JP2008011207A - Broadcast recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcast recording device preventing a user from forgetting to record video. <P>SOLUTION: The broadcast recording device includes a tuner unit which receives and demodulates a broadcast signal and outputs a plurality of broadcast contents, a recording unit which records the plurality of broadcast contents from the tuner unit, a control unit which performs control for setting from the plurality of broadcast contents automatic videorecording of a plurality of broadcast contents relating to the former plurality of broadcast contents independently of the broadcast contents that the recording unit records based upon external settings, and a reservation videorecording unit which videorecords the automatic-videorecording set broadcast contents in a temporary storage area of a storage unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast recording apparatus that records broadcast content, and more particularly to a broadcast recording apparatus that prevents a user from forgetting to record.

  Recently, with the widespread use of digital devices, so-called broadcast recording devices that receive and record broadcasts from hard disk recorders and the like are becoming more common, and it is easier to record more video information than in the case of recording and playback processing by conventional VTR (Video Tape Recorder). It has become possible to record and play back. In such a broadcast recording apparatus, reservation recording or the like can be performed by a simple operation, but on the other hand, it may not be sufficient to prevent a user from forgetting to record.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a recording apparatus in which, for such a situation, for example, when a specific program is reproduced, a setting for automatically recording the next program of the program is made. .

However, in the apparatus of Patent Document 1, even if information for recording the next program can be acquired by the apparatus for an already recorded program, another program is suddenly set for an unrecorded continuous program. In some cases, the next program cannot be recorded. There may still be situations where it is not enough to prevent the user from forgetting to record a program.
JP 2004-120408 A

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast recording apparatus that prevents a user from forgetting to record.

  The broadcast recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a tuner unit that receives a broadcast signal, demodulates the broadcast signal, and outputs a plurality of broadcast contents, a recording unit that records the plurality of broadcast contents from the tuner unit, and the plurality of the plurality of broadcast contents Separately from the broadcast content recorded by the recording unit based on an external setting for a plurality of broadcast contents related to the broadcast content from a plurality of broadcast contents based on one recording reservation information of the broadcast content A broadcast recording apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls to perform automatic recording setting; and a reserved recording unit that records the broadcast content with the automatic recording setting in a temporary storage area of the storage unit.

  According to the present invention, a broadcast recording device that prevents a user from forgetting to record can be obtained.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a broadcast recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As an example of the configuration, the broadcast recording apparatus 10 in FIG. 1 is a digital television having a recording function using a tuner or the like as a source. However, a hard disk recorder having a tuner and a recording function is also suitable.

  Therefore, in the description of the embodiment using FIG. 1 below, it will be described in detail as a digital television having a recording function, but the display 26 is separated from FIG. It can be interpreted as an explanation as a hard disk recorder.

  In FIG. 1, a broadcast recording apparatus 10 which is a digital television has two types of disk drives. A hard disk drive unit 18 that drives a hard disk H as a first medium, and an optical disk drive unit 19 that rotates and drives an optical disk D that is an information recording medium capable of constructing a video file as a second medium to read and write information. is doing. The control unit 30 is connected to each unit via the data bus B so as to control the entire operation. However, in the case of carrying out the present invention, the optical disc drive unit 19 is not necessarily required.

  Also, the broadcast recording apparatus 10 in FIG. 1 has as its main components an encoder section 21 that constitutes a recording side, an MPEG decoder section 23 that constitutes a playback side, and a control section 30 that controls the operation of the apparatus body. The broadcast recording apparatus 10 includes an input-side selector 16 and an output-side selector 17. The input-side selector 16 includes a communication unit 11 such as a LAN and a so-called satellite broadcast (BS / CS) digital / An analog tuner unit 12 and a so-called terrestrial digital / analog tuner unit 13 are connected to output a signal to the encoder unit 21. The BS / CS digital / analog tuner unit 12 is connected to a satellite antenna, and the terrestrial digital / analog tuner unit 13 is connected to a terrestrial antenna. The broadcast recording apparatus 10 also includes an encoder unit 21, a signal editing unit 20 that receives the output of the encoder unit 21 and performs desired data processing such as data editing, a hard disk drive unit 18 connected to the signal editing unit 20, and an optical disc A drive unit 19 is provided. Further, the broadcast recording apparatus 10 receives a signal from the hard disk drive unit 18 and the optical disc drive unit 19 and decodes the buffer unit 22 of the MPEG decoder unit 23, the multiplexing unit 28, the separation unit 29, the related content control unit 42, the reservation. A recording unit / program guide generation unit 56 is provided. Each of these units is connected to the control unit 30 via the data bus B. Further, the output of the selector 17 is supplied to the display 26 or supplied to the external device via the interface unit 27 that communicates with the external device.

