MXPA99008533A - Picture in an electronic program guide for a video processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A video signal processing system and method provides a Picture-in-Guide (PiG) feature. An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is displayed in a first image region of a display. The EPG comprises various selectable display areas ("News","LANDS END"). In addition, a video image is shown in a second image region (210) of the display. The system includes user-selection means (325) for selecting the various display areas in the first image region and the second image region of the display. In response to the selection of the second image region of the display, a third image region appears on the display, replacing the first and the second image regions.

Description

IMAGE IN AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE FOR A VIDEO PROCESSING SYSTEM This invention relates to an electronic program guide (EPG) for a television system. An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is an interactive, analogue on-screen television listings guide found in local newspapers or other print media. The information contained in an Electronic Program Guide includes programming features such as channel number, program title, start time, end time, elapsed time, time remaining, classification (if available), topic, topic, and a brief description of the content of the program. Electronic Program Guides are usually configured in a two-dimensional table or in a grid format with time on one axis and channels on the other axis. Unlike non-interactive guides that reside in a dedicated channel and simply pass through the current programming in the other channels, the Electronic Program Guides allow vrs to select, in advance, any channel at any time. Additional features of the Electronic Program Guides include the ability to highlight individual cells in the grid that contain program information. Once highlighted, the vr can perform functions on that selected program. For example, a vr could program a one-touch video cassette recorder (VCR) or the like if the television is properly configured and connected to a recording device. An example of an Electronic Program Guide symbol is the StarSight® system provided by StarSight Telecast, Inc. The aspects of the StarSight® system are described in United States Patents Serial Nos. 5,353,121, 5,479,268 and 5,476,266 issued to Young and co-inventors and assigned to StarSight Telecast, Inc. One problem with the Electronic Program Guide systems is that the Electronic Program Guide may occupy the full screen and prevent a vr from watching any video programming while the Electronic Program Guide is active. . As the number of available channels increases, a user can spend a significant amount of time searching through the Electronic Program Guide to find a program of interest. Therefore, a user may miss a significant portion of a currently selected program while using an Electronic Program Guide. One solution is to provide a display of Electronic Program Guide that has a small window in which the current selected video program is displayed. Deploying an image that has one portion representing a video source and another portion representing another video source is well known. The examples are the systems of image in image and image outside of image, that is to say, the systems PIP and POP, respectively. A problem associated with simply providing a picture-in-picture image in an Electronic Program Guide display is that while the user can watch the video, the user may not recognize how to return to the channel he is watching. For example, a user can search the Electronic Program Guide, not find anything of interest and wish to return to see the currently selected program. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a video signal processing apparatus is described for providing a Guide Picture function (hereinafter referred to as PiG). The apparatus comprises means for generating a suitable signal to be coupled to a display device to produce a displayed image having a first image region and a second image region in the display. The first image region displays an Electronic Program Guide that has a plurality of display areas or display elements, each of the deployment areas can be selected to select a respective program. The second image region displays a video image corresponding to a selected area of the display areas or screen elements of the first image region. Additionally, the apparatus comprises means for selecting one of the second image region and one of the display areas of the first image region. The signal generating means respond to the selection of said second image region by means of selection means for replacing the first and second image regions with a third image region displaying said previously displayed video image in the second image region. . In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is described a method of processing an Electronic Program Guide comprising the steps of: displaying the Electronic Program Guide containing a plurality of screen elements or display areas in a first region of a deployment, each of the screen elements represents a selectable program; display a viewing window in a second region of the display when the Electronic Program Guide is deployed in the first region of the display, provide a user selection device for the selection of one of the screen elements in the Electronic Program Guide and the window in the second region; display in the window the program corresponding to the screen element selected by the user's selection device; replace the first and second regions of the deployment with a third region by displaying the selected program that is being displayed in the window when the window is selected by the user's selection device. