JP2006163710A - Program information storage device and method and program information storage program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To create a set of synonyms for information about the same program using a simple method. <P>SOLUTION: A program information storage device includes a program information storage means 106 for storing, for each program, program information including program attribute information indicating the attribute of each program, and a synonymous information storage means 107 for storing the program attribute information of the same kind among the program information for the same program. The program information storage device also includes a same program specifying means 103 for reading the program attribute information of each program from the program information storage means 106 and specifying the same program based upon the program attribute information; a synonymous information extraction means 104 for extracting the program attribute information of the same kind among the program information of the same program specified; and a synonymous information storage means 105 for associating pieces of the extracted program attribute information with one another as synonymous information for storage in the synonymous information storage means 107. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program information storage apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for storing synonyms in program information. The present invention also relates to a program information storage method and a program information storage program.

  In recent years, not only conventional analog terrestrial broadcasting but also satellite broadcasting using broadcasting satellites and communication satellites, cable TV broadcasting using cable communications, and digital terrestrial broadcasting are expected to spread. The number of programs offered is increasing rapidly. The increase in the number of programs and the provision of various programs to viewers is desirable because it is possible for viewers to select programs that suit their tastes. However, as the number of programs has increased and the amount of information has increased, it has become difficult for viewers to find the time and channel of the program they want to watch, no matter how easy it is to see the information transmitted from the program. . In addition, with the fusion of broadcasting and communication, there is an increasing demand for acquiring information and reputation about programs that viewers want to see from different media such as web pages.

  On the other hand, in recent years, electronic program broadcast schedule information (electronic program guide; EPG) or the like capable of searching for programs has been prepared. Here, in the following, each piece of information related to a program such as a program name, a program broadcast date and time, a broadcast station, a genre, a broadcast form, a performer, a program description, and program related information is referred to as program attribute information. In addition, information that includes several program attribute information that can specify a program such as program name, program broadcast date and time, genre, performer, program description, and program related information is called program information. Including those expressed in tables and other formats.

  Then, by inputting a character string such as a program name desired by the viewer, program attributes that match the input character string are automatically searched and viewed, or recorded from the searched program time zone and broadcasting station information. Techniques have been proposed in which reservations are made automatically and related information and reputation of programs are searched and viewed from a web page.

  However, when the same program name or program-related information is pointed out in the program attribute, for example, a similar expression that does not match the character string such as “World Bigness Satellite” and “WBS” is used. Different notations are sometimes used, as seen when using abbreviated expressions such as “Sonata” and “Natsu Sona”. Therefore, in the character string search, if the character string input by the viewer is as described in the program attribute, it can be searched, but otherwise it becomes difficult to search and view the target program, and further, recording reservation cannot be made There was a problem such as. Here, similar expressions and abbreviated expressions having the same meaning are called synonyms. For such problems, even if there is a slight difference between the character string input by the viewer and the expression described in the program attribute, the viewer can search for the desired program using synonyms. The technique to do is proposed conventionally.

  As one of such prior arts, there is a system that uses a character string created by character string editing means such as deleting or copying a blank / constant character string from a character string (for example, Patent Document 1). As another conventional technique, there is a system that prepares a dictionary database that stores character strings and synonyms of the character strings and searches using both of them (for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2000-295538 A JP 2001-337980 A

  However, in the first prior art described above (for example, Patent Document 1), in order to match the character string input by the viewer, for example, “Summer Sonata”, “Summer Sona” described in the program information, Mechanical character string editing means such as deleting or copying certain character strings must be provided to generate character string candidates. In other words, this method generates unnecessary candidates such as “summer sonata”, “no sonata”, “summer son”, “summer sonata”, etc., in order to make “summer sonata” correspond to “summer sonata”. The problem arises that it must be held. In addition, when a viewer enters a character string, for example, “World Bigness Satellite”, the description of the program information is a synonym that does not match the character string such as “WBS”. There arises a problem that recording reservation cannot be made.

  And as a technique for solving the above-mentioned problems, as in the second prior art described above (for example, Patent Document 2), a set of synonyms can be created in advance, and search / viewing / recording reservation can be made. A method has been proposed. However, even with such a technique, there is a problem that means for efficiently creating a set of synonyms is not prepared. That is, in order to make expressions such as “WBS” for “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sona” for “Summer Sonata”, a dictionary database is constructed, and a word and its synonyms are Although stored in pairs, a simple method for creating synonym character strings has not been proposed, and the operator must create them individually. For example, when a character string is a person's name, an operator inputs prominent names such as nicknames one by one, and there is a problem that it takes a lot of time and cost to construct such a database.

  For this reason, the present invention improves the inconveniences of the above conventional example, and in particular, creates a synonym set of information related to the same program by an inconvenient method so that the program information can be used quickly and at low cost. The purpose is to accumulate in

Therefore, a program information device according to one aspect of the present invention is
A program information storage device configured by a computer for storing information about a program,
Computer
Program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing program attributes for each program, and synonymous information storage means for storing the same type of program attribute information among the program information of the same program. With
The program attribute information of each program is read from the program information storage means, the same program specifying means for specifying the same program based on the program attribute information, and the same type of program attribute information among the specified program information of the same program Synonymous information extracting means for extracting and synonymous information storing means for associating each extracted program attribute information as synonymous information and storing it in the synonymous information storage means.

At this time, the program attribute information consists of character strings,
The synonym information extraction means extracts a character string of the same type of program attribute information from the program information of the program specified as the same program as a set of synonyms,
The synonym information storage means stores the synonym pairs of the program attribute information extracted by the synonym information extraction means in the synonym information storage means.

The program attribute information includes at least broadcast station information and broadcast time information of the program,
The same program specifying means specifies the same program based on information of broadcast station information and broadcast time information.

  According to the above invention, first, various program information is stored in the program information storage means in the computer, and the program attribute information is read from the program information. And it is judged based on program attribute information whether each program information is the thing of the same program. For example, if the program attribute information of each program includes a broadcast station and a broadcast time, the same program information can be specified with high accuracy by making a determination based on whether or not they match. . Subsequently, the program attribute information in each program information determined to be the same program is extracted in association with the synonym information, and is associated and stored in the synonym information storage means. For example, when the program attribute information is represented by a character string, the character string is stored as a set of synonyms. Here, the set of synonyms refers to at least two or more synonyms. As a result, even if the program attribute information of the same program is provided in a different display, the same type of program attribute information is stored in association with each other as synonymous information. Therefore, information representing the same content can be easily created as synonymous information, and the search efficiency can be improved when searching for this information.

  Further, the same program specifying means is used by the same program candidate specifying means for specifying candidates for the same program based on the program attribute information, and the same program candidate specifying means among the program attribute information of each program specified as these candidates. The same program determining means for determining whether or not the same program candidate is the same based on the other program attribute information different from the program attribute information.

  For example, the same program specifying information is based on the same program candidate specifying means for specifying the same program candidate based on the broadcast station information and the broadcast time information, and other program attribute information different from the broadcast station information and the broadcast time information. And the same program determining means for determining whether or not the same program candidate is the same.

