JP2001186472A - System and method for recording and reproducing video - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plural channel video recording and reproducing system, by which the programs of a plurality of channels are video-recorded and reproduced. SOLUTION: The system is provided with a receiving means for receiving a TV signal including video information, date information, time information and channel information, a storage means for storing the TV signal by program unit, a display means for displaying the TV signal of a reproduction possible program, a reproduction program indicating means for indicating the reproduction program, a reproduction display means for reproducing and displaying video information of the program which is indicated by the reproduction program indicating means and a control means for outputting date information and time information of the TV signal being reproduced at present and the TV signal of another channel which is broadcasted on the same day and in the same time from the storage means when another channel reproduction indication is inputted by the reproduction program indicating means during the reproduction of video information of a prescribed TV signal and for reproducing and displaying them in the reproduction display means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-channel recording / reproducing system capable of recording / reproducing multi-channel video.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a program is watched on a television broadcast or when a program is being broadcast in real time, a method of selecting a desired program by referring to a program table or the like and matching a channel to watch the program is generally used. It is a target. In addition, when recording a television broadcast program, a video tape recorder (hereinafter, referred to as VTR) device is used,
In general, a recorded program is reproduced and viewed when the user wants to view it. In particular, in a VTR, a program to be recorded is reserved in advance, and the VTR automatically records the program based on the reservation. After that, the user plays back the recorded program and views it.

In recent years, digital sanitary multi-channel broadcasting has been broadcasting data corresponding to an electronic program guide called EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and a user displays this EPG on a display screen of a receiver. To search for a desired program.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-196390 discloses a storage-type information system and contents related to a receiving terminal device of the system. In the storage type information system according to the present invention, the receiving terminal receives the EPG digests, sets a reception schedule for each digest, temporarily stores the received digests in accordance with the reception schedule without omission, and then reproduces the digest selected from the digests. The stored and re-stored digest contents are displayed based on the user's request.

[0005]

However, in the prior art, when watching a program in real time, it is necessary to know in advance the program that the user wants to view, and the user is bound by the broadcast time of the program, There is a problem of missing a program that the user wants to watch. When recording on a VTR,
The user needs to reserve the recording in advance. For this reason, there are problems that the broadcast time of the program is checked in advance, and the recording reservation operation is complicated.

In recent years, with the era of multi-channels, it is difficult to find a desired program from a television column of a newspaper or a magazine. Since the information on the EPG is the same information as those in the television section, there is a problem that it is difficult to find a desired program.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-channel recording / reproducing system capable of recording / reproducing a program of a plurality of channels.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving a television signal including video information, date information, time information, and channel information; Storage means for storing a television signal of a reproducible program, display means for displaying a television signal of a reproducible program, reproduction program instruction means for designating a reproduction program, and video information of the program designated by the reproduction program instruction means A reproduction display means for reproducing and displaying, and when a reproduction instruction of another channel is inputted by the reproduction program instruction means during reproduction of video information of a predetermined television signal, a date of the television signal being reproduced at present from the storage means. Control means for outputting a television signal of another channel broadcast on the same day and at the same time as the information and the time information, and causing the reproduction display means to reproduce and display the television signal. And it features.

With such a configuration, a program of a plurality of channels can be recorded and stored, a desired program can be reproduced from the recorded and stored program, and a program which is broadcast at the same time and the same day as the currently reproduced program can be recorded. It is possible to provide a recording / reproducing system capable of reproducing the program of the channel as if watching it in real time.

[0010] In the invention according to claim 4, a television signal including video information, date information, time information, and channel information is received, the television signal is stored in units of a program, and a television of a reproducible program is stored. A display unit for displaying a video signal, reproducing and instructing a reproduction program, and reproducing and displaying video information of the program instructed by the reproduction program instruction unit;
When a reproduction instruction of another channel is input during reproduction of video information of a predetermined television signal, the date information and time information of the currently reproduced television signal and the other channel broadcast on the same day and at the same time. A television signal is output and reproduced and displayed on the reproduction display means.

[0011] With such a configuration, a program of a plurality of channels can be recorded and stored, and a desired program can be reproduced from the recorded and stored program. It is possible to provide a recording / reproducing method capable of reproducing the program of the channel as if watching it in real time.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a system according to the first embodiment. This device includes a display device 2, a control device 3, and a storage device 4.

