JP2003153141A - Contents reproducing device and reproducing means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem wherein complicated operation is required for selecting contents over a program under broadcasting and a recorded program since operation such as input signal switching, reproduction, stop or program search is required for viewing the program recorded on a storage medium and there are a number of differences in operating methods required for selecting the contents of both the programs. SOLUTION: By providing a virtual channel allocating the program recorded on a recording medium 118 to an idle channel, a channel list 109 is prepared for managing information required for extracting the contents of the program under broadcasting/the recorded program from a channel number without distinction. When a user designates a real channel, corresponding to channel information 111 entered on the channel list 109, program contents are extracted from a broadcasting signal and when the virtual channel is designated, program contents are extracted from the storage medium 118 corresponding to the channel information 111 and displayed on a program display means 119.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program reproducing device capable of reproducing a broadcast program and a television program recorded in a storage medium.

In particular, by assigning a recorded program to a channel that is not used for broadcasting as a virtual channel, the channel number is designated by a channel up / down key, a ten-key or the like, and the program is stored not only in the broadcast program but also in a storage medium. The present invention relates to a content reproduction device capable of reproducing a program.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art By improving the performance of a randomly accessible storage medium represented by a hard disk drive, a digital compressed image of a tens of hours of a television broadcast program such as a terrestrial broadcast or a satellite broadcast is recorded and stored in a large-capacity storage medium. A program recording / playback apparatus capable of playing back and playing has been put into practical use, and it is considered that a simple operation method for managing and viewing the huge amount of data is important.

In order to view the program recorded in the storage medium, it is necessary to switch the input signal, find the beginning of the recorded program, reproduce the recorded program, and stop the program. In order to perform these operations easily, the user can easily select a desired recorded program by storing information such as what kind of program is recorded in what order in a required area of the storage medium. There is a function that can be found, and it is generally called a navigation function or a library function.

However, the operation feeling and operation system are very different from the channel selection operation for selecting the broadcast program represented by the channel up / down keys and the numeric keypad, and in particular, it involves switching between the program being broadcast and the recorded program. In that case, there are many differences in the operation methods required for both contents selection,
It required complicated operations.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, as a technique for organizing a virtual channel from a recorded program and handling it without distinguishing it from a broadcast channel, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-100.
The technique described in Japanese Patent No. 287 is known.

According to the above-mentioned conventional technique, in addition to the broadcast channel in the electronic program guide, the private channel composed of the recorded program is treated as one channel, so that the broadcast program and the recorded program can be displayed and operated without distinction.

[0008]

However, a virtual channel is called a private channel and is still treated specially with respect to other channels and is not assigned a channel number.

Further, the private channel can be specified only from the electronic program guide, and the private channel cannot be specified by the normal channel selection operation for selecting the broadcast program represented by the channel up / down keys and the ten keys. . Therefore, only the operation system which is not easy to use can be provided.

[0010]

A content reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is a real channel list extracting means for extracting a real channel list containing broadcast program extraction information necessary for extracting each broadcast program from a broadcast signal. And an empty channel list creating means for creating an empty channel list, which is a list of channels not used for broadcasting, based on the actual channel list, and a recorded program in which recorded program extraction information of each recorded program is recorded from a storage medium. A recording program information list extracting means for extracting an information list, a virtual channel list creating means for creating a virtual channel list in which the recording program information list is assigned to the empty channel list, and the real channel list and the virtual channel list are combined. Create channel list Create channel list And a channel list creating means.

Here, the real channel means a channel used for broadcasting, and a list of real channels is a real channel list. An empty channel means a channel that is not used for broadcasting, and the empty channel list is an empty channel.

Further, a virtual channel means a virtual channel in which a recorded program is assigned to an empty channel, and a list of virtual channels is a virtual channel list.

Further, the content reproducing apparatus according to the present invention determines the channel information extracting means for extracting the channel information corresponding to the channel selected by the user from the channel list, and determining whether the channel is a real channel or a virtual channel. Channel identifier determining means, broadcast program extracting means for extracting a broadcast program from a broadcast signal and broadcast program extraction control means for controlling the same, recorded program extracting means for extracting a recorded program from a storage medium, and a recorded program for controlling the same And extraction control means.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration for realizing a content reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A real channel list 101 in which broadcast program extraction information necessary for extracting each broadcast program from a broadcast signal such as satellite broadcast, terrestrial broadcast, cable broadcast, etc. is written by a real channel list extracting means 102. Extract from.

