JP2003163855A - Program display device and program display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program display device and method by which a user can surely select a desired program. <P>SOLUTION: A display control means displays program contents on a television receiver in a table form among information items extracted externally by an input means and a user operates a position designation means and a setting means among the displayed items to complete reservation by having only to select desired program contents. Since it is not required to trace a bar code by a bar code reader in reserving a program in this way, trouble incapable of reading a bar code even when a user traces the bar code by using the bar code reader many times can not be caused. Since the program guide is displayed in a table form, the user can set the desired program while comparing the program with other programs around the desirable program. Thus, even when there exist programs having similar names with each other, wrong reservation due to getting a wrong idea hardly takes place. Further, it is not required to set a channel and to enter a start time like a technology before the development of the bar code reader. Thus, the operation is very simplified. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program display device and a program display method for displaying a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Television programs usually have weekly (or daily) start times and channels unchanged.
For the program you are watching, people need to remember the start time and channel. However, if there is a sports broadcast in front of the program or if the broadcast start time is not constant, you can check the channel, broadcast start time, etc. by looking at the program section of the newspaper or TV program magazine. Good. Then, at that time, the television switch is turned on, the channel is adjusted, or a video recording device is used for recording.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
No. 3-138679 discloses a technique in which information including each television program, its start time, and its broadcast channel is externally taken into a broadcast content receiving device and displayed on a television receiver or the like.

A first object of the present invention is to enable prompt display of such information on the next day, and to eliminate the need to handle abstract information such as channel and start time. In addition, since the broadcast start time and channel of a television program are usually unchanged, it is sufficient for a person to remember the broadcast start time and channel of a program watched every week (or every day). However, if there is a sports broadcast in front of the program or if the broadcast start time is not constant, you can check the channel, broadcast start time, etc. by looking at the program section of the newspaper or TV program magazine. Good. Then, at that time, the television switch is turned on, the channel is adjusted, or a video recording device is used for recording. However, in order to display the program confirmed in the program section on the TV receiver,
It is troublesome because it is necessary to match the TV screen with the program section. Further, it may fail to confirm the broadcast start time of a desired program in the program section. For example, when a plurality of programs are shown in one column (for example, a time frame from 19:00 to 20:00), there is a case where the user wants to see the first half program but mistakes it for the second half program. A second object of the present invention is to ensure that a desired program can be selected.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program display device which externally stores, in a RAM of the program display device, information including at least each program of a television, its start time and its broadcasting channel. From the input means to be taken in once and the above information taken into the RAM by the input means, the TV program of each channel on the day after the power-on of the program display device is turned on by the combination of the cursor key and other keys. Display control means for taking out and displaying,
Selection means for selecting a display location where a desired program is displayed from the programs displayed by the display control means, and a channel of a program corresponding to the display location selected by the selection means are read out from the information and output. Channel output means, and start time output means for reading out and outputting the start time of the program corresponding to the display location selected by the selection means from the information, and the display control means is operated by the input means. Channel display means for extracting the contents of a plurality of channels of television broadcasting from the information stored in the RAM and displaying them side by side in one of the vertical or horizontal directions; and the information stored in the RAM by the input means. And a broadcast sequence display means for displaying the programs of the same channel in the broadcast order in a direction perpendicular to the one direction. Characterized in that was. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the program display device according to the first aspect, according to the information selected by the selecting means,
When the program start time comes, the broadcast content output means for causing the tuner to extract the program is provided. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the information including at least each program of the television, its start time and its broadcasting channel is temporarily taken into the RAM from the outside, and the program display method is selected from the information taken into the RAM. The program of television broadcasting of a plurality of channels on the day when the power of the device is turned on is taken out and displayed side by side in one of the vertical or horizontal directions,
The programs of the same channel on the day when the power source of the device relating to the program display method in the above information taken into M is turned on,
The programs are displayed side by side in the direction perpendicular to the one direction in the broadcast order, and when the display location where the desired program is displayed is selected from the displayed information, the channel of the program corresponding to the selected display location is displayed. The gist of a program display method is characterized in that the start time of a program corresponding to the selected display location is read out and output from the above information, and the program display method is read out and output. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the program display method according to the third aspect, the tuner is caused to extract the program at the start time of the program according to the selected information.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The program display device according to claim 1 of the present invention, which has the above-mentioned configuration, is externally supplied via an input means.
Information including at least the program content of the television, its start time, and the broadcast channel is stored in the RAM of the program display device.
Take in once. Here, as the program content of the television (hereinafter, also simply referred to as program content), a program name, its abbreviation, and words (eg, “news”, “golf”, etc.) representative of the content can be considered. In this way, the display control means retrieves and displays the television program of each channel on the day following the day when the power of the program display device is turned on, by using the combination of the cursor key and another key, from the information once stored in the RAM. When the display location where the desired broadcast content is displayed is selected from the information displayed by the display control means via the selection means, the channel of the program corresponding to the selected display location is read from the information by the channel output means. It is output and output, and the start time of the program corresponding to the display location is read from the information and output by the start time output means. The display control means is provided with a channel display means and a broadcast order display means, by which the contents of television broadcasts of a plurality of channels are taken out from the RAM and arranged in one of the vertical or horizontal directions, and further the same channel is displayed. The programs are displayed side by side in the direction perpendicular to the one direction in the order of broadcast. That is, the programs are displayed in a tabular format. In the program display device according to claim 2, when the display portion where the desired broadcast content is displayed is selected from the information displayed by the display control means through the selection means, the broadcast content output means is selected. At the start time of the broadcast content, the tuner causes the broadcast content to be extracted according to the information.