  Furthermore, the broadcast recording apparatus 10 includes an operation unit 32 that is connected to the control unit 30 via the data bus B and receives a user operation or a remote control R operation. Here, the remote controller R is capable of almost the same operation as the operation unit 32 provided in the main body of the broadcast recording apparatus 10, and includes a recording / playback instruction, an editing instruction, an editing instruction of the hard disk drive unit 18 or the optical disk drive unit 19, Various settings such as operation of the tuner and setting of scheduled recording can be performed. FIG. 2 is an external view showing an example of the remote controller R in FIG. 1 for operating the broadcast recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a partial block diagram of the configuration of FIG. 1 of the broadcast recording apparatus. The details of the reserved recording unit / program table generating unit 56 are shown.
In the reserved recording unit / program table generating unit 56, there are a reserved program recording control unit 56a and a temporarily stored recording control unit 56b as large recording control units for realizing recording. The reserved recording unit / program table generating unit 56 has a function of preliminarily recording a recorded program by the reserved program recording control unit 56a and recording it on a recording medium, and a recording forgotten prevention executed by the temporary storage recording control unit 56b as will be described later. It has the function “Recording forgotten recording function”. Both the reserved program recording control unit 56a and the temporary storage recording control unit 56b refer to the timer. The reserved program recording control unit 56a is a control unit for realizing automatic recording of a reserved program with reference to recording reservation information created using the electronic program guide. On the other hand, the temporary storage recording control unit 56b is a control unit for realizing the temporary storage recording of the broadcast program by implementing the forget-to-record recording function.

  The temporary storage recording control unit 56b further includes a video output control unit 56b1 when the functional blocks are further classified. The video output control unit 56b1 controls the contents of the screen so that the user can easily recognize the current operation state according to the operation state and operation state of the apparatus. The recording operation control unit 56b2 is a control unit for realizing temporary storage recording when the forget-to-record recording function is instructed from the control unit 30. Further, the playback operation control unit 56b3 is a control unit for realizing chasing playback, fast forward playback, or skip playback when playing back temporarily recorded content.

  The reserved recording unit / program table generating unit 56 is provided with an operation input determining unit 56d. Naturally, the operation of the temporary storage recording control unit 56b is determined according to the determination result from the operation input determination unit 56d.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing operations and functions executed under the control of the temporary storage recording control unit 56b. First, a temporary storage recording area is secured (step Sa1). This temporary storage recording area is secured in the hard disk H, for example. The time for securing the temporary storage area may be when the user specifies the size of the temporary storage area interactively using the menu for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. It may be secured (step Sa1). Next, it is determined whether or not there has been a temporarily stored recording instruction from the control unit 30 (step Sa2). If there is a temporarily stored recording instruction, the process proceeds to a temporarily stored recording operation (step Sa3). Here, recording is performed sequentially from the beginning of the temporarily stored recording area, and when the temporarily stored recording area is filled, the recording is stopped. It is determined whether or not a predetermined time specified in advance has elapsed during the temporarily stored recording (step Sa4). When the predetermined time has elapsed, a temporary storage recording stop process is performed (step Sa5). The predetermined time designated in advance is a time required for recording a program to be subjected to the forget-to-record recording function by the method described below.

