Method of acquiring program guide information, program guide method appropriate for the same, and program guide apparatus

• US 8,418,200 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2010
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Ju-ha
• Primary Examiner(s): HANCE, ROBERT J
• Application Number:
  US12/834,436
• Publication Number:
  US 20100281502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39
• US Class Current: 725/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/18 Arrangements characterised by circuits or components specially adapted for receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/72 using electronic programme guides [EPG] focusing on identifying broadcast space time H04H60/39 ; menu type display of EPG in television receivers H04N21/47
• 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 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4823 using a channel name

Abstract

A method and apparatus of acquiring program guide information for a digital television receiver. There is provided a digital television signal receiver, including: a tuner to receive a digital television transport stream (TS) which includes audio, video, and program information; an extractor to extract the program information from the received TS; a storage to store the extracted program information; a processor to access the storage to generate a channel list based on the stored program information stored in the storage, where the channel list comprises at least one channel number and the at least one channel number comprises at least one main channel number; and a user interface to allow a user to navigate the channel list to search a channel number, wherein if the at least one main channel number has a corresponding sub-channel number, the sub-channel number can be listed after the at least one main channel number.

Claims

1. A digital television signal receiver, comprising:

a tuner to receive a digital television transport stream which includes audio, video, and additional information;

an extractor to extract the audio, video, and additional information from the received transport stream, the additional information including Program Specific Information (PSI) table data conforming with an MPEG standard and information transmitted according to an advanced television standard committee (ATSC) standard;

a storage to store the extracted additional information;

a processor to access the storage to generate a channel list based on the extracted additional information, where the channel list is made up of one or more grouped plural channel numbers such that each channel number of a respective grouping of channel numbers is identified by a two-part channel number having a same main channel number, as a first numeral part of each two-part channel number, and one or more distinct respective sub-channel numbers, as respective second numeral parts of each two-part channel number, and where each of the one or more grouped plural channel numbers is represented by two-part channel numbers having respectively different main channel numbers; and

a user interface to allow a user to navigate the channel list to search each two-part channel number, wherein each two-part channel number, of each respective grouped plural channel numbers, such that the one or more distinct respective sub-channel numbers are listed after a corresponding main channel number, and

wherein the processor is configured to generate a first channel list based on first program information for a first two-part channel number obtained from the transport stream and to generate other displayable channel lists as respective program information for other two-part channel numbers is obtained from the transport stream so respective channel lists can be sequentially displayed, along with the first program information, based upon determined proximities between the first two-part channel number and the other two-part channel numbers, respectively.

2. The receiver of claim 1, wherein a listing sequence of each respective grouped plural channel numbers can be determined based on proximity between channels to allow a select current two-part channel number, of one or more two-part channel numbers corresponding to a current grouping of related two-part channel numbers, to be listed along with at least one two-part channel number, of one or more two-part channel numbers corresponding to a proximally related upper close grouping of related two-part channel numbers, and/or at least one two-part channel number, of one or more two-part channel numbers corresponding to a proximally related lower close grouping of related two-part channel numbers.

3. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the digital television transport stream includes the audio, video, and additional information for each of the plural programs included in the transport stream, with the additional information including respective program specific information (PSI) tables, conforming with the MPEG standard, and the respective program information of the plural programs, and

wherein the extractor separately extracts the respective program information from the received transport stream.

4. The receiver of claim 1, wherein a sequence of acquiring up to date program information from the transport stream for the displayed channel list for respective channel groupings is determined based on respective channel number proximities between two-part channel numbers of a current channel grouping and respective two-part channel numbers of channel groupings to be displayed above and/or below the two-part channel numbers of the current channel grouping.

5. The receiver of claim 4, wherein a sequence of displaying the up to date program information in the channel list for respective channel groupings is determined based on proximity between two-part channel numbers to allow up to date first program information of the current channel grouping to be displayed along with at least up to date second program information of a proximally related upper close grouping of related two-part channel numbers and/or at least up to date third program information of a proximally related lower close grouping of related two-part channel numbers, such that the acquiring of the up to date second and/or third program information for availability in the displaying of the up to date program information in the channel list occurs prior to acquiring up-to-date program information of channel groupings corresponding to two-part channel numbers of greater distances from the selected current first two-part channel number than the respective related two-part channel numbers of the upper close grouping or the lower close grouping.

6. A digital television signal receiver, comprising:

a tuner to receive a digital television transport stream which includes audio, video, and additional information;

a converter to convert an IF signal received from the tuner into a baseband signal;

a channel decoder to decode the baseband signal to reconstruct the transport stream;

an extractor to extract the audio, video, and additional information from the received transport stream, the additional information including Program Specific Information (PSI) table data conforming with an MPEG standard and information transmitted according to an advanced television standard committee (ATSC) standard;

a storage to store the extracted additional information;

a processor to access the storage to generate a channel list based on the extracted additional information, where the channel list is made up of one or more grouped plural channel numbers, such that each channel number of a respective grouping of channel numbers is identified by a two-part channel number having a same main channel number, as a first numeral part of each two-part channel number, and one or more distinct respective sub-channel numbers, as respective second numeral parts of each two-part channel number, and where each of the one or more grouped plural channel numbers is represented by two-part channel numbers having respectively different main channel numbers; and

a user interface to allow a user to navigate the channel list to search a two-part channel number,

wherein each two-part channel number, of each respective grouped plural channel numbers, is listed such that the one or more distinct respective sub-channel numbers are listed after a corresponding main channel number, and

wherein the processor is configured to generate a first channel list based on first program information for a first two-part channel number obtained from the transport stream and to generate other displayable channel lists as respective program information for other two-part channel numbers is obtained from the transport stream so respective channel lists can be sequentially displayed, along with the first program information, based upon determined proximities between the first two-part channel number and the other two-part channel numbers, respectively.

7. The receiver of claim 6, wherein the digital television transport stream includes the audio, video, and additional information for each of the plural programs included in the transport stream, with the additional information including respective program specific information (PSI) tables, conforming with the MPEG standard, and the respective program information of the plural programs, and

wherein the extractor separately extracts the respective program information from the received transport stream.

8. The receiver of claim 6, wherein a sequence of acquiring up to date program information from the transport stream for the displayed channel list for respective channel groupings is determined based on respective channel number proximities between two-part channel numbers of a current channel grouping and respective two-part channel numbers of channel groupings to be displayed above and/or below the two-part channel numbers of the current channel grouping.

9. The receiver of claim 8, wherein a sequence of displaying the up to date program information in the channel list for respective channel groupings is determined based on proximity between two-part channel numbers to allow up to date first program information of the current channel grouping to be displayed along with at least up to date second program information of a proximally related upper close grouping of related two-part channel numbers and/or at least up to date third program information of a proximally related lower close grouping of related two-part channel numbers, such that the acquiring of the up to date second and/or third program information for availability in the displaying of the up to date program information in the channel list occurs prior to acquiring up-to-date program information of channel groupings corresponding to two-part channel numbers of greater distances from the selected current first two-part channel number than the respective related two-part channel numbers of the upper close grouping or the lower close grouping.