The program display method described in claims 3 and 4 describes the program display device described in claims 1 and 2 as a method invention.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, an example applied to a recording reservation control device will be described below as an embodiment of the program display device of the present invention. First, FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the recording reservation control device.
It is the block diagram further simplified and illustrated. As shown in the figure, the recording reservation control device mainly includes a storage unit, a display control unit, a selection unit, a recording setting unit, and a recording reservation unit. The storage means stores information about television broadcasting, and the content of the information is such that the content of the television broadcasting and the start / end times of each content are stored for about one to four weeks. It has become a thing. According to the information selected by the selection means, the recording setting means sets the broadcasting time in the video recording device in the recording reservation means. FIG. 2 shows an actual recording reservation control device, and is a perspective view showing an external appearance of the recording reservation card 1 together with a video tape recorder (VTR) 3 and a television receiver 5 connected thereto via a cable 4. is there. As shown in the figure, the VTR 3 includes a cassette insertion portion 7 for inserting a video cassette tape, a time display portion 8 for displaying the present time, a connection portion 10 for slidingly inserting the card-shaped recording reservation card 1 from above, and the like.

[0009] The recording reservation card 1 is one in which the contents, time, etc. of a television broadcast program for one to several weeks are stored in advance, and it is sold alone or together with a weekly magazine or a monthly magazine that explains the contents of the program. To be done. In the present embodiment, the contents of the program are stored in the ROM, as will be described later, but may be stored in a rewritable PROM or a RAM backed up by a battery, and may be rewritten by a vending machine or the like. Good. This recording reservation card 1
It is used by being attached to the connecting portion 10 of the VTR 3.

The recording reservation card 1 has a control key 1 on the surface of which characters such as "setting", "weekly" and "continuous" are engraved.
1, 12, 13 and cursor keys 21, 22, 23, 24 with up, down, left, and right arrows are provided.
A connector 30 connected to the connecting portion 10 in the VTR 3 is provided at the lowermost end.

Next, the internal constructions of the recording reservation card 1 and the VTR 3 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, inside the recording reservation card 1, a well-known CPU 31,
A key input port 35, an input / output port 38, and the like, which are connected to each other by a bus 34 and a ROM 32 and a RAM 33, are provided.

In the ROM 32, together with the control program,
It stores the simple contents of broadcasting programs for one to four weeks and the start and end times of broadcasting. The keys 11 to 13 and 21 to 24 provided on the surface of the card are connected to the key input port 35, and the operation state of each key is input. The input / output port 38 is a port for exchanging data and the like with the control device inside the VTR 3, and when the recording reservation card 1 is attached to the VTR 3, it is connected to the internal bus 45 via the connector 3.