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, for example, when a display of Electronic Program Guide that has an Image in Guide function is active, the video is displayed in a window portion of the Electronic Program Guide. The system includes means to move a cursor in the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide. Suitable user selection devices include a mouse or direction / selection keys on a remote control. A user selects the video window by first navigating the cursor so that the window is "highlighted" or so that the cursor indicates the window. Then, the user completes the selection processor by pressing a mouse button or by activating a selection button on a remote control. In response, the Electronic Program Guide is replaced by a full-screen image of the video that was being displayed in the small window. In accordance with other aspects of the invention, the window included in the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide could display video other than that associated with a particular television channel. For example, the video displayed in the small window could be associated with a particular advertiser such as a pay-per-event promotion. Also, the video could be associated with a video game. In each case, selecting the small window would replace the Electronic Program Guide with a full-screen display of the video content of the small window. The aspects described can be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a system embodying the principles of the invention; Figure 2 is a display of Electronic Sample Program Guide that includes windows that display video; Figure 3 illustrates a television receiver that includes aspects of the invention. Figure 1 shows a flow chart illustrating the operation of an Electronic Program Guide system as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 and described below. In Figure 1, an Electronic Program Guide is started in step 110 by, for example, pressing a particular key on a remote control. When activated, the display of the Electronic Program Guide appears in an image region of the display as shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2, a program guide portion 200 of the Electronic Program Guide display indicates programs , channels and durations of the programs. In a second region of the display, a video window portion 210 shows video that represents, for example, the currently selected program. A cursor represented by arrow 220 and / or highlight represented by boundary 230 indicates that video window 210 is selected when placed as shown in Figure 2. Returning to Figure 1, step 110 is followed by step 120, which tests the current location of the cursor to determine if the cursor is positioned to indicate the selection of the video window portion of an Electronic Program Guide display, for example, by being in close proximity to and pointing to the window of video as in Figure 2 or when superimposed on the video window. If so, step 120 produces a "yes" result. Alternatively, or in conjunction with proving the position of the cursor, step 120 may test the location of the highlight such as highlighting boundary 230 in Figure 2. If the video window is highlighted, a "yes" result occurs in step 120. A "yes" result in step 120 causes step 120 to be followed by step 140. If the result of the test in step 120 is "no", that is, the cursor or highlight does not indicate the selection of the video window, the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide continues as shown in step 130. In step 140, the system performs a test to determine whether the user has activated a selection key, for example, in a control remote. If not, the electronic Program Guide deployment continues in step 150. If the result in step 140 is "yes", the video window has been selected and step 140 is followed by step 160. In In step 160, the television receiver is tuned to the channel shown in the video window. A third region, for example, the full screen, can display the tuned video signal, replacing the Electronic Program Guide and the small window in the display. Figure 3 shows a television receiver suitable for providing the functions illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The system shown in Figure 3 has a first input 300 for receiving the television signal RF_IN at radio frequency frequencies and a second input 302 to receive the baseband television signal VIDEO INPUT. The RF signal N can be provided from a source such as an antenna or cable system while the VIDEO IN signal can be provided, for example, by a video tape recorder (VCR). The tuner 305 and the intermediate frequency processor 330 produce the VIDEO baseband video signal representing the video program portion of the tuned television signal. The intermediate frequency processor 330 also provides a baseband audio signal that is coupled to an audio processing section (not shown in Figure 3) for further audio processing. Although Figure 3 shows the input 302 as a baseband signal, the television receiver could include a second tuner and intermediate frequency processor similar to the units 305 and 330 to produce a second baseband video signal from either the RF_IN signal or a second radio frequency signal source. The system shown in Figure 3 also includes a microprocessor (μP) 310 for controlling the components of the television receiver such as the tuner 305, the image-in-picture processing unit 340, the video signal processor 355, and the module StarSight® 360 data processing system. As used herein, the term "microprocessor" means various devices including, but not limited to, microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers and controllers. The microprocessor 310 controls the system by sending and receiving commands and data via the serial data bus l2C BUS using the well-known serial data bus protocol l2C. More specifically, the central processing