Method and apparatus for reproducing content through integrated channel management

Abstract

Provided are a method and apparatus for reproducing at least one piece of content received via at least one interface. The method includes classifying the at least one piece of content respectively received via the at least one interface according to a reference attribute, allocating the classified at least one piece of content to a virtual channel, and selecting a channel from among set channels that include the virtual channel and an occupied basic channel.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method of reproducing at least one piece of content received via at least one interface among a plurality of interfaces, the method comprising:
 identifying, by a multimedia reproducing device, a plurality of pieces of content received via at least one external input interface according to at least one external input interface, wherein the plurality of pieces of content comprise a plurality of content groups having a hierarchical structure, based on a hierarchical structure of a plurality of attributes;   allocating, by the multimedia reproducing device, the plurality of pieces of content identified according to at least one external input interface to at least one virtual channel selected from among unoccupied channels;   generating, by the multimedia reproducing device, a channel selection programming guide displaying set channels which include the at least one virtual channel and occupied basic channel; and   reproducing, by the multimedia reproducing device, the channel selection programming guide.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 storing channel setting information; and   storing reproduction state information of the at least one piece of content.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 reproducing the at least one piece of content based on reproduction state information of the at least one piece of content.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising transmitting virtual channel metadata via a network, wherein the virtual channel metadata comprises information regarding the classification of the at least one piece of content, the channel setting information, and the reproduction state information. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the identifying of the at least one piece of content comprises:
 classifying the at least one piece of content, which is respectively received via the at least one interface, into at least one content group according to at least one attribute, wherein each content group of the at least one content group comprises at least one piece of content having a same attribute from among the at least one attribute, and   allocating of the classified at least one piece of content to the at least one virtual channel comprises allocating one virtual channel selected from among the unoccupied channels to each content group.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the identifying of the at least one piece of content comprises:
 interpreting an attribute of the received at least one content; and   determining the reference attribute for classification of the at least one piece of content, and classifying the at least one piece of content by comparing the interpreted attribute with the reference attribute.