First, an operation during a general recording process will be described. As an input side of the broadcast recording apparatus 10, a communication unit 11 such as a LAN is connected to an external device, and communicates with a program information providing server or the like via a communication path such as the Internet via a modem or the like. Download content, etc. The BS / CS digital / analog tuner unit 12 and the terrestrial digital / analog tuner unit 13 select a broadcast signal via an antenna, demodulate it, and input a video signal and an audio signal. Supports broadcast signals. For example, it covers terrestrial analog broadcasting, terrestrial digital broadcasting, BS analog broadcasting, BS digital broadcasting, CS digital broadcasting, and the like, but is not limited thereto. Also, it is not always necessary to provide only one. For example, there are two or more terrestrial broadcast tuner units and BS / CS tuner units, and they function in parallel according to a request for reservation recording. Including cases. The communication unit 11 may be an IEEE 1394 interface, and can receive digital content from an external device on the network. It is also possible to receive a luminance signal, a color difference signal, a video signal such as a composite, and an audio signal from an input end (not shown). These inputs are controlled by the selector 16 controlled by the control unit 30 and the like, and are selectively supplied to the encoder unit 21. The encoder unit 21 includes a video and audio analog-to-digital converter that digitizes an analog video signal and an analog audio signal input by the selector 16, a video encoder, and an audio encoder. Furthermore, a sub-picture encoder is also included. The output of the encoder unit 21 is converted into a predetermined compression format such as MPEG and supplied to the previous control unit 30. Further, the BS / CS analog / digital tuner 12 or the like is not necessarily built in, but is externally attached via a data input terminal, and the received digital signal is transmitted to the encoder unit 21 and the control unit via the selector unit 16. It is also suitable to supply 30.

  Here, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 sends information encoded by the encoder unit 21 (pack of video, audio, sub-picture data, etc.) and created management information via the control unit 30 to the hard disk drive unit 18 or the optical disk drive unit. 19 and can be recorded on the hard disk H or the optical disk D. Information recorded on the hard disk H or the optical disk D can also be recorded on the hard disk H via the optical disk D or the hard disk drive part 18 via the control unit 30 and the optical disk drive part 19.

  The signal editing unit 20 can also perform editing processing such as deleting a part of video objects of a plurality of programs recorded on the hard disk drive unit 18 or the optical disc D or connecting objects of different programs.

Next, the reservation recording process will be described. Based on the electronic program information acquired from the communication unit 11 or the tuners 12 and 13, the reservation recording unit / program guide generation unit 56 responds to the program specified by the user's operation of the remote controller R or the like. Thus, it is possible to perform recording reservation processing and display a program guide based on the acquired electronic program information on the screen. Further, based on the reserved reservation recording information, the BS / CS digital / analog tuner unit 12 or the terrestrial digital / analog tuner is reached at the reservation time by the operation of the control unit 30 and the reservation recording unit / program table generation unit 56. A video / audio signal obtained by demodulating the program information received by the unit 13 is recorded (reserved video recording) on the hard disk unit H, for example, through an encoding process by the encoder 21 or the like. The broadcast recording apparatus 10 of this embodiment has a comprehensive function as described above, and performs recording / reproduction processing by the optical disk D or the hard disk unit H for a plurality of sources.

Next, based on the above, a list display related to the forget-to-record recording function according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Here, the broadcast content list display function refers to whether there is a broadcast content related to the broadcast content to be reproduced from among the plurality of broadcast contents held for the broadcast content to be reproduced. When the broadcast content is the 5th drama, it is determined whether there is a broadcast content of another drama among the plurality of broadcast contents held, and if it exists, this related broadcast content Is displayed, and a user instruction is waited for.

  The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5, 7, and 8 showing the screen display and the flowchart of FIG. The broadcast recording apparatus 10 (which can also be considered as a hard disk recorder as described above), which is a digital television according to an embodiment of the present invention, is based on the electronic program information acquired from the communication unit 11 or the like. -The program guide generator 56 can automatically schedule and record a large amount of broadcast content, but the user may not be able to fully grasp which program will be recorded. .

  In this state, the user can operate the remote controller R and the operation unit 32 of FIG. 2 to record the broadcast content and to display the recording reservation content list as shown in FIG. The top line P5 shows a continuous drama that is normally broadcast once a week. In this figure, hatched lines indicate that the broadcast time is approaching, and that the check in the left column does not indicate that the recording reservation state is not present.

  It is assumed that a user has made a recording reservation for a certain program in advance. At this time, a check mark indicating that a reservation is actually made as a specified value is usually entered as a reservation state setting, but the check mark can be removed or added at or after that time. Reservation information such as the genre, title, day of the week, and time of the program content is stored in the non-volatile memory 59 of the reservation recording unit / program table generation unit 56. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the recording reservation state is set when the broadcast time of the stored content approaches (step S11 in FIG. 6). If the recording reservation state is determined, normal content recording is performed (step S12), and the related processing is terminated.

