Channel selecting method and apparatus

Interactive video distribution systems – Operator interface – To facilitate tuning or selection of video signal

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C725S139000, C725S151000, C348S565000, C348S731000, C348S734000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06334217

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus having a tuner, and more particularly, to a channel selecting method and apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a video processor having a tuner, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR) or a television (TV) set, selects a new channel whenever there is a channel change request. The channel is changed by tuning a frequency of the new channel by the tuner. Hence, the channel change is delayed. In a digital TV set, such as a high definition television (HDTV), for viewing next generation digital broadcasting, it takes a longer time to select the channel in comparison with a TV for viewing NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) analog broadcasting. This is because the tuner requires a lot of time to tune the frequency of the new channel, and in particular, it takes a long time for a transport stream (TS) decoder contained in the digital TV to detect a start position of a reference screen. If the channel is changed, the TS decoder newly detects a packet identification (PID) supplied to the new channel and a start position of an intra (I) frame, thereby consuming a lot of time. Therefore, a viewer must wait that time period of when the channel is changed. That is, since a channel selecting operation is again started from the beginning whenever the channel is changed, it takes a long time to select the channel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a channel selecting method and apparatus which can reduce the time for changing a channel of an apparatus, such as a digital or analog TV or a video cassette recorder.
According to one aspect of the present invention, in addition to selecting a current viewing channel by using one of two tuners, a channel predicted to be selected is selected by using the other tuner. If a channel change to the channel predicted to be selected is requested, a signal of the selected predicted channel is selected as a signal of the viewing channel.


REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 34340 (1993-08-01), Freeman
patent: 5250933 (1993-10-01), Beaudin et al.
patent: 5585865 (1996-12-01), Amano et al.
patent: 5604543 (1997-02-01), Baek
patent: 5900916 (1999-05-01), Pauley
patent: 5933192 (1999-08-01), Crosby et al.
patent: 5959659 (1999-09-01), Dokic
patent: 5973748 (1999-10-01), Horiguchi et al.
(Webster's Dictionary—10th Edition; p. 918), 1997.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Channel selecting method and apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Channel selecting method and apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Channel selecting method and apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2583759

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.