Patent ID: 7802284

Claim:
A method for transmitting audio in a Mosaic electronic program guide (EPG) service, the method being performed by a device, comprising: combining, by a video encoder included in the device, pictures of a plurality of broadcast programs into a Mosaic EPG picture such that the Mosaic EPG picture includes sub-pictures, each sub-picture corresponding to one of the plurality of broadcast programs; encoding, by the video encoder included in the device, the Mosaic EPG picture into a video data stream; encoding, by an audio encoder included in the device, audio signals of the plurality of broadcast programs into an audio data stream while adding audio packet identifications to the audio data stream, each audio packet identification corresponding to one of the plurality of broadcast programs; generating, by a Mosaic information generator included in the device, program map table (PMT) information including the audio packet identifications as navigation information; and mixing and transmitting, by a multiplexer (MUX) and a modulator included in the device, the audio stream, the video stream and the program map table (PMT) information, wherein a predetermined number of the plurality of sub-pictures within the Mosaic EPG picture are managed as a unit, wherein audio channels of each of the broadcast programs and corresponding to the plurality of sub-pictures are changed into mono audio signals, wherein mono audio signals belonging to a common unit of sub-pictures are combined into respective multi-channel audio signals, wherein multi-channel audio signals are encoded into the audio data stream, wherein the predetermined number is determined by an audio system of the plurality of broadcast programs, and wherein the audio packet identifications are assigned per unit.