Method and apparatus to provide broadcasting program information on screen of broadcast receiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9338386-B2
Application number	US-42953809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2009
Priority date	Apr 24, 2008
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of providing broadcasting program information, the method including obtaining electronic program guide (EPG) information, extracting first program information from the obtained EPG information, the first program information being program information with respect to all channels, generating second program information based on the first program information, the second program information being information regarding first programs currently being broadcast and second programs to be displayed next in each of the channels, and displaying the generated second program information and a vertical line or a horizontal line indicating a current time on a screen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing broadcasting program information on a screen of a digital broadcasting receiver, the method comprising:
displaying electronic program guide (EPG) information received by the digital broadcasting receiver, wherein the EPG information includes information regarding first programs currently being broadcast in each channel among all channels and a second program to be displayed next in a channel currently being displayed; and
displaying a vertical line or a horizontal line indicating a current time on the screen,
wherein the EPG information is displayed translucently on the screen to enable an image or other information to be visibly seen through the EPG information,
the vertical line or the horizontal line is displayed on the EPG information regarding the first programs currently being broadcast to visualize the current time, and
progress information of the first programs currently being broadcast are visualized on the screen by using a first color before the vertical line or the horizontal line and a second color after the vertical line or the horizontal line to indicate a remainder of time for the first programs currently being broadcast.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying of the EPG information and the line indicating the current time further comprises calculating a first point of time at which a last second program in each of the channels starts.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the displaying of the EPG information and the line indicating the current time further comprises:
calculating a first time interval by determining a difference between the current time and the first point of time;
calculating a second time interval by multiplying a predetermined rate and the calculated first time interval;
calculating a second point of time by adding the second time interval to the first point of time; and
displaying a horizontal time axis of a screen displaying the EPG information within the second point of time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the screen of the EPG information is adjusted according to a predetermined proportion ratio in the displaying of the EPG information and the line indicating the current time.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein progress information of first programs currently being broadcast in each channel is displayed in the displaying of the EPG information and the line indicating the current time.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an input from a user using directional keys disposed on a user interface device to control the digital broadcasting receiver to select a first program or a second program in a channel from the EPG information; and
displaying at least one of program information and related images regarding the selected first program or the second program as pop-up windows.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving an input from a user using hot-keys disposed in a user interface device to select a first channel from among channels with respect to the first program or the second program; and
displaying third program information including information regarding all programs in the selected first channel for all time slots on the screen.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising replacing the displayed third program information by displaying fourth program information including information regarding all programs in a second channel for all time slots in response to the user using the directional keys disposed on the user interface device, the second channel being a channel before or after the first channel.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving an additional input from the user using the directional keys to select a third program in a channel in a time slot from the third program information or the fourth program information; and
setting a recording function, a reserve recording function, or a remind function with respect to the selected third program.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising switching a screen of the digital broadcasting receiver by tuning to the first program or the third program, when the first program or the third program is currently being broadcast.

11. An apparatus to provide broadcasting program information on a screen of a digital broadcasting receiver, the apparatus comprising:
an electronic program guide (EPG) storage unit to obtain EPG information, wherein
the EPG information includes information regarding first programs currently being broadcast in each channel among all channels and second programs to be displayed next in a channel currently being displayed; and
a screen display unit to display the EPG information and a vertical line or a horizontal line indicating a current time in the screen,
wherein, the apparatus is configured to display the EPG information translucently on the screen to enable an image or other information to be visibly seen through the EPG information, to display the vertical line or the horizontal line on the EPG information regarding the first programs currently being broadcast to visualize the current time, and to visualize progress information of the first programs currently being broadcast on the screen by using a first color before the vertical line or the horizontal line and a second color after the vertical line or the horizontal line to indicate a remainder of time for the first programs currently being broadcast.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the screen display unit further comprises a time processing unit to calculate a first point of time at which a last second program in a channel starts.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the time processing unit calculates a first time interval by determining a difference between the current time and the first point of time, calculates a second time interval by multiplying a predetermined rate and the calculated first time interval, and calculates a second point of time by adding the second time interval to the first point of time, and
the screen display unit displays a horizontal time axis of a screen displaying the EPG information within the second point of time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the screen display unit adjusts the screen of the EPG information according to a predetermined proportion ratio.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the screen display unit displays progress information of first programs currently being broadcast in each channel.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:
a first program selecting unit to select a first program or a second program in channels displayed on a NOW/NEXT EPG information screen in response to an input by a user using directional keys disposed on a user interface device to control the digital broadcasting receiver; and
a pop-up displaying unit to display at least one of program information and related images regarding the selected first program or the second program as pop-up windows.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising:
a channel selecting unit to select a first channel from among channels with respect to the first program or the second program in response to an input from a user using hot-keys disposed on the user interface device; and
a brief EPG information displaying unit to display third program information regarding all programs in the selected first channel for all time slots.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the brief EPG information displaying unit further comprises a program information switching unit to switch from the displayed third program information

Assignees

• Jung Taeung
• Lee Hyowon
• Choi Yoonhee
• Smeaton Alan Francis
• Gurrin Cathal
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Taeung
• Lee Hyowon
• Choi Yoonhee
• Smeaton Alan Francis
• Gurrin Cathal

Classifications

• H04N21/4821

  using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time · CPC title

• H04N21/4438

  Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface · CPC title

• H04N21/4221 Primary

  Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext · CPC title

• H04N21/4312

  involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations · CPC title

• H04N21/4345

  Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream · CPC title