An empty channel list 103, which is a list of channels not used for broadcasting, is created by the empty channel list creating means 104 based on the actual channel list 101.

The recorded program information list 105 in which the recorded program extraction information necessary for extracting each recorded program from the storage medium is described is extracted from the storage medium by the recorded program information list extraction means 106.

Virtual channel list 107 in which recorded program information list 105 is assigned to empty channel list 103
Are created by the virtual channel list creating means 108.

A channel list 109 that is a combination of the real channel list 101 and the virtual channel list 107.
Are created by the channel list creating means 110.
At this time, a channel identifier that distinguishes the real channel from the virtual channel is added to the channel list 109.

In the channel list 109 created by the above processing, as channel information for each channel,
The channel identifier, broadcast program, recorded program extraction information, etc. are described.

When the user specifies a channel, the channel information 111 is extracted from the channel list 109 by the channel information extraction means 112. Then, from the channel identifier in the channel information 111,
The channel identifier determining means 113 determines whether the channel is a real channel or a virtual channel.

When the acquired channel is a real channel, the broadcast program extraction information described in the channel list 109 is broadcast program extraction control means 114 to broadcast program extraction means 1
When set to 15, the corresponding broadcast program is extracted from the broadcast signal and displayed on the program display means.

On the other hand, when the acquired channel is a virtual channel, the recorded program extraction information described in the channel list 109 is set in the recorded program extraction means 117 by the recorded program extraction control means 116 so that the corresponding recorded program is stored in the storage medium. It is extracted from 118 and displayed on the program display means.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a remote controller used for channel designation and the like by the user in the embodiment of the present invention.

On the remote controller, up / down / left / right cursor movement keys 130, a decision key 131, an up / down key 132, a ten key 133, a channel setting key 1 are displayed.
34 and a channel list key 135 are arranged. The usage of these keys will be described later.

Next, details and sequence of channel list creation in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The real channel list 140 is created by the real channel list extracting means 102. If the target is digital broadcasting, it is created by referring to the program information embedded in the broadcast signal. If the target is an analog signal, all the channels that are determined to be usable in operation are sequentially received, and the actual channel list 140 is created from the synchronized channels.

The empty channel list 141 registers a list of channels that do not exist in the actual channel list 140 extracted from the broadcast signal and are determined to be usable in operation. In FIG. 3, channels that may be used in operation are 101 to 999. It is judged that a channel which is not used for broadcasting because it is used only outside the broadcasting time or at a temporary time is judged to be used for broadcasting and is not registered in the empty channel list 141.

Here, when the recorded program information list 142 is allocated to the empty channel list 141 and the virtual channel list 143 is created, if the programs in the recorded program information list 142 can be allocated to all empty channels,
There may be cases where the usability for the user is not good, such as the fact that real channels and virtual channels are alternately present in the channel list 144.

Therefore, it is assumed that the user can select a candidate of a channel that can be allocated as a virtual channel from the empty channel list 141 when setting the television system.

FIG. 4 is an example of a screen for selecting a channel that may be used as a virtual channel from the empty channels.

On the left side of the screen, empty channels 151 are displayed in order of channel number. The user selects a channel that can be assigned as a virtual channel on the screen by using the cursor movement key 130 and the enter key 131. A check box 150 on the right side of the selected channel is checked. The virtual channel assignment availability information 146 set by the above operation is the empty channel list 141.
Reflected in.

The recorded program information list 142 extracted from the storage medium describes the date and time when the program was recorded as the information of each program. When the virtual channel list 143 is created, the programs in the recorded program information list 142 are assigned in order from the newest date to the oldest date to the empty channels set by the user as assignable as virtual channels from FIG.

Here, when the number of recorded programs is larger than the number of empty channels that can be assigned as virtual channels set by the user, recorded programs having a lower date priority are not assigned to virtual channels. In FIG. 3, since the number of channels that can be assigned as virtual channels is 4, the recorded program E with the oldest recording date and time is not assigned to the virtual channels.

In addition, the real channel list 140 and the virtual channel list 143 are combined to form the channel list 14.
4 is created, the channel list 14 includes the channel identifier 14 so that the real / virtual channel can be distinguished.
Add 5.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation when updating the channel list 144.

In order to avoid user confusion when the channel list 144 is updated while watching a certain channel, the channel list is updated only when the power is turned on or when the channel is switched. Perform (S501). In that case, channel list 1
It is determined whether 44 needs to be updated as follows.

