JP2003158689A - Program display device and method for displaying program guide - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program guide display device and a method for displaying a program guide by which a program matching the preference of a user can be displayed in an easily understandable way. SOLUTION: A plurality of program name display areas divided corresponding to the program classification items by the number of designated program classification items and placed at the positions the distance of which with respect to a prescribed center position differs from each other are displayed on a screen depending on the designation of various program classification items to classify the programs and each program name belonging to the same item of the program classification items is displayed in a corresponding program name display area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program guide display device for displaying a program guide scheduled to be broadcast from a broadcasting station, and a method for displaying the program guide.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in order to select a television program to be watched by a user, it is usual to look at a program section of a newspaper or a program information magazine. In addition, recently, there is a site that provides a program guide on the WEB page of the Internet, so that the program guide may be browsed by a terminal device such as a personal computer. Further, in digital television broadcasting, electronic program guide information called EPG is broadcast along with the television program. Therefore, if a television receiver compatible with digital broadcasting is used, the electronic program guide information can be extracted from the broadcast wave by a remote control operation and the television can be used. It can also be displayed on the screen. When an electronic program guide or a program guide is displayed on a monitor screen such as a television screen, a program guide of the same format as the program guide shown in the program section of the newspaper is used.

Since a general user generally decides a broadcast channel that he or she often uses, he or she prefers to check the program section of that broadcast channel from the program table. However, as the number of broadcast channels has increased in recent years, it has become difficult for a user to search a program section of a desired broadcast channel from the program guide and select a program that interests him / her.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a program guide display device and a program guide display method in which a user can easily find a program of interest.

[0005]

A program guide display device according to the present invention is a program guide display device for displaying on a screen of a display device a program guide representing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcasting station. Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information data indicating each program name and various program classification items for classifying the program, and program classification item designating means for designating the desired program classification item from the program classification items When,
On the screen, a plurality of program name display areas each of which is divided corresponding to each of the program classification items from the designated number of the program classification items and is arranged at positions different in distance from a predetermined center position are provided. And a program guide display means for displaying the program names of the programs belonging to the same item of the program classification item in the corresponding program name display area.

Further, a method of displaying a broadcast program guide according to the present invention is a method of displaying a program guide showing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcast station on a screen of a display device. Program name acquisition process and program information acquisition process for acquiring program information data indicating various program classification items for classifying the program, a process for designating the desired program classification item from the program classification items, and the program classification A plurality of program name display areas are displayed on the screen, each of which is divided into a specified number of items corresponding to each of the program classification items and arranged at positions different in distance from a predetermined center position. And a display step of displaying the program names of the programs belonging to the same item of the program classification items in the corresponding program name display area.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration of a broadcast program recording device equipped with a program guide display device according to the present invention.
It is a figure which shows (the part enclosed with a broken line part). In FIG.
When the TV tuner 1 receives the channel selection signal from the system controller 10, the TV tuner 1 receives the channel selection signal from among the television broadcast waves (hereinafter, simply referred to as broadcast wave) received via the antenna or the cable. The broadcast wave from the specified broadcasting station is extracted. As for this broadcast wave,
There are satellite broadcast waves or terrestrial broadcast waves. Then, the TV tuner 1 obtains the received television signal RXV by demodulating the broadcast wave and outputs it. The recording unit 2 is equipped with a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a semiconductor memory, or the like as a built-in recording medium, and records the television signal RXV according to a recording start command signal supplied from the system controller 10. Store on media. Further, when the reproduction start command signal and the reproduction start address are supplied from the system controller 10, the recording unit 2 reads out the television signal from the position (position in the recording medium) indicated by the reproduction start address, This is supplied to the selector 3 as a reproduction television signal RPV. The selector 3 includes the reception television signal RXV and the reproduction television signal RPV.
From among the above, the one corresponding to the selection signal supplied from the system controller 10 is selected, and this is selected as the television signal T
It is supplied as S to the video / audio data separation circuit 4 and the system controller 10. The video / audio data separation circuit 4 is
The television signal TS is separated into video data and audio data, and the video data is supplied to the video signal processing circuit 5 and the audio data is supplied to the audio signal processing circuit 6. The audio signal processing circuit 6 externally outputs an audio signal obtained by performing a predetermined audio demodulation process on the audio data. The video signal processing circuit 5 supplies a video signal VS obtained by performing a predetermined video demodulation process on the video data to the video synthesizing circuit 7.

