JP2001036826A - Television broadcast receiver, method for selecting channel of television broadcast and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily select a channel which is viewed in the previous week. SOLUTION: Viewing time of each channel in each time zone is measured by every day of the week and up to higher three channels which are viewed for the longest time by every time zone of each day of the week are stored in a channel selecting information storage means 130 by a viewing time measuring means 101 which constitutes a computer 100. When selection of the channel viewed in the previous week is instructed by an input means 140, a command to select the channel viewed for the longest time in the same time zone on the same day of the previous week is issued to a channel selecting means 110 based on a viewing time order table stored in the channel selecting information storage means 130 by a channel selection control means 102, the channel is selected from a received signal and video of the channel is displayed on a video display means 150 by the selecting means 110.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television broadcast receiving apparatus, a television broadcast tuning method, and a recording medium.
In particular, the present invention relates to a television broadcast receiving apparatus, a television broadcast channel selection method, and a recording medium that can easily select a channel selected at the same time on the same day of the previous week.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional television broadcast receiving apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-181927. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional television broadcast receiving apparatus includes a main channel selection unit 110, a sub channel selection unit 210, a channel selection control unit 220, a channel selection information storage unit 130, and a video composition unit 2.
30, an image display means 150 and an input means 140.

[0003] The television broadcast receiving apparatus having such a configuration operates as follows. That is, the channel selected by the channel selection unit 110 is stored in the channel selection information storage unit 130 by the channel selection control unit 220 for each day and time zone. Then, when the user selects a channel different from the previous week in a certain time zone using the channel selecting unit 110 and watches the channel, another channel selecting unit 210 selects the channel that has been viewed until the previous week. And the channel selection means 21
0 and the channel selection means 1
The video of the channel selected by the user 10 and currently being viewed by the user is synthesized by the video synthesizing means 230, and two channels are simultaneously displayed on the screen. This notifies the user that he / she is watching a different channel from the previous week.

[0004]

However, this prior art has the following problems. That is, two means for selecting a channel are required, and a means for synthesizing a video is required, so that the configuration is complicated and the cost is high. The reason is that the tuning means 110
This is because it is not possible to select one channel, so that a separate channel selecting means 210 is required. In addition, since the video of each channel selected by the two tuning units 110 and 210 is output as separate video signals, a video synthesizing unit 230 for synthesizing each video signal is required. .