The display device 2 is for browsing a distributed program and displaying various information.
Is equivalent to

The control device 3 performs various controls for viewing the distributed program and controls the storage device 4.

The storage device 4 has a plurality of tuners and a large-capacity storage medium for storing programs, and is capable of storing programs of a plurality of channels received by the tuners.

The display unit 5 of the display device 2 includes a CRT or an L
It is a display means such as a CD, and displays the stored video and various information.

The control device 3 includes a ROM 6 for storing a program such as a control routine of the control device, a RAM 7 for temporarily storing various data, an input unit 8 for inputting instructions and the like from a user, A display unit 9 for displaying the state of the device 3 and input information from the input unit 8; a control unit 10 for controlling these devices and controlling the display device 2 and the storage device 4; Communication unit 11 that performs
And a storage unit 12 for storing program information.

The ROM 6 stores programs for controlling the entire control device 3 and transmitting and receiving data to and from the storage device 4, control routines for the display device 2 and the storage device 4, and the like.

The RAM 7 temporarily stores information such as input data and data during execution of a program.

The input unit 8 is for inputting a channel, a time zone, and the like that the user actually wants to record, and an instruction such as which program is to be called from the recorded program. Button to change the time zone, and to instruct to skip to the previous / next broadcast,
A button for instructing reproduction is provided. The input unit 8 is, for example, a remote controller device or a button attached to the control device 3.

The display unit 9 displays information input from the input unit 8 and displays messages and the like issued by the control unit 10.

The control unit 10 controls the entire control device 3, transmits video data to be displayed on the display device 2, and sends various instructions to be sent to the storage device 4 to the communication unit 11. It is also conceivable that the image is compressed and stored in the storage device 4, and in this case, the control unit 1
0 is assumed to have a decoder.

The communication section 11 is an interface for sending an instruction or the like received from the control section 10 to the communication section 15 of the storage device 4. This communication may be wireless communication or wired communication.

The storage section 12 stores information on the channel, date and time of the program stored in the storage device 4.
These pieces of information are to be displayed on the display unit 5 when the user selects a program to view. Also, the date / time / channel information of the program currently being reproduced is stored during the reproduction.

The storage device 4 includes a communication unit 15 and the storage device 4
A control unit 16 for performing overall control, a ROM 17 for storing various programs, and an RA for temporarily storing data.
M18, a storage unit 19 for storing a received program, and a tuner unit 21 for receiving an image of a specific frequency band specified by the user from a radio wave received by the antenna 20.
And a display unit 22 for displaying various information issued from the control unit 16, the current state of the storage device 4, and the like, and an input unit 23 for performing power supply and operation input of the storage device 4.

The communication unit 15 is an interface for communicating with the communication unit 11 of the control device 3. This communication may be wireless communication or wired communication.

The control unit 16 determines the support received from the control device 3 and controls the storage device 4 as a whole. The control unit 16 also performs channel setting of each tuner instructed by the control device 3 and controls the storage unit 19. Further, when storing the video from the tuner unit 21, it is possible to use an image compression technique, for example, MPEG-2 / M
It is also possible to compress and store it in the storage unit 19 using a moving image compression technique such as PEG-4. In this case, an encoder for the image is provided in the control unit 16.

The ROM 17 stores programs relating to the control of the storage device 4 when the storage device 4 receives a program and saves / reproduces the data in the storage unit 19 and the like.

The RAM 18 is a storage medium for temporarily storing various data.

The storage unit 19 is a medium for storing the program received from the tuner unit 21. For example, a hard disk or another storage medium can be applied. This storage unit 19 can store information for at least one week.

The tuner section 21 has a plurality of tuners. Each tuner is assigned a specific channel, and receives a radio wave received by an antenna and an image of a specific channel by each tuner.

The display unit 22 displays the current state of the storage device 4,
It is an LCD display or the like for displaying recordings, recording channels, and the like.

The input unit 23 is a power supply for the storage device 4 and various operation switches.

In the present apparatus, it is possible to store the broadcasted programs of a plurality of channels in the storage section 19 of the storage device 4. Further, the program stored in the storage unit 19 is read out,
When the user likes, it is possible to browse a desired program.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart for recording a program.

An instruction is issued from the control unit 10 of the control device 3 to the control unit 15 of the storage device 4 via the communication unit 11 so that the user can designate a channel or a program to be stored in each tuner in advance.

