KR100867468B1 - Remote control suitable for stereoscopic menu images - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control suitable for a stereoscopic menu image. The present invention relates to a three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image for allowing a user to more conveniently search for various electronic program guide (EPG) information such as digital broadcasting channels and broadcasting program information. The position of the cursor (Cursor) superimposed on the (x, y, z) axis can be easily moved in the front, rear, up, down, left and right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axis, respectively, corresponding to the desired date, time and channel It is a very useful invention to be able to search and confirm various electronic program guide information more quickly.

Digital broadcast receiver, set top box, electronic program guide, 3D menu image, OSD, remote control

Description

Remote control suitable for stereoscopic menu image {Remote controller adaptable three dimension menu image}             

1 illustrates a state in which a general digital broadcast receiver is connected to a satellite antenna and a television, respectively.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of electronic program guide (EPG) information that is output and displayed through an OSD screen of a general television.

3 and 4 illustrate a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver using a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention, and an operation flowchart for displaying a stereoscopic menu image.

5 illustrates an embodiment of a 3D graphic image using a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention.

6 and 7 illustrate electronic program guide information in a list form selected and displayed by a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention.

8 illustrates key buttons provided in a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of code for main part of drawing

100: broadcast satellite 200: satellite antenna

300: digital broadcast receiver 400: television

30: Tuner part 31: Demux

32: audio buffer 33: video buffer

34: data buffer 35: MPEG decoder

36: signal synthesizing unit 37: control unit

38: OSD generator 39: memory

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the position of a cursor superimposed on a three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image for retrieving various Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information such as digital broadcasting channel and program information (x, y) and a remote control suitable for a stereoscopic menu image for moving in the z-direction.

In general, digital broadcasting includes digital satellite broadcasting, digital cable broadcasting, and digital terrestrial broadcasting. In a digital broadcasting receiver such as a set top box for receiving the digital broadcasting, digital broadcasting of an MPEG transport stream is performed. After receiving a broadcast signal, reconstructing and signal processing the original video and audio signals, and transmitting the video and audio signals to a general television or the like, the user can watch a desired broadcast program.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in order to receive and signal digital satellite broadcast in the digital broadcast receiver, a satellite antenna 200 for receiving a digital broadcast signal transmitted through the broadcast satellite 100 is provided. The satellite antenna 200 has a low noise blockdown (LBN) converter for converting and amplifying a digital satellite broadcast signal of 3.5 GHz to 12 GHz band into an intermediate frequency of 1 GHz band and reducing noise. It consists of including.                         

Accordingly, since the digital broadcast receiver 300 receives the intermediate frequency of the 1 GHz band where the noise is reduced through the LNB converter, the digital broadcast signal of the MPEG transport stream is converted into the original video and audio signal as described above. After reconstruction to a signal and signal processing, the video and audio signals can be transmitted and output to a general television or the like.

Meanwhile, the digital broadcast receiver 300 receives various electronic program guide (EPG) information such as a broadcast channel and a broadcast program information transmitted in a service information (SI) of digital broadcast, and the service information (SI). After the search is read out, the storage is managed in the device.

In addition, since the electronic program guide information is output and displayed through an on-screen display (OSD) screen of the television 400 according to a user's request, the user having the digital broadcast receiver 300 may, for example, For example, as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to search and confirm a broadcast channel or a broadcast program desired by the user using electronic program guide (EPG) information displayed and displayed through an OSD screen of a television.

However, in the general digital broadcast receiver, the electronic program guide information is outputted and displayed as a two-dimensional list of OSD video as described above, so that the user can search and confirm more detailed broadcast channel and program information. In order to do so, the user must select and input a desired date, time, and channel one by one, so that the user may feel inconvenience in use, and there is a problem in that various electronic program guide information cannot be searched and checked more efficiently.

In addition, in the general digital broadcast receiver, since the electronic program guide information is outputted and displayed in a two-dimensional form defined by a constant time and channel axis, it is impossible to search for various program information that meets user needs. There is this.

