provided from the satellite in a satellite broadcast receiver by controlling a specific time period, it is possible to efficiently manage the program information An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing program information of a satellite broadcast receiver.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a satellite for receiving broadcast signals for a plurality of channels provided from satellites, and storing and displaying various packet information extracted from the broadcast signals and program information for each channel in a memory means. A program information processing method of a broadcast receiver, comprising: a first step of extracting program information for each channel and the various packet information inserted into the satellite broadcast signal when the receiver is powered on; A second step of storing program information of a predetermined time unit among the extracted program information in a first area of the memory means, and sequentially storing program information of a remaining time zone as the size of a second area, which is a remaining area of the memory means; ; A third step of sequentially reading and displaying program information stored in each area of the memory means based on a current time zone by a unit of time when a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input, based on a current time zone; A fourth signal for reading each area of the memory means to determine whether program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal is stored in the memory means when a key signal for moving the displayed guide screen to another time zone is input; step; A fifth step of displaying program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal if program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal exists as a result of the determination; As a result of the determination, if the program information of the time zone corresponding to the key signal does not exist, a guide message indicating that program information is being received is displayed, and program information of the time zone corresponding to the key signal is extracted from the satellite broadcast signal. A sixth step of updating the program information of the second area by storing in the second area; And a seventh step of reading the updated program information and displaying program information in a time zone corresponding to the key signal.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a program information processing method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view for explaining a program information processing method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3A is a flowchart illustrating a program information processing process of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3B is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying a guide screen of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program guide screen provided by a general satellite broadcasting receiver.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

110: key input unit 120: microcomputer

130 tuner and demodulator 140 memory unit

150: MPEG Decoder 160: Video Encoder

170: OSD unit 180: image synthesizing unit

The above and other objects and various advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the preferred embodiments of the present invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a program information processing method of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and includes a key input unit 110, a microcomputer 120, a tuner, and a demodulator 130. ), A memory unit 140, an MPEG decoder 150, a video encoder 160, an OSD unit 170, and an image synthesizer 180.

Referring to FIG. 1, the key input unit 110 is configured with key metrics on a remote controller or its own panel to generate a corresponding key signal by a user's operation and provide the corresponding key signal to the microcomputer 120, and the microcomputer 120 provides a key. Each control signal is generated based on a key signal from the input unit 110 to perform a corresponding function. For example, a user processor selects a user broadcast channel from the outside, including a microprocessor that controls overall operation of the receiver. When a signal is input, a corresponding tuning control signal is generated and provided to the tuner and demodulator 130 to be described later.

The tuner and demodulator 130 tunes a broadcast channel selected by a user in a broadcast signal received through a broadcast signal receiver (ie, a satellite reception antenna), not shown, based on a tuning control signal provided from the microcomputer 120. The tuned broadcast channel signal is restored to a transport stream through a process of converting to an intermediate frequency, demodulation, and error correction, and the restored transport stream is provided to the next MPEG decoder 150.

At this time, the microcomputer 120 stores various additional information, program information, and various packet information output from the tuner and the demodulator 130 in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140, and when arbitrary information is requested from the user, Various menu screens are displayed using this.

The memory unit 140 storing various kinds of additional information is divided into an area for storing program information for each channel and an area for storing various packet information and menu screen information. The program information for each channel is stored. As shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 2, the information is frequently controlled by the control of the fixed area 141 and the microcomputer 120 for fixedly storing only program information of a specific time zone among the program information provided from the microcomputer 120. It is divided into an updateable flow zone 142.

On the other hand, in the MPEG decoder 150, on the basis of the control signal provided from the microcomputer 120, the compressed and encoded audio and video signals of the broadcast channel provided from the tuner and demodulator 130, In consideration of spatiotemporal and spatial correlation, the compressed and encoded video signal is restored to the original signal before encoding by using a decoding technique such as variable length decoding, inverse DCT, inverse quantization, and motion compensation, and the restored digital broadcast video signal The next stage is provided to the video encoder 160, the reconstructed audio signal is provided to an audio signal processor not shown.