The user performs an input for designating a desired channel from the input section 8 (step S101). this is,
A desired channel is selected for each of the plurality of tuners. The control unit 10 receives a channel instruction from the input unit 8, and generates channel information for each tuner (step S102). The control unit 10 transmits a channel instruction to the storage device 4 via the communication unit 11 (Step S103). The control unit 16 that has received the instruction via the communication unit 15 of the storage device 4 (step S104) determines the received channel information (step S105), and allocates the specified channel to each tuner of the tuner unit 21. (Step S106).

Each tuner of the tuner section 21 receives the video of the assigned channel (step S1).
07). All the images of the received channel are stored in the storage unit 19 together with the channel and time information (step S108). At this time, one program is stored for each program.

In this way, since all the images of the channels set to the respective tuners from the input unit 8 are stored in the storage device 4, the problem of failing to record a program is eliminated.

When the user views a desired program from the programs stored in the storage unit 19, the user can designate and input a date and time from the input unit 8 to browse.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart at the time of reproducing the recorded program.

The user designates a program to be viewed from the input unit 8 (step S201). The selected information is transmitted to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 determines the selected program information (date, time, channel information) (step 2).
02), the selected program information is transmitted to the storage device 4 (step S203). The storage device 4 receives the program information via the communication unit 15 (step S204), the control unit 16 decodes the program information (step S205), reads a desired program from the storage unit 19 (step S206), and performs control. The video data is transmitted to the device 3 (step S207). The control device receives the video data (step S208). If the video data is compression-encoded, the control unit 10 decompresses the video data. The control unit 10 transmits the video data received from the storage device 4 to the display device 2 (Step S20).
9), the display device 2 displays a program.

An interface for facilitating the instruction of the reproduced program is also conceivable. An example of this interface is shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG.
In the program column of a newspaper, time is displayed on the vertical axis and channel is displayed on the horizontal axis, and each program is surrounded by a rectangular frame. The channel, time, and program information are stored in the storage unit 12 in the control device 3. A pointer 25 such as an arrow is also displayed on the display unit 5. By operating the pointer 25 from the input unit 8 and specifying a desired program frame,
It is possible to select a program.

The user operates the pointer 25 on the display unit 5 with the input unit 8 to select a program to be viewed on the program selection table. The selected information is transmitted to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 determines the selected program information (date, time, channel information). The following processing is the same as the processing from step S203 onward in FIG.

The use of such an interface facilitates selection of a program to be viewed.

As described above, a desired program can be reproduced from the stored program and browsed.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, since the contents of all the specified channels are stored in the storage unit 19 together with the time information, when a certain program is being reproduced from the storage unit 19, by instructing a channel change, It is possible to switch to and view the program broadcast at the same time.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart when the reproduction channel is changed.

It is assumed that the user reads a predetermined program from the input unit 8 from the storage unit 19 and views the program. Referring to the reproduced program interface shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the user is watching “Program A-2”. Actually 1999
At the same time on November 17th, "Program B-
This means that a program such as "Program C-1" on channel 2 and channel 4 and "Program D-1" on channel 6 has been broadcast.
The storage unit 19 also stores these programs. For this reason, if an instruction to change the channel is issued from the input unit 8 while watching “Program A-2” (step S3).
01), the control unit 10 acquires the information of the currently reproduced program (channel, date / time information) (step S30).
2). With reference to the date / time information and the program information stored in the storage unit 12, the program broadcasted in the designated time zone is searched for in the designated channel (step S303). When the program in the designated channel is determined by the control unit 10, the date / time information and the channel information of the program are transmitted to the storage device 4 (step S304).

The control unit 16 of the storage device 4 receives the information from the control device 3 (step S305), the control unit 16 determines the received information (step S306), and
Then, the video data of the instructed program is read from the programs stored in the program (step S307), and the video data is transmitted to the control unit 3 (step S308).

The control section 10 receives the video data (step S309) and transmits the video data to the display device 2 (step S310).

Here, the reproduction start position of the program of the designated channel is a position at the same time as the reproduction time of the program being viewed. In this case, the control unit 10 reads the reproduction time of the program being watched, and starts reproduction from the position of the time read by the control unit 10 when reproducing the designated program. It is also possible to play back from the head of the designated program.