The operation surface of the remote control 8 is provided with various operation buttons (not shown) for receiving various command operations from the user. The remote control 8 transmits an operation signal corresponding to the operation button pressed by the user to the operation signal receiving circuit 9. The operation signal receiving circuit 9 receives the operation signal transmitted from the remote control 8 and supplies it to the system controller 10.

IEEE 1394 interface circuit 11
Is responsible for transmission / reception to / from information equipment connected to the IEEE 1394 bus. The IEEE 1394 interface circuit 11 takes in audio data, video data, and various operation command signals provided from an information device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus, and supplies them to the system controller 10. Further, the IEEE 1394 interface circuit 11 packetizes the television signal (including the MPEG signal) supplied from the system controller 10 and sends it to the IEEE 1394 bus. Furthermore, the IEEE1394 interface circuit 11
Is identification information data representing each device currently connected to the IEEE 1394 bus and the type of each device.
Device type information data representing (for example, digital video camera, personal computer, DVD recorder, etc.) is supplied to the connected device information memory 12. The connected device information memory 12 stores the identification information data and the device type information data in association with each other, and supplies this to the system controller 10.

The EPG information acquisition circuit 13 outputs an EP signal during the reception television signal RXV output from the TV tuner 1.
When the G information data is superimposed, the EPG information data is extracted from the received television signal RXV and stored in the EPG information memory 14. The EPG information data includes the program name of the program broadcasted by each broadcasting station,
The broadcast channel number, the program genre, the broadcast start and end times, the program content, and the information indicating the keyword related to the program content are included. At this time, the program genre classifies the contents of the program, and includes, for example, news, sports, dramas, movies, music, children's games, anime, and entertainment. The keywords relating to the program content are, for example, performers, authors, directors, series names, song names, regions, and so on. On the other hand, the EPG during the receiving television signal RXV
When the information data is not superimposed, the EPG information acquisition circuit 13 sends an EPG request command to the internet connection modem 15. The Internet connection modem 15 responds to the EPG request command to access the WEB server SB connected to the Internet IT. The WEB server SB stores EPG information data indicating a program name, a broadcast channel number, a program genre, a broadcast start and end time, a program content of each broadcast station, a program content, and a keyword for the program content. WEB
The server SB sends the EPG information data to the internet connection modem 15 via the internet IT by the access from the internet connection modem 15. The Internet connection modem 15 receives the EPG information data sent via the Internet IT,
This is supplied to the EPG information acquisition circuit 13. At this time, E
The PG information acquisition circuit 13 is the Internet connection modem 1
The EPG information data supplied from No. 5 is stored in the EPG information memory 14.

The OSD (On Screen Display) signal generation circuit 16 generates an OSD image signal OS for displaying an image carried by the display data on the screen of the display device 50 based on various display data supplied from the system controller 10. It is generated and supplied to the video composition circuit 7. Note that the display data includes, for example, various menu display data, guidance display data, program guide display data (described later), and the like. The video composition circuit 7 responds to the video composition control signal supplied from the system controller 10,
Either the video signal VS superposed with the OSD image signal OS or the video signal VS or the OSD image signal OS is supplied to the display device 50 as a final video signal. The display device 50 displays an image based on the image signal on the screen.

The system controller 10 statistically obtains the degree of preference for each program genre and the frequency of channel selection for each broadcast channel based on the user's program viewing situation up to now, and stores these in the program preference degree memory 20. A program preference degree arithmetic processing unit 101 that can be stored in is provided. Here, in obtaining the degree of preference of a program genre, the program preference degree memory 20 stores, in the program preference degree memory 20, the total number of viewings of programs of that genre in association with each program genre, as shown in FIG. An area for storing the degree of preference of the program is provided. At this time, the program preference degree calculation processing unit 101
First, the EPG information data stored in the EPG information memory 14 is searched for the genre of the program from the broadcasting station currently selected by the user. Next, the program preference degree calculation processing unit 101 increments only the total viewing count corresponding to the program genre retrieved as described above by 1 in the content of the program preference degree memory 20 as shown in FIG. 2A. Then, the program preference degree calculation processing unit 101 assigns the preference degree according to the total number of viewing times stored in the program preference degree memory 20 to each program genre and stores it as shown in FIG. As a result, in the user who watches the television broadcast with the broadcast program recording apparatus shown in FIG.
The degree of preference for each program genre is obtained.