  Thereby, since determination of the same program is performed easily and accurately, a set of synonyms of the same program can be appropriately stored.

The program attribute information includes information representing the program name,
The synonym information extraction means, when the extracted program attribute information of the same type is a program name, shows program name subcategory attribute information indicating the broadcast repeat status of the program based on the program name and other program attribute information Program name subcategory attribute information assigning means for assigning to a set of synonyms for each program name, and synonym deleting means for deleting synonym sets having different program name subcategory attribute information provided It is a feature.

  Thereby, it is possible to eliminate the accumulation of the series name added to the synonym as the program name, the title of each time, and the like, and the program information can be appropriately registered.

Also, the computer
A partial character string synonym storage means for storing a character string of the other part excluding a character string partially matching in the set of synonyms as a partial character string synonym;
A partial character string synonym extracting means for extracting as a set of partial character string synonyms in a character string of a set of synonyms stored in the synonym information storage means;
And a partial character string synonym accumulating unit for accumulating the extracted partial character string synonym set in the partial character string synonym storage unit.

  Thereby, since various expressions by the character strings of other parts except for the partially matching character strings are registered as synonyms, the storage efficiency can be increased and the search efficiency can be improved.

  The computer further includes program information acquisition means for acquiring the program information from a program information providing server for providing program information connected to the computer via a network and storing the program information in the program information storage means. It is said. As a result, the latest program information can be acquired from various providers, and the accumulated program information can be enhanced.

Also, the computer
A search request receiving means for receiving an input of a search character string for searching for program information;
Synonym search means for searching whether or not a synonym corresponding to the accepted search character string is stored in the synonym information storage means;
And a program specifying unit for searching for information in the program information storage unit based on the searched synonym and specifying the program.

  At this time, the synonym search means is characterized in that it searches for synonyms that match at least a part of the search character string. Further, the program specifying means specifies a program based on the synonym searched by the synonym search means and the search character string.

  Thus, when a search character string is input to search for a program to the computer, the program is searched using not only the search character string but also the stored synonym information. The search hit rate can be improved.

  The program specifying means includes synonym use presence / absence inquiry means for inquiring whether or not the synonym searched by the synonym search means is used when specifying the program by the program specifying means. When a response to use a synonym is received, the program is searched using the synonym.

At this time, the synonym use inquiry means displays the synonym searched by the synonym search means so as to be selectable and inquires,
The program specifying means searches for the program using the synonym selected in response to the inquiry by the synonym use inquiry means.

  As a result, it is possible to search for programs using synonyms according to the wishes of the searcher, and further, it is possible to search for programs using specific selected synonyms. Convenience can be improved. In addition, this makes it possible to reduce the number of search words, reduce the load on the computer, and speed up the search process.

Also, the computer
A search request receiving means for receiving an input of a search character string for searching for program information;
A partial synonym search means for searching whether or not a partial character string synonym corresponding to a part of the received search character string is stored in the partial character string synonym information storage means;
A concatenated character string generating means for generating a concatenated character string by concatenating the retrieved partial character string synonym and the remaining character string excluding the portion used for the search of the partial character string synonym in the search character string; ,
And a program specifying means for searching for information in the program information storage means using the generated concatenated character string to specify a program.

  At this time, the program specifying means specifies a program based on the concatenated character string and the search character string.

  Thereby, program information can be searched using a partial synonym as a search key, and the search efficiency can be further improved.

  In addition, the computer includes a recording unit that reads program information of the program specified by the program specifying unit from the program information storage unit and records the program based on the program information.

Further, the search request accepting means accepts a search character string transmitted from another computer connected via the network,
The computer includes program information output means for transmitting the specified program information to another computer.

  At this time, the program information output means transmits the program information to another computer so as to be used for recording the program by the other computer.

  As a result, the program information searched as described above can be used for specifying the program at the time of recording, and convenience can be improved.

In addition, a program information storage method according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
A method of storing information about a program using a computer,
Program attribute information of each program is read from program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing the attribute of the program as a character string for each program, and the same program is specified based on the program attribute information A synonym information extraction step of extracting a character string of the same type of program attribute information from the program information of the identified same program as a set of synonyms, and a synonym of the extracted program attribute information And a synonym information accumulating step for accumulating the set in the synonym information storage means.

Furthermore, the program which is the other form of this invention is:
In a computer that stores information about programs,
Program attribute information of each program is read from program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing the attribute of the program as a character string for each program, and the same program is specified based on the program attribute information Synonymous information extracting means for extracting a character string of the same type of program attribute information from the specified program information of the same program as a set of synonyms, and a synonym of the extracted program attribute information A program information storage program for realizing synonym information storage means for storing a set in the synonym information storage means.

  Even the program information storage method and program information storage program configured as described above operate in the same manner as the system described above, and therefore, the object of the invention can be achieved.

  Since the present invention is configured and functions as described above, according to this, it is possible to easily create and store information representing the same contents as synonymous information, thereby speeding up database creation and reducing costs. It has an unprecedented excellent effect that it can be achieved. Further, it is possible to improve the search efficiency when searching for this.

  In the present invention, among program information, attribute information may be converted into data in various forms and provided together with a program table. Among these, the same content is stored as a set of synonyms. , Has a feature. Hereinafter, a specific configuration will be described in each embodiment.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing the configuration of the present invention. 3 to 4 are diagrams showing data used in the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation.

[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the present invention. As shown in this figure, the program information storage apparatus according to the present invention is configured by a program information storage server 1 which is a computer, and via a network N, a user terminal 2, a broadcast station server 3, and further a provider server. 4 or the like. The user terminal 2 is a terminal that requests the program information storage server 1 to search for stored program information, as will be described later in another embodiment. The broadcast station server 3 and the provider server 4 are program information providing servers that provide program information to be described later in various modes. This configuration is basically the same in the other embodiments.

  However, as shown in Example 9 described later, the user terminal 2 may be provided with the function of the program storage server 1. In such a case, as will be described in detail later, the user terminal 2 is composed of various recorders such as a hard disk recorder having a program recording function, and has a function of storing program information and the like that the program storage server 1 has. It is configured.

  The program information storage server 1 in this embodiment is a general server computer provided with the arithmetic device 1A and the storage device 1B. The program information storage program is incorporated in the arithmetic device 1A, and will be described below. Each processing unit is constructed. In addition, each storage unit that stores various information is formed in the storage device 1B. A specific configuration of the program information storage server 1 will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG.

