JP2006217364A - Digital broadcasting receiver and program reservation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow program reservation information of at least one of overlapping programs to be changed from EPG to make reservations for viewing or recording of the other program in the case that reserved time zones of programs overlap when making reservations for viewing or recording of the programs from EPG. <P>SOLUTION: A digital broadcasting receiver 10 includes a tuner/demodulation part 12 for receiving a TV broadcast signal, a transport decoder 14 for extracting EPG included in the received TV signal, a memory 15 for storing the extracted EPG, and a control part 17 for utilizing the EPG to make reservations for viewing or recording of programs. In the case that time zones of programs which the user utilize the EPG to make reservations for viewing or recording of partially overlap, the control part 17 changes program reservation information (a start time and/or an end time or the like) of at least one of the overlapping programs from the EPG to make reservations for viewing or recording of the other program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver and a program reservation method, and more particularly, to a digital broadcast receiver for reserving a program from an electronic program guide (EPG) sent as broadcast data, and the digital broadcast receiver. It relates to a program reservation method.

  When making a reservation for viewing or recording a program using the electronic program guide (EPG: Electric Program Guide) sent as broadcast data (hereinafter referred to as viewing reservation), In order to reserve viewing of another program with overlapping time zones, it is necessary to cancel the program that has already been reserved for viewing and then make a reservation for viewing another program. In addition, since the viewing reservation using the EPG is performed on a program basis, the viewing time of the program cannot be changed. For example, when the viewing time of the program reserved for viewing partially overlaps, It was not possible to view only non-overlapping parts. Furthermore, for programs for which electronic program information cannot be obtained when displaying an EPG, information such as the program name is not displayed on the EPG, and therefore program reservation such as viewing reservation or recording reservation is performed using the EPG. I could not.

Conventionally, there are programs that use EPG to reserve viewing or recording of programs that are not displayed on the EPG. For example, in Patent Document 1, in addition to an electronic program guide (EPG) sent as broadcast data, a user newly creates a provisional electronic program information by setting a reception channel and time, and an electronic program guide (EPG) ) Is displayed at the same time on the EPG, including the created provisional electronic program information, and a program can be reserved based on the created provisional electronic program information.
JP 2003-219331 A

  However, since the invention described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is not designed to reserve another program whose time zone overlaps with a program that has already been reserved for viewing or recording, it has already been reserved for viewing or recording. For example, if the time zone of a program that has been reserved for viewing or recording is partially overlapping, only the non-overlapping portion can be selectively viewed or It was not possible to record or to view or record the time zone of overlapping programs (for example, one for the first half 30 minutes and the other for the second half 30 minutes).

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and when a reservation time zone overlaps when a program viewing reservation or a recording reservation is made from an electronic program guide (EPG), at least the time zone overlaps. The program reservation information of one program can be changed from the EPG, and the purpose is to make it possible to make a reservation for viewing or recording of the other program.

  The present invention provides means for solving these problems, and constitutes the following technical means. In order to achieve the above object, a first technical means of the present invention provides an electronic program table in which a program that can be viewed or recorded is registered in a digital broadcast receiver having a receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal. An electronic program guide acquisition means for acquiring, and a program reservation means for making a viewing reservation or a recording reservation for a program from the acquired electronic program guide, wherein the program reservation means is at least one of the programs for which the viewing reservation or the recording reservation is made. The program reservation information of at least one of the programs having the same time zone is changed from the electronic program guide so that the viewing reservation or the recording reservation of the other program can be performed. It is a feature.

  According to a second technical means, in the first technical means, the program reservation information includes any one of a program viewing reservation or a recording reservation start time / end time, a program name, a channel, and a genre. The means is characterized in that the start time and / or end time of at least one of the programs with overlapping time zones can be specified for viewing reservation or recording reservation.

  A third technical means is characterized in that, in the first or second technical means, the program reservation means can designate the priority order of viewing or recording of the program having the overlapping time zone according to a user operation. It is a thing.