On the other hand, inside the VTR 3, a well-known CPU 51, a ROM 52, and a R connected to each other by a bus 45 are provided.
In addition to the AM 53 and the timer 55, a tuner 60 that receives a television broadcast wave through the antenna 57 and demodulates a video / audio signal, a recording / playback unit 65 that records or plays the demodulated signal on a video tape, and a video signal to the TV 5. A video signal output unit 70 for outputting is provided. The timer 55 has a calendar function for managing the year and month and a 24-hour clock function, and when the time set by the CPU 51 via the internal bus 45 in advance notifies the CPU 51 as an interrupt, the timer 55 also displays the time. The current time is displayed on. Further, the tuner 60 can select a channel to be demodulated in response to a command from the CPU 51. The demodulated video signal of the selected channel is output to the recording / playback unit 65. The recording / playback unit 65 also outputs the control signal of the CPU 51, and the recording / playback unit 65 receives this signal. ,
The recording / playback head (not shown) is driven and the tape reel drive motor is controlled according to the recording / playback of the video signal. Further, the video signal output unit 70 is provided with a video signal of a certain channel demodulated by the tuner 60, and a recording / playback unit 6
5, the video signal reproduced by CPU 5, CPU 51 is RAM 53
One of the video signals generated by reading out the image data stored in is selected, the video signal is temporarily stored in an internal video memory (not shown), and then continuously output to the television receiver 5.

Next, an explanatory diagram of the program table shown in FIG. 4 and a fifth diagram.
The processing executed by the CPUs 31 and 51 of the recording reservation card 1 and the VTR 3 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. Recording reservation card 1 is VTR3
When the card is attached to the power source and the power is turned on, the card side processing routine shown in FIG. 5 is started, and first, processing such as initialization of the cursor position is performed (step 100). The initial position of the cursor is a predetermined origin, and in the program guide shown in FIG. 4, it is the position corresponding to the program with the smallest channel and the earliest time zone (program A1 in this embodiment). After that, the program guide is read from the ROM 32 (step 110), and the program data in the area corresponding to the cursor position and the data at the cursor position are input / output port 38 among them.
Output to the VTR 3 via (step 1
20). That is, since it is not possible to display the entire program table on the television receiver 5 at once, one screen of program data is output centering on the position of the cursor. The output program data is temporarily stored in the RAM 5 via the connector 30.
3 and is sent to the video signal output unit 70 under the control of the CPU 51, converted into a video signal here, and then output to the television receiver 5. That is, the CP that performs the process of taking in the program data from the connection unit 10 and the connection unit 10.
Since the U51 fetches the information regarding the broadcast contents from the external ROM 32 via the connector 30 or the like,
It corresponds to the input means of the present invention. And step 120
The above process is a process that serves as both the channel display means and the broadcast order display means of the present invention. Then, the operation waits for the operation of the key provided on the front surface of the recording reservation card 1 (step 130), and the process proceeds to step 140 and the subsequent steps in response to the input key.

When the input key is the cursor key, the cursor data corresponding to one of the operated keys 21 to 24 is output (step 140) and the RAM 3
A process for updating the cursor position information stored in No. 3 according to the structure of the program guide is performed (step 150). For example,
When the cursor is at the position of the program C3 shown in FIG. 4,
When the up arrow cursor key 21 is operated,
The data is output to the video signal output unit 70 of the VTR 3 and the cursor position information in the recording reservation card 1 is updated from the program C3 to the position of the program C2. When the right arrow cursor key 24 is operated, the cursor position information is updated from the program C3 to the program D3. After the above processing, the process returns to step 120 and the processing of step 120 and subsequent steps is executed again. Therefore, when the cursor is moved out of the currently displayed area, the area of the displayed program is updated by the processing of step 120.

If it is determined in step 130 that the input key is the "set" key 11, the program start time and its channel number corresponding to the current cursor position information are read from the ROM 32 (step 16).
0). Then, the process of outputting the recording start time to the CPU 51 of the VTR 3 is performed (step 170). For example, when the cursor is on the program C3, the start time of this program is 8
The hour 45 minutes and the channel CH5 are read and output. Here, the process of reading and outputting the start time of the program corresponds to the start time output means of the present invention, and the process of reading and outputting the channel corresponds to the channel output means of the present invention. Then, the end time of the program is read (step 180) and the time is output (step 190). In the above example, the end time of 9:30 will be read and output.

On the other hand, if the "every week" key 12 is pressed, the program for the next week and thereafter stored in the ROM 3 is searched (step 200), and the same program as the program where the cursor is currently located is for the next week and thereafter. It is judged whether or not it exists (step 210). If the same program exists from the next week onward, the start time / channel including the date of the program is read and output, and the end time is read and output, similarly to the operation of the above-mentioned "setting" key ( Steps 160-190). If there is no same program, just step 1
Returning to 20, the process is repeated from the key input. By this processing, even if the same program is broadcast in different time zones from the next week onward, it can be easily reserved. still,
The processing on the VTR 3 side will be described later.

