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US 7,080,401 B2Granted
Virtual channel table for a broadcast protocol and method of broadcasting and receiving broadcast signals using the same
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorJin Pil Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A virtual channel table for broadcasting protocol and a method for broadcasting by using the virtual channel table includes identification information identifying and permitting discrimination of active and inactive channels contained in the virtual channel table. At a receiver, the virtual channel table transmitted from the transmitting side is parsed, thereby determining whether the current received channel is an active or inactive channel.
Claims17
A digital television receiver, comprising:
- receiving means for receiving a digital broadcasting signal including a virtual channel table, in which a service location descriptor is omitted when a corresponding virtual channel is an inactive channel;
- wherein the inactive channel is capable of being automatically skipped;
- detecting means for determining whether the service location descriptor is found in the virtual channel table;
- and
- control means for controlling display of the corresponding virtual channel when the virtual channel is selected by a user and the channel is determined to be inactive,
- wherein said inactive channel is a channel that is not presently carrying a broadcast program;
- however, the same inactive channel is scheduled to carry a broadcast program at a predetermined later time from a broadcasting station without local viewer interaction.
4 more elements
A digital television receiver, comprising:
- receiving means for receiving a digital broadcasting signal including a virtual channel table, in which a service location descriptor is omitted when a corresponding virtual channel is an inactive channel;
- wherein the inactive channel is capable of being automatically skipped;
- a program and system information protocol (PSIP) decoder for determining whether the service location descriptor is found in the virtual channel table and providing an output indicating whether the corresponding channel is inactive;
- a user interface module for receiving the output of the PSIP decoder and controlling display of the corresponding virtual channel when the channel is selected by a user and is determined to be inactive,
- wherein said inactive channel is a channel that is not presently carrying a broadcast program;
- however, the same inactive channel is scheduled to carry a broadcast program at a predetermined later time from a broadcasting station without local viewer interaction.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.