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to easily select a channel selected in the previous week with a simple configuration.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television broadcast receiving apparatus, which aggregates viewing time information including a viewed channel, a viewing start time and a viewing end time of the channel for each predetermined reference time, First storage means for storing;
Based on the viewing time information stored in the first storage means,
Extract a predetermined number in order from the channel with the longest viewing time,
A second storage unit that stores viewing time order information in which each time zone of each day of the week corresponding to the viewing start time and the viewing end time is associated with a channel, and a current storage time stored in the second storage unit. A channel selecting unit that selects a channel based on the viewing time order information of the day and time zone corresponding to the day and time zone, and selects the selected channel. Further, the channel selection control unit can select the channel viewed for the longest time based on the viewing time information stored in the second storage unit, and select a channel. A direct channel selection command for directly specifying a channel and instructing channel selection; and a viewing time order channel selection command for instructing channel selection based on viewing time sequence information stored in the second storage means. Is further provided, and when a channel selection command is directly input by the input unit, a designated channel is selected, and when a viewing time selection command is input, the channel is stored in the second storage means. The channel can be selected based on the viewing time order information. The viewing time information stored in the first storage means is deleted each time the counting for each reference time is completed, and the viewing time order information for one week is stored in the second storage means. can do. A first storage step for counting and storing, for each predetermined reference time, viewing time information including a viewed channel and a viewing start time and a viewing end time of the channel, and Based on the viewing time information stored in the first storage step, a predetermined number of channels are extracted in ascending order of viewing time, each time zone of each day of the week corresponding to the viewing start time and the viewing end time, and the channel A second storage step of storing viewing time order information in which the channel is associated with the channel, based on the viewing time order information of the day and time zone corresponding to the current day and time zone stored in the second storage step. And a tuning control step of selecting the selected channel. A recording medium according to a sixth aspect is characterized in that a program capable of executing the television broadcast channel selection method according to the fifth aspect is recorded. In the television broadcast receiving apparatus and the television broadcast tuning method according to the present invention, and in the recording medium, the viewing time information including the viewed channel and the viewing start time and the viewing end time of the channel is aggregated for each predetermined reference time, Based on the stored viewing time information, a predetermined number of channels are extracted in ascending order of viewing time, and each time zone of each day of the week corresponding to the viewing start time and the viewing end time is associated with the channel. The viewing time order information is stored, a channel is selected based on the viewing time order information of the day and time zone corresponding to the current day and time zone, and the selected channel is selected.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention provides a television broadcast receiving apparatus capable of easily selecting a channel viewed last week. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an embodiment of a channel selection system to which a television broadcast receiving device according to the present invention is applied. Hereinafter, an outline of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Tuning control means 10 constituting a tuning system
2 causes the channel selection information storage means 130 to store the viewing start time and viewing end time of each channel each time the channel is changed. The viewing time measuring means 101 selects, for each fixed time, one channel selected from the time counted last time to the present time.
Alternatively, the viewing time of each of a plurality of channels is totaled, and the viewed channels are stored in the channel selection information storage means 130 for each day of the week and for each time zone in ascending order of the viewing time. The channel selection control means 102 uses this information to select a channel in descending order of the time watched in the previous week at the time of channel selection on the same day and time zone of the next week. In this way, it is possible to easily select a channel that has been viewed last week.

Next, an example of the configuration of a channel selection system to which the television broadcast receiving apparatus of the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, a computer 100 that operates under program control, a channel selecting unit 110 that selects a predetermined channel from a received signal, a time notifying unit 120 that notifies the time, and stores the channel selection information. Channel selection information storage means 130, input means 140 for inputting various information such as a channel selection command, and video display means 150 for displaying the video of the channel selected by the channel selection means 110. I have. Also, the viewing time measuring means 101 and the tuning control means 102 make up the computer 100.
Is composed.

Each of these means operates roughly as follows. The viewing time measuring unit 101 measures the viewing time of each selected channel for each day of the week and for each time zone, and stores the same in the channel selection information storage unit 130. In addition, based on the measured viewing time, three channels are selected from the selected channels in descending order of the viewing time for each day of the week and for each time zone, and as shown in FIG. Tuning information storage means 130 as a time order table
To memorize.

The tuning control means 102 receives a tuning command input by the input means 140, sends tuning data corresponding to the tuning command to the tuning means 110, and instructs tuning. The channel selection control unit 102 receives a direct channel selection command specifying a channel number and a channel selection order from the input unit 140 and a channel selection order of the viewing time order table, and sequentially selects only the channels that have been viewed for a long time. Accepts a chronological tuning command.

When the tuning control means 102 directly receives a tuning command, it selects tuning data (frequency data of the corresponding channel) from a channel number order table (FIG. 5) stored in the tuning information storage means 130 in advance. ) Is read out, and tuning data is sent to the tuning means 110 to perform tuning.

On the other hand, when the tuning control means 102 receives a viewing time ordering command, it receives the viewing time ordering tuning command in the viewing time order table stored in the tuning information storage means 130. One or more people who watched for the longest time in the same time zone on the same day of the week (in this case, a maximum of three)
Are tuned in the order of channel selection.

The tuning means 110 performs tuning on the basis of the tuning data sent from the tuning control means 102 and supplies a video signal corresponding to the video of the selected channel to the video display means 150. . The video display means 150 receives the video signal supplied from the tuning means 110 and displays a video corresponding to the video signal.