On the other hand, in determining the frequency of selecting a broadcast channel, the program preference memory 20 stores the broadcast channel number in association with each broadcast channel number as shown in FIG. 2B. An area is provided for storing the total number of selected channels and the frequency of channel selection for the channel number. At this time, the program preference degree arithmetic processing unit 101 is selected as described above from the contents of the program preference degree memory 20 as shown in FIG. 2B in response to the user's tuning operation by the remote control 8. The total number of tunings corresponding to the channel number of the broadcasting station is incremented by 1.
Then, the program preference degree calculation processing unit 101 assigns a channel selection frequency corresponding to the total number of channel selections stored in the program preference degree memory 20 to each channel number and stores it as shown in FIG. 2B. As a result, the frequency of channel selection for each broadcast channel for the user viewing the television broadcast with the broadcast program recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

Further, the system controller 10 receives the T signal based on the operation signal transmitted from the remote control 8.
The V tuner 1, the recording unit 2, the selector 3, and the video composition circuit 7 are controlled. For example, when the user performs a tuning operation by pressing a tuning button (not shown) provided on the remote control 8, the system controller 10 responds to the broadcasting button corresponding to the tuning button. The TV tuner 1 is supplied with a selection signal for selecting a station. As a result, a television signal from the broadcasting station designated by the channel selection button is output from the TV tuner 1, and passes through the selector 3, the video / audio data separation circuit 4, the video signal processing circuit 5, and the video synthesis circuit 7. It is supplied to the display device 50. That is,
The program broadcast from the broadcasting station designated by the tuning button is displayed on the screen of the display device 50. Further, the system controller 10 searches the program history genre memory 30 for the program genre and channel number of the program broadcast from the selected broadcasting station based on the EPG information data. That is, the program history memory 30 stores the history of the program genres of the programs watched by the user to date and the channel numbers of the selected broadcasting stations.

Here, the user operates the remote control 8
When a recording button (not shown) provided on the recording unit 2 is pressed, the system controller 10 supplies a recording start command signal to the recording unit 2 in response to this. This allows
The recording unit 2 records the received television signal RXV output from the TV tuner 1 on a built-in recording medium.
When the user presses a playback button (not shown) provided on the remote control 8, the system controller 10 supplies a playback start command signal to the recording unit 2 in response to the push operation. A selection signal for selecting the output reproduction television signal RPV is supplied to the selector 3. As a result, the reproduced television signal RPV output from the recording unit 2 passes through the selector 3, the video / audio data separating circuit 4, the video signal processing circuit 5, and the video synthesizing circuit 7, and the display device 50.
Is supplied to. That is, the program recorded in the recording unit 2 is reproduced and displayed. Further, when a TV request signal is supplied from the information device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus via the IEEE 1394 interface circuit 11, the system controller 10 sends the television signal TS output from the selector 3 to the IEEE 1394.
Transmission is made on the IEEE 1394 bus via the interface circuit 11. When the recording request signal is supplied from the information device, the system controller 10 causes the IE
The television signal provided via the IEEE 1394 bus and the IEEE 1394 interface circuit 11 is stored in the recording unit 2.

Next, the display operation of the program guide performed by the broadcast program recording apparatus will be described. EPG button provided by the user on the remote control 8
When pressing (not shown), the system controller 10
Executes the control operation according to the program guide display control routine for each channel as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, first, the system controller 10 supplies the display data for displaying the display setting image of the program guide to the OSD signal generation circuit 16 (step S1). By executing step S1, the program guide display setting image as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the screen of the display device 50. Here, the user operates a cursor key (not shown) provided on the remote control 8 to click on a desired broadcast date for which a program guide should be acquired from the date selection area DB shown in FIG. .
Further, the user operates the cursor keys to select a plurality of desired broadcast channels (or 1) from the broadcast channel number group CB shown in FIG.
T) Click operation. When the operation of selecting the broadcast date and the broadcast channel is completed, the user operates the cursor key to display the enter button display E shown in FIG.
Click NT.

