Image display apparatus and operating method thereof

• US 8,358,377 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2009
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahn, Kyu Tae, Lee, Jae Kyung, Kim, Gyu Seung, Lee, Kun Sik
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael
• Application Number:
  US12/630,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20100302444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,146 Days
• Field of Search: 348564-570, 348731-733, 725/41
• US Class Current: 348/564
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• 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 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• 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 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

A method of operating an image display apparatus includes generating a thumbnail image based on an input signal, detecting an error in the thumbnail image, and displaying the thumbnail image if no error is detected in the thumbnail image.

Claims

1. A method of operating an image display apparatus, comprising:

receiving a first input signal;

displaying a first image on a display based on the first input signal;

receiving a second input signal;

generating a first thumbnail image based on the second input signal;

displaying simultaneously a first thumbnail list including the first thumbnail image and a second image based on the first input signal in a compact-view mode,

determining whether an error exists in updating the first thumbnail image; and

if no error exists, or if an error exists and an error ratio of an updated second thumbnail image is less than a reference value, displaying the updated second thumbnail image in the first thumbnail list based on the second input signal; and

displaying a second thumbnail list including a plurality of thumbnail images in full-view mode on the entire display according to a user input, wherein the reference value is set differently for the compact-view mode and the full-view mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether an error exists in updating the first thumbnail image is performed based on at least one of size information, syntax information, checksum information, continuity information or content information corresponding to the second input signal on which the first thumbnail image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first thumbnail image comprises:

demultiplexing an input stream corresponding to the second input signal,

generating a primitive thumbnail image from the demultiplexed stream,

encoding the primitive thumbnail image into a thumbnail stream, and

generating the first thumbnail image from the thumbnail stream.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first input signal is a first broadcast signal from a first tuner and the second input signal is a second broadcast signal from a second tuner.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first thumbnail image list further includes one or more additional thumbnail images except the first thumbnail image, the one or more additional thumbnail images based on one or more input signals different from the first input signal and the second input signal,

displaying source information for the first thumbnail image and the one or more additional thumbnail images, wherein the source information of the first thumbnail image and the source information f the one or more additional thumbnail images are different.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first input signal and second input signal are received through different channels or different sources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the first image is greater than a size of the second image.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein a size of thumbnail images displayed in the full-view mode is different from a size or sizes of thumbnail images displayed in the compact-view mode.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first input signal and the second input signal are received simultaneously.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second thumbnail image lists have at least one different thumbnail image.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first thumbnail image is displayed simultaneously with the first image before said error determining is performed.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first thumbnail list and the second image are displayed with a first object indicating a full-view mode displaying a second thumbnail list on the entire display and a second object indicating a termination of the compact-view mode, and

the second thumbnail list is further displayed with a third object indicating a termination of the full-view mode.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the second thumbnail list further includes a ‘

channel lock’

menu for locking a thumbnail image so that the thumbnail image cannot be edited, a ‘

channel edit’

menu for editing thumbnail images, and a ‘

channel align’

menu for aligning thumbnail images.

9. An image display apparatus comprising:

an input to receive a first input signal and a second input signal;

a generator to generate a first thumbnail image based on the second input signal;

a detector to detect whether an error exists in updating the first thumbnail image; and

a display to display simultaneously a first thumbnail list including the first thumbnail image and a second image based on the first input signal in a compact-view mode, or to display a second thumbnail list including a plurality of thumbnail images in the full-view mode on the entire display according to a user input,

wherein if no error exists, or if error exists and error ratio of an updated second thumbnail image is less than a reference value, the display displays an updated second thumbnail image in the first thumbnail list or the second thumbnail list, and wherein the reference value is set differently for a compact-view mode and a full-view mode.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a channel-browsing processor to generate a primitive thumbnail image from an input stream corresponding to the second input signal and to encode the primitive thumbnail image into a thumbnail stream.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the channel-browsing processor comprises

a demultiplexer to demultiplex the input stream into a video signal, an audio signal and a data signal,

a picture decoder to decode the video signal,

a format converter to convert the decoded video signal into the primitive thumbnail image,

an image encoder to encode the primitive thumbnail image, and

a stream encoder to encode the encoded primitive thumbnail image into a thumbnail stream.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the input comprises:

a first tuner to receive the first input signal, and

a second tuner to receive the second input signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the first thumbnail list and the second image are displayed with a first object indicating a full-view mode displaying a second thumbnail list on the entire display and a second object indicating a termination of the compact-view mode, and

the second thumbnail list is further displayed with a third object indicating a termination of the full-view mode.

19. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second thumbnail list further includes a ‘

channel lock’

menu for locking a thumbnail image so that the thumbnail image cannot be edited, a ‘

channel edit’

menu for editing thumbnail images, and a ‘

channel align’

menu for aligning thumbnail images.