If the input key is the "continuous" key 13 in step 130, a process of canceling the end time of continuous programs of the plurality of programs set up to that point is performed (step 220). As a result, when the recording of a plurality of consecutive programs (including the case where the channels are different and the case where the channels are the same) is set, the power of the VTR 3 is not turned off every time the broadcasting time of one program ends.

Although the processing on the recording reservation card 1 side has been described above, the following processing is performed on the VTR 3 side in response to this processing. As shown in FIG. 6, first, wait until data is output from the recording reservation card 1 (step 3
00), if there is data output, the content is determined (step 310). If the output content is cursor data (corresponding to step 140 in FIG. 5), the CPU 5
1 outputs data to the video signal output unit 70 and updates the reverse position of the displayed program (step 350). For example, in the case where the shaded program C3 in FIG. 4 is highlighted, when the recording reservation card 1 sends the information that the cursor key 22 of the downward arrow is operated, the program C4 is highlighted. The C3 is switched to the output of the video signal normally displayed. That is, the cursor keys 21 to 24 correspond to the selecting means of the present invention.

On the other hand, when the content of the output from the recording reservation card 1 is the data of the program table, step 12 in FIG.
Corresponding to the data output at 0, this is temporarily stored in the RAM 5
After being stored in 3, the process of setting in the video signal output unit 70 as the data to be displayed on the television receiver 5 (step 32)
0) and a process of inputting cursor position data output by the recording reservation card 1 (step 330). Then, a process for setting the position of the program to be displayed in reverse video on the video signal output unit 70 based on the input cursor position data is performed (step 340).

If the content output from the recording reservation card 1 is the set time information corresponding to the processing on the card side, steps 170 and 190, this information is temporarily stored in the RAM 53 (step 360) and stored. A process of setting the date / time closest to the present time among the plurality of time information in the timer 55 is performed (step 370). Timer 55
When the set date / time arrives, the CPU 51 interrupts the CPU 51 to drive the tuner 60 and the recording / reproducing unit 65 to record the program of the stored channel on the video cassette tape.

After the processing of these steps 310 to 370 is completed, the process returns to step 300 and the recording reservation card 1
Repeat from the process of waiting until the data output from. By the processing on the recording reservation card 1 side and the processing on the VTR 3 side described above, the user sets the recording reservation as follows.

(1) First, when the recording reservation card 1 is attached to the VTR 3 and the power is turned on, a part of the program table of the day is displayed on the television receiver 5 in a table format as shown in FIG. . By operating the cursor keys 21 to 24, a desired program can be highlighted and displayed, and when a cursor operation is performed to move the highlighted display part outside the region currently displayed, the display region is displayed. Will be updated.
In addition, the process of displaying the program guide other than the program guide of the day is
Although not specifically described, a dedicated key may be provided. The program guide of the previous day or the next day is displayed by a combination of the cursor keys 21 and 22 and other keys. Of these, the process of displaying the program table of the next day corresponds to the display control means of the present invention.

(2) When the "setting" key 11 of the recording reservation card 1 is operated with the desired program highlighted,
The start time including the date of the program, the channel, and the end time are stored. When the start time comes, the VTR 3 receives and demodulates the stored channel in the tuner 60, and outputs it. Recording is started when the end time comes. That is, the processing of this part is the same as the processing corresponding to the broadcast content output means of the present invention, and the recording / playback unit 6
This is a process to which a process for controlling 5 is added.

(3) When the "Weekly" key 12 is operated after the recording reservation for a certain program is made, the contents of the program for the next week or later stored in the ROM 32 in advance are searched, and the program currently highlighted is displayed. If the same one exists, the start time / channel and end time including the date are set. Therefore, even if the same program is broadcast in different time zones, recording reservation can be made without error.

(4) After setting the recording reservations for a plurality of programs, operating the "Continuous" key 13 cancels the setting of the end time of the programs in the continuous time period among the recording reserved programs. Therefore, when recording a plurality of programs in consecutive time zones, the VTR3 is recorded at the end of each set program.
This is preferable from the viewpoint of durability of the VTR3 without shutting down the power supply of.