  First, in the storage device 1B, a program information storage unit 106 (program information storage means) that stores program information including program attribute information representing program attributes for each program, and the same type of program information of the same program. A synonym storage unit 107 (synonym information storage means) in which program attribute information is stored is formed. The arithmetic device 1A also includes a program information acquisition processing unit 101 (program information acquisition means) that acquires program information from the broadcast station server 3 and the provider server 4 connected via the network N and stores them in the program information storage unit 106. ), An attribute information extraction processing unit 102 that reads program attribute information of each program from the program information storage unit 106, and an identical program identification processing unit 103 that identifies the same program based on the read program attribute information (the attribute information described above) A synonym extraction processing unit 104 (synonymous information extracting unit) that extracts the same type of program attribute information from the program information of the identified same program, and the extracted processing unit 102. A synonym storage processing unit 105 (synonym information storage means) that associates each program attribute information as synonym information and stores it in the synonym information storage unit 107. That. Hereinafter, the processing units 101 to 105 will be described in detail.

  First, the program information acquisition processing unit 101 obtains a plurality of program information from an arbitrary information source such as the broadcasting station server 3 or the Internet service provider server 4 connected via the network N, or from one information source. The program information storage unit 106 has a function of acquiring a plurality of pieces of program information of different versions distributed in different time zones. Here, an example of the program information is shown in FIGS. As shown in this figure, the program information is in the form of a program table including program attribute information which is broadcast station information and broadcast time information of each program. Here, “program attribute information” means individual information about a program such as program name, program date and time, broadcast station, genre, broadcast form, performer, program description, program related information, in addition to broadcast station information. including. A program table that is a list of the program attribute information is referred to as program information, and the program attribute information represented for each program is also referred to as program information of each program. 3 to 4 are program tables for different days, which are obtained from different servers. Therefore, even in the same program, the display of program attribute information such as the program name is slightly different.

  The attribute information extraction processing unit 102 extracts program attribute information in the program information stored in the program information storage unit 106, for example, broadcast date information and broadcast station information. Here, the program attribute information extraction method may be arbitrary. For example, when extracting from EPG, program attribute information is extracted using the standard information. Alternatively, the program attribute information may be extracted using the characteristics of the tabular table. Furthermore, if it is text information, morphological analysis may be performed, and for example, program attributes x, y, and z may be extracted from a pattern such as “program name x (every day of the week, being broadcast on broadcast station z)”.

  Then, the attribute information extraction processing unit 102 specifically extracts program attribute information of broadcast station information and broadcast date information. At this time, in this embodiment, since the program attribute information is displayed as a character string for each program as shown in FIGS. 3 to 4, for example, the program attribute information is analyzed by performing morphological analysis. Perform extraction.

  The same program identification processing unit 103 identifies the same program from the extraction result of the program attribute information. Specifically, programs having the same broadcast station information and broadcast date and time information as program attribute information are specified as the same program. Then, the synonym extraction processing unit 104 is notified of the same program.

  The synonym extraction processing unit 104 extracts character strings that are program attribute information of the same program as a set of synonyms. Here, the internal structure of the character string that is the value of the program attribute information is analyzed, and the partial character strings of the character string may be set as synonyms. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is determined that the broadcast date and time is 22:00 to 23:00 on August 12, 20xx, and the program attribute information of broadcast station A has the same content, and the same type of program content For example, the program name is extracted as a set of synonyms having different notations. For example, “WBS” is extracted from program information 1, “World Bigness Satellite” is extracted from program information 2, and “WBS” is extracted from program information 3. At this time, since the extraction results from the program information 2 and the program information 3 are both “WBS” and the same notation, the notation “WBS” is merged into one. As a result, “World Bigness Satellite” and “WBS” are extracted as a set of synonyms. At this time, the method for extracting the same type of program attribute information is, for example, that the type information is included in the program attribute information in advance, and the same type is extracted based on this, or the program attribute in one program The information is specified based on a predetermined standard based on the order of information notation and the notation format. However, the method is arbitrary. Then, the synonym accumulation processing unit 105 is notified of the result extracted as a set of synonyms.

  The synonym accumulation processing unit 105 sets the specified synonym pair, for example, “world bigness satellite” and “WBS” into a synonym storage unit 107 as a character string and its synonym character string. Store. At this time, even if there are three or more synonyms, the character strings of the three or more words are stored in the synonym storage unit 107 as a set.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the above-described program information storage server 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the program information acquisition processing unit 101 periodically acquires a plurality of program information from arbitrary information sources such as the broadcast station server 3 and the Internet service provider server 4, or at different times from one information source. The plurality of pieces of program information are acquired by obtaining a plurality of pieces of program information of different versions distributed to the belt (step S1). The acquired program information is stored in the program information storage unit 106 (step S2).

  Subsequently, the attribute information extraction processing unit 102 reads out the program information from the program information storage unit 106, and extracts program attribute information such as broadcast station information and broadcast date / time information from the program information, for example, by performing morphological analysis. (Step S3). Then, a search is made for a program that matches the broadcast station information and the broadcast date and time information (step S4). If there is a match (Yes in step S5), these are specified as the same program (step S6).

  Subsequently, the character strings that are the values of the program attribute information of the same program are extracted as a set of synonyms (steps S7 and S8). Specifically, the same type of information in the program attribute information is specified as a set of synonyms, and for example, the program name is extracted as a set of synonyms having different notations. In the example of FIG. 3, “WBS” is extracted from the program information 1, “World Bigness Satellite” is extracted from the program information 2, and “WBS” is extracted from the program information 3. At this time, since the extraction results from the program information 2 and the program information 3 are both “WBS” and the same notation, the notation “WBS” is merged into one. As a result, “World Bigness Satellite” and “WBS” are extracted as a set of synonyms. Further, the specified synonym pair “world bigness satellite” and “WBS” are stored in the synonym storage unit 107 as a pair such as a character string and its synonym character string (step S9). Similarly, it is determined that the broadcast date and time is 23:00 to 24:00 on August 12, 20xx, and the program attributes of broadcast station A are the same, and the same type of program attributes, for example, the program name “ “Summer Sonata” and “Summer Sona” are stored in the synonym storage unit 107 as a set of synonyms.

  In this way, the program information storage server 1 can automatically store the same contents of the same program as synonyms in the database based on the characteristics of the program information. Therefore, it is possible to quickly and inexpensively create a database with various expression formats of program information.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation.

[Constitution]
The program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that described in the first embodiment, but the configuration of the same program identification processing unit 103 is different. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the same program specification processing unit 103 in the present embodiment includes a candidate specification processing unit 111 (same program candidate specifying means) that specifies candidates for the same program based on the program attribute information, and these candidates. Whether the programs that are candidates for the same program based on other program attribute information different from the program attribute information used in the candidate specification processing unit 111 among the program attribute information of each program specified as And the same program determination processing unit 112 (same program determination means).

  Specifically, similar to the first embodiment, the candidate identification processing unit 111 identifies candidates for the same program based on broadcast station information and broadcast time information that are program attribute information. That is, a program having the same broadcast time is identified as a candidate for the same program for the time being.