  According to a fourth technical means, in the third technical means, priority is set to genre data for each program acquired from the electronic program guide, and the program reservation means is a program having overlapping time zones. The priority of viewing or recording the video can be specified based on the genre data of the overlapping program.

  According to a fifth technical means, in the first technical means, the program reservation means displays at least a part of a time slot of a program reserved for viewing or recording from the electronic program guide in the electronic program guide. The program reservation information of the program reserved for viewing or recording from the electronic program guide is changed from the electronic program guide and is not displayed in the electronic program guide when it overlaps with the time zone of a program of a broadcasting station that does not exist It is characterized in that it is possible to make a reservation for viewing or recording a program of a broadcasting station.

  A sixth technical means is the first technical means according to any one of the first to fifth technical means, wherein the program reservation means overlaps at least a part of time zones of programs for which viewing reservation or recording reservation is made from the electronic program guide. And a means for processing the electronic program guide so that a display form of a program determined to overlap is different from a display form of another program. Is.

  According to a seventh technical means, in a program reservation method for a digital broadcast receiver provided with a receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal, an electronic program guide in which a program that can be viewed or recorded is registered, and the acquisition When a program viewing reservation or recording reservation is made from the electronic program guide and at least a part of a time slot of the program making the viewing reservation or recording reservation overlaps, at least one program of the overlapping time slot And changing the program reservation information from the electronic program guide to make a viewing reservation or a recording reservation for the other program.

  According to an eighth technical means, in the seventh technical means, the program reservation information includes any one of a program viewing reservation or recording reservation start time / end time, a program name, a channel, and a genre. The start time and / or end time of at least one viewing reservation or recording reservation of the program that overlaps is designated.

  According to the present invention, when a reservation time zone overlaps when a program viewing reservation or recording reservation is made from an electronic program guide (EPG), the program reservation information of at least one of the overlapping program is changed from the EPG. Since the other program can be reserved for viewing or recording, it is possible to easily make a reservation for viewing or recording another program that overlaps at least a part of the time period with the program.

An example of an embodiment of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a digital broadcast receiver, and the digital broadcast receiver 10 is a BS / CS / terrestrial wave. An antenna 11 for receiving a television broadcast signal such as digital broadcast, a tuner / demodulation unit 12 for receiving a television broadcast signal from the antenna 11 and performing demodulation, and a RAM 13 for temporarily holding data , A transport decoder 14 that divides a television broadcast signal from the tuner / demodulator 12 into an audio signal, a video signal, and a data broadcast signal, and a DRAM that stores an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as EPG) included in the television broadcast signal Such as a memory 15, a light receiving unit 16 for receiving an operation signal from the remote controller 22, a control unit 17 including a CPU, and data temporarily. RAM 18 for holding the video signal, AV decoder 19 for decoding the AV signal (video signal / audio signal) from the transport decoder 14, and D / A conversion of the video signal and audio signal from the AV decoder 19 to display the display device And an OSD controller 21 for superimposing various menus, EPGs and the like on the video signal from the AV decoder 19 and displaying them on the display device 23.

  In FIG. 1, a television broadcast signal received by an antenna 11 is input to a tuner / demodulation unit 12. The tuner / demodulator 12 selects a predetermined network (BS digital broadcast, CS digital broadcast, terrestrial digital broadcast, etc.) and channel according to the instruction of the viewer, and the television broadcast signal is demodulated and error-corrected. , Input to the transport decoder 14. The transport decoder 14 is divided into an audio signal, a video signal, and a data signal.

  Further, in the AV decoder 19, the video signal / audio signal input from the transport decoder 14 is decoded and input to the encoder 20. In the encoder 20, the video signal from the AV decoder 19 is D / A converted, for example, an NTSC composite signal is generated, and the audio signal is D / A converted, for example, a right (R) sound analog signal and left (L) An analog signal of sound is generated and output to the display device 23. The display device 23 is a video display device such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display.

