JP2002335463A - Broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of a conventional electronic program guide transmitted by a digital broadcast program or the like in which only the current and succeeding electronic program guides are available for users and it is difficult for users to retrieve a re-broadcast of a program having been missed of viewing and to acquire its program contents. SOLUTION: A data storage section 27 for data after a present point of time of an electronic program guide in the broadcast receiver 10 records program guide data transmitted currently. When new data are acquired, a storage data selection section 31 selects a desired genre or the like from data of a past program. A valid period setting section 33 gives a stored valid period to the selected data and records the result to a data storage section 32 for the past electronic program guide data. A program guide image generating section 34 reads past program guides from the storage section 32 and displays the guides on an image display section 25 together with the current program guide broadcast. When the user selects the past program, whether or not the past program is stored in a video recorder 40 is retrieved. When it is not in existence, a re-broadcast schedule is retrieved, and if the schedule is not in existence, a communication section 38 requests a broadcast station or the like to distribute the schedule or delivery of a DVD.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast transmitting an electronic program guide such as a digital broadcast, and more particularly, to a past electronic program guide which can be stored and used. Related to a broadcast receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital broadcasting has various features such as simultaneous transmission of a plurality of broadcasts on one channel, good image quality, and less disturbing video on a transmission path. 2. Description of the Related Art Digital broadcasting has become widespread, and programs with more than 200 channels are broadcast day and night. In addition, BS digital broadcasting has become a main broadcasting, and is going to spread rapidly along with the high image quality of digital high definition television.

[0003] Further, terrestrial digital broadcasting has been broadcast in the United States for some time, and in Japan, the start time of the main broadcasting has been determined. In particular, digital terrestrial broadcasting is suitable for mobile reception, so it is expected that on-board receivers will receive high-quality, multi-channel audio broadcasts. It may be an important function and is attracting attention. As described above, it is expected that most of the broadcasts will be digitized in the future, and it is expected that an extremely large number of broadcasts will be receivable since digital broadcasts are being multi-channeled.

[0004] In addition, with the increase in the number of recipients and the competition among the companies, various programs and various services according to the tastes and preferences of the users are increasing, and for example, movies, sports, music, news, dramas, variety, and the like. A large number of genres, such as music, education, theater broadcasting, hobbies, and animation, are broadcast on many channels. A user who receives such a digital broadcast has to select his / her favorite channel from among a great many channels as described above. There is a problem that requires much trouble such as searching for a program to be performed.

[0005] For this reason, in a CS broadcast, a specific channel is used. In a BS digital broadcast, an electronic program guide (EPG: Electronic Program Guide) is multiplexed with video and audio data.
In this case, a desired program can be selected from various programs by displaying this data.

Therefore, most of recent digital broadcast receivers have an EPG reception function, and receivers of various companies arrange EPG program data in various ways to form original usage guides. Digital broadcast users can display this program table by operating remote control keys and the like, receive desired programs,
In addition, recording settings are made as needed.

[0007] Such an electronic program guide (EPG) is a type of data broadcasting, and the content of each EPG has some differences. However, most of them are based on the broadcast date, day of the week, The start / end time, station ID, program title, subtitle, program content, cast, genre information of the program, etc. are repeatedly transmitted including a still image in part. In addition, contents included in the EPG are scheduled to be added as appropriate in the future, so that various types of information can be used. In a digital broadcast receiver, which has become difficult, the effective use of the EPG is an extremely important factor that appeals to users as a function of the digital broadcast receiver and as a means for guiding digital broadcasting.

[0008]

By using the above-mentioned electronic program guide, it is possible to know the information of the current program and the current program, but past programs such as a program one week ago are provided. You can not use this because there is no. Therefore, for example, in a conversation with a friend etc.
When a program that was aired a few days ago was said to be "That program was good." It is necessary to perform a troublesome task such as looking for a newspaper in a program column and the like, and in many cases, it is difficult to find this and give up.

Further, even if a past program table is found and a program name or the like is specified, whether a rerun of the program exists,
Or it's hard to know when. At this time, the program in the range one week ahead from the current time can be searched by the electronic program guide. However, for the later programs, for example, one month ahead and two months ahead, there is no data. Can not do.
Therefore, when the program is likely to be rebroadcast, it is necessary to periodically check the program table. When searching for such an electronic program guide, for example, when the broadcast receiver is mounted on a vehicle, the user who uses the broadcast receiver is often a driver, so it is safe to perform the above work. It will hinder driving.

On the other hand, when the channel, date and time, etc. for broadcasting the program to be viewed are known in advance, and it is deemed impossible to watch the program during that time,
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been practiced to make a reservation in a video cassette recorder, record the reservation, and view it when time is available. When recording such a broadcast, recently, in addition to the video cassette recorder as described above, in recent years, broadcast data such as MPEG2 in digital broadcast has been transmitted to D
It is also recorded on a VD-RAM or a hard disk, etc., and reproduced and viewed later. At that time, the program information that is broadcast at the same time is also recorded, and when it is reproduced, the entire list of many programs recorded on the hard disk or the like is displayed, and the user can select and reproduce from the list. You can do it.

[0011] With the advancement of such technology, a television program will be described in which a program which is considered to be appropriate is recorded in advance on a digital recording medium such as a hard disk as described above, and the recorded program is watched when there is time. It is expected that the number of viewing modes will increase. At that time, if the user has forgotten to watch a program broadcast in the past, it is searched for whether or not the program is recorded as described above. At this time, the program can be searched by organizing and displaying the information on the recorded program. However, even at that time, it is difficult to search for a previously broadcasted program if the title or the like is not known.

