KR20080070331A - Apparatus and method for changing channel in digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

A channel changing apparatus and method in a digital broadcast receiver are provided to reduce delay when a channel is changed. A broadcast data storage unit(106) stores a channel predicted to be changed and buffers it. A channel prediction database(116) stores and manages previous channel change information. A channel changing unit(120) detects a channel change request and controls to store the requested changed channel in the channel prediction database. When the channel changing unit detects the channel change request, a channel predicting unit(122) controls to search a change-predicted channel to be changed following the changed channel from the channel prediction database and buffers the same in the broadcast data storage unit.

Description

Channel switching apparatus and method in a digital broadcast receiver {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CHANGING CHANNEL IN DIGITAL BROADCAST RECEIVER}

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver for reducing channel switching time through channel prediction according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating a channel switching process of reducing a channel switching time through channel prediction in a digital broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a channel switching apparatus and method in a digital broadcasting receiver. In particular, a channel for predicting a change next to a main channel being output from a digital broadcasting receiver is pre-buffered to output buffered data during channel switching to a predicted channel. A channel switching apparatus and method.

Currently, the digital broadcast receiver receives and displays various digital broadcast signals. The digital broadcast signal is a digitally encoded and modulated signal, and the receiver must demodulate and decode the data in reverse. Therefore, the digital broadcast receiver should include a tuner, a broadcast data demodulator, a broadcast data decoder, and the like. Currently, the digital broadcasting method can be roughly divided into DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting). The digital broadcast uses a method of serving a plurality of service channels in one frequency channel, and the service channels are composed of channels for transmitting program information and broadcast information of channels for transmitting digital broadcast signals broadcast from broadcast stations. Can be.

Such digital broadcasting services a large number of service channels. Accordingly, the digital broadcast receiver should be able to select desired service channels by scanning for desired service channels. That is, in the case of a digital broadcast receiver, since it serves many service channels, it is necessary to quickly switch channels when selecting each channel. For example, in the case of a DVB digital broadcast receiver, bursts generally occur within 1 second as short as every 3 to 4 seconds. Therefore, when the user wants to switch to another service channel while watching the selected service channel (hereinafter, referred to as a main channel), the broadcast signal cannot be viewed until the burst of the service channel to be switched is received, and the channel switching is not quick. There is a problem. In the case of the paid channel (Scrambled Channel), it is necessary to determine whether or not to view the channel authority, and thus there is a greater delay before switching channels.

In general, viewers who watch a broadcast mostly change channels with a certain pattern. That is, the viewer may change the channel around the preferred broadcasting channel and have a certain channel for viewing at a specific time.

Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and method for reducing a delay occurring when switching a channel by buffering a channel predicted to change next to an output main channel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for channel switching in a digital broadcast receiver.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a channel switching apparatus and method for outputting buffered data when a channel is switched to a predicted channel by buffering a channel predicted to be changed next to a main channel being output from a digital broadcast receiver.

It is still another object of the present invention to predict a channel to be predicted to be changed after the main channel being output from the digital broadcasting receiver based on data previously channel-changed by the user, and buffer the data in advance when the channel is switched to the predicted channel. It is to provide a channel switching device and method for outputting.

According to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects, the channel switching device in the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast data storage unit for storing and buffering the change prediction channel expected to change in the next channel switching, and the previous A channel prediction database for storing and managing channel switching information, a channel changing unit for detecting a channel switching request and storing the requested change channel in the channel prediction database, and detecting the channel switching request at the channel changing unit. And a channel predictor for searching for a change prediction channel to be switched next to the change channel in the channel prediction database and for buffering the broadcast data storage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects, a channel switching method in a digital broadcast receiver includes the steps of identifying a primary channel to be output when a digital broadcast output is requested, and changing the primary channel in a channel prediction database. Identifying a prediction channel, receiving broadcast signals of the main channel and the changed prediction channel, outputting the broadcast signal of the main channel, and buffering the broadcast signal of the changed prediction channel. It is done.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. If it is determined that the gist of the present invention may be unnecessarily obscured, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

According to the present invention, when a digital broadcast receiver outputs a digital broadcast, a channel predicted to be changed next to a main channel currently being output is predicted based on data previously changed by the user, and then buffered when the channel is switched to a predicted channel. A channel switching apparatus and method for outputting data.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver for reducing channel switching time through channel prediction according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the digital broadcast receiver is meant to include all receivers of satellite DMB, terrestrial DMB, and DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting). In the following description, it will be described with a general configuration assuming a case of a digital broadcast receiver of the DVB-H method.