[0015] The time notifying means 120 outputs the time of 0 minutes (0: 0) every hour.
0, 1:00,..., 23:00)
01 is notified of the current day of the week and time. Further, a time notification request from the channel selection control unit 102 is received, and the current day of the week and time are also notified to the viewing time measurement unit 101 when the time notification request is received.

The channel selection information storage means 130 previously stores the channel numbers of the respective channels and the channel selection data for selecting them as a channel number order table (FIG. 5) in the order of the channel numbers. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the viewing time order table storing the day of the week, the time zone, the channel number, and the mark indicating the selected channel is previously selected by emptying all the channel numbers and the selected mark. It is stored in the station information storage means 130.

Next, the overall operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 and the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, the viewing time measuring means 101 constantly monitors at a predetermined time interval whether or not there has been a time notification from the time notifying means 120 (step 201 in FIG. 2). When the time is notified from the time notifying unit 120, the viewing time data including the viewing start time, the viewing end time, and the channel number of the viewed channel is stored in the channel selection information storage unit 130 in the viewing time table (FIG. 6). It is checked whether the data has been written (step 202). If the viewing time data is written in the viewing time table, the time notified in step 201 is written as the viewing end time of the viewing time data of the channel being viewed at that time (step 203).

Next, from the viewing time table, the time from the previous time notification by the time notification means 120 to the current time notification, that is, in this example, one hour of viewing time is calculated for each channel. The channel number of the channel having the longest time is entered in the viewing time order table (FIG. 7).
In the same day of the week when the time notification was made and in the same time zone as the time when the time notification was made, the channel selection order is 1
Write to line.

Next, the channel number of the channel whose viewing time was the second longest is indicated in the viewing time order table by the same day of the week that the time was notified and the same time as the time zone of the time notification. In the band, the channel selection order is written in the second row. Next, the channel number of the channel whose viewing time was the third longest is set in the viewing time order table in the same day of the week when the time notification was made and in the same time zone as the time when the time notification was made, The order of tuning is written in the third row (step 204). Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 205. If it is determined in step 202 that there is no viewing time data, the process proceeds to step 205.

In step 205, the viewing time data is deleted once, and new viewing time data is created from the current time and the channel number of the currently selected channel.

The tuning control means 102 is provided with the input means 1
It is monitored from step 40 whether a tuning command has been input (step 301 in FIG. 3). Next, if a tuning command has been input, it is determined whether the tuning command is a direct tuning command or a viewing time ordering tuning command (step 302).
If the tuning instruction is a viewing time ordering instruction, the viewing time order table (FIG. 8) stored in the tuning information storage means 130 is searched to determine a channel number to be tuned (step). 303).

Here, the procedure for determining the channel number to be selected in step 303 of FIG. 3 will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the channel selection control unit 102 sets the time notification unit 120
, And a current day of the week and time are obtained (step 401 in FIG. 4). Next, a line with a mark being selected is searched in the viewing time order table (step 402), and it is confirmed whether there is a line with a mark being selected (step 403). If there is a line with a selected mark, the selected mark is erased (step 404), and it is determined whether the day and time zone written on the line match the day and time zone of the current time. A decision is made (step 405).

If they match, A is set to the order of channel selection of the searched row (step 406), and B = (remainder of A / 3) +
1 ((A mod 3) +1) is calculated (step 40).
7) A line whose channel selection order is B is searched in the same day and time zone as the day and time zone of the currently searched line (step 408), and A = B (A is substituted for B) ) (Step 409). It is checked whether the channel number is written in the channel number column of the searched line (step 410). If the channel number is written, the written channel number is selected (step 411), and the search is performed. Mark the selected column of the row (step 41)
2).

On the other hand, if the channel number is not written in the channel number column, the process returns to step 407 and the processes of steps 407 to 410 are performed again. Also, if no line with the selected mark is found in steps 402 and 403, or if the day and time zone of the line with the selected mark and the day and time zone of the current time match in step 405, If not, a line having a tuning order of 1 is searched for in the same day and time zone as the current time (step 413).

