Channel selection device and method

• US 20080313677A1
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altimedia Corp. (Alticast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alticast Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Ji-Young
• Granted Patent: US 8,056,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• 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 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• 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 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0122 the input and the output signals having different aspect ratios

Abstract

There is provided a channel selection device receiving a multi-channel video including plural videos and video configuration information on each video from a head end. The channel selection device includes a first screen display unit editing the multi-channel video based on the video configuration information and searching view configuration information to generate a channel searching view and displaying the channel searching view on a sub-screen of a television; and a second screen display unit displaying on a main screen of the television a video selected by a viewer out of the videos included in the channel searching view.

Claims

1. A channel selection device receiving a multi-channel video including plural videos and video configuration information on each video from a head end, the channel selection device comprising:

a first screen display unit editing the multi-channel video based on the video configuration information and searching view configuration information to generate a channel searching view and displaying the channel searching view on a sub-screen of a television; and

a second screen display unit displaying on a main screen of the television a video selected by a viewer out of the videos included in the channel searching view.

2. The channel selection device of claim 1, wherein the video configuration information comprises first location information indicating a location of each video in the multi-channel video and first size information indicating a size of each video in the multi-channel video.

3. The channel selection device of claim 2, wherein the searching view configuration information comprises second location information indicating a location of each video in the channel searching view and second size information indicating a size of each video in the channel searching view.

4. The channel selection device of claim 3, wherein the first screen display unit comprises an editing unit, wherein the editing unit edits the multi-channel video by clipping each video from the multi-channel video based on the first location information and the first size information and transiting each video clipped according to the second location information.

5. The channel selection device of claim 4, wherein the editing unit scales the clipped video according to the second size information.

6. The channel selection device of claim 5, wherein the first screen display unit further comprises

a searching view configuration unit generating a searching view generation request including the first and second location information and the first and second size information and transmitting the generated searching view generation request to the editing unit;

a channel selection control unit controlling the searching view configuration unit in response to a first command; and

a key input receiving unit receiving a first key input from the viewer, generating a first command corresponding to the first key input, and transmitting the generated first command to the channel selection control unit.

7. The channel selection device of claim 6, wherein the channel searching view comprises a reference video that may be displayed on the main screen by a viewer'"'"'s selection.

8. The channel selection device of claim 7, wherein the searching view generation request comprises information on a video displayed on the main screen by the second screen display unit, and the editing unit sets up the video displayed on the main screen as the reference video.

9. The channel selection device of claim 8, wherein the key input unit receives a second key input from the viewer, generates a second command corresponding to the second key input, and transmits the generated second command to the channel selection control unit, the second command including modification channel information entered by the second key input, the modification channel information including information related to one of the videos located adjacent to the reference video on the channel searching view, the channel selection control unit controls the searching view configuration unit in response to the second command, the searching view configuration unit generates a channel searching request including the modification channel information according to a control of the channel selection control unit and transmits the generated channel searching request to the editing unit, and the editing unit changes the reference video into another video according to the modification channel information.

10. The channel selection device of claim 3, wherein the searching view configuration information is received from the head end or inputted by a viewer'"'"'s key input.

11. A channel selection method receiving a multi-channel video including plural videos, video configuration information on each video, and searching view configuration information on a method of configuring a channel searching view from a head end, the channel selection method comprising:

receiving the multi-channel video, the video configuration information, and the searching view configuration information from the head end in response to a first command corresponding to a first key input;

editing the multi-channel video based on the video configuration information and the searching view configuration information to generate a channel searching view including a reference video screen, and displaying the generated channel searching view on a sub-screen of a television;

displaying the channel searching view where the reference video has been changed into a video corresponding to a modification channel information on the sub-screen of the television in response to a second key command corresponding to a second key input including the modification channel information; and

receiving a video broadcast through a channel of the reference video to display the video on a main screen of the television in response to a third command corresponding to a third key input.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the video configuration information comprises first location information indicating a location of each video in the multi-channel video and first size information indicating a size of each video in the multi-channel video.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the searching view configuration information includes second location information indicating a location of each video in the channel searching view and second size information indicating a size of each video in the channel searching view.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said editing includes editing the multi-channel video by clipping each video from the multi-channel video based on the first location information and the first size information and transiting each video clipped according to the second location information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said editing includes scaling the clipped video according to the second size information.