In recent years, important programs broadcasted in the past at broadcasting stations have been recorded on video cassettes or DVDs and sold. In the case of a movie broadcast, the movie may be already generally sold on a DVD or the like. Further, at the time of sales, due to the development of the Internet in recent years, a sales company accepts an application for purchase on the Internet and distributes it separately. In addition, with the speeding up of the Internet, it is also considered to distribute to purchase applicants via the Internet. Depending on the video that is open to the public, it can be freely captured on the Internet network. As a result, it becomes possible to view a program that one has forgotten to watch as described above. However, when a specific program in the past cannot be found as described above, it is necessary to apply for delivery to a broadcasting station or a sales company again and search on the Internet, which is troublesome.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to easily search for a rebroadcast of a program whose broadcasting has ended, and to easily search whether or not the program content is recorded when a broadcast recording medium is provided. It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a broadcast receiver capable of easily obtaining program contents such as a request for distribution of the program contents or a request for distribution of the recording medium as needed. .

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a broadcast receiver according to the present invention displays a program table by using electronic program guide data, and receives a designated broadcast by designating the displayed program. An electronic program guide for storing the currently transmitted electronic program guide data; a data storage for the current and subsequent electronic program guides; and a past electronic program guide data storage for recording the past electronic program guide data. A program table forming unit for forming a program table to be displayed on a screen based on data in the data storage unit, and a designated program content obtaining means for obtaining the specified program content when a user specifies a past program by the displayed program table It is provided with.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the program guide data recorded in the electronic program guide past data storage unit is data with an expiration date.

Another broadcast receiver according to the present invention is characterized in that the program guide data recorded in the data storage section for the past electronic program guide is replaced with data obtained by selecting and recording only a predetermined specific type of program. It was done.

Further, another broadcast receiver according to the present invention further comprises an electronic program guide search section for searching for electronic program guide data, and the designated program content obtaining means includes a program currently being broadcast by the electronic program guide search section. By searching the data of the electronic program guide, a program having the same content as the designated program content is searched and displayed.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the screen to be searched and displayed is at least one of a separate screen display, a pop-up display, a highlight display, a 3D display, and a display color change display. It is.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the specified program content obtaining means further includes a rebroadcast search memory, and a program having the same content as the specified program content is currently being broadcast. When the program data is not present in the program guide data, the program data is recorded in the rebroadcast search memory, and the electronic program guide search unit stores the program data in the rebroadcast search memory when new electronic program guide data is acquired. Whether or not the recorded program content exists in the new electronic program guide data is searched, and when the program content exists, the program is displayed in a display method different from the others.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the specified program content obtaining means searches for data recorded in a recording device connected to the broadcast receiver, and transmits the specified program to the recording device. A reproduction instruction output means for instructing to reproduce data having the same contents as the above.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, when the designated program content obtaining means does not exist in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data,
Alternatively, the communication unit does not exist in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data and searches for data recorded in the recording device connected to the broadcast receiver and the program content does not exist. The distribution or request for distribution of the designated program contents to another program contents providing means via the.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the communication unit is a telephone line connected to the broadcast receiver or a communication line to the Internet.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the other program content providing means may include at least one of a radio wave transmitted from a broadcast station, a recording medium from the broadcast station, or a download from a communication line. It is a thing.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, in the program table forming section, identification of a program table from the present time and a past program table and identification of selection of a program in the past program table are performed. , At least one of the identifications of programs viewed in the past is displayed.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a functional block of an example in which the present invention is applied to a system having a digital broadcast receiver, and a relationship between the functional blocks. In this figure, as in the prior art, the digital broadcast receiving unit 10 converts the radio waves of the digital broadcast received by the antenna 11 to the signal demodulation unit 12 controlled by the system control unit 20 to select a channel.
Performs signal processing such as RF signal and baseband signal demodulation,
The data separating unit 13 separates the audio data 14 and the video data 15 included in the signal, and the information channel data 16 including various information such as management information of these data and program information.

The separated audio data 14 is output from a speaker 22 through an audio signal decoding unit 17 and an amplifier 21, and the video data 15 is output to a video signal decoding unit 23. The image is displayed on the image display unit 25 by combining an appropriate image from the front screen forming unit 34. The information channel data 16 is input to the system control unit 20 and used for various purposes. The program information included in the information channel data 17 includes information such as a program name, a start time, and a program genre. For example, in BS digital, an electronic program guide (EPG) is multiplexed with video data and audio data and transmitted, and in CS broadcasting, data is transmitted on a specific channel.
These electronic program guides can also be imported from here.

The electronic program guide for the currently broadcasted program and the program to be broadcasted that have been fetched as described above are stored in the data storage unit 27 for the current and subsequent electronic program guides via the system control unit 20. Here, the latest data is always stored, and those older than the current time, that is, past electronic program guides, are stored by the stored data selection unit 31 by the user in advance, such as drama, documentary program, etc. A specific genre is selected, and the data is moved and stored in the electronic program guide past data storage unit 32.