The system controller 10 stores information indicating the broadcast date and the broadcast channel number selected by the user in the internal register (not shown) as described above.
(Step S2). Next, the system controller 10
It is determined whether or not the confirm button display ENT shown in FIG. 4 has been clicked (step S3). If it is determined in step S3 that the confirm button display ENT has not been clicked, the system controller 10
Returns to the execution of step S2 and repeatedly executes the above-described operation. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S3 that the confirmation button display ENT has been clicked, the system controller 10 proceeds to execution of step S4 below. That is, the system controller 10 causes the broadcasting station corresponding to the broadcast channel number selected by the user to broadcast all programs scheduled to be broadcast on the broadcast date specified by the user based on the broadcast date and the broadcast channel number information stored in the built-in register. The EPG information data relating to this is read from the EPG information memory 14 (step S4). Next, the system controller 10 uses the program preference degree memory 2
From 0, the channel selection frequency as shown in FIG. 2 (b) corresponding to each broadcast channel number selected by the user is read out.
(Step S5). Next, the system controller 10
The concentric elliptical program name display areas with different color schemes corresponding to the selected broadcast channel numbers are displayed at positions farther from the center as the channel numbers with higher frequency of channel selection are displayed. It is generated and supplied to the OSD signal generation circuit 16 (step S6).

By executing step S6, program name display areas E _C3 , E _C4 , and E _C6 having concentric ellipses as shown in FIG. 5 are displayed on the screen of the display device 50. Note that FIG. 5 shows an example of display performed when the user selects three broadcast channel numbers of broadcast channels 3, 4, and 6. The program name display area E _C3 shown in FIG. 5 is the broadcast channel number 3, the program name display area E.
_C4 is a broadcast channel number 4 and program name display area E _C6 is an area for displaying the program name of the program broadcast from the broadcast station of broadcast channel number 6, respectively. At this time, according to the tuning frequency for each broadcast channel as shown in FIG. 2B, the tuning frequency for the broadcast channel number 3 is "2", the tuning frequency for the broadcast channel number 4 is "5", The frequency of channel selection for broadcast channel number 6 is "4". That is, the frequency of channel selection for broadcast channel number 4 is the highest, and then
Broadcast channel number 6 and broadcast channel number 3. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the program name display area E _C4 for displaying the program name of the program broadcast on the broadcast channel number 4 is displayed on the outermost periphery. Then, a program name display area E _C6 is displayed on the inner peripheral side of the program name display area E _C4 ,
A program name display area E _C3 is displayed on the innermost circumference. These program name display areas E _C3 , E _C4 , and E _C6 are divided by different colors. Further, on the outer circumference of the outermost program name display area E _C4 , as shown in FIG. 5, a display indicating the time is intermittently made. That is, these program name display areas E _C3 ,
In E _C4 and E _C6 , a concentric elliptical time axis is set clockwise.

Then, the system controller 10 extracts information indicating the program name, the broadcast channel number, and the broadcast start time of each program from the EPG information data read from the EPG information memory 14 in step S4 and built-in. It is stored in the register (step S7). Next, the system controller 10 displays the program mark and program name of each program at a position on the time axis corresponding to the broadcast start time of the program in the program name display area E _C corresponding to the broadcast channel of the program. Generate the display data to be displayed. That is, the programs are placed at angular positions corresponding to the broadcast start time of each program with respect to a reference line passing through the center of the elliptical program name display area E _C (for example, a line directed from the center of the ellipse toward 6:00) The display data for displaying the name is generated. Then, the system controller 10 supplies the OSD signal generation circuit 16 with the display data superposed on the display data generated in step S6 (step S8).

By executing step S8, the program guide display image as shown in FIG. 6, for example, is displayed on the screen of the display device 50. That is, the program mark (marked with ▲) representing each program and the program name are displayed in the program name display area E _C corresponding to the broadcast channel. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 6, the program name of the program broadcast on the broadcast channel 3 is the program name display area E _{C3 3} , the program name of the program broadcast on the broadcast channel 4 is the program name display area E _C4 , The program names of the programs broadcast on the broadcast channel 6 are displayed in the program name display area E _C6 , respectively. At this time, the position on the time axis where the program name should be displayed, that is, the angle with respect to the reference line passing through the central position of the elliptical program name display area E _c is determined by the broadcast start time of each program.

As described above, according to the program guide display as shown in FIG. 6, the program name of the program broadcast on the broadcast channel is displayed in the program name display area E _C color-coded for each broadcast channel. It At this time, the program name display area E _C corresponding to a broadcast channel with a large weight, that is, a broadcast channel that is frequently selected by the user, is displayed on the outer peripheral side of the concentric ellipse, that is, a position separated from the center. This is because the physical display area increases as the distance from the center increases, and it becomes possible to display each program name in detail, so the program display area corresponding to the broadcast channel that is frequently selected by the user is given priority. It was made wider.