Therefore, the present invention was created in order to solve the above problems, so that various electronic program guide (EPG) information such as digital broadcasting channel and broadcasting program information can be searched and confirmed through a three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image. In order to easily move the position of the cursor superimposed on the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the front, rear, up, down, left and right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axes, respectively, To provide a suitable remote control, the purpose is to.

A remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a remote controller suitable for a digital broadcast receiver for outputting and displaying a three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image for searching for electronic program guide information. Key buttons for moving the position of the cursor displayed on the menu image in the front, rear, up, down, left and right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axis are provided.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 illustrates a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver using a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention. For example, a digital broadcast channel such as a set top box (STB) is connected to a digital broadcast receiver. A tuner 30 for tuning, a demux 31 for parsing an MPEG transport stream received through respective services multiplexed on the broadcast channel into audio, video and data, and the audio, Audio buffer 31, video buffer 33, and data buffer 34 for temporarily storing video and data, and decoding the temporarily stored audio, video and data and restoring and outputting the original audio and video signals. MPEG decoder 35 is included.

In addition, the digital broadcast receiver 300 includes a three-dimensional EPG search menu image for easily searching for electronic program guide (EPG) information such as digital broadcast channel and broadcast program information, and a list of two. An OSD generator 38 for generating and outputting a dimensional EPG search menu image, a controller 37 for operation control of the respective constituent means, data necessary for the operation control, and the electronic program guide information are stored. Memory 39 is configured to include.

On the other hand, when the control unit 37 performs the channel selection operation according to the user's key input, the tuner unit 30 and the demux 31 are operated to tune the digital broadcast channel and the service. In this case, the SI information of the digital broadcast transmitted through the digital broadcast channel and the service is temporarily stored in the data buffer 34.

In addition, various electronic program guide (EPG) information, such as broadcast channel and broadcast program information, among the SI information temporarily stored in the data buffer 31 is stored and managed in the memory 39.

On the other hand, the OSD generation unit 38, under the control of the operation of the control unit 37, a three-dimensional EPG search menu image for the user to more easily search for electronic program guide (EPG) information, For example, a three-dimensional EPG search menu image having dates, times, and channels as X, Y, and Z axes, and a cursor having (x, y, z) position coordinate values corresponding to the date / time / channel, respectively. Will generate (Cursor).

The electronic program guide information corresponding to the position coordinate value according to the movement of the cursor, for example, the electronic program guide information satisfying at least one or more conditions among the date / time / channel conditions may be two-dimensional. EPG search menu image is generated and output.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when the broadcast channel tuning operation is performed at the user's request, the controller 37 controls the tuner 30 and the demux 31 to operate. In operation S10, the SI information received and transmitted through the corresponding broadcast channel and the service is searched out.                     

After temporarily storing the SI information in the data buffer 34, various electronic program guide (EPG) information such as broadcast channel and broadcast program information included in the SI information is searched and stored in the memory 39. It is made (S11).

Subsequently, when the 'EPG search menu display' is requested by the user key input (S12), the controller 37 controls the OSD generator 38 to generate a three-dimensional EPG search menu image. It is output (S13).

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a three-dimensional EPG search menu image having a date, time, and channel as X, Y, and Z axes is generated and output, and corresponding to the date / time / channel, respectively. A cursor having a (x, y, z) position coordinate value is generated and displayed.

On the other hand, the position of the cursor displayed as superimposed as described above, the user can move to another position through the remote control operation, etc., wherein the shape of the cursor. It can be superimposed in various shapes other than 'hexagon', and when the cursor is moved by one step on the time (y) axis, the amount of time change per step is broadcast included in the electronic program guide information. The controller 37 may be changed to different time values according to time intervals, and the controller 37 continuously checks and follows (x, y, z) position coordinate values at which the current cursor is positioned (S14).

Subsequently, when the user selects and designates the 'selection' screen button included in the three-dimensional search menu image or inputs the 'selection key' provided in the remote controller or the like (S15), the control unit 37 determines that After checking the (x, y, z) position coordinate value at which the cursor is located at the time point, the electronic program guide information of the date, time, and channel corresponding to the position coordinate value is searched for (S16).