At this time, in the expiration date setting unit 33,
An expiration date of an arbitrary period such as one month, six months, or one year is set and stored in advance by the user. The expiration date set at this time can be set differently for each genre specified by the accumulated data selection unit 31, such as one month for news, six months for documentary programs, and one year for movies. The data storage unit 27 for the current and subsequent electronic program guides is always updated with new data, and is used for processing the received electronic program guide data when searching for data of the currently transmitted electronic program guide. A data storage unit that only functions as a buffer may be used.

When a program broadcasted from a broadcasting station is a program produced by the broadcasting station with particular emphasis, such as NHK's “Project X”, the broadcasting station transmits information to that effect to the broadcast data. The data is recorded and broadcasted, and the data is read by the stored data selection unit 31 of the broadcast receiver.
Even if the broadcast time of the program ends, it is also possible to set so that the program table data is automatically stored in the electronic program guide past data storage unit 32 for a predetermined period without being discarded.

In addition, when the electronic program guide is stored in the past data storage unit 32 as described above, it is not always necessary to select the stored data and set the expiration date, but it is necessary to save the memory and to save the data. For ease of handling and simplification of program guide display, the above selection and expiration date are preferable. In addition, the genre setting in the stored data selection section 31 and the expiration date setting section 3
The setting of the expiration date in 3 follows the setting guidance display,
The operation is performed by the user operating a remote controller or the like in the receiver operation unit 37 and outputting a signal to the operation signal input unit 36, for example.

On the other hand, the electronic program guide search section 30 uses the data storage section 27 for the current and subsequent electronic program guides as described above to perform an arbitrary search from programs that can be viewed from now on. The search result is set as a predetermined screen by the program guide screen forming unit 34,
, The display is superimposed on the screen currently being broadcast, or the like, and is displayed on the image display unit 25. At this time, the content of the program to be displayed, the display format, and the like can be arbitrarily selected. For example, selection display by genre, program display of only a specific channel, program display of each channel only in a specific time zone, and the like can be made in various forms. Can be displayed.

In addition to displaying the program table itself, the electronic program guide search unit 30 searches the image display unit 25 for a specific program or a specific performer or artist. The obtained specific program can also be displayed. In addition, the program guide screen forming unit 34 can also display a conventional program guide in accordance with an instruction from the system control unit 20 in addition to the result searched by the electronic program guide search unit 30 as described above.
The scroll display can be arbitrarily performed by the remote controller. The program guide displayed at this time can be performed based only on the data in the data storage unit 27 for the current and subsequent electronic program guides, the data acquisition time for displaying the program guide can be reduced, and the The corresponding quick display can be performed.

When displaying the program guide, in addition to the conventional programs broadcast after the current time, the programs broadcasted before the current time are also displayed using the data stored in the data storage unit 32 for the past electronic program guide. In this case, it is preferable that the program can be easily identified by changing the background color of the program guide in order to distinguish the program from the current program.

When the user selects a program in the past when selecting a program, it is determined whether or not the program content is recorded on a recording medium 41 such as a video cassette or a large-capacity hard disk of the recording device 40. The recorded program is searched by the recorded program search unit 35, and when a video is recorded, the recording / reproduction instructing unit 26 activates the recording device 40 to automatically reproduce the video. As described above, when the program content is recorded on the recording medium 41, the program is not automatically played back, and the program is simply recorded on the screen as "The program is recorded." It is also possible to set to display only that the program is being played back, and to reproduce the program only when an instruction from the user indicating that the program is desired to be played is input from the recording / playback operation unit 42 or the like. it can.

In the present invention, contents such as video data and audio data of a broadcasted program are referred to as "program contents", and the data of the specified program contents recorded on the recording device is the data of the specified program itself. The data need not be the same. For example, even if data recorded on another channel has the same program content, the data can be searched for, and the data can be specified and reproduced.

As described above, the recording apparatus 40 can use a conventional video cassette. However, in recent years, it has become possible to record video data and audio data of digital broadcasting as it is for this video cassette. Recording is also possible. Further, with the development of hard disks in recent years, about 60G disks have been provided at a low price, and it is expected that hard disks capable of recording even larger amounts of data will be available in the future. It is expected that recording of digital broadcasts over 100 hours will be possible in the near future. Therefore, it is difficult to know what kind of program is being recorded in the recording device in the future. However, in this embodiment, it is possible to automatically search for the program that has been recorded, so that it is easily recorded. Automatically know which program you are in.

A rebroadcast search instructing unit 28 is connected to the system control unit 20. The user selects a program for the past,
When the program content is not recorded on the recording medium 41 as described above, a search instruction is output to the electronic program guide search unit 30 to determine whether or not the program content exists in the data storage unit 27 for the current time of the electronic program guide. Or search. In addition,
When selecting a program for the past, an icon is added and displayed so that the user does not select a previously recorded program, or a colored program is displayed on a recorded program,
It may be displayed for easy identification. With such a display, it is possible to perform an index function for knowing what the program recorded on the recording medium 41 is.

As a result of the above-mentioned search, when the electronic program guide does not exist in the data storage unit 27 after the present time, there is no rebroadcast schedule at least in this data, so that when the data is transmitted by the new electronic program guide, The rebroadcast is recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 so that the rebroadcast can be automatically detected. Thereby, when a program recorded in the broadcast search memory 29 is detected to be broadcast when a new electronic program guide is imported,
The user is informed of the existence of the program in the electronic program guide by performing separate screen display, pop-up display, highlight display, 3D display, change of display color, and the like in an easy-to-understand manner.