Referring to FIG. 1, the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention includes a control unit 100, a tuner 102, a broadcast data demodulator 104, a broadcast data storage unit 106, a broadcast data decoder 108, a display unit 110, A speaker 112, a key input unit 114, a channel prediction database 116, a memory 118, a channel changer 120, and a channel predictor 122 are configured.

The tuner 102 sets a physical channel frequency of a service channel selected by a user and a change prediction channel requested by the channel predictor 122 under the control of the controller 100, and sets a broadcast signal of the set physical channel. Receive.

The broadcast data demodulator 104 performs a function of demodulating a broadcast signal of a physical channel output from the tuner 102. In this case, the broadcast data demodulator 102 demodulates and outputs a plurality of service channel signals included in a physical channel.

The broadcast data storage unit 106 is a service channel to be selected next when switching between the data of the service channel selected from the service channel output from the broadcast data demodulator 104 and the service channel under the control of the control unit 100. Buffer the data of the expected change prediction channels.

The broadcast data storage unit 106 is an ECM (Entitlement) for determining whether the user can watch a valid pay channel when the service channel or the changed prediction channel selected by the user in the DVB-H type digital broadcast is a paid channel (Scrambled Channel) Control Message) Stores additional packet data.

The broadcast data decoder 108 decodes and outputs service channel data selected by the user. The broadcast data decoder 108 may be composed of video and audio decoders, and the decoded video and audio signals are applied to the display unit 110 and the speaker 112 and reproduced.

In FIG. 1, the broadcast data demodulator 104 and the broadcast data decoder 108 may be configured in other forms according to a digital broadcast method. The digital broadcast receiver has a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) and a digital video broadcasting (DVB) scheme, and the DVB scheme includes a digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and a digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) scheme. In the DMB and DVB digital broadcast receivers, the received broadcast data has an MPEG2-TS structure, and the broadcast data of the MPEG2-TS structure is a packet stream, and each packet includes a packet header and a payload. The packet header includes PID (packet identifier) information for identifying a service channel. Accordingly, the digital broadcast receiver may select a desired service channel using the PID information.

In this case, the payload of each packet having an MPEG2-TS structure in the DMB and DVB-T digital broadcast receivers is filled with broadcast data, and the packets of each packet having an MPEG2-TS structure in the DVB-H digital broadcast receiver are filled. The payload is filled with IP information and broadcast data. Accordingly, in the DVB-T and DMB schemes, the broadcast data demodulator 104 may be configured as a demodulator for demodulating service channel data, and the broadcast data decoder 108 decodes a signal of a selected service channel. It has a configuration such as a firearm, a video and an audio decoder. However, in the DVB-H scheme, the broadcast data demodulator 104 demodulates data of a received service channel and a PID filter for selecting data of a service channel selected by a user from among the demodulated broadcast data. Demodulation controller for controlling the operation of the demodulator and the tuner 102 under the control of the control unit 100. The broadcast data decoder 108 may include a protocol processor, a video and audio decoder, and the like for processing a protocol including IP information.

The key input unit 114 includes a number of 0-9 keys, a power key, a volume control key, a menu key (menu), navigation keys (▲ / ▼ / ◀ / ▶), and a plurality of function keys. The controller 100 provides key input data corresponding to the pressed key.

The channel prediction database 116 stores data for predicting a channel to be switched next, and stores and classifies the channel information and viewing time of the next channel for each channel according to a user's key input. Save it.

