Abstract:
A digital broadcasting reception terminal and a digital broadcasting data processing method using the same can reduce the overhead increase of the operation system as well as the use of resources. The digital broadcasting reception terminal includes a digital broadcasting receiver for receiving digital broadcasting data; a demodulator for demodulating the received digital broadcasting data and outputting a reporting signal when the digital broadcasting data have been demodulated up to a preset capacity, wherein the reporting signal reports demodulation of the digital broadcasting data up to the preset capacity; and a control unit for reading and outputting the demodulated digital broadcasting data when the reporting signal has been output from the demodulator.

Description:
PRIORITY  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of applications entitled “Digital Broadcasting Reception Terminal And Method For Processing Digital Broadcasting Data Using The Same” filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on May 27, 2005 and May 23, 2006, and assigned Serial Nos. 2005-45058 and 2006-45916, respectively, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to digital broadcasting, and more particularly to a digital broadcasting reception terminal and a method for processing digital broadcasting data using the same.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     In general, digital broadcasting refers to broadcasting which provides users, in place of conventional analog broadcasting, with a service of a higher screen quality, a higher sound quality, and a higher service quality.  
         [0006]     According to recent developments in digital broadcasting technology and mobile communication technology, increasing attention is being paid to a digital broadcasting service enabling users to view digital broadcasting while they are moving. In particular, more attention is being paid to the Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) service using a mobile communication terminal. The DMB service refers to a broadcasting service which enables a user to view various multimedia broadcasting through multiple channels by a receiver for a vehicle or a personal portable receiver equipped with a non-directional reception antenna, even while the user is moving.  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a structure of a system for implementing a digital broadcasting service.  
         [0008]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the system for implementing a digital broadcasting service includes a data sending center  10 , a satellite  20 , and reception devices (e.g. a mobile communication terminal  30 , a receiver  40  for an automobile, a household receiver  50 , etc.). The data sending center  10  compresses, modulates, and then transmits digital multimedia data (which includes image, voice, and data signals) to the satellite  20 . The satellite  20  receives, amplifies, and frequency-converts the signal from the data sending center  10 , and then transmits the converted signal back to the ground. The reception devices  30 ,  40 , and  50  receive, demodulate, and decompress the signal from the satellite  20 , and then output a restored original signal.  
         [0009]     Due to rapid development in the digital broadcasting service technology as described above, a user can view clear digital broadcasting without noise even in a vehicle which moves at a high speed.  
         [0010]     In order to implement the digital broadcasting reception function, the mobile communication terminal is equipped with a separate multimedia chip, e.g. a DM270 chip, in addition to a communication modem chip, e.g. a Mobile Station Modem (MSM), for controlling the mobile communication function. Therefore, in a mobile communication terminal equipped with the multimedia chip, the communication modem chip performs the mobile communication function while the multimedia chip performs the digital broadcasting reception function, so that it is nearly improbable that interference between two chips may occur.  
         [0011]     A conventional method for processing the digital broadcasting data by the digital broadcasting reception terminal having two chips is as follows.  
         [0012]     First, the digital broadcasting reception terminal receives and demodulates the digital broadcasting data. Second, the digital broadcasting reception terminal reads the demodulated digital broadcasting data according to a polling scheme and parses the data into audio and video data. Third, the digital broadcasting reception terminal outputs the parsed data through a display unit and a speaker.  
         [0013]     Meanwhile, as seen in recent terminals equipped with a communication modem chip (e.g. MSM6550) which supports the digital broadcasting reception function, it has become unnecessary to mount a separate multimedia chip onto each terminal and has become possible to perform the mobile communication function and the digital broadcasting reception function using a single chip.  
         [0014]     In the former terminals, the polling scheme has no big influence on the mobile communication function, because a separate multimedia chip is mounted in each of the terminals. However, according to the one-chip solution, that is, in a digital broadcasting reception terminal having a single chip (e.g. MSM6550), it is expected that use of a large amount of resources is necessary and overhead on the Operation System (OS) will thus increase in order to simultaneously perform the mobile communication function and the digital broadcasting reception function.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcasting reception terminal and a digital broadcasting data processing method using the same, which can reduce the overhead increase of the operation system as well as the use of resources.  
