METHOD AND APPARATUS OF CHANNEL SWITCHING USING PRE-ACQUISITED PSI TABLE

• US 20140337887A1
• Filed: 02/06/2014
• Published: 11/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Humax Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Humax Company Limited
• Inventors: KIM, Tae Gap
• Granted Patent: US 9,271,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for switching channels to reduce channel zapping time, which use channel information generated prior to channel switching and generates audio and video data of a switched channel, thereby skipping a process of calculating channel information of a channel to be switched at the time of channel switching.

Claims

1. In a method for switching channels carried out by a media play apparatus, a method, comprising:

obtaining information about a plurality of channels;

receiving a channel switching signal; and

generating channel data according to the channel switching signal by using the obtained channel information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining information about a plurality of channels comprises obtaining channel information by using at least one idling tuner among a plurality of tuners.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the obtaining channel information by using at least one idling tuner among a plurality of tuners comprises obtaining channel information of a channel not included in a transport stream under reception.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel information is transported being contained in a program association table (PAT) or program map table (PMT) including identifiers for a plurality of transport streams.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein The PAT or PMT further includes an identifier indicating a transport stream in which the PAT or PMT is included.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel information is transported being contained in a PAT or PMT of a transport stream, and the channel information further includes channel information of a channel contained in another transport stream.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining information of a plurality of channels comprises obtaining channel information by using an IP network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining information about a plurality of channels comprises

receiving channel information from a transport stream received by using a tuner;

and

receiving channel information of a channel not included in the transport stream from a server by using an IP network.

9. In an apparatus for switching channels of a media play apparatus, an apparatus, comprising:

at least one tuner obtaining information about a plurality of channels; and

a controller extracting channel information from the channel data and generating channel data according to a received channel switching signal by using the previously obtained channel information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the channel information is obtained by using at least one idling tuner.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the idling tuner obtains channel information of a channel not included in a transport stream under reception.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the channel information is transported being contained in a PAT or PMT including identifiers of a plurality of transport streams.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the channel information corresponds to a PAT or PMT which includes only channel information of a channel contained in another transport stream.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the channel information is a PAT or PMT which further includes channel information of a channel included in another transport stream, and the PAT or PMT further includes an identifier indicating a transport stream in which the PAT or PMT is included.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an IP transceiver which receives channel information from a server by using an IP network.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the IP transceiver receives channel information of a channel from a server, the channel being not included in a transport stream received through the tuner

17. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising memory in which obtained channel information is stored, and wherein the controller stores the obtained channel information in the memory when channel information stored in the memory is different from the obtained channel information and performs channel switching according to the channel switching signal by using the channel information stored in the memory.

18. In a media data transport packet, a media data transport packet, comprising transport stream identifiers for a plurality of media data.

19. The media data transport packet of claim 18, wherein a PAT or PMT is included, and the PAT or PMT includes the transport stream identifiers for a plurality of media data.

20. The media data transport packet of claim 18, wherein a plurality of PATs or PMTs are included, and the PAT or PMT each includes the transport stream identifier for a plurality of media data.