As described above, when a separate screen is displayed, it is possible to reliably notify the user of the presence of a rebroadcast. When a pop-up display is performed, the display of the program guide is hardly impaired. In the case where highlighting, 3D display, or display color change display is performed, a prominent display can be provided to the user without changing the display of the program guide. it can. Also, when we know that a rebroadcast will take place,
The channel, the start time, and the end time are output to the viewing reservation unit 39 and stored. As a result, when a predetermined date and time comes, viewing of the channel can be automatically performed. In addition, it is possible to make settings so that recording is automatically performed on the recording medium 41 as necessary.

The system control unit 20 can further control the communication unit 38. When the user selects a program for the past as described above, the content of the program is stored in the recording medium 41. If the program does not exist and there is no schedule for rebroadcasting, a broadcast request for the program is made to the broadcasting department 46 of the broadcasting station 45 or the media sales department 4
7 is requested to deliver the program by DVD or the like.
These request signals can be transmitted to a broadcasting station via a telephone line used in digital broadcasting, and can also be transmitted to the broadcasting station via the Internet.

In the case of broadcasting from a broadcasting station, for example, in the case of BS digital broadcasting, there is a data area for which the use method has not yet been determined, so that data can be distributed using this data area. The distribution by the video-on-demand method performed in the above-mentioned manner is also possible. When distributing these broadcasts or DVDs, the data contents, MPEG2, MPEG2
4 can be paid for by setting a price according to the recording system, etc., and can be distributed or delivered free of charge by inserting a commercial into this video. It can be established as one business.

In addition, if necessary, the user accesses the Internet network 49 so that, for example, when the program that the user is searching for is a specific movie, the movie is selected from any of the Web sites.
A search is made to see if the movie exists at the site b, and if it is found that the movie is sold, the application is made.
In addition, when it is set to simply download, the download is performed via the Internet. It is expected that such a large amount of images will be easily performed in the future due to the spread of an optical network for transmitting and receiving high-speed data. Since it is expected that the above-described data download will be possible even in a vehicle, this technology can be applied to a broadcast receiver mounted on a vehicle. In the present invention, when the user designates a program broadcasted in the past, receiving the rebroadcast, playing back the recording medium 41, distributing various data by the communication unit 38, and acquiring the program contents such as delivery means are performed. It is collectively called "designated program content input means".

In the broadcast receiver having the above-described configuration, in particular, in various processes using the past electronic program guide, which is a feature of the present invention, the processes are performed in accordance with the operation flow shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example. can do. The operation flow shown in FIG. 2 is an operation flow for accumulating electronic program guide data and performing a rebroadcasting viewing reservation process. The operation flow will be described below with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. . When the operation of the broadcast receiver is started (step S1), first, the electronic program guide is imported (step S2). Next, it is determined whether or not a program that needs to be searched for a rebroadcast recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 shown in FIG. 1 exists in the newly imported electronic program guide (step S3).

That is, by performing the processing according to the operation flow before, when the user instructs to select a past program, the program is not recorded on the recording medium 41 and the electronic program guide Subsequent data storage unit 2
7 does not exist as a rebroadcasting schedule, the rebroadcast search memory 29 will be described later in step S35 of FIG.
When the program to be searched is stored in the rebroadcast search memory 29 in this way, it is determined in this step whether or not the program exists in the electronic program guide taken in this time. The determination is made in S3.

As a result of the determination, when it is determined that the program is present, a viewing reservation process for the program is performed (step S).
4) The program data recorded in the rebroadcast search memory is deleted (step S5). The viewing reservation process in step S4 is performed by the viewing reservation unit 39. Here, it is also possible to make a recording reservation. Further, these processes can be automatically performed without making the user particularly conscious. Thereafter, the data is deleted from the rebroadcast search memory 29 so that the rebroadcast search is not performed thereafter (step S5). If it is determined in step S3 that the program recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 does not exist in the newly imported electronic program guide, the process proceeds to step S6.

The above embodiment shows an example in which a viewing reservation or a recording reservation is made when the program recorded in the rebroadcast search memory is determined to exist in the electronic program guide taken in this time. However, it is also possible to simply display, in an easy-to-understand manner, that the program for which the rebroadcast search was previously set has been found, without making a viewing reservation or a recording reservation.

In step S6, since the electronic program guide newly fetched as described above is rewritten into the data storage unit 27 for the current and subsequent electronic program guides, the previous data is removed therefrom. At least a program which is likely to be used later is recorded in the data storage unit 32 for the past of the electronic program guide.
Therefore, in this step S6, a selection process is performed based on a genre or the like that has been selected by the user in advance. In addition, an expiration date is given to the program selected to be kept (step S7), and the data is used to automatically delete an old program in order to correspond to the memory capacity of the data storage unit 32 for the past electronic program guide. At this time, for programs for which the expiration date has not been set by the user, a validity period of, for example, 3 months is set uniformly. Can be changed to reduce the setting burden on the user.

Next, out of the program data recorded in the data storage unit 32 for the past electronic program guide, the data whose expiration date has expired is deleted (step S8), and the data is selected as described above and the expiration date is given. The past program data for the past is newly recorded and stored in the electronic program guide past data storage unit 32 (step S9). Next, as described above, all the remaining old data that has been moved after the necessary program data has been selected and deleted is deleted, and the newly captured electronic program guide data for the current time and thereafter are stored (step S10). In this manner, the electronic program guide is stored separately for the current time and after and for the past, and the process proceeds to the next program selection processing by the electronic program guide shown in FIG.