  The control unit 17 includes a CPU and a ROM (not shown), and is usually managed and controlled by a control signal sent from the light receiving unit 16 by a user operation from the remote controller 22 and a system control program stored in the ROM or the like. Controls the entire digital broadcast receiver 10 such as station processing. The control unit 17 controls program reservation processing using the EPG. The OSD controller 21 outputs the EPG stored in the memory 15 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 17 and performs a process of superimposing it on the video signal from the AV decoder 19. The memory 15 stores program reservation data used when making a reservation for viewing or recording a program. This program reservation data is input from the remote controller 22 by a user operation.

  When configured as described above, the digital broadcast receiver 10 of the present invention uses the EPG acquired from a television broadcast signal or the like, and when the reservation time zone overlaps when making a program viewing reservation or recording reservation, Program reservation information (for example, start / end time of program viewing reservation or recording reservation, program name, channel, genre, etc.) of at least one program whose time zone overlaps can be changed from the EPG, and at least the program concerned It is possible to make a reservation for viewing or recording of another program that overlaps some time zones. In the following description, a case where a program viewing reservation is made will be described as a representative example, but a recording reservation is also included.

  In FIG. 1, when setting a television broadcast viewing reservation, the EPG transmitted together with the broadcast data is separated and extracted by the transport decoder 14 and stored in the memory 15. An instruction is sent from the control unit 17 to the OSD controller 21 by an operation signal from the remote controller 22 or another dedicated input device, and the OSD controller 21 superimposes the EPG on the video data from the AV decoder 19, and this EPG is superimposed. The video data is output from the encode 20 to the display device 23.

  Next, the viewer selects the program to be reserved for viewing from the remote controller 22 while watching the EPG, and sets the program to be reserved for viewing. At this time, even if there are programs whose program broadcast times overlap, they are all stored in the memory 15 as program reservation data. At least a part of a plurality of programs that are detected by the control unit 17 and reserved for viewing because the viewing start time and end time, channels, and the like of the programs included in the program reservation data stored in the memory 15 are converted to EPG data. It can be determined whether or not the time zones of the two overlap. At this time, the display form of the corresponding program (for example, the color of the program display frame, the color in the display frame, the size of the display frame, the shape, etc.) is other so that the viewer can see the program that is reserved at a glance. The EPG may be processed and displayed differently from that of the program. The EPG processing is executed by the OSD controller 21.

  The control unit 17, the OSD controller 21, and the memory 15 in the digital broadcast receiver 10 correspond to the program reservation unit of the present invention. Further, the antenna 11 and the tuner / demodulator 12 correspond to the electronic program guide acquisition means of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the EPG is obtained from the television broadcast signal received by the antenna 11 and the tuner / demodulator 12, but the EPG may be obtained via a network such as the Internet. In this case, the digital broadcast receiver 10 includes communication means (not shown) for connecting to the network.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an EPG screen displayed by the digital broadcast receiver 10 shown in FIG. 1, in which 30 denotes an EPG. In the figure, the broadcast station name (A station, B station, C station,...) In the vertical direction, and the time zone (7: 0 to 8:00, 8:00 to 9 in this example) in the horizontal direction. : 2 hours of 0:00). In FIG. 2A, the viewer selects and registers a program to be reserved for viewing while viewing the EPG 30. For example, a case where news 31 is reserved in the time zone of 7:00 to 8:00 of station A (1 channel) and animation 32 is reserved in the time zone of 7:00 to 7:30 of station C (10 channels). Suppose. In this case, the time zone of 7: 00 to 7:30 will overlap.

  As described above, when the broadcast time zones of the program reservation data of the program registered using the EPG overlap, the priority order for deciding which of the programs is to be viewed with priority and the viewing time of each of the duplicate programs (That is, the viewing start time and / or end time) is input from the remote controller 22, and the program reservation data registered from the EPG 30 is changed. For example, animation 32 and news 31 are set in descending order of priority, and animation 32 is set to a time zone of 7: 00 to 7:30, and news 31 is set to a time zone of 7:30 to 8:00. (This setting order may be changed.) The changed program reservation data is stored in the memory 15, and the EPG 30 in which the program reservation data is changed is displayed on the screen. A screen example of the EPG 30 is shown in FIG. In this manner, the animation 32 is reserved for viewing in the time zone from 7:00:00 to 7:30, and the news 31 is reserved for viewing in the time zone from 7:30 to 8:00.

