Method and digital broadcasting receiver for displaying digital broadcast channel information

• US 20060150230A1
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chung, Dae-Suk, Chang, Sun-Hee
• Granted Patent: US 7,930,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/118
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method for displaying digital broadcast channel information on a digital broadcasting receiver, which includes searching for an unused reserve communication path among all communication paths over which digital broadcast data is transmitted; sequentially extracting identifiers of channels other than the one currently selected from digital broadcast channel guide information and receiving video data of a program, which is being broadcast on a channel corresponding to a first extracted identifier, through the reserve communication path; processing the received video data to extract image data from the video data, extracting digital broadcast channel guide information corresponding to the image data and displaying the extracted information together with the image data; and receiving video data of a channel subsequent to the channel corresponding to the displayed image data through the reserve communication path and processing the video data.

Claims

1. A method for displaying digital broadcast channel information on a digital broadcasting receiver, which comprises the steps of:

searching for an unused reserve communication path among all communication paths over which digital broadcast data is transmitted;

sequentially extracting identifiers of channels, other than the one currently selected, from digital broadcast channel guide information and receiving video data of a program, which is being broadcast on a channel corresponding to a first extracted identifier, through the reserve communication path;

processing the received video data to extract image data from the video data, extracting digital broadcast channel guide information corresponding to the image data and displaying the extracted information together with the image data; and

receiving video data of a next channel subsequent to the channel corresponding to the displayed image data through the reserve communication path and processing the video data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said communication paths are Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) channels.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said reserve communication path is any one of a pilot channel, a Conditional Access System (CAS) channel and an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) channel included in the CDM channels.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

when no reserve communication path is detected, checking whether initialization for digital broadcasting by the pilot channel has been terminated; and

upon termination of the initialization, setting the pilot channel as the reserve communication path.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said extracted image data and corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information are displayed together with a program broadcast on the currently selected channel using a Picture in Picture (PIP) function.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing the image data extracted from the received video data until a predetermined number of images of different channels are stored; and

when the predetermined number of images are stored, simultaneously displaying the stored images and corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information on one screen.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of sequentially displaying the extracted image data and corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information on a display screen divided into a predetermined number of cells.

8. A digital broadcasting receiver having a display screen with a PIP function, which comprises:

a receiver module for receiving digital broadcast data and searching for an unused reserve communication path among all communication paths over which the digital broadcast data is transmitted;

a memory for storing digital broadcast channel guide information received through the receiver module;

a controller for extracting identifiers of channels, other than the one currently selected, from the digital broadcast channel guide information stored in the memory and receiving video data of programs broadcast on channels corresponding to the identifiers through the reserve communication path, with changes of channel according to the identifiers; and

a demux module for extracting image data from video data of each channel received through the reserve communication path, extracting digital broadcast channel guide information corresponding to the extracted image data from the memory and displaying the extracted information together with the image data on the display window under the control of the controller.

9. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 8, wherein said communication paths are Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) channels.

10. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 8, wherein said reserve communication path is any one of a pilot channel, a Conditional Access System (CAS) channel and an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) channel included in the CDM channels.

11. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 10, wherein said receiver module checks whether initialization for digital broadcasting by the pilot channel has been terminated when no reserve communication path is detected, and sets the pilot channel as the reserve communication path upon termination of the initialization.

12. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 8, wherein said controller displays each extracted image data and corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information together with a program broadcast on the currently selected channel using a Picture in Picture (PIP) function.

13. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 8, wherein said controller stores image data of different channels extracted by the demux module to a predetermined number and simultaneously displays the predetermined number of image data together with corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information extracted from the memory on one screen.

14. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 10, wherein said controller divides a display screen into a predetermined number of cells and sequentially displays the extracted image data and corresponding digital broadcast channel guide information on the divided display screen.

15. A method for displaying digital broadcast channel information on a digital broadcasting receiver with a Picture in Picture (PIP) function, which comprises the steps of:

selecting a channel other than the one currently selected according to a broadcast information display manner set by a user;

receiving video data corresponding to a channel identifier of the selected channel;

generating a PIP sub-screen for outputting the received video data; and

processing and outputting the received video data to the generated PIP sub-screen.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said step of selecting another channel is either an automatic selection that selects the other channel according to a predetermined order using a timer provided in the digital broadcasting receiver, or a direct selection that selects a channel which is designated directly by the user.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said step of receiving video data includes:

checking Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) channels to confirm whether at least one CDM channel is not currently being used;

when unused CDM channels are detected and selected as reverse channels, confirming whether the number of the reserve CDM channels is sufficient to receive video data of digital broadcasting; and

when the number of the reserve CDM channels is sufficient to receive video data, receiving video data of the selected other channel through the reserve CDM channels.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, further including:

when the number of the reserve CDM channels is not sufficient to receive video data of digital broadcasting, confirming whether a pilot channel is included in the reserve CDM channels;

when a pilot channel is included in the reserve CDM channel, confirming whether the digital broadcasting receiver is currently performing initialization for digital broadcasting; and

when the initialization is not being performed, including the pilot channel in the reserve CDM channels.

19. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

confirming whether a channel changing key is pressed; and

when the channel changing key is pressed, displaying video data which has been displayed on the PIP sub-screen to a PIP main screen and outputting audio data of a channel corresponding to the video data to a speaker.

20. A digital broadcasting receiver having a display screen with a Picture in Picture (PIP) function, which comprises:

a receiver module for receiving digital broadcast data and searching for an unused reserve communication path among all communication paths over which the digital broadcast data is transmitted;

a memory for storing digital broadcast channel guide information received through the receiver module and PIP display information on a PIP sub-screen which will be generated on the display screen using the PIP function;

a controller for extracting one of identifiers of channels other than the one currently selected from the digital broadcast channel guide information according to a preset broadcast information display manner and receiving video data corresponding to the extracted identifier through the reserve communication path detected by the receiver module;

a first digital signal processor for decoding broadcast data of the currently selected channel and outputting the decoded broadcast data to the display screen;

a second digital signal processor for decoding video data received through the reserve communication path and outputting the decoded video data to the PIP sub-screen generated on the display screen under the control of the controller; and

a demux module for demultiplexing broadcast data received from the receiver module and outputting the broadcast data of the currently selected channel to the first digital signal processor and the video data corresponding to the extracted identifier to the second digital signal processor.

21. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 20, wherein said controller includes:

a first processor for receiving the broadcast data of the currently selected channel and controlling video and audio data included in the broadcast data to be decoded; and

a second processor for controlling identifiers of the other channels to be extracted by either an automatic selection that automatically selects the channels at preset time intervals or a direct selection that selects a channel designated directly by a user.

22. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 21, wherein said second processor includes a timer for checking the preset time intervals for the automatic selection.

23. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 21, wherein said second processor further includes a Picture in Picture (PIP) area setter for generating the PIP sub-screen on the display screen using the PIP display information.

24. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 20, further comprising a key input unit having a channel changing key.

26. The digital broadcasting receiver as claimed in claim 24, wherein said controller displays video data which has been displayed on the Picture in Picture (PIP) sub-screen to a PIP main screen and outputs audio data of a channel corresponding to the video data to a speaker when the channel changing key is pressed.