Therefore, according to the program guide display as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to know at a glance when and on what broadcast channel the program belonging to the broadcast channel that is frequently selected by the user is broadcast. . In the above embodiment, the program scheduled to be broadcast on the date selected from the date selection area DB as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. However, if the selected date is today, the time at the present time is displayed. The hour hand H as shown in FIG. 7, which indicates, may be superimposed on the program table image.

[0024] In the above embodiment, although divided the program name display area E _C per broadcast channel, it is also possible to partition the program name display area E _C for each program genre. At this time, the user operates the cursor key provided on the remote control 8 to click the genre classification display button JM displayed in the screen of the display device 50 as shown in FIG. 6 or 7. Then, the system controller 10 executes the control operation according to the program guide display control routine for each genre as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, first, the system controller 10 supplies the display data for displaying the display setting image of the program guide to the OSD signal generation circuit 16 (step S11). By executing step S11, the program guide display setting image as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the screen of the display device 50. Here, the user selects a cursor key (not shown) provided on the remote control 8.
By operating the genre selection area J shown in FIG.
Then, a plurality of (or one) buttons indicating the desired program genres to be displayed in the program display are clicked. And
When the click operation on the genre selection area J is completed, the user clicks the enter button display ENT shown in FIG. 4 by operating the cursor key.

The system controller 10 stores the information indicating the program genre selected by the user in the internal register (not shown) as described above (step S12).
Next, the system controller 10 determines whether or not the confirm button display ENT shown in FIG. 4 has been clicked (step S13). When it is determined in step S13 that the click operation of the confirm button display ENT has not been performed, the system controller 10 returns to the execution of step S12 and repeatedly executes the above-described operation. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S13 that the confirm button display ENT is clicked, the system controller 10 performs the following step S1.
Move on to 4. That is, the system controller 10
Reads out the EPG information data regarding the program corresponding to the program genre stored in the built-in register from the EPG information memory 14 (step S14). Next, the system controller 10 corresponds to each of the program genres selected by the user from the program preference degree memory 20 shown in FIG.
The preference degree as shown in (a) is read (step S15). Next, the system controller 10 sets the concentric elliptical program name display areas having different color schemes corresponding to the program genres selected by the user from the center to the program genres having higher preference degrees. The display data to be displayed at the separated positions is generated and supplied to the OSD signal generation circuit 16 (step S16). By executing step S16, concentric elliptical program name display areas E _{J1 to} E _J4 as shown in FIG. 9 are displayed on the screen of the display device 50. In addition, in FIG. 9, the user
This is a display example when four program genres such as "news", "sports", "educational entertainment", and "music" are selected.In Fig. 9, a program name display area E _J1 is an entertainment and program name display area E _J2. Is an area for displaying the music, the program name display area E _J3 is for sports, and the program name display area E _J4 is an area for displaying the program name of the program belonging to the news, in which case the program genre as shown in FIG. According to the degree of preference for each, the degree of preference for "news" is "8", the degree of preference for "sports" is "7", and "music"
The degree of preference for "6" and the degree of preference for "cultural entertainment" are "
3 ", that is," news "as the program genre
Has the highest degree of preference for "sports,""music," and "cultural entertainment." Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, the program name display area E _{J4 in} which the program name of the program belonging to "news" should be displayed is displayed at the outermost periphery. Then, on the inner side of the program name display area E _J4 ,
A program name display area E _J3 for displaying the program name of the program belonging to "Sports" is displayed, and a program name display area E _J2 for displaying the program name of the program belonging to "Music" is displayed on the inner circumference side thereof. At the innermost circumference, a program name display area E _J1 for displaying the program name of a program belonging to "cultural entertainment" is displayed, and these program name display areas E _{J1 to} E _J4 are displayed in different colors. , Is displayed on the outer periphery of the outermost program name display area E _J4 as shown in Fig. 9. That is, in each program name display area E _{J1 to} E _J4 , a concentric ellipse is formed in a clockwise direction. The time axis is set.