The memory 118 may include a program memory for storing a program for controlling the operation of the digital broadcast receiver, and a data memory for storing data generated during program execution. In this case, the memory 118 may include a program for predicting a channel to be switched next and buffering the predicted change prediction block in advance for service channel switching according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The channel changing unit 120 analyzes the key data generated by the key input unit 114 to control the channel changing operation of the digital broadcast receiver. In addition, according to the present invention, if the channel change request is requested, the channel information to be changed is stored in the channel prediction database 116, and the requested channel is confirmed that the requested channel exists among the change prediction channels stored in the broadcast data storage unit 106. If buffering is performed on the change prediction channel, the control unit outputs the requested change prediction channel.

When the channel predictor 122 starts watching digital broadcasting or detects a channel change, the channel predictor 122 searches the channel prediction database 116 to predict a change prediction channel, which is a channel to be changed next time by the user. In this case, the number of predicted change prediction channels may be one or more. The channel predictor 122 selects a change prediction channel by selecting a channel that is most frequently switched next to a currently output main channel, or selecting a channel most viewed at the present time. Each of these two methods can be weighted and applied together. If both methods are applied together, it is desirable to focus more on the method of selecting the channel that has been most frequently switched to the next channel.

The controller 100 controls the channel changer 120 and the channel predictor 122. That is, the controller 100 may perform the functions of the channel changer 120 and the channel predictor 122. In the present invention, it is shown to configure them separately to explain each function separately. Therefore, in the case of actually implementing a product, all of them may be configured to be processed by the controller 100, and only some of them may be configured to be processed by the controller 100.

According to the digital broadcasting receiver of the present invention, the channel information changed by the user is stored and managed by the channel prediction database, and the channel can be predicted by the user when the user changes the channel. In general, the channels that the user mainly selects are generally limited and the order of selection is usually constant. Therefore, this pattern can be confirmed by storing and managing information according to channel switching. However, since a device used by a plurality of users is difficult to extract the pattern, the present invention will be more suitable for a portable terminal having a digital broadcast receiver mainly used by one user.

In the method of predicting the next channel in the digital broadcasting receiver of the present invention, for example, the main channel currently being output as a result of the channel prediction database in the digital broadcasting receiver is channel 6, and the channels to be switched next are channels 12, channel 52, and channel 30. In the case of switching to 50%, 30%, and 20% probability, channels 12 and 52 may be selected and buffered as change prediction channels. As another example, when the digital broadcasting receiver determines that the channel switching pattern of the user changes channels in the order of channel 6, channel 12, and channel 52, the channel 12 and channel 52 may be selected and buffered as the changed prediction channel. As another example, as a result of checking the channel prediction database in the digital broadcasting receiver, the channel may be compared with the channel previously viewed at the present time, and the buffer may be selected as the changed prediction channel in the order of the highest rating.

The selection of the changed prediction channel of the above example may use only one method, but the channel may be selected by weighting each method using a plurality of selection methods. That is, the present invention can be any method of predicting a channel to be changed next by using previously changed channel information stored in the channel prediction database.

Hereinafter, a channel switching method in the digital broadcasting receiver according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a channel switching process of reducing a channel switching time through channel prediction in a digital broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the digital broadcast receiver is requested to output the digital broadcast in step 200, the digital broadcast receiver proceeds to step 202 to identify the primary channel to be output. The main channel may be a channel to be output to the display unit and may be a channel preset at the start of digital broadcast output or a channel last listened to before viewing.

If the primary channel is identified in step 204, the digital broadcasting receiver proceeds to step 204 to search the channel prediction database 116 to predict one or more changed prediction channels, and proceeds to step 206 to broadcast the primary channel and the changed prediction channel. In step 208, the signal is received and the received broadcast signal of the main channel is decoded and output into a video signal and an audio signal, and the broadcast signal of the changed prediction channel is stored.

Thereafter, the digital broadcast receiver proceeds to step 210 to check whether there is a channel change request. If there is no channel change request, the digital broadcast receiver returns to step 206, repeats steps 206 and 208, and outputs the broadcast of the main channel. The broadcast of the change prediction channel is buffered.