  Further, the same program determination processing unit 112 first calculates the degree of identity (certainty factor) of the same program specified as a candidate using other program attribute information different from the broadcast station information and the broadcast time information. This calculation method may be arbitrary, for example, calculating the time length from the start to the end of the broadcast time, calculating the match of feature words obtained from the program name and other program related information, calculating the match of the genre name, This is done by calculating similarity using program attributes, such as calculating the match of performers. When the calculated degree of identity is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the same program candidate is the same program. A specific determination method will be described in the following operation description.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the same program identification processing unit 103 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Since the operation of the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  First, the same program candidate is extracted based on the broadcast station information and broadcast date information extracted by the attribute information extraction processing unit 102 (step S11). Subsequently, the degree of identity between the same program candidates is calculated using program attribute information other than the broadcast station information and the broadcast date and time information (step S12). For example, in the case of program information as shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 4, such information is analyzed by morphological analysis, etc., and the program name, program date and time, genre, performer, program description, program related information, etc. What kind of program attribute information is specified. For example, the part highlighted in bold or with brackets is the program name, the explanation of the program broadcast form such as a sub-audio with bilingual broadcast at the beginning, the genre such as drama or news, the performer, etc. Identify information. As a result, program attribute information such as a description of a program broadcast form such as a bilingual broadcast with sub-audio, a genre such as a drama or news, and a performer is obtained. For example, when comparing the program information 1 and the program information 2 in FIG. 3, in the program information 1, the program attribute of August 12, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 shows that the broadcast form is bilingual and the genre is news ( N) The program name is WBS, the program description is the gymnastic group final, and the performer is Ichiro Nihon. Similarly, in the program information 2, the program attribute of August 12, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 shows that the broadcasting form is bilingual broadcasting, the genre is news, the program name is World Bigness Satellite, and the program description is a gymnastic organization It is. Here, as a method of calculating the degree of identity, in the program description, (number of matched character strings / number of character strings in the description of both programs * 2) is a value, and other program attributes are 1 if they match, and 0 if they are different. And the sum is the same. Then, the degree of identity of the program on August 12, 20xx 22: 00 to 23:00 is broadcast form + genre + program name + program description + performer = 1 + 1 + 0 + 0.91 + 0 = 2.91. Here, if the predetermined threshold is 2.5, the degree of identity of the same program candidate is higher than the threshold (positive determination in step S13), so that it is determined as the same program (step S14). If the degree of identity is lower than the threshold, the same program candidate is discarded (step S15).

  In this way, the same program is identified and notified to the synonym extraction processing unit 104, and as described above, the character strings that are the values of the same type of program attribute are extracted as a set of synonyms, and the synonym storage unit 107 is accumulated.

  Thereby, since determination of the same program is performed easily and accurately, a set of synonyms of the same program can be appropriately stored.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation.

[Constitution]
The program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that described in the first embodiment, but the configuration of the synonym extraction processing unit 104 is different. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the synonym extraction processing unit 104 in this embodiment includes a synonym candidate extraction unit 121 that extracts the same type of program attribute information as synonym candidates, and the extracted synonym candidates are programs. A program name subcategory assigning unit that assigns program name subcategory attribute information indicating the repetition status of broadcast of the program based on the program name and other program attribute information to a set of synonyms for each program name 122 (program name subcategory attribute information assigning means) and a synonym deleting unit 123 (synonym deleting means) for deleting synonym sets having different program name subcategory attribute information. In this embodiment, it is assumed that program name information is included in the program attribute information.

  The program name subcategory assigning unit 122 first determines whether the extracted synonym pair is a synonym pair extracted from the program attribute information that is the program name. Thereafter, if the set of synonyms is extracted from the program name, the past synonyms are searched for a synonym set having a partially matching character string. Then, if there is a partially matching character string, the program name subcategory attribute, which is a broadcast repeat pattern, is assigned using the position in the character string of the program name and the broadcast date and time information. At this time, the program name subcategory attribute includes, for example, each title that is the name of the broadcast content broadcast only once, the program title that is the name of the program broadcast more than once, or more than the program title. There are three types: the series name, which is the name of the broadcast program series that lasts for a long period every week. A specific example of this assignment will be described when the operation is described.

  The synonym deletion unit 123 determines a synonym pair using the program name subcategory attribute, and deletes synonym sets having different program name subclassification attributes. On the other hand, a synonym pair having the same program title subcategory attribute is left as it is, is notified to the synonym storage processing unit 105, and is stored in the synonym storage unit 107.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the synonym extraction processing unit 104 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Since the operation of the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  First, the synonym candidate extraction unit 121 extracts program attribute information as synonym candidates from each program specified as the same program by the same program specification processing unit 103. For example, “Natsu Sona”, “Summer Sonata / Hope”, “Saturday Midnight Drama / Summer Sonata”, “Saturday Midnight Drama / Summer Sona ~ Hope”, “Saturday Midnight Drama”, and the broadcast date / time of 20xx August 5th 22:00 to 23:00 are extracted. Furthermore, character strings that are the same type of program attribute values from the same program, here the program name: “Summer Sonata” “Summer Sonata Hope” “Saturday Midnight Drama / Summer Sonata” “Saturday Midnight Drama / Summer Sonata-hope and “Saturday Midnight Drama” are set as synonyms (step S21).

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the synonym is a program name (step S22). At this time, if the synonym is extracted from the program name, a search is performed for a synonym pair registered in the past having a partially matching character string. Then, it is assumed that “Saturday Midnight Drama” “Saturday Midnight Drama / Ambulance” “March 6th, 20xx, 22:00 to 23:00 is retrieved. Here, the position “first half” in the character string of the program name of the partially matching character string “Saturday Midnight Drama” and the broadcast date and time information that the program is in the same time zone that lasts longer than the program title on every Saturday It is analyzed that the program name is easy to be included in the weekly program name. On the other hand, the partially matching character strings “Summer Sonata” and “Natsu Sona” are programs that are broadcast twice or more in the same time zone every Saturday and that the position is “middle” in the character string of the program name. Using the broadcast date and time information that there is, it is analyzed that it is a program title. Furthermore, “particularly matching” “hope” is the title of each time using the position “second half” in the character string of the program name and the broadcast date and time information that it appears only once in the same day and time zone. And analyze.

  Thus, by comparing with a synonym in the past and analyzing the program name (steps S23 and S24), the synonym set obtained from the program attribute of the program name includes a series name or a program title. Program title subcategory attributes for each title, for example, “Summer Sona” = (Summer Sonata: Program Title), “Summer Sonata / Hope” = (Summer Sonata: Program Title, Hope: Each Title), “Saturday Midnight “Drama / Summer Sonata” = (Saturday Midnight Drama: Series Name, Summer Sonata: Program Title), “Saturday Midnight Drama / Summer Sonata: Hope” = (Saturday Midnight Drama: Series Name, Summer Sonata: Program Title, Hope: Each time title), “Saturday Midnight Drama” = (Saturday Midnight Drama: Series Name) is given (step S25).