Next, the system controller 10 extracts, from the EPG information data read from the EPG information memory 14 in step S14, information indicating each program name, program genre and broadcast start time of each program. The data is stored in the built-in register (step S17). Next, the system controller 10 displays the program mark and program name of each program in the program name display area E _J corresponding to the genre of the program.
The display data to be displayed at a position on the time axis corresponding to the broadcast start time of the program is generated. That is, the display data for displaying the program name is generated at the angular position corresponding to the broadcast start time of each program with respect to the reference line passing through the center position in the elliptical program name display area Ec. Then, the display data generated in step S16 is superimposed and supplied to the OSD signal generation circuit 16 (step S18). By executing step S18, the program guide display image as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the screen of the display device 50. That is, the program mark (▴) representing each program and the program name are classified according to the program genre, and are displayed in the program name display area E _J having different colors. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 10, the program name display area E _J1 is cultural entertainment, the program name display area E _J2 is music, the program name display area E _J3 is sports, and the program name display area E _J4 is news. As described above, only the programs belonging to the program genre are displayed in each area.

In the above embodiment, each of the program name display areas E is elliptical as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, or 9 and 10, but may be circular. Further, the form of each program name display area E may be a polygon such as a rectangle, a square, a pentagon, a hexagon, or an octagon,
Alternatively, it may be a rounded polygon in which the corners of such a polygon are rounded. In short, each of the program name display areas E is not limited to the concentric ellipse shape, but may be any of the concentric circle shape, the concentric polygonal shape, or the rounded corner polygonal shape in which each corner is chamfered. In other words, each of the program name display areas E is displayed at different distances from the predetermined center position, and the time within each area is defined by the angle with respect to the reference line passing through the center position. Any form is acceptable.

Further, in the above embodiment, the plurality of program name display areas E formed in one program guide display have different color arrangements, but it is not always necessary to make all colors different. In short, among the plurality of program name display areas E formed in one program guide display, if the colors of at least adjacent ones are made different, the user can recognize the difference in the areas. It will be possible.

Further, in the above embodiment, each broadcast channel and each broadcast channel are automatically selected on the basis of the total number of channel selections for each broadcast channel selected by the user so far and the cumulative frequency of the viewed program for each program genre. Although the weight is set for the program genre, the weight may be set by the manual operation of the user himself. For example, when the user presses a priority display area setting button (not shown) provided on the operation surface of the remote control 8, the system controller 10 displays the program guide display setting image as shown in FIG. The display data to be displayed above is supplied to the OSD signal generation circuit 16. Here, the user operates a cursor key (not shown) provided on the remote control 8 to display
From within the broadcast channel number group CB shown in, the broadcast channel numbers are sequentially clicked in the order of the user's own preference. In response to such an operation, the system controller 10
A value that decreases by 1 each time the click operation is performed is used as the channel selection frequency, and this is stored in the program preference degree memory 20 in association with the clicked broadcast channel number, as shown in FIG. 2B. As a result, the weighting for each broadcast channel is set. Further, the user operates the cursor keys provided on the remote control 8 to operate the genre selection area J shown in FIG.
Then, the program genres are sequentially clicked in order of the user's own preference. In response to such an operation, the system controller 10 sets a value that decreases by 1 each time a click operation is performed, and associates the value with the program genre in which the click operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 2A. It is stored in the memory 20. As a result, weighting is set for each program genre.

Therefore, as the program name display area corresponding to the broadcast channel (or program genre) with a larger weight set by the user's manual operation, FIG. 6 (or FIG. 1) is displayed.
As shown in 0), it is displayed at a position separated from the center of the ellipse. Further, in the above embodiment, the program name display area corresponding to the broadcast channel (or program genre) having a large weight is displayed at a position farther from the center, however, it exists at the position farthest from the center. Only the program name display area is the broadcast channel (or program genre of the program) of the program currently being viewed.
The program name display area for displaying the program name may be used. At this time, the program name for displaying the program name of the broadcast channel (or program genre) of the program watched until immediately before the program name display area located farthest from the center on the inner circumference side. Display the display area. That is, the system controller 10 causes the program history memory 30 to display the broadcast channels of programs that have been viewed in the order of the newest history.
(Or program genre) is read, and such broadcast channel
The program name display area corresponding to (or the program genre) is sequentially displayed from the outer peripheral side toward the inner peripheral side.