In step 210, if the channel change request is detected, the digital broadcast receiver determines whether the requested change channel exists in the buffered change prediction channel. If the requested change channel is not buffered as the result of step 212, the digital broadcast receiver proceeds to step 216 to store the change channel information in the channel prediction database, and returns to step 204 to repeat the series of steps.

However. In step 212, if the requested change channel is buffered, the digital broadcast receiver proceeds to step 214 to decode and output the broadcast signal of the buffered change prediction channel, and proceeds to step 216 to output the change channel information to the channel prediction database. In step 204, the process returns to step 204 and repeats a series of processes.

Apparently, there are many ways to modify these embodiments while remaining within the scope of the claims. In other words, there may be many other ways in which the invention may be practiced without departing from the scope of the following claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, data that is predicted to be changed after the main channel being output from the digital broadcasting receiver is predicted based on stored data that the user has previously switched to, and buffered at the time of channel switching to the predicted channel. The present invention relates to a channel switching apparatus and a method for outputting a signal, and has an effect of reducing a delay occurring during channel switching.

Claims (13)

A channel switching apparatus in a digital broadcast receiver, A broadcast data storage unit for storing and buffering a change prediction channel that is expected to change when the next channel is switched; A channel prediction database that stores and manages channel switching information up to the past; A channel change unit for detecting a channel switch request and controlling to store the requested change channel in the channel prediction database; And a channel estimator for controlling the channel prediction database to search for a change prediction channel to be switched next to the change channel and to buffer the broadcast data storage when the channel change request is detected by the channel changer. Device. The method of claim 1, The channel change unit, And when the channel change request is detected, checking whether the change channel is being buffered as the change prediction channel in the broadcast data storage, and outputting the change channel being buffered when the change channel is buffered. The method of claim 1, The channel predictor, And controlling to search for and buffer one or more of the changed prediction channels. The method of claim 1, The channel predictor, And searching the channel prediction database to select the change prediction channel in the order of the most frequently channel switched next to the change channel. The method of claim 1, The channel predictor, And selecting the change prediction channel in order of the channel having the highest viewer rating at the time of detecting the channel change request by searching the channel prediction database. The method of claim 1, The channel predictor, The channel prediction database is searched and the frequency of channel switching and the viewer rating are multiplied by the weight of each channel among the channels frequently switched to the next channel after the change channel and the channels having a high viewer rating at the time of detecting the channel switching request. And the change prediction channel is selected in order of the channel having the highest switching rate and the highest viewing rate. In the channel switching method in the digital broadcast receiver, Checking the main channel to be output when a digital broadcasting output is requested; Identifying a change prediction channel of the primary channel in a channel prediction database; Receiving broadcast signals of the main channel and the changed prediction channel; And outputting the broadcast signal of the primary channel and buffering the broadcast signal of the changed prediction channel. The method of claim 7, wherein When the digital broadcasting receiver detects a channel switching request, checking whether the requested change channel is buffered as the change prediction channel; And as a result of the checking, buffering the change channel, outputting a broadcast signal of the change channel being buffered. The method of claim 8, When the digital broadcasting receiver detects the channel switching request, storing the changed channel information in the channel prediction database; Identifying a change prediction channel for the change channel in the channel prediction database; Receiving a broadcast signal of the change channel and the change prediction channel of the change channel; And outputting the broadcast signal of the change channel and buffering the broadcast signal of the change prediction channel of the change channel. The method of claim 7, wherein The process of identifying the change prediction channel, And selecting at least one change prediction channel. The method of claim 7, wherein The process of identifying the change prediction channel, And searching the channel prediction database and selecting the change prediction channel in the order of the most frequently channel switched next to the change channel. The method of claim 7, wherein The process of identifying the change prediction channel, And selecting the change prediction channel in order of the channel having the highest viewer rating at the time when the channel change request is detected by searching the channel prediction database. The method of claim 7, wherein The process of identifying the change prediction channel, The channel prediction database is searched and the frequency of channel switching and the viewer rating are multiplied by the weight of each channel among the channels frequently switched to the next channel after the change channel and the channels having a high viewer rating at the time of detecting the channel switching request. And the change prediction channel is selected in order of the channel having the highest switching frequency and the highest viewer rating.

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