  Here, if the program title subcategory attribute is not taken into account, a pair of synonyms such as “summer sona” = “summer sonata / hope”, “summer sona” = “saturday midnight drama” will be created. From the word set, program names having the same program name subcategory attribute are set as synonyms, and program name synonym sets having different program name subcategory attributes are deleted (step S26). Therefore, “summer sonata / hope” = (summer sonata: program title, hope: title each time), such that the program name has a plurality of program subcategory attributes within the synonyms obtained from the program attributes of the program. Is included, for example, in creating a synonym pair with “Natsu Sona” = (Natsu Sona: program title), the same program name sub-classification attribute is used for each part using the program sub-classification attribute. "Summer Sonata" = "Summer Sona" as a synonym pair, and the other part of the program name, "Summer Sonata / Hope" = "Summer Sona" "=" Natsu Sona "is deleted from the synonym set.

  Then, the last remaining synonym set is notified to the synonym accumulation processing unit 105 and accumulated in the synonym storage unit 107.

  Thereby, it is possible to eliminate the accumulation of the series name added to the synonym as the program name, the title of each time, and the like, and the program information can be appropriately registered.

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation.

[Constitution]
Although not shown in FIG. 10, the program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that described in the first embodiment. Further, the configuration shown in FIG. 10 is provided. That is, partial character string synonym extraction is performed as a partial character string synonym set in a synonym set character string stored in the synonym information storage unit 107 by incorporating a predetermined program into the arithmetic device 1A. A processing unit 131 (partial character string synonym extraction means) and a partial character string synonym storage unit 133 (partial character string synonym storage means) formed in the storage device 1B with a set of the extracted partial character string synonyms A partial character string synonym storage processing unit 132 (partial character string synonym storage means) to be stored in Hereinafter, the processing units 131 and 133 will be described in detail.

  First, the partial character string synonym extraction processing unit 131 first extracts from the synonym storage unit 107 the synonym pair extracted by the above-described synonym extraction processing unit 104 (not shown in FIG. 10). Search for partial matches. Then, the remaining character strings excluding the matching partial character strings are extracted. For example, when there are character strings “abcde” and “abcfg” as synonyms, since the same character string “abc” is partially between them, the other parts “de” and “fg” Extract. However, the extraction method may be arbitrary. As a result, the obtained combination of “de” and “fg” is specified as a partial character string synonym and notified to the partial character string synonym storage unit 132. Then, the partial character string synonym storage unit 132 stores the set of partial character string synonyms in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 formed in the storage device 1B.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the program information storage server 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Since the operation from the program information until the synonym is stored in the synonym storage unit 107 is the same as that described above, the description thereof is omitted.

  First, the partial character string synonym extraction processing unit 131 extracts a set of synonyms extracted by the synonym extraction processing unit 104 (step S31), and extracts a character string having a partially matching character string from the pair of synonyms. (Step S32).

  If there is a set of synonyms that partially match (affirmative determination in step S32), character strings other than partial matches between character strings are extracted as partial character string synonyms (step S33). For example, if many pairs of program names such as “Athens Olympics” and “Athens Olympics” were created, except for the matching substring “Athens”, the remaining “Olympic Games” and “Olympic Games” You can create a set of strings. Here, a set of synonyms such as “Olympic” and “Olympic” is specified as a partial character string synonym (step S34), and stored in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 (step S35).

  Thereby, since various expressions by the character strings of other parts except for the partially matching character strings are registered as synonyms, the storage efficiency can be increased and the search efficiency can be improved.

  Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation.

[Constitution]
The program information storage server 1 in this embodiment has a function of searching for the stored information in addition to the function of storing the program information described above. Although not shown in FIG. 12, the configuration is almost the same as that of the information storage server 1 described in the above embodiments. That is, synonym information for program information has already been accumulated. In this embodiment, in particular, a function for realizing a search process in response to a search request for program information requested from the user terminal 2 via the network N is provided. However, the search request may be made directly to the program information storage server 1 and search processing for the search request may be executed.

  And in order to implement | achieve a search process, the search request reception process part 141 (accepting the input of the search character string which searches program information is incorporated in the arithmetic unit 1A of the program information storage server 1 by incorporating a predetermined program. Search request receiving means) and a synonym search processing unit 142 (synonym search means) for searching whether or not a synonym corresponding to the received search character string is stored in the synonym storage unit 107. A program identification processing unit 143 (program identification unit) that searches for information in the program information storage unit 106 based on the synonym and identifies the program, and a program information output processing unit 144 (the program identification output unit 144) that outputs the identified program information. Program information output means). The processing units 141 to 144 are not necessarily provided in the program information storage server 1 and may be constructed in another computer connected via the network N. Hereinafter, the function of each processing unit will be described in detail.

  The search request reception processing unit 141 receives a search request input by the user terminal 2, that is, a search character string. Then, the synonym search processing unit 142 is notified.

  The synonym search processing unit 142 searches the synonym storage unit 107 for a search character string accepted as a search request. If there is a search character string, a synonym that is synonymous with the search character string is acquired and notified to the program identification processing unit 143.

  In addition, the program identification processing unit 143 searches the program information storage unit 106 using the acquired synonym, and also searches using the search character string. Then, the program specified by the search request is specified, program information including broadcast station information and broadcast time information of this program is extracted from the program information storage unit 106 and notified to the program information output processing unit 144.

  The program information output processing unit 144 transmits the program information that is the extracted search result to the user terminal 2 that has requested the search. On the other hand, if the search cannot be made, information to that effect is transmitted. When a search request is input by operating the program information storage server 1, program information as a search result is displayed and output on the display unit of the server 1.

  Here, the synonym search processing unit 142 may search for synonyms whose search character strings completely match, or may search for synonyms where at least a part of the search character strings match. Further, the program identification processing unit 143 may identify a program using only the synonym searched by the synonym search processing unit 142.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the program information storage server 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. It is assumed that program information is already stored in the program information storage unit 106 and synonym information is already stored in the synonym information storage unit 107 as in the other embodiments described above. Specifically, it is assumed that the program information and synonym information shown in FIGS. 3 to 4 are accumulated.

  First, on August 26, 20xx, when a search request is transmitted from the user terminal 2 using “world bigness satellite” or “summer sonata” as a search character string, the search request reception processing unit 141 receives this search request. (Step S41). Then, the synonym search processing unit 142 searches the synonym storage unit 107 storing the synonym pairs for the search character strings “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sonata” and determines whether they exist. (Step S42). If there is a search character string of “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sonata” (Yes in step S43), the synonym character strings “WBS” and “Natsu Sona”, which are synonymous with the search character string, are found. "Is acquired (step S44).

  Subsequently, the program identification processing unit 143 searches the program information storage unit 106 for program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 using the acquired synonym character string (step S45). In the search character string, the program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 in the program information storage unit 106 are similarly searched (step S46). The program information search using the search character string is also performed when there is no synonym corresponding to the search character string in step S43 (determination is negative in step S43).

  Then, as described above, the program information is searched, the program corresponding to the search request is specified, and the program information of the program is read from the program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 in the program information storage unit 106. Extracted (step S47). For example, program information including program attribute information that is a broadcast station A broadcast program on August 12, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 and August 26, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 is extracted. Then, it is transmitted to the user terminal 2 by the program information output processing unit 144 (step S48).

