Patent ID: 8234683

Claim:
A method of controlling a channel for providing an IPTV service comprising: determining first and second reference values by using the number of first type channels among ‘M’ channels, and determining an intermediate value between the first and second reference values; calculating a maximum value among integers below the intermediate value, and a minimum value among integers above the intermediate value, and determining a bit rate of video data to be transmitted through the respective channels based on the minimum value, the intermediate value, and the maximum value; calculating a cost at each channel status vector determined based on the minimum value, the intermediate value, and the maximum value, wherein the cost corresponds to the sum of an average channel zapping time of the respective channels and an average distortion value of video data to be transmitted through the respective channels; and determining the channel status vector and bit rate for the intermediate value as an optimal channel status vector and optimal bit rate if the cost for the intermediate value is the same as or less than the cost for the minimum value and the cost for the maximum value, and repeating each step after substituting the intermediate value for the first or second reference value if the cost for the minimum value is less than the cost for the maximum value or the cost for the minimum value is the same as or more than the cost for the maximum value, wherein the average channel zapping time of the respective channels is a value obtained by normalizing a virtual average channel zapping time of the respective channels at the specific channel status vector in a predetermined range, wherein the virtual average channel zapping time of the respective channels at the specific channel status vector is determined by a channel zapping time for the first type channel, a channel preference for each channel, information about the channel type of each channel, and a channel zapping time for the second type channel, wherein the virtual average channel zapping time of the respective channel at the specific channel status vector is calculated by t pro ⁡ ( 1 - ∑ i = 1 M ch ⁢ ( 1 - s i ) ⁢ p i ⁡ ( 1 - p i ) ) + t on ⁢ ∑ i = 1 M ch ⁢ ( 1 - s i ) ⁢ p i ⁡ ( 1 - p i ) , wherein t pro is the channel zapping time for the first type channel; S i is the information for the channel type of the i th channel; p i is the preference for the i th channel; t on is the channel zapping time for the second type channel; and M ch is the total channel number.