Patent Publication Number: US-2021176518-A1

Title: Digital Set-top Box with Custom Channel Function

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a digital set-top box and, in particular, to a digital set-top box that allows channel customization. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     With the change of time, the signal source of cable TV has been gradually updated from conventional analog signals to digital signals, making digital set-top boxes more and more popular. 
     Compared with the conventional cable TV, the existing digital set-top box has the features of low signal distortion, high information quantity encoded in the signal, and being less susceptible to environmental influences. Consequently, the video provided by the digital set-top box is more subtle and clearer. Different channels have higher and uniform quality, and are less susceptible to noise interference. 
     However, the existing digital set-top box can only receive the digital signals provided by the television signal vendor. Users cannot add their favorite channels according to their own needs. In addition, even if the user wants to watch the video provided by a specific application, such as YouTube and Netflix, the existing digital set-top boxes cannot support such a function. 
     In addition, if a user wants to select a specific channel to view through the existing digital set-top box, he must click the direction key on the remote control or on the digital set-top box to switch to the specific channel. For example, if the current video is on channel 01 and the user wants to watch channel 50, he must press the direction key on the digital box set-top box one press at a time, and switch the channel through channel 01, channel 02, . . . , to channel 50. This is extremely inconvenient in practice. It may take a lot of time to switch to the desired channel. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to solve the problems that the existing digital set-top box does not allow users to freely enter numbers for switching channels and that the user is not allowed to arbitrarily add and delete a channel, the invention proposes a digital set-top box with a custom channel function. By establishing a number for each channel and using a signal input unit to receive the installation file of a newly added channel, the user can directly enter the number corresponding to any channel on the remote control to switch to the channel, and the channel installation file is used to add the channel in the channel table. 
     To achieve the above objective, the invention provides a digital set-top box with a custom channel function, which is connected with a remote control and a display. The disclosed digital set-top box with a custom channel function includes: 
     a central processing unit, which includes a user editable composite channel table that stores more than one channel number and more than one channel, with each of the channel numbers corresponding to a respective one of the channels, wherein the channels in the composite channel table include television channels and a video stream channel provided by a video streaming application executed by the central processing unit, and each of the channel numbers has corresponding media setting information; 
     a signal input unit, electrically connected to the central processing unit and including a plurality of media ports for receiving different digital video sources; 
     an audio/video (AV) output unit, electrically connected to the central processing unit for outputting a video signal; 
     a memory unit, electrically connected to the central processing unit for storing each of the channels in the composite channel table and corresponding media setting information thereof; 
     an input/output (I/O) unit, electrically connected to the central processing unit for receiving a control command sent by the remote control; wherein when the remote control sends a number command, the central processing unit searches for the channel corresponding to the number command in the memory unit according to the number command and displays the channel on a display screen. 
     With the above components, the invention has the following enhancement effects: 
     1. The association between the channel number and the corresponding channel are established through the channel numbers and the channels stored in the channel list, so that each channel corresponds to a unique channel number. When a user enters one of the channel numbers through the remote control, the central processing unit switches to the channel corresponding to the channel number according to the channel number. Thus, the user can turn on the channel to be viewed more quickly, instead of wasting time on selecting the channel to be watched by frequently pressing the direction keys. 
     2. The plurality of media ports can each receive a different digital video source. Each of the video sources includes an application installation file from a web download or from an external storage device or a flash memory. The installation file installs the required application in the central processing unit, so that the user can watch other videos from other video sources in addition to the preset channels. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of the circuit of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the composite channel table of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a first schematic view of the operation interface according to the invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a second schematic view of the operation interface according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the invention is a digital set-top box with a custom channel function, which can be connected and operated by an external remote control  60 . The invention comprises: a central processing unit  10 , a signal input unit  20 , an AV output unit  30 , and more than one memory unit  40 , and is further provided with an I/O unit  50 . The signal input unit  20 , the AV output unit  30 , the memory units  40 , and the I/O unit  50  are electrically connected to the central processing unit  10 , respectively. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 . The central processing unit  10  presets a composite channel table  11  that can be edited by users and stores more than one channel number and more than one channel. Each channel number corresponds to a respective channel. The channels listed in the composite channel table  11  include television channels and video stream channels provided by a video streaming application executed by the central processing unit  10 . The installation file of the video streaming application can be downloaded by the user via the network or obtained from an external storage device. 