In addition, the video encoder 160 converts the selected digital broadcast video signal provided by the MPEG decoder 150 to an NTSC or PAL analog video signal and then provides the image synthesizer 180 to the video synthesizer 180. The OSD unit 170 In addition, various menu screen information and message information provided from the microcomputer 120 are configured as a guide screen in a predetermined form and provided to the image synthesizing unit 180.

Accordingly, the image synthesizing unit 180 transfers the analog satellite broadcasting signal output from the video encoder 160 to a display side, not shown, or omits a screen in which various menu screen data displayed through the OSD unit 170 are mixed. To the display side.

When the power of the satellite broadcast receiver configured as described above is turned on, the tuner and demodulator 130 restores the bit stream transmitted to the satellite through a predetermined signal processing process. In this case, the microcomputer 120 restores the bit stream. Various additional information, various packet information, and program information for each channel are extracted from the received signal and stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit 140.

In this case, program information for each channel provided to the memory unit 140 is provided for about a week's worth of program information and stored in a predetermined area. FIG. 2 illustrates a configuration of the memory unit 140 storing such program information. As a drawing, it will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

When the satellite broadcasting receiver is powered on, the microcomputer 120 extracts program information for each channel from the bit stream demodulated by the tuner and the demodulator 130 and stores the program information for each channel in a predetermined region of the memory unit 140. Near future information frequently requested by the user, for example, about 4 hours of program information EIT 1 based on the current time, is stored in the fixed region 141 of the memory unit 140, except for this. The program information EIT 2, 3, 4,... Of the remaining time zones are sequentially stored in the flow region 142 of the memory unit 140.

At this time, since the fixed area 141 of the memory unit 140 needs to store a data amount of about 4 hours as described above, 128 Kbytes of the total 512 Kbytes allocated for storing program information in the memory unit 140. The flow area 142 is preferably allocated to the remaining 384 Kbytes.

Meanwhile, as described above, after the EIT 1 is stored in the fixed region 141 of the memory unit 140, the remaining program information EIT 2, 3,... Not all program information (EIT 2, 3, ...) is stored.

That is, when the total size of the remaining program information EIT 2, 3, ... except EIT 1 is smaller than 384 Kbytes, the size of the flow area 142, all the remaining program information may be stored in the flow area 142. On the other hand, when the number of channels and the amount of program information increase, it cannot be stored.

Accordingly, the microcomputer 120 stores four hours of information EIT 1 of the program information provided from the tuner and the demodulator 130 in the fixed area 141 of the memory unit 140, and the remaining program information EIT 2, 3,. .. sequentially stores only the size of the flow region 142.

3A is a flowchart illustrating a guide information processing process of a satellite broadcast receiver according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a series of processes described above with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail.

When the overall operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver is in the standby mode for performing a specific command input from the key input unit 110 (step 301), when the user operates the key input unit 110 to turn on the power of the receiver ( In operation 303, the microcomputer 120 receives various packet information and program information from the demodulated bit stream output from the tuner and the demodulator 130 (step 305). 1) and the remaining program information (EIT 2, 3, ...) are separated (step 307) and stored separately in the fixed area 141 and the flow area 142 of the memory unit 140, respectively.

That is, the program information (EIT 1) for the near future, which is frequently requested by the user, is first stored in the fixed area 141 of the memory unit 140 (step 309), and the remaining program information for each time zone (EIT 2, 3, ... are sequentially stored in the flow area 142 of the memory unit 311 (step 311).

After the process of storing the program information for each channel of the satellite broadcasting receiver through the above-described process, that is, the flow region 142 of the memory unit 140 of the program information EIT 2, 3, ... for each time zone If the information corresponding to the size of is stored (step 313), the microcomputer 120 is a preset channel (for example, the most recently watched past of the plurality of broadcast channels output from the tuner and demodulator 130) The viewing channel is tuned and displayed on the screen through a predetermined signal processing process (step 315).