  Thereafter, the digital broadcast receiver 10 selects a program (animation 32) that is prioritized according to the priority order when the viewing reservation start time is reached, and displays the display device 23 in the set time zone (7: 0 to 7:30). When the viewing time zone of this priority viewing program ends or elapses, another program (news 31) that has been reserved twice is selected, and is displayed on the display device 23 until the viewing reservation end time (8:00). Display output. In this way, the viewer changes the program reservation information (for example, the start time and / or end time of the viewing reservation) of at least one program that has been reserved twice from the EPG and reserves the viewing of the other program. be able to.

  In the present embodiment, different programs can be viewed in the time zone from 7:00 to 7:30 and in the time zone from 7:30 to 8:00, but when the news 31 in the latter half is not viewed, The time zone may not be set for the news 31. In this case, viewing ends at 7:30 when the animation 32 ends.

  In this embodiment, only the viewing start time of the news 31 is changed (changed from 7:00 to 7:30), but the viewing time zone (viewing start time and / or end time) of both programs is changed. Also good. If the viewing time zones of the program reserved for overlapping overlap completely, the viewing time zones of both programs may be adjusted so that both programs can be partially viewed. Further, when it is desired to view only one of the programs, the program reservation data of the program that is not viewed can be deleted. In addition, the number of programs that can be reserved for duplicates only needs to be two or more. Even when three or more programs overlap, the time slot for viewing reservation can be changed similarly.

  As another embodiment for determining the priority order of viewing a program reserved for duplication, for example, a priority order may be given in advance to program type data (genre data) included in the EPG 30. The genre data is predetermined for each program to be provided, and is classified into news, sports, movies, animation, variety, drama, etc., and stored as program reservation data for each program. When viewing a program that has been reserved for overlap, it is possible to automatically determine a program to prioritize viewing according to the priority order of genre data. In the case of this embodiment, if the priority order of the animation 32 is set higher than that of the news 31, the animation 32 can be preferentially viewed. As another embodiment, a priority order may be given in advance to performer data (for example, ○ low) appearing in a program included in the EPG 30.

  Further, as another embodiment, at least a part of a time slot of a program reserved for viewing using EPG (for example, a digital broadcast program) is a program (for example, analog) of a broadcasting station that is not displayed (registered) in the EPG. When it overlaps with the time zone of (broadcast program), the program reservation data of the digital broadcast program may be changed from the EPG so that viewing reservation of the analog broadcast program can be performed. In the case of this embodiment, the digital broadcast receiver 10 has a function of receiving a broadcast program other than digital broadcast (such as an analog broadcast program), and stores program reservation data of the digital broadcast program displayed on the EPG. The program can be changed to program reservation data of an analog broadcast program. When the time slot of a program reserved for viewing or recording is completely the same for a digital broadcast program and an analog broadcast program, it is necessary to adjust the time slot of the reserved program by using the EPG. Therefore, it is possible to easily reserve viewing or recording of analog broadcast programs.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a program reservation method by the digital broadcast receiver 10 of the present invention. First, the digital broadcast receiver 10 displays an EPG, determines whether or not a program reservation setting has been made by the viewer (step S1), and determines that a program reservation setting has been made (in the case of YES) Reservation processing is executed (step S2). If it is determined in step S1 that the program reservation setting has not been made (in the case of NO), the reservation setting processing standby state is entered in step S1. Next, the digital broadcast receiver 10 detects a program duplicate reservation (step S3), and determines whether or not to confirm the duplicate reservation in accordance with an instruction from the viewer (step S4). If it is determined to confirm the duplicate reservation (in the case of YES), it is determined whether a reservation time is set (step S5). If it is determined in step S4 that confirmation of duplicate reservation is not to be performed (in the case of NO), the digital broadcast receiver 10 ignores the duplicate program and executes the reservation (step S7).