     For example, channel number 01 corresponds to a first channel, channel number 02 corresponds to a second channel, and channel number 07 corresponds to a YouTube channel. The AV sources of the first channel and the second channel can be digital TV signals. The AV sources of the YouTube channels can be the web server of YouTube itself. Furthermore, the channels corresponding to the channel numbers can be set and changed according to the user. Taking  FIG. 2  as an example, the YouTube channel is currently set to channel number 07 and channel number 08 is not yet associated with any specific channel. The user can unlink the YouTube channel from channel number 07 by setting and resetting the YouTube channel to channel number 08. 
     Furthermore, in this embodiment, each channel has its own media setting information. The media setting information may be a shortcut of a web address, a directory, a path, or media information. The media setting information is stored in the memory unit  40  and corresponds to each channel in the composite channel table  11 . That is, each channel number corresponds to a unique media setting. 
     The signal input unit  20  can include a plurality of media ports, which respectively receive different digital video sources. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the plurality of media ports can include more than one network port  21 , more than one USB port  22 , a digital television port  23 , more than one memory card slot  24 , and combinations thereof. Each network port  21  can be connected to an external network to download the installation file or directly capture the video signals. Each USB port  22  can be connected to the external storage device, such as a flash drive, that stores the installation file. The digital television port  23  can be connected to an external antenna or a digital television signal source for receiving multiple wired or wireless signals. Each of the memory card slots  24  allows the insertion of a flash memory card, which stores the installation file. The flash memory card includes, but is not limited to, a TF card (Micro SD card) or SD card. 
     The AV output unit  30  is configured to output a video signal. The AV output unit  30  may include more than one digital signal output port  31  and more than one analog signal output port  32 , and outputs signals of the selected media port. The digital signal output ports  31  are configured to output a digital AV signal. The analog signal output ports  32  are configured to output an analog AV signal. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the digital signal output ports  31  include an HDMI output port, an SPDIF output port, and a combination thereof. The analog signal output ports  32  include a CVBS output port, a D-SUB output port, an audio output port, and the combination thereof. 
     The memory unit  40  can include a flash memory  41  for storing the channels in the composite channel table  11  and their media setting information, and use the installation file to install the video streaming application therein. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the memory unit  40  further includes a random access memory SDRAM  42  for temporarily storing the input of each port of the signal input unit  20 . SDRAM  42  serves as a buffer for data buffering. The I/O unit  50  includes a wireless receiving module  51 , a plurality of indicator lights  52  and a plurality of buttons  53  for receiving control commands from the remote control  60 . In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the wireless receiving module  51  is an infrared (IR) receiving module, a Bluetooth receiving module or a Wi-Fi receiving module for receiving control commands from the corresponding remote control  60 . The user can operate the remote control  60  to set the channels of the composite channel table  11  and the media setting information thereof. The indicator lights  52  are used to display the operating state of the central processing unit  10 . The buttons  53  are available for the user to manually set the channels of the composite channel table  11  and the media setting information thereof. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the AV output unit  30  can be further connected to a display screen  70  in practice, and the central processing unit  10  can provide an operation interface  71  to transmit signals from the AV output unit  30  to the display screen  70 . The operation interface  71  shows one icon  711  for the corresponding channel, and the channel number  712  corresponding to the channel is displayed next to the icon  711 . Through the operation by the user, the remote control  60  sends a number command to the I/O unit  50 . The/O unit  50  receives and transmits the number command to the central processing unit  10 . The central processing unit  10  searches for the channel corresponding to the number command in the memory unit  40  according to the number command, and displays the channel on the display screen  70 . Specifically, the central processing unit  10  searches for the media setting information corresponding to the number command in the memory unit  40  according to the number command, and displays the channel corresponding to the media setting information on the display screen  70 . For example, when the user enters the number command 01 through the remote control  60 , the central processing unit  10  searches for the channel corresponding to the number command 01 in the composite channel table  11  after receiving the number command 01. The central processing unit  10  then displays the first channel on the display screen  70  through the AV output unit  30 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 . The central processing unit  10  can also expand the page of the operation interface  71 . For example, the operation interface  71 A in  FIG. 4  can display the channel numbers  712  from  10  to  18 . When a user selects to add one icon  713  on the operation interface  71 A through the remote control  60 , any other channel or video streaming application can then be added as one of the icons  711 . Likewise, the user can also send the number command as the channel number  712  through the remote control  60  to turn on the self-defined channel. 
     The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.