  If only the search character string is searched, the search character strings “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sonata” are not included in the program attribute information on August 26, 20xx. The result of August 26, 20xx 22: 00 to 23:00 is not included in the search results. That is, in the present invention, as described above, since the set of “world bigness satellite” and “WBS”, “summer sonata” and “summer sonata” is stored in the synonym storage unit 107 in advance, 20xx year August 26 can also be included in the search results, and search omissions can be suppressed.

  Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a screen output by the program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment, and FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an operation by the program information storage server 1.

[Constitution]
The program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has substantially the same configuration as that described in the fifth embodiment and has an information search function. Therefore, the configuration is basically the same as that shown in FIG. However, the server 1 in the present embodiment further has a function of inquiring the user who has made the search request whether to specify the program information using the synonym corresponding to the search request.

  Therefore, first, the search request reception processing unit 141 according to the present embodiment has a function of causing the user terminal 2 to select whether to display a synonym corresponding to the search request. In addition, the program identification processing unit 143 has a function (synonym use presence / absence inquiry means) for inquiring whether or not to use the synonym searched in the synonym search processing unit 142 when specifying the program. In response to this inquiry, a function to search for a program using the synonym is received. Note that the function for inquiring whether or not a synonym is used transmits, for example, a screen as shown in FIG. Alternatively, when a search request is directly input to the program information search server 1, the screen of FIG. 14 is displayed on the display screen of the server 1. On this screen, the synonym searched by the synonym search processing unit 142 is displayed so that the user can select it. Then, when a synonym displayed on this screen is selected, the program specifying processing unit 143 has a function of searching for a program using the selected synonym.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the program information storage server 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. It is assumed that program information is already stored in the program information storage unit 106 and synonym information is already stored in the synonym information storage unit 107 as in the other embodiments described above. Specifically, it is assumed that the program information and synonym information shown in FIGS. 3 to 4 are accumulated.

  First, on August 26, 20xx, when a search request is transmitted from the user terminal 2 using “world bigness satellite” or “summer sonata” as a search character string, the search request reception processing unit 141 receives this search request. (Step S51). At this time, at the same time, the user is requested to select whether or not to display the synonym of the search character string, and the selection of whether or not to display is accepted (Step S52). (Yes in step S53), the synonym corresponding to the search character string is searched from the synonym storage unit 107 (step S54) On the other hand, if it is selected not to display the synonym (step S54) As described later, the program information is searched for using the search character string (step S62), for example, if the official program name is known, the search processing time can be shortened. It is valid.

  Subsequently (after an affirmative determination is made in step S53), the synonym search processing unit 142 stores the search character strings “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sonata” in the synonym storage unit 107 that stores a set of synonyms. To determine whether it exists (step S54). If there is a search character string of “World Bigness Satellite” and “Summer Sonata” (Yes in step S56), the synonym character strings “WBS” and “Summer Sonata”, which are synonymous with the search character string, are found. "Is acquired (step S57).

  And the specific process part 143 which acquired the synonym displays the acquired synonym character string "WBS" and "Natsu Sona" on the screen shown in FIG. 14, outputs it to the user terminal 2, and is synonymous with respect to a user. Notify that there is a candidate. Then, it is selected whether or not a search by synonyms is desired, and further, synonym candidates are also selected. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 14, the search character string “World Bigness Satellite” and the synonym candidates “WBS”, “World BS”, and “World Giant Satellite Relay” obtained by the above method are presented. It is an example of a screen that allows the user to select whether to search for program information using synonyms such as “Bigness Satellite” and “WBS”. When searching for a program using all synonyms, the user checks all the synonym candidates and presses the search button. As a result, the selected synonym is selected as a character string to be used when searching, and the fact is accepted from the user terminal 2 by the program identification processing unit 143 (Yes in steps S58 and S59).

  Then, the program identification processing unit 143 searches for program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 in the program information storage unit 106 with the selected synonym character string (step S60). In the search character string, the program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 in the program information storage unit 106 are similarly searched (step S62). As described above, the search of the program information by the search character string corresponds to the search character string in step S56 when the synonym display is not desired in step S53 (determination is negative in step S53). When there is no synonym (determination is negative in step S56) and a chest display without a synonym is transmitted to the user terminal 2 (step S61), it is further selected that the synonym is not used in step S59. (No determination in step S59) is also performed.

  Then, as described above, the program information is searched, the program corresponding to the search request is specified, and the program information of the program is read from the program information 1, program information 2, and program information 3 in the program information storage unit 106. Extracted (step S63). Thereafter, the extracted program information is transmitted to the user terminal 2 by the program information output processing unit 144 (step S64).

  Thereby, when the person who performs the search recognizes an official program name or the like, it is not necessary to perform a search by using a synonym, so that such a search can be avoided. In addition, since synonyms can be selected, it is possible to search using synonyms desired by the user. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a load on the computer and to speed up the search process.

  Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment, and FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation.

[Constitution]
Although not shown in FIG. 16, the program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that described in the fifth embodiment. That is, it has a function of searching for synonyms corresponding to the search character string and searching for program information using such synonyms. The present embodiment further has a function of searching for program information using the partial character string synonyms stored in the storage device 1B described in the fourth embodiment. Accordingly, at least the processing units described in the fourth and fifth embodiments are constructed in the arithmetic processing device 1A of the program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment, and the program information storage unit is included in the storage device 1B. 106, and a partial character string synonym storage unit 133 is formed. Of course, other functions described in the other embodiments may be provided.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 16, a predetermined program is incorporated in the arithmetic unit 1A of the program information storage server 1 in this embodiment so as to perform a search using a synonym of a partial character string. Search request reception processing unit 141 that receives an input of a search character string for searching for, and whether or not a partial character string synonym corresponding to a part of the received search character string is stored in partial character string synonym information storage unit 151 A partial synonym search processing unit 151 (partial synonym search means) for searching for or the remaining partial character synonyms and the remaining part excluding the portion used for searching the partial character string synonyms of the search character string A concatenated character string generation processing unit 152 (concatenated character string generation means) that generates a concatenated character string by concatenating with a character string, and searches for information in the program information storage unit 106 using the generated concatenated character string Special program And program identification processing section 143, a program information output processing unit 144 transmits the program information this particular user terminal 2, are constructed. Note that the search request processing unit 141, the program specifying processing unit 143, and the program information output processing unit 144 have substantially the same configuration as described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. Hereinafter, the functions of the partial synonym search processing unit 151 and the connected character string generation processing unit 152 will be described in particular.

  The partial synonym search processing unit 151 first expands the search character string in accordance with a set of partial character string synonyms stored in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133. That is, the search character string is divided into partial character strings. For example, if there is a search character string “abcde”, it is divided into partial character strings “de”. In addition, the division method into partial character strings is arbitrary. And the partial synonym search process part 151 searches whether the synonym corresponding to this partial character string is accumulate | stored in the partial character string synonym memory | storage part 133, and acquires a partial character string synonym. For example, when a set of partial character string synonyms such as “de” and “fg” is stored, a character string “fg” is searched as a partial character string synonym corresponding to “de”.