In the program selection process by the electronic program guide in FIG. 3, the user starts by inputting a program guide display instruction by the user (step S21). Next, a program guide is formed from the electronic program guides for the current time and thereafter and the electronic program guides for the past obtained as shown in FIG. 2 and displayed (step S22). This processing is performed under the control of the system control unit 20 in the program guide screen forming unit 34 in FIG. 1, and the formed program guide is displayed on the image display unit 25 via the image synthesizing unit 24.

Such a display can be performed, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, FIG. 4A shows a conventional program table corresponding to the present invention. In this example, the current time is Saturday, April 28, the time is 13:05,
Therefore, as the programs that can be viewed at this time, the programs including the current time for each of the programs of channel 1 to channel 3 are displayed. Note that the program displayed here is a part of the entire program table, and there are other channels besides this, and the electronic program provided following the today's program table displayed here It is possible to display all the data in the range that can be obtained by the guide data, and in fact, the user can arbitrarily scroll and view the data by operating the keys of the remote controller.

In contrast to the conventional program guide display as described above, the program guide display of the present invention is, as shown in FIG.
In contrast to the current time of 13: 5, a program table for the past in a range that cannot be viewed by the broadcast receiver at the current time is also displayed. In displaying the program, the background is displayed differently from the others in order to indicate that it is a past program table. The user can arbitrarily select his / her desired viewing program in such a program table, but he / she can fully be aware that a part of the past program table is processed differently from normal broadcast reception. The background color is changed to call attention. In displaying such a past program table, for example, FIG.
As shown in, the background color indicating that the past program table is displayed as a whole is displayed, and for programs that have viewed the program in the past, the program is highlighted and the user is You may let them know that.

Simultaneously with the program guide display processing, it is determined in step S3 in FIG. 2 that the program recorded in the rebroadcast search memory exists in the newly imported electronic program guide, and in step S4 in FIG. If a rebroadcast is found for a program for which viewing reservation has been made, the program is displayed on another screen to notify the user of its presence (step S23).

In such a display, for example, FIG.
It can be displayed and notified as shown in FIG. In this example, when a program table part for the past was previously specified at the time of specifying a program by displaying the program table, and the user wished to view a program of a movie called “Rashomon” and specified this, the program was recorded on the recording medium 41. Since there was no rebroadcast in the program table for one week after that date, this was recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 on April 29 (Sun). In the morning, when the television with the broadcast receiver is turned on, a display as shown in FIG. 7A appears on the screen.

In this example, "Rebroadcast of requested program was found!" Is displayed under the title "Rebroadcast search requested program", the category of the program is Japanese, and the title is "Japanese.""Rashomon" is displayed on Channel 2 on May 5 (Sat.) from 18:00 to 20:00, and a selection section is displayed as to whether or not to make a recording reservation for this program. , "Please select one of the recording reservations with the cursor key."

As described above, when the user turns on the broadcast receiver and displays the program guide, this screen appears, so that the program for which the search request for the rebroadcast was previously made is finally found. , And a selection operation as to whether or not to make a recording reservation can be performed. As a result, the broadcast receiver detects that the user has confirmed this screen by inputting a signal for performing a recording reservation setting operation on this screen, and switches the display to a normal program guide screen. Is performed (step S24). Instead of the recording reservation, a reception reservation for automatically switching the channel of the receiving receiver may be performed.

After the screen display as described above is performed, in order to inform the user that the program has been searched for such a rebroadcast, when displaying the program table, for example, FIG. ) May be displayed. That is, in the example shown in the figure, the screen of the program guide is switched after the screen of FIG. 5A is displayed, and at 7:35 on April 29 (Sun), the program guide is displayed. Perform a display operation, and while the program guide is being displayed,
The state when the program table on Saturday, May 5 is displayed. In this screen, 2 channel from 18:00 to 20
The program up to the time is highlighted with a different color from the others, and "Rashomon" is broadcast during this time zone, so that it can be seen that this program was found as a result of making a search reservation. In addition, the fact that "recording" is displayed in the program column indicates that this program is reserved for recording.

When the user performs a display instruction operation of a program guide when using the broadcast receiver, a predetermined program table can be displayed by performing the above-described operations, and then the program guide by the user is displayed. A viewing selection on the table is performed (step S25). Next, it is determined whether or not the program selected by the user is a program for the past (step S2).
6) If it is a past program, a search is made to see if the program is recorded on a recording medium (step S).
27). When it is determined based on the search result that there is no recording of the selected program on the recording medium (step S28)
N), a search process is performed to determine whether rebroadcast exists in the data of the electronic program guide after the current time (step S2).
9).

The rebroadcast search is not limited to the rebroadcast on the same channel, and the same program content is also used when broadcasting on another channel such as broadcasting the same movie on another channel. Treat as if there is a rebroadcast substantially. As a result of this search, when it is determined that there is a rebroadcast (step S30Y), the user makes a viewing reservation for the program (step S31). The highlighting is done so that it can be understood. Here, instead of making a viewing reservation, a recording reservation can be made. Step S2 above
If it is determined in step 8 that the recording of the selected program exists in the recording medium, the selected program in the recording medium is reproduced (step S37).