When the program used for broadcasting is no longer used for broadcasting (Yes in S502), the program which has not been used for broadcasting is newly used for broadcasting (S
If the recorded program is newly added (Yes in S504) or if the recorded program is deleted (Yes in S505), it is determined that the update is necessary.
A display prompting the user to determine whether to update the channel list is displayed (S506).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a confirmation screen for updating the channel list. When the user permits the updating of the channel list (Yes in S506), the channel list is updated (S507) and the channel list list screen (FIG. 7) is displayed to show the new channel list to the user (S508).

On the other hand, if it is rejected (N in S506)
o) If the channel list is maintained and the program is requested to be deleted, the program is not deleted and the operation flow returns to the beginning to repeat the same processing as above (S50).
9).

Here, a method of specifying a channel by a user in the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The user can specify the selected channel with the up / down key 132, the ten key 133, and the channel setting key 134. Up / if virtual channels exist with consecutive channel numbers
By operating only the down key 132, the recorded programs can be reproduced in the new order or the old order, which is convenient.

Further, since a specific channel can be set in advance in each key of the ten-key pad 133, for example, if the ten-key pad 0 is set to the minimum channel number of the virtual channel, the latest key can be pressed by pressing the key. The (oldest) recorded program can be instantly reproduced. Furthermore, after pressing the channel setting key 134, the numeric keypad 133
It is also possible to specify the selected channel by directly inputting the channel number using.

By pressing the channel list key 135, the contents of the current channel list 144 can be displayed as a list on the program display means.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a channel list list screen. On the left side of the screen, a channel type icon 170 indicating whether the channel is a real channel or a virtual channel is displayed along with the channel number, and on the right side thereof, a channel number 171 and a program content 172 are displayed. A channel can be designated by selecting a program from the list with the cursor movement key 130 and pressing the enter key 131.

Next, a specific operation when the user specifies a channel to be selected will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the user specifies a channel (S801), if the specified channel and the current channel are the same, nothing is done (No in S802, S80).
8).

On the other hand, when the designated channel is different from the current channel (Yes in S802), if the currently viewed channel is a virtual channel (Yes in S803), the time position of program reproduction at that time is saved. Yes (S804). At this time, the temporal position may be stored in the channel list 144 as one of the channel information 111.

If the designated channel is a real channel (No in S805), the corresponding on-air program is reproduced (S807). If the designated channel is a virtual channel (Yes in S805), the recorded program is reproduced from the program reproduction position when the channel was last viewed (S8).
06).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen configuration while viewing a virtual channel. While viewing a virtual channel, the virtual channel icon 180 is displayed so that it can be seen that the channel is a virtual channel. "0:53:15" at the bottom of the virtual channel icon 180 is the current recorded program reproduction time position 181, and on the right side thereof, the channel number 182, the program name 183, and the broadcast time 184 of the recorded program are displayed. .

If the recorded program is reproduced to the end while the virtual channel is being viewed, the program is returned to the beginning and continued to be reproduced.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the recording medium in which the recorded program is stored exists inside the program reproducing apparatus main body, but it is not always necessary. For example, a recording program may be provided from a recording medium in another device such as a server via a network such as the Internet.

Although only the television program is given as an example of the target to be assigned to the virtual channel, this is not always the case. For example, if the device has a WEB browser, a specific URL may be assigned to the virtual channel.

Furthermore, a specific application program can be assigned to a virtual channel as long as it is a device equipped with a program execution environment such as Java.

Furthermore, a system setting screen (for example, an antenna reception level confirmation screen) that is frequently set may be assigned to a virtual channel to save the trouble of displaying.
It is also convenient to assign an input image from a home network connection device such as an intercom camera image at the entrance to a virtual channel.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a channel list when a virtual channel allocation target content is expanded, displayed on the channel list screen.

In FIG. 10, virtual channels expanded by changing the channel type icon 190 such as TV, java, web, and sys are displayed for each content type, and the channel number is displayed on the right side thereof. 191, content details 192 are displayed.

The content reproducing apparatus to which the present invention is applied does not have to be a television, but may be a radio, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer, or any other device having the necessary functions. .