         [0016]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a digital broadcasting reception terminal and a digital broadcasting data processing method using the same, which can receive and efficiently process digital broadcasting data.  
         [0017]     In order to accomplish these and other objects, there is provided a digital broadcasting reception terminal including a digital broadcasting receiver for receiving digital broadcasting data; a demodulator for demodulating the received digital broadcasting data and outputting a reporting signal when the digital broadcasting data have been demodulated up to a preset capacity, wherein the reporting signal reports demodulation of the digital broadcasting data up to the preset capacity; and a control unit for reading and outputting the demodulated digital broadcasting data when the reporting signal has been output from the demodulator.  
         [0018]     Preferably, the control unit includes a memory for storing the digital broadcasting data read from the demodulator, and a display unit and audio processor for outputting the parsed audio and video data.  
         [0019]     In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing digital broadcasting data by a digital broadcasting reception terminal, the method including receiving and demodulating digital broadcasting data; reading and storing the demodulated digital broadcasting data when the digital broadcasting data have been demodulated up to a preset capacity; and outputting the stored digital broadcasting data. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0020]     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0021]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a structure of a system for implementing a digital broadcasting service;  
         [0022]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a transmitter part of a typical digital broadcasting reception system;  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting reception terminal according to the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 4  is a more detailed block diagram illustrating several elements in the digital broadcasting reception terminal shown in  FIG. 3 ; and  
         [0025]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of a digital broadcasting reception terminal according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0026]     Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention unclear.  
         [0027]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a transmitter part of a typical digital broadcasting reception system.  
         [0028]     The transmitter part of a typical digital broadcasting reception system includes an audio signal encoder  110 , an image signal encoder  120 , a Transport Stream (TS) multiplexer  130 , a modulator  140 , and a Radio Frequency (RF) unit  150 . The audio signal encoder  110  encodes an input analog audio signal  102  into audio data and compresses the audio data. The image signal encoder  120  encodes an input analog image signal  104  into image data and compresses the image data.  
         [0029]     The TS multiplexer  130  divides the digital audio data input from the audio signal encoder  110  and the digital image data input from the image signal encoder  120  in accordance with the TS packet size and then multiplexes the divided packets, so as to transmit the packets through transport channels. Usually, the TS packet has a size of 188 bytes.  
         [0030]     The modulator  140  loads the TS packets input from the TS multiplexer  130  on sub-carriers. The RF unit  150  transmits an RF signal through an antenna including the TS packets modulated by the modulator  140 .  
         [0031]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a digital broadcasting reception terminal according to the present invention, and  FIG. 4  is a more detailed block diagram illustrating several elements in the digital broadcasting reception terminal shown in  FIG. 3 . It is assumed that the digital broadcasting reception terminal can perform both the digital broadcasting reception function and the mobile communication function. It is preferred that an MSM chip (which is a communication modem chip) controls the operation of a digital broadcasting reception terminal  200 . Therefore, it is assumed in the present embodiment that the digital broadcasting reception terminal  200  is equipped with a communication modem chip (MSM 6550).  
         [0032]     The digital broadcasting reception terminal  200  includes a digital broadcasting receiver  210 , a demodulator  220 , a memory  230 , a key input unit  240 , a control unit  250  (e.g. MSM 6550), an audio processor  260 , and a display unit  270 .  
         [0033]     The digital broadcasting receiver  210  receives an RF signal (i.e. digital broadcasting data) transmitted from the transmitter part shown in  FIG. 2  and transfers the received RF signal to the demodulator  220 . The demodulator  220  removes the sub-carriers from the RF signal received from the digital broadcasting receiver  210  and demodulates it into a digital data stream. The demodulator  220  stores the demodulated digital data stream in a Dual Ported Random Access Memory (DPRAM) data area  225 , shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0034]     When the digital data stream has been demodulated up to a preset capacity, for example, when 12 TS packets (12*188 bytes) have been demodulated, the demodulator  220  outputs a reporting signal which reports the demodulation to the control unit  250 . That is, when a preset amount of digital broadcasting data (i.e. digital data stream) has been stored in the DPRAM data area  225 , the demodulator  220  outputs a reporting signal which reports the storage to the control unit  250 .  