  The concatenated character string generation processing unit 152 concatenates the searched partial character string synonym “fg” and the character string “abc” of the remaining portion of the search character string. At this time, the partial character string synonym is matched with the position of the partial character string used for the search. That is, with respect to the original search character string “abcde”, the partial character string “de” used for the search of the partial character string synonym and the searched partial character string synonym “fg” are replaced, and the connected character The column “abcfg” is generated.

  Then, the program identification processing unit 143 uses the connected character string “abcfg” to search the program information storage unit 106 for program information corresponding thereto. At this time, the program may be searched based on the search character string “abcde”.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the program information storage server 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. At this time, although not shown in the flowchart, it is assumed that the search character string “Beijing Olympics” is input from the user terminal 2 and a search request is made. Then, although the synonym search is performed as in the fifth embodiment described above, the search character string “Beijing Olympics” cannot be searched in the synonym storage unit 107. The program name “Beijing Olympics” is stored in the program information storage unit 106, and “Olympic” and “Olympic” are stored in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 as a set of partial character string synonyms. Suppose that Therefore, the “Beijing Olympics” should be created from the “Beijing Olympics”.

  In the program information search server 1, the partial synonym search processing unit 151 first divides the search character string “Beijing Olympics” into partial character strings, and generates a partial character string “Olympic” by, for example, morphological analysis (step) S71). Subsequently, the generated partial character string “Olympic” is searched in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 (step S72). If a set of partial character string synonyms is searched in the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 (Yes in step S73), the partial character string synonym is a partial character string synonym corresponding to the partial character string “Olympic”. "Olympic" is acquired from the partial character string synonym storage unit 133 (step S74), and the search character string "Beijing Olympics", the partial character string "Olympic", and the partial character string synonym "Olympic" are connected characters. Notify the column generation processing unit 152.

  Subsequently, the concatenated character string generation processing unit 152 concatenates the partial character string synonym “Olympic” to the character string “Beijing” which is the remaining part of the search character string excluding the partial character string “Olympic”. At this time, the search character strings are linked according to the positions of “Beijing” and “Olympic” (step S75). That is, the concatenated character string “Beijing Olympics” is generated by substituting the partial character string synonym “Olympic” for the partial character string “Olympic” of the search character string “Beijing Olympics”.

  Thereafter, the program identification processing unit 143 searches the program information storage unit 106 using the concatenated character string (step S76), and extracts a program having the program name “Beijing Olympics” and its program attribute information (step S76). S77). Then, the program information output processing unit 144 outputs the search result to the user terminal 2 (step S78).

  Thereby, program information can be searched using a partial synonym as a search key, and the search efficiency can be further improved.

  Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 18 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the user terminal 2 in the present embodiment, and FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation thereof.

[Constitution]
Although not shown in FIG. 18, the program information storage server 1 in the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that described in the fifth, sixth, and seventh embodiments. That is, it has a function of outputting program information in response to a search request from the user terminal 2. The present embodiment is particularly characterized in that the user terminal 2 receiving such program information records a program using the program information. Hereinafter, the configuration of the user terminal 2 will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 18, a search request processing unit that transmits a search character string to the program information storage server 1 and makes a search request for program information by incorporating a predetermined program into the arithmetic device 2 </ b> A of the user terminal 2. 201, a program information acquisition processing unit 202 that acquires program information that is a search result in response to a search request, and based on this program information, in particular, broadcast station information and broadcast time information that are program attribute information in the program information. Based on this, a recording reservation processing unit 203 that performs recording reservation of a program, a recording processing unit 204 that performs recording in accordance with the recording reservation, and a reproduction processing unit 205 that reproduces the recorded video are constructed.

  In addition, the storage device 2B of the user terminal 2 acquires the searched program information, stores and saves the program information storage unit 206, and the recording reservation information storage unit 207 that stores the recording reservation information. And a recording information storage unit 208 in which video information is stored.

[Operation]
The operation of the user terminal 2 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the program information transmitted from the program information storage server 1 in response to the search request is acquired (step S81). Then, in particular, broadcast station information and broadcast date information are extracted from the program attribute information included in the acquired program information (step S82). Then, the program to be recorded is specified by this information, and the recording reservation of the program is performed (step S83). For example, when the program information that is a broadcast station A broadcast program on August 12, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 and August 26, 20xx 22:00:00 to 23:00 is acquired, The program is designated by the program attribute information included in the program "Broadcast station A broadcast on August 12, 20xx 22:00 to 23:00 and August 26, 20xx 22:00 to 23:00", and recording reservation information Generate and save.

  Thereafter, when the recording time comes, the user terminal 2 stores information such as video and audio of the program designated based on the recording reservation information until the end time (steps S84 and S85). Thereafter, when the user wishes to view a program to be recorded, by inputting a reproduction request to the user terminal 2 (Yes in step S86), the stored recorded program is stored in the user terminal 2. It is reproduced on the display screen (step S87).

  As a result, the program information searched as described above can be used for specifying the program at the time of recording, and convenience can be improved.

  Next, a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, the user terminal 2 having the recording function described in the eighth embodiment further includes the functions of the program information storage server 1 described in the respective embodiments. That is, the program information storage server 1 and the user terminal 2 are integrally configured. Specifically, the user terminal 2 itself stores program information and generates and stores synonyms and partial synonyms as in the program storage server 1 described above, and the search request input by the user is received. In response, a process for specifying a program corresponding to the search character string is executed. Thereby, the specified program is recorded.

  For example, the user terminal 2 includes various recorders such as a hard disk recorder and a DVD recorder having a program recording function. Therefore, the computer constituting the program storage server 1 and the user terminal 2 described above is not limited to a server computer or a personal computer, and includes various devices such as the above-described various recorders having an arithmetic device and a storage device. It may be.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a database device that stores program information such as television, radio, and Internet broadcast, and as a recorder that records the program itself, and has industrial applicability.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the program information storage server in Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the program information accumulate | stored in a program information storage server by this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the program information accumulate | stored in a program information storage server by this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the program information storage server in the first embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of structure of the program information storage server in Example 2. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the program information storage server in the second embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of structure of the program information storage server in Example 3. FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the program information storage server in the third embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of structure of the program information storage server in Example 4. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the program information storage server in the fourth embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of structure of the program information storage server in Example 5. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the program information storage server in the fifth embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen output from the program information storage server in Example 6. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement of the program information storage server in Example 6. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of structure of the program information storage server in Example 7. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement of the program information storage server in Example 7. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the user terminal in Example 8. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the user terminal in Example 8.