unit (CPU) 312 in the microprocessor 310 performs control programs contained in the memory, such as the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) 327 shown in Figure 3, in response to commands by a user, for example via the infrared remote control 325 and the infrared receiver 322. For example, the activation of a "CHANNEL FORWARD" function on the remote control 325 causes the central processing unit 312 to send a command of "change channel" together with channel data to tuner 305 via bus l C BUS. As a result, the tuner 305 tunes to the next channel in the channel scan list. Another example of a control program stored in the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory 327 is the computer program for implementing the operations shown in Figure 1. The central processing unit 312 controls functions included in the microprocessor 310 via the bus 319 on the microprocessor 310. In particular, the central processing unit 312 controls the auxiliary data processor 315 and the on-screen display processor (OSD) 317. The auxiliary data processor 315 extracts auxiliary data such as StarSight® data from the video signal. IMAGE VIDEO IN IMAGE . StarSight® data is commonly received only on a particular television channel and the television receiver must tune that channel to extract StarSight® data. To prevent the StarSight® data extraction from interfering with the normal use of the television receiver, the central processing unit 312 initiates the extraction of StarSight® data by tuning the particular channel only for a period of time when the television receiver is usually off. of use (for example, 2:00 a.m.). At that time, the central processing unit 312 configures the decoder 315 so that auxiliary data is extracted from the horizontal line intervals such as line 16 that are used for StarSight® data. The central processing unit 312 controls the transfer of StarSight® data extracted from the decoder 315 via the l2C BUS bus to the StarSight® 360 module. A processor internal to the module formats and stores the data in the memory inside the module. In response to activation of the StarSight® Electronic Program Guide deployment (for example, a user activates a particular key on the remote control 325), the central processing unit 312 transfers display data from the StarSight® Electronic Program Guide of the module. StarSight® 360 via bus l2C BUS to display processor 317. Display display processor 317 operates in a conventional manner to produce R, G and B OSD_RGB video signals which, when coupled to a display device, they will produce a displayed image representing on-screen display information such as graphics and / or text comprising an Electronic Program Guide. The screen display processor 317 also produces the control signal FSW which is intended to control a fast switch for inserting OSD_RGB signals into the video output signal of the system at times when a screen display is to be displayed. For example, when a user activates an Electronic Program Guide, for example, by activating a particular switch on the remote control 325, the central processing unit 312 activates the processors 315 and 317 so that the processor extracts the subtitling data from the processor. the intervals of line 21 of the video signal PICTURE VIDEO IN PICTURE. The processor 317 also produces the FSW signal indicating when the subtitles are to be displayed. The video signal processor (VSP) 355 performs conventional video signal processing functions, such as luminance processing and chrominance. The output signals produced by the video signal processor 355 are suitable for coupling to a display device, for example, a kinescope or liquid crystal display device (not shown in Figure 3) to produce a displayed image. The video signal processor 355 also includes a fast switch for coupling signals produced by the display display processor 317 to the output video signal path at times when graphics and / or text are to be included in the displayed image. The fast switch is controlled by the control signal FSW which is generated by the display display processor 317 on the main microprocessor 310 at the times when text and / or graphics are to be displayed. The input signal for the video signal processor 355 in the PICTURE IMAGE VIDEO signal which produces as output the picture-in-picture (PIP) unit 340. When a user activates the picture-in-picture mode, the signal VIDEO OF PICTURE IN PICTURE represents a large image (LPIX) in which a small image (SP1X) is inserted. When the picture-in-picture mode is inactive, the signal IMAGE VIDEO IN IMAGE represents only the large image, that is, no small image is included in the IMAGE VIDEO IN IMAGE signal. The described operation of the image-in-picture unit 340 is provided by functions of the image-in-picture unit 340 including in video switch 342, the I2C interface 341, the image-in-picture processor 344 and the random access memory 345. The switch 342 operates under user control to determine the coupling of the two video input signals VIDEO and VIDEO INPUT to the large and small image signals BIG IMAGE VIDEO and SMALL IMAGE VIDEO in the picture unit 340 Commonly, the switch 342 couples the VIDEO signal to the BIG IMAGE VIDEO signal and couples the VIDEO IN signal to the SMALL IMAGE VIDEO signal, but the switch 342 can change the connections or couple an input signal to the lines of small image and large image signals. The C 341 interface provides data interface and bidirectional control between the bus l2C BUS and the functions in the picture-in-picture unit 340. Thus, the main microprocessor 310 can control the operation of the switch 342 and the image processor in image 344 via bus l2C BUS. When the image-in-picture processing is activated, the image-in-picture processor 344 implements the image-in-picture function in a conventional manner. Briefly, the image-in-picture processor 