Also in this case, it is determined whether or not the channel number is written in the channel number column of the searched line (step 414). If the channel number is written, the channel number is selected (step 411), and the selected channel number is selected. The column is marked (step 412). If the channel number is not written in the channel number column, the currently selected channel number is selected (step 415). And
When the processing in step 412 or step 415 is completed, the present processing ends.

After deciding the channel number to be tuned in this way, the channel number order table (FIG. 5) is searched, and the tuned data is read out (step 30 in FIG. 3).
4). Next, a time notification request is made, the current day of the week and time are obtained (step 305), and the viewing end time and viewing time of the currently selected channel are stored in the channel selection information storage means 130. Write to the viewing time table
Update viewing time data.

Then, the viewing time data including the channel number of the channel to be selected and the viewing start time is written in the viewing time table stored in the tuning information storage means 130 (step 306). Next, the tuning data of the channel to be tuned is read from the channel number order table and sent to the tuning means 110 to perform tuning (step 307). After that, the process returns to step 301, and the processes after step 301 are repeatedly executed.

Next, a specific example will be described with reference to FIG. For example, suppose that the user has watched for the first time between 14:00 and 15:00 on Monday, and has watched one channel at 14:00. At this time, the channel selection information storage means 130 previously stores a channel number order table, a viewing time order table (FIG. 7) in which the channel number and the selected mark are empty, and a viewing time table. No viewing time data is written in the viewing time table 6.

In such a state, since the channel number and the selected mark in the viewing time order table are all empty,
In the viewing time ordering channel selection command, the channel is not changed (the currently selected channel is selected (step 415 in FIG. 4).

Since no viewing time data has been written, the viewing time measuring means 101 writes the viewing end time, calculates the viewing time (step 203 in FIG. 2), and rewrites the viewing time order table (step 204). No new viewing time data is created (step 20).
Perform only 5).

In this case, at 14:00, the time notification unit 120 notifies the time. At this time, since there is no first viewing time data, the viewing time data is newly created, and the viewing start time 14:00 and the channel number 1 are written in the viewing time table of the channel selection information storage unit 130 as the viewing time data. When the channel is changed to channel 8 at 14:03, three minutes later, the viewing end time of channel 1 is 14:03, the viewing time is 3, the channel number 8 of channel 8, and the viewing start time is 14:03. The data is written to the viewing time table as data.

Further, when the channel is changed to channel 1 at 14:05, and further changed to channel 6 at 14:10, if the user continues to watch until 15:00, the time is notified again. At this time, since the viewing time data exists, the viewing end time 15:00 and the viewing time 50 of the six channels are written (FIG. 6).

The viewing time measuring means 101 counts the viewing time of each channel from the viewing time data, and writes the channel numbers in the order of the viewing time table in the order of channel selection 1, 2, 3 in descending order of the viewing time (see FIG. 4). Row 80 of FIG.
1, row 802, row 803). In this example, row 8 in FIG.
The channel number 6 having the longest viewing time is written in 01, and the channel number 1 having the longest viewing time is written in the row 802. Further, in the row 803, the channel number 8 having the next longer viewing time is written. Thereafter, the viewing time data in the viewing time table of FIG. 6 is deleted, and the channel number 6 and the viewing start time 15:00 are deleted.
To create new viewing time data.

The updated viewing time order table (FIG. 8) is used when a viewing time ordering instruction is input by the input means 140 in the same time zone of the following week. In this example, as described above, at 14:00 on Monday,
Since I watched it for the first time at 15:00, the following week at 14:00
Before 00, the channel number is not written in the row of the pertinent time zone in the viewing time order table, and the selected mark is not written in any row.

When a viewing / listening time selection command is input at 14:00 to 15:00 on the following Monday, there is no line in which a mark for selection is written, and therefore, from 14:00 to 15:00 on Monday.
In the time zone of 0, the line whose channel selection order is 1 (line 801 in FIG. 8) is searched, 6 channels in the channel number column are selected, and the selected line is marked.

