Abstract:
A method of providing an electronic program guide is disclosed. The method includes storing information of electronic program guides, displaying an electronic program guide of a channel output on a primary screen in response to a signal of outputting the information of the electronic program guides, and displaying an electronic program guide of a new channel output on the primary screen when the channel of the primary screen is changed to the new channel.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a method of providing an electronic program guide, and more particularly to a method of providing an electronic program guide such that program organization information can be supplied along with text information or video information relating to the program organization information to provide more sufficient program information to the user. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Generally, users search and refer to broadcast programs on a program guide supplied from the newspaper or the World Wide Web before watching TV broadcasts. 
         [0005]    In recent years, however, analog televisions or digital televisions have been developed to provide a service for displaying an electronic program guide (EPG) of broadcast programs sent from broadcasting stations or secondary broadcasting service centers. 
         [0006]    When referring to the EPG while watching a television program, a viewer often searches for a desired type of program or a program to be reserved. 
         [0007]    Since the EPG conventionally supplies information on a number of channels for each time via a single TV screen, the viewer must pay attention to the EPG confusingly displayed on the TV screen to obtain information of a desired channel in practice, and such a confusingly displayed EPG provides inconvenience to the viewer by disturbing the viewer in watching the TV program which is currently broadcast on the screen. 
         [0008]    Further, while changing channels on the screen, the viewer usually wants to watch the EPGs relating to the changed channels. However, a conventional method of providing the EPG fails to satisfy such a user&#39;s need. Therefore, there is a need for an improved method of providing the EPG, which overcomes the problem of the conventional method. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The present invention is conceived to solve the problems of the conventional techniques as described above, and it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a method of providing an electronic program guide, which can display not only an electronic program guide of a channel currently watched by a viewer, but also selectively display an electronic program guide of a changed channel on a secondary screen, when the viewer changes the current channel displayed on a primary screen. 
         [0010]    In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an electronic program guide is provided, including: storing information of electronic program guides; displaying an electronic program guide of a channel output on a primary screen in response to a signal of outputting the information of the electronic program guides; and displaying an electronic program guide of a new channel output on the primary screen when the channel of the primary screen is changed to the new channel. 
         [0011]    The method may further include: outputting video information corresponding to an electronic program guide of another channel when a channel of the electronic program guide is changed to the other channel. 
         [0012]    When a signal of releasing a simultaneous change of the channel of the primary screen and a channel of the electronic program guide is input, the channel of the primary screen and the channel of the electronic program guide may be individually changed. 
         [0013]    The method may further include: displaying an electronic program guide corresponding to a selected date in response to a signal of changing a date of the electronic program guide. 
         [0014]    The method may further include: outputting text information or video information relating to a program title of the electronic program guide on a secondary screen output section of the electronic program guide in response to a signal of outputting the text information or the video information. 
         [0015]    The method may further include: outputting text information or video information relating to a program title of the electronic program guide on a pop-up window in response to a signal of outputting the text information or the video information. 
         [0016]    Programs for respective time frames of the electronic program guide may be displayed in a scrolling manner on a single screen if the programs cannot be displayed on the single screen. 
         [0017]    In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an electronic program guide is provided, including: storing information of electronic program guides; displaying an electronic program guide of a channel output on a primary screen in response to a signal of outputting the information of the electronic program guides; and changing the channel of the primary screen independently of the electronic program guide of the channel output on the primary screen in response to a signal of changing the channel of the primary screen. 
         [0018]    The method may further include: displaying an electronic program guide corresponding to a selected date in response to a signal of changing a date of the electronic program guide. 
         [0019]    The method may further include: outputting text information or video information relating to a program title of the electronic program guide on a secondary screen output section of the electronic program guide in response to a signal of outputting the text information or the video information. 
         [0020]    The method may further include: outputting text information or video information relating to a program title of the electronic program guide on a pop-up window in response to a signal of outputting the text information or the video information. 
         [0021]    Programs for respective time frames of the electronic program guide may be displayed in a scrolling manner on a single screen if the programs cannot be displayed on the single screen. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]    The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0023]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of the inner configuration of a television according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIGS. 2 to 4  illustrate examples of an electronic program guide displayed on a TV screen by a method of providing an electronic program guide according to one embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a method of providing an electronic program guide according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings hereinafter. 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of the inner configuration of a television according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the television according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a channel tuning unit  10 , a signal processor  20 , a display unit  30 , a speaker  40 , an EPG storage  50 , a user selection unit  70 , and a controller  90 . 
