Patent Application
20140373065
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to devices for playing television programs, and particularly to a device capable of automatically switching television channels and a method applied in the device.
2. Description of Related Art
A switch button of a remote control allows a user to switch channels of a television. However, the switch button only switches between two channels, so it is inconvenient when a user wants to switch among three or more channels.
Many aspects of the present disclosure should be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The units in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding portions throughout the several views.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The input unit 10 responds to the user's input to generate various control commands, such as a selecting command for selecting programs, and a switch command for switching programs. The input unit 10 can be buttons or a touch pad of the device 100, or a remote control to remotely control the device 100. The clock unit 20 keeps track of a current time.
The storage unit 80 comprises a switch system 200, which comprises a number of modules. In this embodiment, the switch system 200 comprises an obtaining module 30, a favorite program list creating module 40, a switch list creating module 50, a control module 60, and a detecting module 70. The processing unit 90 executes the number of modules of the switch system 200 to perform functions of the device 100.
The obtaining module 30 obtains program information of programs of each channel. In this embodiment, the obtaining module 30 obtains a television program table comprising program information of each channel in response to user operation of a special button (not shown) of the device 100 or the remote control. The program information comprises the program name of each program, the starting time of each program, and the end time of each program. In this embodiment, the obtaining module 30 obtains the program information for each channel of a currently airing program and the program information of a program to air (hereinafter “the next program”) after the currently airing program ends. As shown in
The favorite programs creating module 40 creates a favorite program list, adds the selected programs to the favorite program list, and records the program information of each favorite program.
The switch list creating module 50 determines which favorite programs are currently airing according to the current time and the program information, and creates a switch list recording to the program information of the currently airing favorite programs. In this embodiment, the switch list creating module 50 determines the currently airing favorite programs at a preset time interval. Thus, the switch list is updated every preset time interval.
The control module 60 responds to the switch command to switch between currently airing favorite programs in the switch list.
An example is given to clearly illustrate the present disclosure. As shown in
The detecting module 70 detects whether a currently playing favorite program in the switch list ends. When one favorite program ends, the control module 60 determines whether the next program is recorded in the favorite program list. If not, the control module 60 outputs a prompt for a preset time duration to ask the user whether to add the next program to the favorite program list. During the output of the prompt, if an option of adding the next program is selected, the control module 60 adds the next program to the favorite program list. If an option of not adding the next program is selected, if any operation is not received, or if a switch command is received, the control module 60 does not add the next program to the favorite program list. In this embodiment, when a favorite program ends, the favorite program list creating module 40 and the switch list creating module 50 delete the corresponding program information from the favorite program list and the switch list. Therefore, the user can easily see which favorite programs are currently airing and quickly select a next program to be a favorite program.
If the option of not adding the next program to the favorite program list is selected, the detecting module 70 further detects whether there are any more favorite programs in the favorite program list currently airing or to be aired next. If there are no favorite programs currently airing or to be aired next, all the favorite programs in the favorite program list have ended, and the favorite program list and the switch list are cleared of all the previously-selected favorite programs. In the embodiment, the user can select a new favorite program at any time, whether there are favorite programs currently playing or not.
In step S210, the obtaining module 30 obtains the program information of programs of each channel and displays the obtained program information for the user to select.
In step S220, the favorite program list creating module 40 creates a favorite program list, adds the selected programs to the favorite program list, and records the program information of each favorite program.
In step S230, the switch list creating module 50 determines which favorite programs in the favorite program list are currently airing, and creates a switch list recording the program information of each currently airing favorite program.
In step S240, the control module 60 switches the channels of the favorite programs in the switch list according to the switch command.
In step S250, the detecting module 70 detects whether a currently airing favorite program in the switch list ends. If not, the procedure returns to step S240, otherwise, the procedure goes to step S260.
In step S260, the control module 60 generates a prompt to prompt the user whether to add the next program to the favorite program list.
In step S270, the favorite program list creating module 40 adds the next program to the favorite program list.
In step S280, the detecting module 70 detects whether there are any favorite programs in the favorite program list currently airing or to be aired. If yes, the procedure returns to step S240. Otherwise, the procedure goes to step S290.
In step S290, the control module 60 delete the corresponding program information from the favorite program list and the switch list.
Although the present disclosure has been specifically described on the basis of the exemplary embodiment thereof, the disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102121433 | Jun 2013 | TW | national |
