Interactive video distribution systems – Video distribution system with upstream communication – Having link to external network
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-27
2004-07-20
Lee, Michael H. (Department: 2714)
Interactive video distribution systems
Video distribution system with upstream communication
Having link to external network
C348S465000, C348S563000, C725S112000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766528
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV, and more particularly, to a device and method for displaying additional information to a TV program.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, an audio/video signal transmitted to a TV also includes additional information data. Particularly, the additional information data, such as a weekly broadcasting guide information, is provided to better serve the viewers. Therefore, a TV receiver requires a demultiplexer, by which a received signal is separated into a video signal, an audio signal; and additional information data. Namely, the demultiplexer separates either a Transport Stream (TS) or a Program Stream (PS) which includes a plurality of elementary data streams such as the video, audio and other additional information combined by a broadcasting station for storage or for transmission of data.
Thus, the additional information may be displayed on a TV screen with or separately from a broadcasted image by an Electronic Program Guide (EPG). Particularly, the EPG contains basic TV guides for program times and channels as well as detail information such plots, the type of program, whether the program is pay TV, or other available services. Thus, viewers can obtain information about present and future TV programs directly from a TV screen, without the need of other guide mediums such as a newspaper. As the number of channels and programs increase, the EPG provides a more convenient tool in searching for and/or viewing a program.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a typical digital TV receiving and displaying program guide information. The digital TV includes a remote control
101
which allows viewers or users to control the TV by radio signals; a remote receiver
102
which receives signals output by the remote control
101
and outputs a key code value corresponding to a key input by the user through the remote control
101
; a tuner
103
which tunes frequency corresponding to a desired channel among the signals received through an antenna or a cable; a demodulator
104
which demodulates the tuned channel frequency by a reversed modulation; a demultiplexer
105
which demultiplexes and separates the demodulated signal into an audio/video signals and additional guide information data; an audio/video decoder
106
which decodes the audio/video signal separated by the demultiplexer
105
; a display unit
107
which displays the decoded signal; a storage
108
which stores the program guide information data separated by the demultiplexer
105
; a controller
109
which controls the tuner
103
, the demodulator
104
, the demultiplexer
105
, the storing and the displaying of the program guide information data, in accordance with the signal from the remote receiver
102
; and a memory
110
which temporarily stores the data from the storage
108
in accordance with the control of the controller
109
.
To operate the digital TV receiver, a user selects program channels transmitted through an antenna or a cable using the remote control
101
such as by pressing keys. The remote receiver
102
then outputs to the controller
109
a key code value corresponding to the key input from the remote control
101
. The controller
109
outputs a control signal for tuning a desired channel frequency in accordance with the key code value of the remote receiver
102
. Additionally, the controller
109
respectively outputs control signals to the demodulator
104
and the demultiplexer
105
, for demodulating the tuned signal and for demultiplexing the demodulated signal.
The tuner
103
tunes a selected channel frequency among the signals received through an antenna or a cable in accordance with the control signal of the controller
109
, and outputs the tuned channel frequency to the demodulator
104
. The demodulator
104
demodulates the tuned channel frequency under the control of the controller
109
. For example, if the input signal is Vestigial Side Band (VSB) modulated, the demodulator
104
performs a VSB demodulation. On the other hand, if the input signal is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulated, the demodulator
104
performs all OFDM demodulation to output a demodulated signal to the demultiplexer
105
.
The demodulated signal input to the demultiplexer
105
is a multiplexed transport packet including the audio signal, the video signal and the additional information data. Thus, the demultiplexer
105
demultiplexes the signal under the control of the controller
109
and separates the audio/video signals from the additional information data. The audio/video signals are output to the audio/video decoder
106
and the additional information including the program guide information such as the title, rating, time and plot of a program is stored in the storage
108
.
The audio/video decoder
106
decodes the audio/video signals and outputs the decoded signal to the display unit
107
. The display unit
107
displays the decoded video signals on a TV screen and plays the decoded audio signals through a speaker. The additional information data regarding a program being displayed on the display unit is read from the storage
108
by the controller
109
and temporarily stored in the memory
110
. The controller
109
then informs users through the display unit
107
that there is additional information for the program being displayed. If there is a request to view the additional information from the user, the controller
109
reads the additional information data stored in the memory
110
and displays the information on the display unit
107
.
Therefore, the digital TV as described above can display information regarding the program such as a program content, program time, names of heroes, if additional information is transmitted by broadcasting stations or external program providers. But, a user's request for more information cannot be met due to the limitation of the EPG data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve at least the problems and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying detailed additional information on objects in a program.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying additional information from an external source such as the Internet, thereby providing a variety of information even if information on a program is not included in the additional information.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the Appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an apparatus for displaying additional information includes a data separator for receiving broadcasting signals, selecting and demodulating a desired program, and separating the additional information from the demodulated signal; a decoder for detecting detail information on each object in the program being displayed from the additional information, and decoding the detail information to store the detail information on objects; a storage for storing the data decoded at the decoder; a display for displaying detail information on each object stored in the storage at preset positions of the program being displayed at the time when detail information display of the objects is selected through a selector; and a controller for controlling the separation of the additional information data, the decoding at the decoder, the data storage at the storage, and the display of various detail information.
In the above apparatus, the storage stores a table which includes a number of object tables, table IDs, and object names correspondin
Cho Sung A
Chung Sang Won
Kim Jae Ryong
Lee Mun Youl
Sohn Se Jung
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Lee Michael H.
LG Electronics Inc.
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