         [0029]    The channel tuning unit  10  may comprise single or plural tuners for tuning broadcasting signals, which have been received through an antenna, and a demodulator for outputting the tuned broadcasting signals in the form of a transport stream via demodulation, error correction, and the like. The channel tuning unit  10  tunes the broadcasting signals in a frequency band which corresponds to a tuning control signal from the controller  90 . The channel tuning unit  10  can also receive EPG information, which is sent from respective broadcasting stations and stored in the EPG storage  50 . 
         [0030]    The signal processor  20  processes the broadcasting signals, as tuned via the channel tuning unit  10 , and allows the processed broadcasting signals to be displayed on the display unit  30 . The signal processor  20  processes not only the broadcasting signal received through the channel tuning unit  10 , but also a video signal of a channel corresponding to the EPG information stored in the EPG storage  50 , so that the video signal can also be displayed on the display unit  30 . 
         [0031]    The display unit  30  serves to output video signals, which have been decoded through the signal processor  20 , among broadcasting signals of a selected channel or video signals of the channel corresponding to the EPG information stored in the EPG storage, so that the user can watch the processed video signals. The display unit  30  can be applied to a variety of display modules such as digital light processing (DLP) displays, light crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), etc. 
         [0032]    The speaker  40  serves to output audio signals, which have been decoded through the signal processor  20 , among the broadcasting signals of the selected channel, so that the user can listen to the processed audio signals. 
         [0033]    The EPG storage  50  serves to store at least one piece of EPG information sent from at least one broadcasting station and received through the channel tuning unit  10 . 
         [0034]    The user selection unit  70  includes an EPG selection key to output the EPG information, which has been stored in the EPG storage  50 , on a screen of the display unit  30 . The user selection unit  70  may be provided to a main panel of the television or may be provide as a wireless remote controller. In the case where the user selection unit  70  is provide as the wireless remote controller, wireless communication apparatuses are further provided to the television and the user selection unit  70  including the EPG selection key to perform communication between the user selection unit  70  and the controller of the television. 
         [0035]    The controller  90  includes a CPU or a microprocessor to output a variety of videos on the screen of the display unit  30  by controlling respective components. 
         [0036]      FIGS. 2 to 4  illustrate examples of an electronic program guide displayed on a TV screen by a method of providing an electronic program guide according to one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically,  FIG. 2  illustrates an example of an electronic program guide displayed on the TV screen, on which contents of programs are shown in the form of videos together with broadcasting times and titles of broadcast programs in the electronic program guide.  FIG. 3  illustrates another example of the electronic program guide displayed on the TV screen, in which contents of programs, such as summary of the programs, news information, previews of the programs, etc. are shown in the form of text together with the broadcasting times and titles of the broadcast programs in the electronic program guide.  FIG. 4  illustrates a third example of the electronic program guide displayed on the TV screen, on which only the broadcasting times and titles of the broadcast programs are displayed in the electronic program guide. 
         [0037]    When an EPG  100  is displayed on a TV screen by the method according to the embodiment, it can be displayed vertically on the screen as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , or can be displayed horizontally on the screen as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the EPG  100  may include a date selection section  110 , a channel selection section  120 , a program title output section  130 , a broadcasting time output section  140 , a synchronous selection section  150 , a secondary screen selection section  160 , and a secondary screen output section  170 . 
         [0039]    The date selection section  110  is a menu for allowing the user to select a date in the EPG  100 . The user can inspect the EPG  100  on a desired date by positioning a cursor on the date selection section  110  using a button of the user selection unit  70  and pushing the button. That is, when EPG information is set in a unit of a week or in a unit of a month in the EPG storage  50 , the user can confirm the EPG information on the desired date by means of the date selection section  110 . 
         [0040]    The channel selection section  120  is a menu for allowing the user to select a channel displayed on the EPG  100 . The user can select a desired channel in the same manner as that of selecting the date on the date selection section  110 . According to the present invention, since only information of a single channel is displayed on a single EPG screen as shown in the figures, the user can inspect the EPG  100  of another channel using the channel selection section  120 . 
         [0041]    The program title output section  130  serves to output titles of broadcast programs. 
         [0042]    The broadcasting time output section  140  serves to output broadcasting times of the broadcast programs, and is generated in association with the program title output section  130 . Here, if the broadcasting time output section  140  cannot be displayed on a single screen, the user can manipulate the TV screen such that the broadcasting times can be displaying in a scrolling manner. 