Further, when the channel selection command is input again in order of viewing time, the mark of selection in line 801 is erased, and the line of channel selection order 2 (line 802) is searched on the same day and in the same time zone. And
Mark “Selected” and select 1 channel. Similarly, every time the viewing time order channel selection command is input, channel selection is repeated in the order of channel 6, channel 1, channel 8.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by the present invention. That is, the user of the television receiver equipped with the above-described channel selection system can easily select a channel without having to remember the channel number watched at the same time last week. The reason is to measure and store the viewing time for each day of the week and time zone.

In the above embodiment, the viewing time order table sets up to three channel numbers every hour. However, other time periods such as every 30 minutes and every 15 minutes are set. A plurality of channel numbers can be set for each.

[0040]

As described above, according to the television broadcast receiving apparatus, the television broadcast tuning method, and the recording medium of the present invention, the viewing time information including the viewed channel, the viewing start time and the viewing end time of the channel. Are collected and stored for each predetermined reference time, and based on the stored viewing time information, a predetermined number of channels are extracted in ascending order of viewing time, and each of the days corresponding to the viewing start time and the viewing end time is extracted. Stores viewing time order information in which time zones are associated with channels, selects a channel based on viewing time order information corresponding to the current day of the week and time zone corresponding to the time zone, and selects the selected channel. , So you can easily select the channel you watched last week. Therefore, even if the user forgets the channel watched at the same time on the same day of the previous week, the user can easily view the channel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an embodiment of a television broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the television broadcast receiving apparatus of FIG. 1 at the time of channel selection.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the television broadcast receiving apparatus of FIG. 1 at the time of selecting a channel.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the television broadcast receiving apparatus of FIG. 1 when selecting a channel.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a channel number order table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a viewing time table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a viewing time order table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example when data is written in a viewing time order table.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an example of a conventional television broadcast receiving device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 computer 101 viewing time measuring means 102, 220 tuning control means 110, 210 tuning means 120 time notifying means 130 tuning information storage means 140 input means 150 video display means 230 video synthesis means

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means for counting and storing, for each predetermined reference time, viewing time information including a viewed channel and a viewing start time and a viewing end time of the channel, and the first storage means. Based on the viewing time information stored in, a predetermined number of channels are extracted in ascending order of viewing time, and each time zone of each day of the week corresponding to the viewing start time and viewing end time is associated with the channel. Second storage means for storing the viewing time order information, and selecting the channel based on the viewing time order information of the day and time zone corresponding to the current day and time zone stored in the second storage means. And a tuning control means for tuning the selected channel. 2. The channel selection control unit selects a channel viewed for the longest time based on the viewing time information stored in the second storage unit, and selects the channel. The television broadcast receiving device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A direct channel selection command for directly specifying a channel and instructing channel selection, and a viewing time for instructing channel selection based on the viewing time order information stored in the second storage means. Further comprising input means for inputting a channel selection command, wherein when the direct channel selection command is input by the input means, a specified channel is selected and the viewing time order channel selection command is input. The television broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a channel is selected based on the viewing time order information stored in the second storage means. 4. The viewing time information stored in the first storage means is deleted each time the counting for each reference time is completed, and the second storage means stores the viewing time information for one week. 2. The television broadcast receiving device according to claim 1, wherein order information is stored. 5. A first storage step of counting and storing, for each predetermined reference time, viewing time information including a viewed channel and a viewing start time and a viewing end time of the channel, and the first storage step. Based on the viewing time information stored in, a predetermined number of channels are extracted in ascending order of viewing time, and each time zone of each day of the week corresponding to the viewing start time and viewing end time is associated with the channel. A second storage step of storing the viewing time order information, and selecting a channel based on the viewing time order information of the day of the week and the time zone corresponding to the current day of the week and the time zone stored in the second storage step. And a tuning control step of tuning the selected channel. 6. A recording medium on which a program capable of executing the method for selecting a television broadcast according to claim 5 is recorded.