For example, when the 'y' position coordinate value corresponding to 'time' among the (x, y, z) position coordinate values of the cursor has a zero value, the controller 37 may use FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 2, after searching for broadcast program information for each channel and date according to a corresponding time value, the 2D EPG information search menu image in a list form is generated and output (S17).

Meanwhile, when two of the (x, y, z) position coordinate values of the cursor have a zero value, for example, the 'x' position coordinate value and the 'y' position coordinate value corresponding to the channel are zero. In the case of having a value of zero, as shown in FIG. 7, after searching for broadcast program information according to a certain channel and time corresponding to the date, a 2D EPG information search menu image in a list form is generated and output. In the remote control provided with a key button that can easily move the position of the cursor superimposed on the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the front, rear, up, down, left and right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axis as described above. The detailed description is as follows.

8 illustrates key buttons provided in a remote controller suitable for a stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention, wherein the remote controller includes: a power button for turning on / off the power of the digital broadcast receiver; A guide button used to switch to a guide screen for viewing electronic program guide (EPG) information; Previous screen button used to cancel a function or move to the previous screen; A mute button used to pause a sound output from the digital broadcast receiver; A TV button used to switch to a general television while viewing electronic program guide information or to view a full menu of electronic program guide information; A help button used to move to a help or prompt within the electronic program guide function; A channel button used to select a TV channel; A volume button used to adjust the volume; And it is equipped with a number buttons used when directly selecting a channel or require a number such as a password.

The remote control may include a direction button used to move to a desired menu and a selection button used to select a corresponding function. In this case, the direction button may be, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 8. It can be arranged in combination with six directional buttons.

And. Two direction buttons disposed left and right among the six direction buttons are used to move the position of the cursor superimposed on the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the left and right directions on the x-axis, and the upper and lower ones of the six direction buttons The two direction buttons arranged as are used to move the position of the cursor superimposed on the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the vertical direction on the y axis.

In addition, two of the six direction buttons, that is, two direction buttons disposed diagonally, move the position of a cursor superimposed on a three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the front and rear directions on the z axis. Used.

Therefore, the user moves the position of the cursor superimposed on the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the front / back / up / down / left / right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axis by using the six direction buttons of the remote controller. After the input of the selection button, the electronic program guide information that satisfies the condition corresponding to the cursor position can be searched and confirmed.

On the other hand, at least one or more of the six direction buttons can be used as a multi-function key button for selecting and specifying another operation other than the cursor position movement, for example, arranged left and right of the six direction buttons The two direction buttons may be used as a volume button in a normal operation mode other than the guide mode for providing the electronic program guide information. Also, the two direction buttons disposed up and down among the six direction buttons may be used for general operation. In mode, it can be used as a channel button alternative.

For reference, at least one or more of the six direction buttons may be used as a page up / down key button.

Or more, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above, for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art, within the technical spirit and the technical scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims below, to further improve various other embodiments Changes, substitutions or additions will be possible.

 The remote controller suitable for the stereoscopic menu image according to the present invention constructed and operated as described above may include various electronic program guide (EPG) information such as digital broadcasting channel and broadcasting program information. The user can easily move the position of the cursor (Cursor) superimposed on the dimensional stereoscopic menu image in the front, rear, up, down, left and right directions corresponding to the (x, y, z) axes, respectively. And it is a very useful invention to be able to search and confirm a variety of electronic program guide information corresponding to the channel more quickly.

Claims (2)

a pair of first direction buttons for moving the position of the cursor superimposed on the x-axis in the three-dimensional stereoscopic menu image on the (x, y, z) axis in a left-right direction; A pair of second direction buttons for moving a position of a cursor superimposed on the y axis in a vertical direction among three-dimensional stereoscopic menu images of the (x, y, z) axis; And And a pair of third direction buttons for moving the position of the cursor superimposed on the z axis in the front-rear direction among three-dimensional stereoscopic menu images of the (x, y, z) axis. The method of claim 1, The pair of first direction buttons are disposed to face each other in a left and right direction, The pair of second direction buttons are disposed to face up and down, And the pair of third direction buttons are disposed to face in a diagonal direction.

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