Explanation of symbols

1 Program information storage server (program information storage device)
2 User terminal 3 Broadcasting station server (program information providing server)
4 Provider server (program information providing server)
101 Program information acquisition processing unit (program information acquisition means)
102 attribute information extraction processing unit 103 same program specifying processing unit (same program specifying means)
104 Synonym extraction processing unit (synonym information extraction means)
105 Synonym storage processing unit (synonym information storage means)
106 Program information storage unit (program information storage means)
107 Synonym storage unit (synonym information storage means)
111 Candidate identification processing unit (same program candidate identification means)
112 Same program determination processing unit (same program determination means)
121 Synonym candidate extraction unit 122 Program name subcategory assigning unit (program name subcategory attribute information adding means)
123 Synonym deletion unit (Synonym deletion means)
131 Partial character string synonym extraction processing unit (partial character string synonym extraction means)
132 Partial character string synonym storage processing unit (partial character string synonym storage means)
133 Partial character string synonym storage unit (partial string synonym storage means)
141 Search request reception processing unit (search request reception means)
142 Synonym search processing unit (synonym search means)
143 Program identification processing unit (program identification means)
144 Program information output processing unit (program information output means)
151 Partial synonym search processing unit (partial synonym search means)
152 Concatenated character string generation processing unit (concatenated character string generation means)
201 Search Request Processing Unit 202 Program Information Acquisition Processing Unit 203 Recording Reservation Processing Unit 204 Recording Processing Unit 205 Playback Processing Unit 206 Program Information Storage Unit 207 Recording Reservation Information Storage Unit 208 Recording Information Storage Unit N Network

Claims (20)

A program information storage device configured by a computer for storing information about a program,
The computer is
Program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing the attribute of the program for each program; synonymous information storage means for storing the same type of the program attribute information among the program information of the same program; With
The program attribute information of each program is read from the program information storage means, the same program specifying means for specifying the same program based on the program attribute information, and the same type of the program information of the specified program Synonymous information extracting means for extracting program attribute information, and synonymous information storage means for associating each extracted program attribute information as synonymous information and storing it in the synonymous information storage means. Information storage device. The program attribute information consists of character strings,
The synonym information extracting means extracts a character string of the program attribute information of the same type from the program information of the program identified as the same program as a set of synonyms,
The synonym information storage means stores a set of synonyms of the program attribute information extracted by the synonym information extraction means in the synonym information storage means.
2. The program information storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The program attribute information includes at least broadcast station information and broadcast time information of the program,
3. The program information storage device according to claim 2, wherein the same program specifying means specifies the same program based on information of the broadcast station information and the broadcast time information.   The same program specifying means specifies the same program candidate specifying means for specifying candidates for the same program based on the program attribute information, and the same program candidate specifying means among the program attribute information for each program specified as these candidates. Same program determination means for determining whether or not the programs set as candidates for the same program are the same based on the other program attribute information different from the program attribute information used The program information storage device according to claim 2 or 3,   The same program specifying information is the same program candidate specifying means for specifying candidates for the same program based on the broadcasting station information and the broadcasting time information, and the other program attribute information different from the broadcasting station information and the broadcasting time information. 4. The program information storage device according to claim 3, further comprising: identical program determination means for determining whether or not the programs that are candidates for the same program are the same based on the program. The program attribute information includes information representing a program name,
The synonym information extracting means, when the extracted program attribute information of the same type is the program name, a program name representing the broadcast status of the program based on the program name and the other program attribute information Program name subcategory attribute information adding means for assigning subcategory attribute information to the set of synonyms for each program name, and synonym for deleting the synonym sets having different program name subcategory attribute information 6. The program information storage device according to claim 2, further comprising: a word deletion unit. The computer is
A partial character string synonym storage means for storing a character string of another part excluding a character string partially matching in the set of synonyms as a partial character string synonym;
A partial character string synonym extracting means for extracting as a set of partial character string synonyms in a character string of the set of synonyms stored in the synonym information storage means;
The partial character string synonym accumulating means for accumulating the extracted partial character string synonym set in the partial character string synonym storage means. 6. The program information storage device according to 6.   The computer includes program information acquisition means for acquiring the program information from a program information providing server for providing the program information connected to the computer via a network and storing the program information in the program information storage means. 8. The program information storage device according to claim 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. The computer is
Search request receiving means for receiving an input of a search character string for searching for the program information;
Synonym search means for searching whether or not the synonym corresponding to the received search character string is stored in the synonym information storage means;
A program specifying means for searching for information in the program information storage means and specifying a program based on the searched synonym, and further comprising: 7. The program information storage device according to 7 or 8.   The program information storage device according to claim 9, wherein the synonym search means searches for a synonym that matches at least a part of the search character string.   11. The program information storage apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the program specifying unit specifies a program based on the synonym searched by the synonym searching unit and the search character string.   The program specifying means includes synonym use presence / absence inquiry means for inquiring whether or not the synonym searched by the synonym search means is used when specifying the program by the program specifying means. 12. The program information storage device according to claim 9, wherein a program search is performed using the synonym when a response indicating that the synonym is used is received. The synonym usage inquiry means displays and inquires so that the synonym searched by the synonym search means can be selected,
15. The program information storage apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the program specifying means searches for a program using the synonym selected in response to the inquiry by the synonym use inquiry means. The computer is
Search request receiving means for receiving an input of a search character string for searching for the program information;
Partial synonym search means for searching whether or not the partial character string synonym corresponding to a part of the received search character string is stored in the partial character string synonym information storage means;
Concatenated character string generation that generates a concatenated character string by concatenating the searched partial character string synonym and the remaining character string excluding the portion used for searching for the partial character string synonym in the search character string Means,
8. The program information storage apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising program specifying means for searching for information in the program information storage means using the generated concatenated character string to specify a program.   15. The program information storage device according to claim 14, wherein the program specifying unit specifies a program based on the concatenated character string and the search character string. The computer is
12. A recording means for reading program information of the program specified by the program specifying means from the program information storage means and recording the program based on the program information. , 12, 13, 14 or 15 program information storage device. The search request receiving means receives the search character string transmitted from another computer connected via a network,
16. The computer according to claim 9, further comprising program information output means for transmitting program information specified by the program specifying means to the other computer. Or the program information storage device of 16.   18. The program information storage device according to claim 17, wherein the program information output means transmits the program information to the other computer so as to be used for recording the program by the other computer. A method of storing information about a program using a computer,
The program attribute information of each program is read from program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing the attribute of the program as a character string for each program, and the same program is specified based on the program attribute information A synonym information extracting step of extracting a character string of the same type of the program attribute information from the program information of the specified same program as a set of synonyms, and the extracted program attribute information And a synonym information accumulating step for accumulating a set of synonyms in the synonym information storage means. In a computer that stores information about programs,
The program attribute information of each program is read from program information storage means for storing program information including program attribute information representing the attribute of the program as a character string for each program, and the same program is specified based on the program attribute information The same program specifying means, synonymous information extracting means for extracting a character string of the same type of the program attribute information among the program information of the specified same program as a set of synonyms, and the extracted program attribute information A program information storage program for realizing synonym information storage means for storing a set of synonyms in the synonym information storage means.

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