The actual display screen in such processing is performed, for example, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a), 5 (b) and 6 (a). In other words, in a state where the program table from the present time onward and the program table for the past as shown in FIG.
"World New" aired from 2:00 to 13:00
When "s" is selected, the broadcast receiver searches for a rebroadcast.
A rebroadcast search result display screen for the program as shown in (b) is displayed.

In this example, the program of the news category “World News” is broadcast on the same channel from 16:00 to 17:00 on the day and from 22:00 to 23:00 on the day. The example which displayed on another screen different from program display is shown. Further, after returning from the display screen to the display screen of the normal program guide, when the program guide is scrolled to display the program guide after 16:00 as shown in FIG. "WorldNew" broadcast from 17:00 to 17:00
"s" is highlighted and displayed so that the user can see at a glance that this program is a program for which viewing reservation is made.

On the other hand, when it is found in step S30 that the rebroadcast does not exist in the data of the current electronic program guide, it is determined whether or not the program is obtained by other means (step S33). ). The determination is made by the user, for example, as shown in FIG.
The selection screen is displayed as shown in Fig. 7 and the user selects one of them to make this determination.

On this screen, for a program that was not found as a result of the search for a recording medium as described above and was not found by a search in the currently provided program guide, it is not necessary to take any special measures afterwards. When the user thinks that the program is selected, "No" is selected here.
This selection results in "N" in step S33 in FIG. 3, and this program selection processing ends (step S4).
1).

On the other hand, when either "wait for future rebroadcast" or "obtain separately" in "yes" on the screen of FIG. 8A is selected, the selection is made in step 33 of FIG. It is determined that the program is obtained by other means. Further, when "Waiting for future rebroadcast" is selected, it is determined in step S34 of FIG. 3 that the program is to be waited for rebroadcast, and then this program is recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 of FIG. 1 (step S35). . As a result of this program being recorded in the rebroadcast search memory 29 in this manner, FIG.
In the process of step S3, it is determined as "Y" by determining whether there is a program recorded in the memory, and then a viewing reservation process (step S5) is performed for the program. At this time, when the rebroadcast program recorded in the broadcast search memory 29 is found, various processes such as displaying this program on another screen are performed in step S23 in FIG.

Further, when "obtain separately" is selected on the screen of FIG. 8A, it is determined in step S33 of FIG. 3 that the selected program is obtained by other means, and then in step S34, It is determined that the user does not wait for the broadcast, and then an operation of performing another input process in step S36 is performed. At this time, in the present embodiment, the selection screen shown in FIG. 8B is displayed, and “request a broadcast station for distribution” is performed.
Select either "Purchase a DVD from a broadcast station" or "Obtain from the Internet", and select "Available from a paid site" or "Only a free site" when selecting "Obtain from the Internet". I want to get it from ". It is to be noted that the fee according to each acquisition method can be displayed on this screen as needed, and can be used as a guide for the user's selection.

Here, when it is decided to request the broadcasting station to distribute by broadcasting, the communication unit 38 of FIG. 1 takes in the telephone numbers of the broadcasting stations registered in advance and makes a call. This data is transmitted together with the user ID to the broadcast request input section of the broadcast station set in step (1). The broadcast station identifies the user's receiver and the program to be distributed based on this data, and transmits this program along with the user's ID using an available radio channel available at the broadcast station. Can receive this.

The distribution request and program distribution by telephone can be performed, for example, by using a telephone line connected to a broadcast receiver in a CS broadcast or a BS digital broadcast, in which a user's broadcast receiver and a broadcast station directly transmit data. It is also possible to perform transmission and reception. Further, the data of the received program can be recorded on the recording medium 41 by the receiver directly operating the recording device 40, and all the above operations are automatically performed without any trouble of the user. be able to.

On the other hand, when "Purchase a DVD from a broadcasting station" is selected on the screen of FIG. 8B, the telephone number of the broadcasting station 45 which has been registered in advance from the communication section 38 of FIG. And sends the program data and ID number to the media sales department 47 of the broadcasting station, and the broadcasting station stores a DVD containing the contents of the program in the address of the user registered in advance based on the data. to deliver.

When one of the items of “obtain from the Internet” is selected on the screen of FIG. 8C, the communication unit 38 of FIG.
Connects to a predetermined provider, accesses a media provider section registered in advance, and stores data and ID of the program.
Submit the number. The media provider stores a large amount of video and audio data in a large-capacity database, reads out the data desired by the user from the data, distributes it through a telephone line, or records it separately on a DVD to give the user to deliver. It is expected that a large amount of data can be transmitted over a telephone line at a high speed due to a future increase in the speed of a telephone line and an advance in video data compression technology, and the above-described embodiment will be easily performed.

Further, when obtaining from the Internet, in addition to the above-mentioned paid sites storing a large amount of data, the database of each person will be released to specific users for free and used mutually. Has been proposed,
When such a system exists, it can be used as a data distribution means for a free site.
If you select "I want to get from a free site only", search only this site, and if there is something you want, download it and get it.

The above embodiment operates as described above. However, such a broadcast receiver is not limited to a general home use, and can be used as a broadcast receiver for a vehicle, for example. In particular, at that time, a driver who mainly operates these devices can automatically perform the above-mentioned operation without performing complicated operations, and can watch programs of the past. In addition, due to the downsizing and large capacity of hard disks in the future, such hard disks are expected to be installed as recording devices in vehicles, and it is easy to download past programs on vehicles. become able to.