Then, the user operates the key input unit 110 in a state in which program information for each channel is separated by time zones and stored in the fixed region 141 and the flow region 142 of the memory 140 through the above-described process. When the program guide key signal for each channel is input, the microcomputer 120 reads the program information stored in the memory 140 and displays the guide information in a predetermined form.

3B is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying a guide screen of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

After the program information for each channel is stored in each region 141 and 142 of the memory unit 140 through a process as illustrated in FIG. 3A, a broadcast signal of a specific channel is received, and a predetermined signal processing process is performed. During the normal viewing mode to be displayed (step 351), if a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input from the key input unit 110 (step 353), the microcomputer 355 determines a predetermined time based on the current time. By reading the program information, that is, the program information EIT 1 stored in the fixed area 141 of the memory unit 140 (step 355) and providing it to the OSD unit 170, the program guide as shown in FIG. The screen is displayed (step 357).

Meanwhile, the user searches for a desired program by referring to the program guide screen displayed on the screen. At this time, the user operates the key input unit 110 to search for program information of another time zone not displayed on the screen. When the signal is input (step 359), the microcomputer 120 reads the program information stored in the fixed area 141 and the flow area 142 of the memory unit 120 again to obtain program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal. It is read (step 361).

By providing the read program information to the OSD unit 170, the program guide screen displayed on the current screen is updated and displayed as the program guide screen of the time zone corresponding to the key signal input in step 359. (Step 371).

If the program information corresponding to the screen movement key signal of the key input unit 110 is not stored in the memory unit 140 while the user scrolls the guide screen in response to the screen movement key signal of the user, that is, the user If the time zone corresponding to the input screen shift key signal exceeds the time range of the program information stored in the flow area 142 of the memory unit 140 (step 363), the microcomputer 120 may enter the OSD unit 170. The predetermined guidance message (for example, 'receiving program information') is superimposed on the currently displayed program guide screen and displayed (step 365).

Then, the program information of the next time zone, that is, the program information of the time zone corresponding to the screen shift key signal, is received from the bit stream received by the tuner and the demodulator 130 (step 367), and the flow area 142 of the memory unit 140 is received. ), The program information stored in the flow area 142 is updated (step 369).

At the same time, the microcomputer 120 turns off the guide message displayed on the screen and provides updated program information to the OSD unit 170 to display the program guide screen moved to the time zone corresponding to the screen moving key signal. (Step 371).

As described above, according to the present invention, the program information provided to the satellite broadcasting receiver is fixedly stored only in the program information of a high frequency of use, and the program information of the remaining time zone is adaptively received and displayed according to a user's request. In addition, the memory of the receiver can be used efficiently, and accordingly, a larger amount of program information can be accommodated.

Claims (3)

A program information processing method of a satellite broadcast receiver for receiving broadcast signals for a plurality of channels provided from a satellite, storing and displaying various packet information extracted from the broadcast signal and program information for each channel in a memory means, Extracting the packet information and program information for each channel inserted into the satellite broadcast signal when the receiver is powered on; A second step of storing program information of a predetermined time unit among the extracted program information in a first area of the memory means, and sequentially storing program information of a remaining time zone as the size of a second area, which is a remaining area of the memory means; ; A third step of sequentially reading and displaying program information stored in each area of the memory means based on a current time zone by a unit of time when a key signal for displaying program information for each channel is input, based on a current time zone; A fourth signal for reading each area of the memory means to determine whether program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal is stored in the memory means when a key signal for moving the displayed guide screen to another time zone is input; step; A fifth step of displaying program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal if program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal exists as a result of the determination; As a result of the determination, if the program information of the time zone corresponding to the key signal does not exist, a guide message indicating that program information is being received is displayed, and program information of the time zone corresponding to the key signal is extracted from the satellite broadcast signal. A sixth step of updating the program information of the second area by storing in the second area; And a seventh step of reading the updated program information and displaying program information of a time zone corresponding to the key signal. The satellite broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the program information stored in the first area of the memory means is recent program information of a predetermined time unit based on a current time of the program information for each channel. How to process program information. The method of claim 1, wherein the guide message is displayed by being superimposed on the displayed program guide screen.