         [0035]     Meanwhile, it should be noted that the preset capacity (for example, 12 packets) which serves as a condition for output of the reporting signal by the demodulator  220  is not fixed but is only an example with respect to the present invention.  
         [0036]     The memory  230  stores various information necessary for control of operation of the digital broadcasting reception terminal  200 . The key input unit  240  includes character keys, number keys, and various function keys and outputs a key input signal corresponding to a user&#39;s key input to the control unit  250 .  
         [0037]     The control unit  250  (e.g. MSM 6550) controls the general operation of the digital broadcasting reception terminal  200 . The control unit  250  includes a TS parser  251 , a ring buffer  253 , a video Element Stream (ES) buffer  255 , and an audio ES buffer  257 , as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0038]     When receiving the reporting signal from the demodulator  220 , the control unit  250  reads the digital broadcasting data stored in the DPRAM data area  225  of the demodulator  220  and stores the read data in the ring buffer  253 . The ring buffer  253  may be included in the memory  230 . The larger the capacity of the ring buffer  253 , the larger the preset capacity (for example, 12 packets) which serves as a condition for output of the reporting signal by the demodulator  220  may become.  
         [0039]     The TS parser  251  parses the digital broadcasting data stored in the ring buffer  253  into audio and image (i.e. video) data, and the parsed audio and image data are output by the audio processor  260  and the display unit  270  after passing through the audio ES buffer  257  and the video ES buffer  255 .  
         [0040]     Meanwhile, when the system is unstable, the demodulator  220  may fail to output the reporting signal in spite of the existence of demodulated data. For this case, it is preferable to read demodulated digital broadcasting data and store the read data in the ring buffer  253  after a predetermined period.  
         [0041]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of a digital broadcasting reception terminal according to the present invention.  
         [0042]     Referring to FIGS.  3  to  5 , the control unit  250  receives an RF signal containing digital broadcasting data through the digital broadcasting receiver  210  (step S 110 ).  
         [0043]     The demodulator  220  removes the sub-carriers from the received RF signal from the digital broadcasting receiver  210  and demodulates it into a digital data stream (step S 120 ). Then, the demodulator  220  stores the demodulated digital data stream at the DPRAM data area  225 .  
         [0044]     The control unit  250  determines if the received digital data have been demodulated up to a preset capacity, e.g. 12 packets (step S 130 ). Simultaneously, the control unit  250  checks if a reporting signal is output from the demodulator  220 . As a result, it is possible to prevent the control unit  250  from unnecessarily checking the state of the DPRAM in order to read the digital broadcasting data particularly even when there is no demodulated digital broadcasting data in the DPRAM data area  225  of the demodulator  220 . The reporting signal is a signal which reports that the digital broadcasting data have been stored up to a preset capacity in the DPRAM data area of the demodulator  220 .  
         [0045]     When the reporting signal is output from the demodulator  220 , the control unit  250  determines that the digital broadcasting data have been stored up to a preset capacity, reads the demodulated digital broadcasting data from the DPRAM data area  225 , and stores the read data in the ring buffer  253  (step S 140 ).  
         [0046]     For the case where the demodulator  220  fails to output the reporting signal in spite of the existence of demodulated data, the control unit  250  may read demodulated digital broadcasting data and store the read data in the ring buffer  253  after a predetermined period.  
         [0047]     The control unit  250  parses the digital broadcasting data stored in the ring buffer  253  into audio data and video data (step S 150 ). The control unit  250  decodes the parsed digital broadcasting data (that is, the audio data and the video data) into an analog audio signal and an analog video signal, and outputs the decoded signals through the audio processor  260  and the display unit  270 .  
         [0048]     According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to reduce the increase in overhead on the operation system as well as the use of resources when a digital multimedia broadcasting reception terminal without a separate multimedia chip receives and processes digital broadcasting data.  
         [0049]     While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, specifically to a digital broadcasting reception terminal capable of performing a mobile communication function and a digital broadcasting reception function, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.