[0071]

The present invention is configured as described above.
In a broadcast receiver that displays a program guide according to the electronic program guide data and receives a broadcast specified by designating the displayed program, the electronic program guide data that accumulates the currently transmitted electronic program guide data, A storage section, an electronic program guide past data storage section for recording past electronic program guide data, a program table forming section for forming a program table to be displayed on a screen by using the data of both data storage sections, and a displayed program When the user designates a past program from the table, the program has a designated program content acquisition means for acquiring the designated program content. When a desired program is specified, it can be easily obtained by various specified program content obtaining means, and can be easily viewed.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the program guide data to be recorded in the electronic program guide past data storage section is data with an expiration date. The memory capacity of the unit can be reduced, and the load of the display processing can be reduced.

Further, another broadcast receiver according to the present invention is characterized in that the program guide data recorded in the data storage section for the past electronic program guide is combined with the data recorded by selecting only a predetermined specific type of program. Therefore, when storing in the data storage unit for the past electronic program guide, for example, only a specific type of program such as a specific genre, a specific performer, etc. can be selected and stored, and the memory capacity of the storage unit is reduced. Things. In addition, since the user can select only a specific type of program that the user will use later, a broadcast receiver that is easy for the user to use can be provided.

Further, another broadcast receiver according to the present invention further comprises an electronic program guide search section for searching electronic program guide data, and the designated program content obtaining means includes a program currently being broadcasted by the electronic program guide search section. By searching the data of the electronic program guide, the program having the same content as the specified program content is searched and displayed. The rebroadcast of the program can be searched and displayed only by designating the program portion, and the broadcast receiver can be used easily.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the screen to be searched and displayed is at least one of a separate screen display, a pop-up display, a highlight display, a 3D display, and a display color change display. In the case of displaying on a separate screen, the user can be informed of this fact without fail, and in the case of displaying a pop-up, the presence of the program table can be reliably informed to the user with little impairment of the display of the program guide. When the highlighting, the 3D display, or the display color change display is performed, a prominent display can be performed for the user without changing the display of the program guide.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the specified program content obtaining means further includes a rebroadcast search memory, and a program having the same content as the specified program content is currently being broadcast. When the program data is not present in the program guide data, the program data is recorded in the rebroadcast search memory, and the electronic program guide search unit stores the program data in the rebroadcast search memory when new electronic program guide data is acquired. The search is performed to determine whether or not the recorded program content exists in the new electronic program guide data. When the content exists, the program is displayed in a different display format from other programs. Even if it does not exist in the data of the electronic program guide, it was found that the same program as that of the program content is subsequently broadcasted by importing the electronic program guide data. Kiniwa, that it can inform against automatic user and user viewing reservation whereby if necessary, it is possible to perform recording reservation or the like.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the specified program content obtaining means searches for data recorded in a recording device connected to the broadcast receiver, and sends the specified program to the recording device. Playback instruction output means for instructing to reproduce data with the same content as that of the previous program, so that when a user specifies a past program, if the content of that program has already been recorded, it can be reproduced immediately. It is possible to view the program as if it were being received.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, when the specified program content obtaining means does not include the specified program in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data,
Alternatively, the communication unit does not exist in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data and searches for data recorded in the recording device connected to the broadcast receiver and the program content does not exist. When the recording device is not connected to this broadcast receiver, when the user designates a past program, the designated program content is distributed or requested to be delivered to another program content providing means via Immediately when the program content does not exist in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data, distribution or delivery request of the designated program content can be made to another program content providing means via the communication unit. Further, when a recording device is connected to the broadcast receiver, data that does not exist in the currently broadcasted electronic program guide data and is recorded in the recording device connected to the broadcast receiver is searched for. When there is no program content, distribution or delivery request of the designated program content can be made to another program content providing means via the communication unit. In any case, distribution or delivery request of the program content using the communication unit can be made at an appropriate time.

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, since the communication unit is a telephone line connected to the broadcast receiver or a communication line to the Internet, the communication unit is a telephone line connected to the broadcast receiver. For example, when a telephone line is already connected to a broadcast receiver such as a CS broadcast, a BS digital broadcast, or a cable television, it is possible to use the telephone line as it is to request distribution or delivery of specified program contents. it can. In the case of a communication line to the Internet, it is possible to search for an appropriate Web site connected to the Internet network, which is currently widely used, and to request distribution or delivery of specified program contents. .

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the other program content providing means may include at least one of a radio wave transmitted from a broadcast station, a recording medium from the broadcast station, or download from a communication line. Therefore, a program based on a broadcast wave from a broadcast station distributes a program as a service of the broadcast section of the broadcast station, and a user can immediately receive this distribution using a broadcast receiver. In the case of a recording medium from a broadcasting station, the contents of a program can be obtained by, for example, delivering the contents of a program recorded on a DVD or the like as a service of the sales department of the broadcasting station. By paying for these services, it becomes an important source of income for broadcasters, and by inserting commercials in program contents, it is possible to distribute program contents to users free of charge. As a broadcasting station, you can get commercial income. Further, in the case of downloading from a communication line, when the communication line is a connection line with a broadcasting station, the above-described program contents can be distributed using the communication line with the broadcasting station. If it is another program content providing means that distributes data using a line, the program content can be distributed or delivered from there, and can be connected to the Internet network to receive the same distribution or delivery. .