This means that, for example, while “Program A-2” is being reproduced,
When the user instructs a channel change (for example, “Program B-2”) when entering a CM, the “Program B-2” at that time is reproduced, and the program being broadcast in real time is played. It becomes possible to watch a program on another channel as if watching it.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the previous broadcast or the next broadcast of the currently reproduced program can be viewed. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart at the time of the last broadcast instruction.

It is assumed that the user reads a predetermined program from the input unit 8 from the storage unit 19 and views the program. Referring to the program table shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the user is watching "Program A-2".

When an instruction of “previous broadcast” is issued from the input unit 8 while watching “Program A-2” (step S
401), the control unit 10 acquires information on the program currently being reproduced (channel, date / time information) (step S40).
2). With reference to the date / time information and the program information stored in the storage unit 12, the information of the last broadcast of the currently reproduced program is searched (step S403). Here, in the case of a drama that is broadcast once a week, the last broadcast refers to a program that was broadcast in the same time zone one week ago. In the case of a program broadcasted every day, it indicates a program broadcasted in the same time zone of the previous day. In the case of instructing the next broadcast, it is limited to the case where the broadcast is stored in the storage device at the current time when the user gives the instruction. The control unit 10 transmits the date / time information and the channel information of the previous broadcast program to the storage device 4 (step S404).

The control unit 16 of the storage device 4 receives the information from the control device 3 (step S405), the control unit 16 judges the received information (step S406), and the storage unit 19
The video data of the instructed program is read from the programs stored in the control unit 3 (step S407), and the video data is transmitted to the control unit 3 (step S408).

The control unit 10 receives the video data (Step S409) and transmits the video data to the display device 2 (Step S410).

As described above, the user can also watch the previous broadcast of the program being reproduced or the next broadcast if stored in the storage device 4.

As described above, in the present invention, it is possible to store programs on a plurality of channels, and the user can arbitrarily select and view a program from the stored programs. In addition, it is possible to reproduce the broadcast state in real time, even for a program of another channel that was broadcast in the same time zone as when the broadcast was being broadcast.

[0062]

According to the invention described in detail above, it is possible to store programs of a plurality of channels, and it is possible for a user to arbitrarily select and view a program from the stored programs. It is possible to provide a recording and playback system and a recording and playback method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart when recording a program.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for reproducing a program.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a reproduction program selection interface.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart when a reproduction channel is changed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart at the time of a previous broadcast instruction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 display device 3 control device 4 storage device 5 display unit 6 and 17 ROM 7 and 18 RAM 8 and 23 input unit 9 and 22 display unit 10 and 16 control unit 11 and 15 communication unit 12, 19 storage unit 20 antenna 21 tuner unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Receiving means for receiving a television signal including video information, date information, time information, and channel information; storage means for storing the television signal in units of programs; Display means for displaying a signal; reproduced program instructing means for instructing a reproduced program; reproducing and displaying means for reproducing and displaying video information of the program instructed by the reproduced program instructing means; During reproduction, when a reproduction instruction of another channel is input by the reproduction program instruction means, the other channel broadcast on the same day and at the same time as the date information and time information of the television signal currently being reproduced from the storage means. And a control unit for outputting the television signal of (1) and causing the reproduction display unit to reproduce and display the television signal. 2. A time in a program to which a reproduction program change is inputted by said reproduction program instruction means and a reproduction start time of said second television signal are the same time. A recording and playback system according to item 1. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction program instruction means can issue an instruction to reproduce the previous broadcast or the next broadcast of the currently reproduced television signal while the video signal of the predetermined television signal is being reproduced. 2. The recording and playback system according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A television signal including video information, date information, time information, and channel information is received, the television signal is stored in units of programs, and a television signal of a reproducible program is displayed and reproduced. A reproduction display means for reproducing and instructing a program and reproducing and displaying video information of the program designated by the reproduction program instruction means, and a reproduction instruction of another channel is inputted while reproducing video information of a predetermined television signal. In the case, a recording / reproducing method characterized by outputting the television signal of the other channel broadcasted on the same day and at the same time as the date information and the time information of the television signal currently being reproduced, and reproducing and displaying the television signal on the reproduction display means . 5. When a reproduction program change is input to another channel during reproduction of a predetermined television signal, the time of the program currently being reproduced and the reproduction start time of the television signal of the other channel are the same. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein
Recording and playback method described in 1. 6. The recording / reproducing method according to claim 4, wherein an instruction to reproduce a previous broadcast or a next broadcast of the first television signal can be issued by the reproduced program change instruction.