As described above, the recording reservation card 1 of this embodiment stores the contents of the program for one week to several weeks and the start and end times thereof in advance, and displays this on the television receiver 5. Since the program is reserved for recording, the recording can be reserved very easily. Since it suffices to select a program, it does not require time and time to read a bar code, and the operation is easy even for a person who is not familiar with the operation of the machine. Further, in the present embodiment, since the programs having the same contents can be searched, even if the continuous programs are broadcast in different time zones, the recording reservation can be easily made.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, a configuration or setting operation for selecting a desired program with a touch board installed on the screen of a television receiver, a mouse or a light pen in place of the cursor keys. Key of VT
Needless to say, the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the present invention, such as the configuration provided directly on the R.

[0029]

As described in detail above, the first aspect of the present invention
According to the program display device described above, at least the program content of the television and its start time are input from the outside via the input means,
Information including the broadcast channel is transmitted to the R of the program display device.
Once in AM. In this way, the display control means retrieves and displays the television program of each channel on the day following the day when the power of the program display device is turned on, by the combination of the cursor key and another key, from the information once stored in the RAM. Information can be displayed promptly. Then, the channel of the program corresponding to the display location selected by the selection means is extracted from the information by the channel output means and is output, and the start time of the program corresponding to the display location is determined from the information by the start time output means. It is read and output. In other words, it is only necessary to select the place where the desired program content is displayed from the displayed program content by the selection means, and during this time, it is not necessary to handle abstract information such as the channel and the start time. Then, the programs are displayed in a tabular format by the channel display means and the broadcast order display means. This allows the operator to recognize abstract and error-prone information such as the channel and start time by comparing the program content on different channels or the program content broadcast before and after the same channel without causing the operator to recognize the information. be able to. Therefore, it is possible to intuitively call attention to whether or not there is a mistake in a similar program on a different channel or an adjacent time. In the program display device according to claim 2, when the display portion where the desired broadcast content is displayed is selected from the information displayed by the display control means through the selection means, the broadcast content output means is selected. According to the information, when the start time of the broadcast content comes, the broadcast content is made to be extracted by the tuner, so that the possibility of missing the desired program is extremely low. According to the program display method described in claims 3 and 4, the same effect as that of the program display device described in claims 1 and 2 is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a recording reservation control device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a recording reservation card 1 as one embodiment of the present invention together with a video tape recorder 3.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configurations of the recording reservation card 1 and the video tape recorder 3 in the same manner.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display of a program in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing on the recording reservation card 1 side.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing on the video tape recorder 3 side.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Recording reservation card 3 ... Video tape recorder (VTR) 5 ... TV receiver 11, 12, 13 ... Control key 21, 22, 23, 24 ... Cursor keys 55 ... Timer 60 ... Tuner 65 ... Recording / playback unit 70 ... Video signal output unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. Input means for temporarily fetching information including at least each program of a television, its start time and its broadcasting channel from the outside into a RAM of the program display device, and the above-mentioned fetched into the RAM by the input means. From the information, display control means for extracting and displaying the program of the television of each channel on the day following the day when the power of the program display device is turned on by the combination of the cursor key and other keys, and the display control means are displayed. Selecting means for selecting a display place where a desired program is displayed from the program; channel output means for reading out and outputting a channel of a program corresponding to the display place selected by the selecting means from the information; A start time output means for reading out and outputting the start time of the program corresponding to the display location selected by the means from the above information; And a display means for displaying the contents of a plurality of channels of television broadcast from the information taken into the RAM by the input means, and displaying them side by side in one of the vertical or horizontal directions. Broadcast order display means for displaying the programs of the same channel in the information taken into the RAM by the input means in the order of broadcast in a direction perpendicular to the one direction. Program display device. 2. The program display device according to claim 1, further comprising broadcast content output means for causing the tuner to extract the program at the start time of the program according to the information selected by the selection means. Characteristic program display device. 3. The information including at least each program of the television, its start time and its broadcast channel is externally RA.
Once fetched in M, the program of a plurality of channels of television broadcasting on the day following the day when the power of the device relating to the program display method is turned on is fetched from the above information fetched in the RAM by the combination of the cursor key and other keys. Vertically and horizontally, the programs of the same channel on the day when the power supply of the device according to the program display method in the information stored in the RAM is turned on are displayed in the order of the broadcast. When the display location where the desired program is displayed is selected from the displayed information, the channels of the program corresponding to the selected display location are read from the information. A program display method comprising outputting, and reading out a start time of a program corresponding to the selected display location from the information, and outputting the read time. 4. The program display method according to claim 3, wherein the tuner is caused to extract the program at the start time of the program in accordance with the selected information.