  Next, when it is determined in step S5 that the reserved time has been set by the viewer (in the case of YES), the digital broadcast receiver 10 sets the reserved time for each overlapping program (step S6). If it is determined in step S5 that the reservation time has not been set by the viewer (NO), the reservation is executed ignoring the duplicate program (step S8). Next, the digital broadcast receiver 10 determines whether or not the reservation has been decided by the viewer (step S9). If it is determined that the reservation has been decided (in the case of YES), the digital broadcast receiver 10 executes the program reservation after the change (step S10). ). If it is determined in step S9 that the reservation is not determined (NO), the reservation is executed while ignoring the duplicate program (step S11).

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of EPG displayed by the digital broadcast receiver shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the program reservation method by the digital broadcast receiver of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Digital broadcast receiver, 11 ... Antenna, 12 ... Tuner / demodulation part, 13, 18 ... RAM, 14 ... Transport decoder, 15 ... Memory, 16 ... Light-receiving part, 17 ... Control part, 19 ... AV decoder, 20 ... Encoder, 21 ... OSD controller, 22 ... Remote control, 23 ... Display device, 30 ... Electronic program guide (EPG), 31 ... News, 32 ... Animation.

Claims (8)

  In a digital broadcast receiver having a receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal, an electronic program guide acquiring means for acquiring an electronic program guide in which a program that can be viewed or recorded is registered, and a program can be obtained from the acquired electronic program guide. Program reservation means for making a reservation for viewing or recording, and when the time slot for at least a part of the program for making a reservation for viewing or recording overlaps, at least one of the time slots that overlap A digital broadcast receiver characterized in that the program reservation information of the other program is changed from the electronic program guide so that the other program can be reserved for viewing or recording.   2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program reservation information includes any one of a program viewing reservation or a recording reservation start time / end time, a program name, a channel, and a genre. A digital broadcast receiver characterized in that a start time and / or an end time of a reservation for viewing or recording for at least one program having the same time zone can be specified.   3. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program reservation means can designate the priority order of viewing or recording of the program having the overlapping time zone according to a user operation. Receiving machine.   4. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 3, wherein a priority is set for genre data for each program acquired from the electronic program guide, and the program reservation means is for viewing a program with overlapping time zones. Alternatively, a digital broadcast receiver characterized in that a recording priority order can be designated based on the genre data of the overlapping programs.   2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program reservation means is a broadcast in which at least a part of a time zone of a program reserved for viewing or recording from the electronic program guide is not displayed in the electronic program guide. Broadcast stations that are not displayed in the electronic program guide by changing the program reservation information of the program that is reserved for viewing or recording from the electronic program guide when it overlaps with the program time zone of the station. A digital broadcast receiver characterized in that reservation for viewing or recording of the program can be made.   6. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program reservation unit determines whether at least a part of time slots of programs for which viewing reservation or recording reservation is made from the electronic program guide overlap. And a means for processing the electronic program guide so that the display form of the program determined to overlap is different from the display form of other programs. Machine.   In a program reservation method of a digital broadcast receiver provided with a receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal, a step of acquiring an electronic program guide in which a program that can be viewed or recorded is registered, and a program is obtained from the acquired electronic program guide. When the viewing reservation or the recording reservation is overlapped with at least a part of the time slot of the viewing reservation or the recording reservation, the program reservation information of at least one of the overlapping programs A program reservation method comprising: changing from the table, and making a reservation for viewing or recording of the other program.   8. The program reservation method according to claim 7, wherein the program reservation information includes any one of program viewing reservation or recording reservation start time / end time, program name, channel, and genre, and the time zones overlap. A program reservation method characterized by designating a start time and / or an end time of at least one program viewing reservation or recording reservation.

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