[0032]

As described above, according to the program guide display according to the present invention, the user can easily find out the broadcast-scheduled program of interest.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast program recording device equipped with a program guide display function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between a total number of viewing times and a preference degree corresponding to each program genre, which is obtained by a program preference degree calculation process.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a program guide display control routine for each broadcast channel executed by the system controller 10.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a program guide display setting image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a program name display area E _C divided by broadcast channel.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a program guide display image for each broadcast channel.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a program guide display image on which an hour hand H is superimposed and displayed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a genre-based program guide display control routine executed by the system controller 10.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of a program name display area E _J divided into program genres.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a program guide display image for each genre.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 TV tuner 10 system controller 13 EPG information acquisition circuit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazutomo Watanabe             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Tanaka             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Yasuo Kinosaki             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Victory Inagaki             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Masao Higuchi             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Ryuichiro Morioka             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Manabu Yamamura             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory (72) Inventor Kunihiro Minoshima             2626 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture             Near Tokorozawa Factory F-term (reference) 5C025 BA27 BA28 CA02 CA09 CB08                       CB09 DA01 DA04                 5C052 AA02 CC11 CC20 DD10 EE03                 5K061 AA09 BB07 DD11 JJ06 JJ07

Claims (29)

[Claims] 1. A program guide display device for displaying on a screen of a display device a program guide showing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcasting station, the program name of each of the programs, and various programs for classifying the programs. Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information data indicating a classification item, program classification item specification means for specifying a desired program classification item from the program classification items, and items specified from the program classification items A plurality of program name display areas divided corresponding to the respective program classification items and arranged at positions having different distances from a predetermined center position are displayed on the screen, and the same program classification items are displayed. And a program guide display means for displaying the program names of the programs belonging to each other in the corresponding program name display area. 2. The program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein the program classification item is a broadcast channel number of the program or a program genre that classifies the content of the program. 3. The program classification item weighting setting means for setting a weight to each of the program classification items, wherein the program guide display means is the program name display area corresponding to the program classification item having a large weight. The program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein the program guide display device is displayed at a position farther from the predetermined center position. 4. The program guide display means adds a color scheme corresponding to the program classification item designated by the program classification item designation means to each of the program name display areas. Program guide display device. 5. The program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein each of the program name display areas has a concentric circle shape, a concentric oval shape, a concentric polygonal shape, or a concentric rounded corner polygonal shape. 6. The program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition means acquires the program information data from a broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcasting station or on the Internet. 7. A program guide display device for displaying, on a screen of a display device, a program guide representing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcasting station, wherein information indicating a program name and a broadcast channel number of each program is displayed. Program information acquisition means for acquiring the program information data including, program guide channel designating means for designating at least one broadcast channel number out of all the broadcast channel numbers, and broadcast channel designated by the program guide channel designating means The broadcast channel numbers are displayed on the screen while displaying a plurality of program name display areas, each of which is divided into a number corresponding to each of the broadcast channel numbers and arranged at positions having different distances from a predetermined center position. Program names of the programs belonging to each other to the same broadcast channel number in the program name display area. And a program guide display means for displaying the program guide in the area. 8. A tuner that demodulates a video signal corresponding to the program by selecting only a broadcast wave of a desired broadcast channel number from broadcast waves transmitted from each of the broadcast stations, and the tuner up to the present time. Means for obtaining a tuning frequency for each of the broadcast channel numbers selected by
8. The program guide display means further displays the program name display area corresponding to the broadcast channel number with a higher frequency of channel selection, at a position farther from the predetermined center position. Program guide display device. 9. The program guide display means displays the program name display area corresponding to the broadcast channel number currently selected by the tuner at a position farthest from the predetermined center position. Claims 7 and 8
The program guide display device described. 10. The program guide display device according to claim 7, wherein the program guide display means adds a color scheme corresponding to the broadcast channel number corresponding to each of the program name display areas. 11. The program name display areas are concentric circles,