         [0043]    The synchronous selection section  150  allows the user to simultaneously or individually change a channel displayed on the primary screen  200  and a channel displayed on the EPG  100  through the channel selection section  120 . Thus, the user can select a simultaneous menu or an individual menu provided to the synchronous selection section  150  by means of the user selection section  70 . 
         [0044]    The secondary screen selection section  160  serves to output text information or video information relating to the programs on the secondary screen output section  170 , which is disposed under the program title output section  130 . Thus, the user can select a text menu or a video menu displayed on the secondary screen output section  170 . When the text menu is selected, the text information as to the programs, such as program summaries, news information, program previews, etc., can be output on the secondary screen output section  170  as shown in  FIG. 3 . Further, when the video menu is selected, the video information as to the programs, such as summary of the programs, news information, previews of the programs, etc., can be output on the secondary screen output section  170  as shown in  FIG. 2 . However, when the user does not wish to inspect the text or the video through the secondary screen output section  170 , the user can select a non-display menu as indicated by “{circle around (x)}” in the secondary screen selection section  160 . When the non-display menu is selected, the secondary screen output section  170  is not activated at the right side of the program title output section  130  as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0045]    Further, according to the present invention, even when the user selects the program title output section  130  using a button of the user selection section  70 , the television is permitted to output detailed information on the selected program through a pop-up window. 
         [0046]    As described above, when the user requests EPG information, the method according to the present invention fundamentally provides only the EPG information of the same channel as that of the primary screen  200 , while allowing the user to change the channel, the broadcasting date, etc. 
         [0047]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a method of providing an electronic program guide according to one embodiment of the present invention. Here, it should be noted that  FIG. 5  is given for the purpose of illustrating a variety of methods according to the present invention and does not limit the scope of the present invention. 
         [0048]    First, when the user requests display of EPG information using an EPG selection key on the user selection section  70 , the controller  90  confirms a current channel output on the primary screen  200 , extracts EPG information of the same channel as the current channel of the primary screen  200  from the EPG storage  50 , and then allows the screen of the display unit  30  to display the extracted EPG information, in S 502 . Since EPG information is individually sent from broadcasting stations, i.e. channels, selected by the user and stored in the EPG storage  50 , when EPG information of a certain broadcasting station, i.e. a certain channel, which has not been selected for a predetermined period of time by the user, is requested, the controller  90  may allow display of EPG information of other channels including the requested channel. 
         [0049]    While reading the EPG information, the user may change a channel of an EPG  100  in S 504 . In other words, the user can inspect the EPG  100  relating to a desired channel by means of the channel selection section  120 . Meanwhile, the user may simultaneously or individually select the channel of the primary screen  200  and the channel of the EPG  100  by selecting the simultaneous menu or the individual menu on the synchronous selection section  150 . 
         [0050]    While reading the EPG information, the user may change a date of the EPG  100  in S 506 . In other words, the EPG  100  generally supplies EPG information corresponding to the current date, but, when the EPG information is stored in a unit of a week or in a unit of a month, the user may select a desired date through the date selection section  110  to confirm the EPG  100  corresponding to the desired date. 
         [0051]    The user may confirm the titles of broadcast programs through the program title output section  130 . Alternatively, the user can inspect text information or video information relating to the programs through the secondary screen output section  170  by selecting a text menu or a video menu on the secondary screen output section  170  in S 508 . 
         [0052]    Further, even when only the titles of the programs are output due to inactivation of the secondary screen output section  170  (see  FIG. 4 ), the user can inspect the text information or the video information relating to the programs through a pop-up window, which is activated by selection of the program title output section  130 , in S 5   10 . The user can select a preset menu for activating the pop-up window. Further, the user can set a menu to output one of the text information and the video information through the pop-up window. 
         [0053]    As apparent from the above description, the method according to the present invention permits output of an electronic program guide relating to the same channel as a current channel displayed on a primary screen while allowing the user to directly change the channel of the EPG, thereby improving user convenience. 
         [0054]    Further, the method according to the present invention can supply program information together with text information or video information relating to the program information, so that much more information can be more easily supplied to the user. 
         [0055]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments are given by way of illustration, and that various modifications and equivalent embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Further, although the method of providing an electronic program guide has been described as being applied to a television, the method of the present invention can be applied to other displays as well as the television. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be limited only by the accompanying claims.