344 converts the SMALL IMAGE VIDEO signal to digital data via analog-to-digital (ADC) converters that are included in the image-in-picture processor 344. The digital data is sub-sampled to reduce the amount of data and to reduce the size of the small image that is displayed. The sub-sampled data is stored in the random access memory 345 up to the small image display interval at which time the stored data of the small image is read from the random access memory 345 and converted to a small image signal analog signal via the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that is included in the image-in-picture processor 344. A switch included in the image-in-picture processor 344 includes the small analog image signal in the IMAGE IMAGE VIDEO signal during the small image display interval. The small image generation capabilities of the image-in-picture processor 344 are also used to generate the small video image included in the Electronic Program Guide deployment, ie, the video image 210 in Figure 2. However , for a display of Electronic Program Guide, the large or main image is produced by the screen display processor 317 and is included in the output signal by the video signal processor 355 in response to the signal of the FSW fast switch , instead of including the large image video signal LARGE IMAGE VIDEO. Thus, when the controller 310 detects the activation of the Electronic Program Guide deployment, that is, when a user presses the appropriate key on the remote control 325, the controller 310 causes the display processor 317 to produce the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide using StarSight® data from the StarSight® 360 module. The controller 310 also causes the picture-in-picture processor 340 to produce a small video image of the currently selected main video signal. The video signal processor 355 combines the display data of the Electronic Program Guide and the small video image signal in response to the FSW signal to produce the display in Figure 2.

When the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide is active, the controller 310 executes a control program stored in the EEPROM 327. The control program monitors the location of a position indicator, such as a cursor and / or highlight, in the deployment of the Electronic Program Guide in accordance with the flow diagram in Figure 1. A user controls the location of the position indicator using direction keys and selection of the remote control 325. Alternatively, the system could include a mouse device. Suitable components for implementing the system functions shown in Figure 3 that have been described so far comprise an ST9296 microprocessor produced by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics to provide the functions associated with the microprocessor 310; an image-in-picture processor M65616 produced by Mitsubishi to provide the described basic image-image functionality associated with the image-in-picture processor 340; and a video signal processor LA7612 produced by Sanyo to provide the functions of the video signal processor 355. It should be understood that the embodiments and variations shown and described herein are illustrative only and that those skilled in the art can implement several modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. CLAIMS 1. An apparatus comprising: means for displaying an Electronic Program Guide comprising a plurality of screen elements ("News", "END OF THE EARTH") in a first region of a display
2. (DEPLOYMENT), such screen elements represent a plurality of selection programs; means for displaying a viewing window (230) in a second region of said deployment when such an Electronic Program Guide is deployed in said first region of said deployment; and means for highlighting one of said screen elements in said first region to select a respective program from said plurality of selectable programs; said means for highlighting are also capable of being used to highlight the said viewing window in such a second region to select said viewing window. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises: means for expanding said viewing window in response to said shoulder and such selecting said viewing window.
3. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said expanded window replaces said first and second regions.
4. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said Electronic Program Guide comprises programming data obtained externally from such an apparatus.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means for highlighting comprises: a cursor in said deployment; and a user selection device for moving said cursor.
6. 6. A method for processing an Electronic Program Guide, comprising: displaying an Electronic Program Guide comprising a plurality of screen elements ("News", "END OF EARTH") in a first region of a deployment (DEPLOYMENT) ), such screen elements represent a plurality of selectable programs; displaying a viewing window (230) in a second region of said deployment when such Electronic Program Guide is deployed in said first region of said deployment; and highlighting one of said screen elements in said first region to select a respective program of said plurality of selectable programs by moving a cursor on said screen; and highlighting the aforementioned viewing window in such second region also by moving said cursor on said screen.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein said method further comprises: selecting said viewing window; and expanding said viewing window in response to said highlight and such selection of said viewing window.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said expanded window replaces said first and second regions.
9. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said Electronic Program Guide comprises programming data obtained externally from said apparatus.