In another broadcast receiver according to the present invention, in the program table forming section, identification of a program table from the present time and a past program table and identification of a selection of a program in the past program table are performed. Since at least one of the identifications of the programs viewed in the past is displayed, when displaying the past program table, it is possible to easily and identifiably display the program table after the present time, By making it easy to identify that the user has selected a past program when instructing the selection of a program table, and by displaying the program so that the program that has been viewed in the past can be easily identified, the program that has been viewed previously can be mistaken. Thus, it is possible to prevent the user from giving a viewing selection instruction again.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing main functional blocks of an embodiment of the present invention and their interrelationships.

FIG. 2 shows electronic program guide data storage in the embodiment.
And an operation flow diagram for performing a rebroadcast viewing reservation process.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart for performing a program selection process by an electronic program guide in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide according to the embodiment;
(A) is a conventional program guide display example for comparing with a program display according to the present invention, and (b) is a diagram showing a program guide display example according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide according to the embodiment;
(A) is a display example when a past program is selected by the user, and (b) is a diagram illustrating a display example of a rebroadcast schedule when a past program is selected.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide according to the embodiment;
(A) is a display example showing that a rebroadcast program viewing reservation is completed during program guide display, and (b) is a diagram showing a display example in which a viewed program is clearly displayed in the display of an electronic program guide for the past.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide according to the embodiment;
(A) is an example in which the search result of the rebroadcast search setting program is displayed on another screen, and (b) is a diagram showing an example in which this is displayed on the program guide screen.

FIG. 8 is an example of a selection screen to be displayed when obtaining a medium recording the contents of a designated program according to the embodiment, and FIG. 8A is an example of a screen when a rebroadcast schedule of the designated program is not found; FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen when the user separately selects to obtain the program content on the screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Digital broadcast receiver 13 Data separation part 14 Audio data 15 Video data 16 Information channel data 20 System control part 24 Image synthesis part 25 Image display part 27 Data storage part for electronic program guide after the present time 28 Rebroadcast search instruction part 29 Rebroadcast Search memory 30 Electronic program guide search unit 31 Stored data selection unit 32 Electronic program guide past data storage unit 33 Expiration date setting unit 34 Program table screen forming unit 35 Recorded program search unit 36 Operation signal input unit 37 Receiver operation unit 38 Communication unit 39 Viewing reservation unit 40 Recording device 41 Recording medium 45 Broadcasting station 46 Broadcasting department 47 Media sales department 48 DVD delivery 49 Internet connection network

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 7/03 7/035 F term (reference) 5C025 BA25 BA27 BA28 BA30 CA09 CB09 DA01 DA05 DA07 DA10 5C063 AB03 AB07 AC01 AC05 AC10 CA23 EB33 5K061 AA09 BB06 DD02 FF01 JJ06 JJ07

Claims (11)

[Claims] An electronic program for storing a currently transmitted electronic program guide data in a broadcast receiver for displaying a program table based on electronic program guide data and receiving a designated broadcast by designating the displayed program A data storage unit for the current and subsequent guides; a data storage unit for the past electronic program guide that records past electronic program guide data; A broadcast receiver comprising: a designated program content obtaining means for obtaining a specified program content when a user specifies a past program according to a displayed program table. 2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program guide data recorded in the past data storage of the electronic program guide is data with an expiration date. 3. The program guide data recorded in the electronic program guide past data storage section is data obtained by selecting and recording only a preset specific type of program. Broadcast receiver. 4. An electronic program guide search unit for searching electronic program guide data, wherein the designated program content obtaining unit searches the electronic program guide data currently broadcasted by the electronic program guide search unit. 2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein a program having the same content as the designated program content is searched for and displayed. 5. The broadcast according to claim 4, wherein the screen to be searched and displayed is at least one of a separate screen display, a pop-up display, a highlight display, a 3D display, and a display color change display. Receiving machine. 6. The specified program content obtaining means includes a rebroadcast search memory, and when a program having the same content as the specified program content does not exist in the data of the currently broadcasted electronic program guide,
The program data is recorded in the rebroadcast search memory, and the electronic program guide search unit, when the new electronic program guide data is captured, the program content recorded in the rebroadcast search memory is a new electronic program guide. 5. The broadcast receiver according to claim 4, wherein a search is made as to whether the program is present in the guide data, and when the program is present, the program is displayed in a display system different from the others. 7. The designated program content obtaining means searches data recorded in a recording device connected to a broadcast receiver, and instructs the recording device to reproduce data having the same content as the designated program. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising a reproduction instruction output unit. 8. The specified program content obtaining means, when the specified program does not exist in the currently broadcast electronic program guide data, or does not exist in the currently broadcast electronic program guide data, and the broadcast reception Requesting distribution or delivery of the specified program content to another program content providing means via the communication unit when the program content is not found by searching data recorded in the recording device connected to the recording device; The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein: 9. The broadcast receiver according to claim 8, wherein the communication unit is a telephone line connected to a broadcast receiver or a communication line to the Internet. 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the other program content providing means is at least one of a transmission radio wave from a broadcast station, a recording medium from the broadcast station, and download from a communication line. The broadcast receiver as described. 11. The program guide forming unit includes: at least one of a program guide of the present time and the past, a program guide of the past, an identification of selection of a program in the program table of the past, and an identification of a program viewed in the past. 2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein one of the identification displays is performed.