The program guide display device according to claim 7, wherein the program guide display device has a concentric oval shape, a concentric polygonal shape, or a concentric rounded polygonal shape. 12. The program guide display device according to claim 7, wherein the program information acquisition means acquires the program information data from a broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcasting station or on the Internet. 13. A program guide display device for displaying a program guide representing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcasting station on a screen of a display device, wherein the program name of each program and the contents of each program are classified. Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information data including information indicating each program genre, program guide genre specifying means for specifying at least one program genre from all the program genres, and program guide genre specifying means While being displayed corresponding to each of the program genres by the designated number of the program genre, each of a plurality of program name display areas arranged at positions different in distance from a predetermined center position on the screen, A program guide table that displays the program names of programs belonging to the same program genre in the corresponding area of each of the program name display areas A program guide display device comprising: 14. A genre preference degree setting means for setting a preference degree for each of the program genres, wherein the program guide display means is arranged such that the program name display area corresponding to the program genre having a high degree of preference has the predetermined number. The image is displayed at a position away from the center position.
The program guide display device described in 3. 15. The tuner further includes a tuner for selecting only a broadcast wave of a desired broadcast channel number from broadcast waves transmitted from each of the broadcast stations and demodulating a video signal corresponding to the program. The degree setting means is a degree preference means for obtaining the degree of preference for each program genre based on the cumulative frequency of the programs demodulated by the tuner to the program genre up to the present time, and the degree of preference for each program genre. 15. The program guide display device according to claim 13, further comprising: 16. The program guide display means displays the program name display area corresponding to the program genre of the program demodulated by the tuner at the present time at a position farthest from the predetermined center position. 16. The program guide display device according to claim 13 or 15. 17. The program guide display device according to claim 13, wherein the program guide display means adds a color scheme corresponding to the broadcast channel number corresponding to each of the program name display areas. 18. The program name display areas are concentric circles,
14. The program guide display device according to claim 13, wherein the program guide display device has a concentric oval shape, a concentric polygonal shape, or a concentric rounded polygonal shape. 19. The program guide display device according to claim 13, wherein the program information acquisition means acquires the program information data from a broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcast station or on the Internet. 20. A program guide display method for displaying a program guide representing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcast station on a screen of a display device, wherein a program name of each of the programs and various kinds of programs for classifying the programs are provided. A program information acquisition process for acquiring program information data indicating a program classification item, and the program classification items are divided corresponding to each of the program classification items by the number of items designated from the program classification items, and the distances to a predetermined center position are mutually different. Each of the plurality of program name display areas arranged at different positions is displayed on the screen, and the program names of the programs belonging to the same item of the program classification item are displayed in the corresponding area of the program name display area. The program guide display process to be displayed,
A method of displaying a program guide, which comprises: 21. The program guide display process according to claim 20, wherein the program name display area corresponding to the program classification item having a greater weight is displayed at a position farther from the predetermined center position. How to display the program guide. 22. A program guide display method for displaying a program guide representing a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcast station on a screen of a display device, the information showing a program name and a broadcast channel number of each program. And a program information acquisition process for acquiring program information data including, and a distance from a predetermined center position that is divided corresponding to each of the specified broadcast channel numbers out of all the broadcast channel numbers. A plurality of program name display areas arranged at different positions from each other are displayed on the screen, and program names of programs belonging to the same broadcast channel number among the broadcast channel numbers are displayed in the program name display area. And a program guide display step of displaying the program guide in the corresponding area. 23. In the program guide display step, the program name display area corresponding to the broadcast channel number that is frequently selected by the user is displayed at a position farther from the predetermined center position. The method of displaying the program guide described in 22. 24. The program guide display method according to claim 22, wherein in the program information acquisition step, the program information data is acquired from a broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcasting station or on the Internet. 25. The program guide display method according to claim 22, wherein the program guide display step is colored with a color scheme corresponding to the broadcast channel number corresponding to each of the program name display areas. 26. A method of displaying a program guide for displaying a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast from each broadcast station on a screen of a display device, the program name of each program and the content of each program being classified by type. And a program information acquisition process for acquiring program information data including information indicating each program genre, and corresponding to each program genre by the number of the specified program genres among all the program genres, and Each of the plurality of program name display areas arranged at different distances from the predetermined center position is displayed on the screen, and the program name of each program belonging to the same program genre is displayed in each of the program name display areas. And a program guide display step of displaying the program guide in the corresponding area. 27. In the program guide display process, the program name display region corresponding to the program genre having a high degree of user preference is displayed at a position farther from the predetermined center position. How to display the program guide. 28. The program guide display method according to claim 26, wherein in the program information acquisition step, the program information data is acquired from a broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcasting station or on the Internet. 29. The program guide display method according to claim 26, wherein the program guide display step is colored with a color scheme corresponding to the broadcast channel number corresponding to each of the program name display areas.