[0059]

As described above, according to the content reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the content selection of the recorded program and the on-air program is performed only by the same operation method as that for viewing the on-air program, that is, channel designation. Therefore, it is not necessary to be aware of the difference between the recorded program and the program being broadcast, and the viewing program can be selected by a simple operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a content reproduction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of an example of a button of a remote controller of the content reproduction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence of creating a channel list of the content reproduction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen configuration of empty channels that can be assigned to virtual channels in the content reproduction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for updating a channel list in the content reproduction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a confirmation screen for updating a channel list in the content reproduction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a channel list display screen in the content reproduction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation when a user specifies a channel in the content reproduction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a screen configuration example during viewing of a virtual channel in the content reproduction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of a channel list display screen in the case where the content that can be assigned to a virtual channel is expanded in the content reproduction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 real channel list 102 actual channel list extraction means 103 empty channel list 104 Empty channel list creation means 105 Recorded program information list 106 recorded program information list extracting means 107 Virtual channel list 108 means for creating virtual channel list 109 channel list 110 Channel list creation means 111 channel information 112 channel information extraction means 113 Channel identifier discriminating means 114 Broadcast program extraction control means 115 Broadcast program extraction means 116 Recorded program extraction control means 117 recorded program extracting means 118 storage medium 119 Program display means 130 Cursor movement key 131 decision key 132 Up / Down key 133 numeric keypad 134 Channel setting key 135 Channel list key 140 actual channel list 141 empty channel list 142 Recorded program information list 143 virtual channel list 144 channel list 145 Channel identifier 150 check boxes 151 channel number 170 Channel type icon 171 Channel number 172 Program contents 180 virtual channel icon 181 Recorded program playback time position 182 Channel number 183 Program name 184 Broadcast time of recorded programs 190 Channel type icon 191 channel number 192 Content details

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 7/03 7/035 (72) Mayumi Nishida Inventor Mayumi No. 1 Matsushita-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Matsu, Inc. (72) Inventor, Naozumi Tanaka 1-1, Matsushita-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Prefecture F-term in Matsushita AV-Tech Co., Ltd. (reference) 5C052 AC08 CC01 DD04 5C053 HA29 JA30 LA06 LA07 LA14 5C063 DA03 EB33

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A real channel list extracting means for extracting a real channel list in which broadcast program extraction information of each broadcast program is described from a broadcast signal, and a list of channels not used for broadcasting based on the real channel list. Empty channel list creating means for creating an empty channel list, recorded program information list extracting means for extracting a recorded program information list in which recorded program extraction information of each recorded program is recorded from a storage medium, and recording in the empty channel list A virtual channel list creating means for creating a virtual channel list to which a program information list is assigned, and a channel list creating means for creating a channel list combining the real channel list and the virtual channel list are provided, and broadcasting is performed by the channel list. Information necessary to watch the program A content reproducing device characterized in that information necessary for viewing a recorded program can be managed by a channel number without distinction. 2. When allocating the recorded program information list to the empty channel list to create a virtual channel list, the user can select a candidate for the allocated channel from the empty channel list. Content playback device. 3. The content reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the allocation of the recorded program information to the empty channel list when creating the virtual channel list is arranged in the order of recording date and time. 4. A recorded program is newly added, a recorded program is deleted, a program used for broadcasting is no longer used for broadcasting, and a program not used for broadcasting is broadcasted. The content reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when used, the channel list is updated after notifying the user. 5. An actual channel list in which broadcast program extraction information of each program being broadcast is written and a virtual channel list in which each recorded program information is assigned to a channel number not used for broadcasting are created. Based on the channel list, when the user specifies a selected channel with the channel up / down buttons or numeric keypad buttons, the information of the corresponding channel is referenced from the channel list, and the specified channel is either a real channel or a virtual channel. A content reproduction method characterized by determining whether or not. 6. The content of the channel list can be displayed as a list on a display unit, and a user can specify a channel to be selected on the list display screen. Content playback method. 7. When the channel designated by the user is a real channel, the corresponding broadcast program separated from the broadcast signal by the broadcast program extraction information described in the channel list is reproduced, and the channel designated by the user is a virtual channel. 7. In the case of, the corresponding recorded program extracted from the storage medium is reproduced by the recorded program extraction information described in the channel list, and the content reproducing method according to claim 5 or 6. 8. The content reproducing method according to claim 5, wherein when the recorded program has been reproduced up to the end of the program, the reproduction is continued by returning to the beginning of the program. 9. When the viewing of the virtual channel is ended, the time position of the recorded program reproduction is held, and when the channel is viewed next time, the reproduction of the recorded program is started from the previous reproduction end position. 9. The content reproducing method according to claim 5, wherein the content reproducing method is performed.