On the other hand, in the case of P5 in FIG. 5, it is determined that the recording reservation state is not established, and it is first determined whether resources necessary for recording can be secured (step S11a). In recent years, there are many devices equipped with a plurality of tuners, encoders, and the like. Even if recording is performed or prepared by a user with a set of resources, another set of resources is often used. If the designated recording implementation or preparation is prioritized and resources cannot be secured, the related processing is terminated. If resources can be secured, recording is performed using the forgotten area (step S13). Thereafter, when the user performs any operation, the user is notified (step S14), and the user is prompted to select reproduction or storage. Next, the content waiting for input of the user's reproduction or storage instruction is determined (step S15).

First, when there is no reproduction instruction, a storage instruction is further determined (step S16). If there is no save instruction, the contents in the forgetting area are erased (step S17), and the related processing is ended (step S12). If there is a saving instruction, the contents in the forgetting area are moved to a normal use area ( Step S18) Go to step S17.

On the other hand, if there is a reproduction instruction, reproduction of the content is started (step S19), and the process proceeds to step S17 after the stop or completion. Here, instead of going to step S17 according to the solid line arrow, the flow may go to step S16 as shown by a broken line arrow.

If the program reservation list is displayed, the reservation information of the broadcast contents stored in the non-volatile memory 59 of the reservation recording unit / program table generation unit 56 is acquired, and a display signal is generated based on the broadcast content reservation information. 24, a recording reservation content list as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display 26. This recording reservation content list only displays a part of broadcast content related to reservation on the screen, and the user cannot fully understand how much other broadcast content should be reserved.

  FIG. 7 shows an example in which a program list group is displayed instead of the program reservation list as shown in FIG. It is a display from the first time regarding the drama “North Villager (5th time)” (shaded portion) corresponding to P5 of FIG. “North Villager (1st)” to “North Villager (8th)” P1 to P8 are listed on the screen. Here, it is assumed that no reservation has been made for any number of times, and therefore no reservation is made for other subsequent times. Here, the criteria for determining the relevance between a certain broadcast content and other broadcast content. For example, “title”, “recording day”, “recording time”, and “recording channel” all match. It is suitable. However, some variations, such as being common to up to three of these, are equally suitable.

  On the other hand, FIG. 8 shows an example in which the first time (P1) is reserved by the user and the second time (P2) is approaching. The reservation recording unit / program guide generation unit 56 has made a reservation for the second time because the first time is reserved. After this, when the broadcast approaches from the third time to the final time, a reservation is made.

  In the above, the control unit 30 collaborates with the related content control unit 42 to identify the broadcast genre of the broadcast content, and recognizes that this is a “drama” that is a predetermined genre designated in advance. A specific genre such as “sports” may be additionally set by the user's operation using the remote controller R or the like. For example, even if a soccer program is rarely broadcast continuously at the same time every week, such as a program that falls into the drama genre, if the user often records a program that includes the word soccer in the title It may be the target of automatic recording. In this method, for example, in the “sports” genre, the user's recording frequency is integrated for each type of soccer, baseball, etc., and up to the top three types of frequency are automatically recorded. Regardless of the additional setting of the genre, the frequency may be taken through all genres, the frequency may be taken with respect to the genre, or a combination thereof may be possible.

  Here, the broadcast genre of the broadcast content is preferably management information automatically acquired from the electronic program information described above. The broadcast genre of the broadcast content is preferably at least “drama”, but is not necessarily limited to drama, and is preferably a continuous broadcast genre such as “animation”. However, it is also preferable to cancel the genre designation by a user operation.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart related to recording reservation. Once the user makes a recording reservation for the content, the device enters a recording reservation state for the content. Next, content information is transmitted and stored as described above.

In this way, if another program is suddenly set up, or if you happen to forget to return to the recording reservation state, you can go to a continuous program at home, for example, when the normal recording area available to the user is low. Forgetting to record can be prevented even in the case where the user takes an action of viewing at times and recording at other times and then viewing and erasing.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements according to different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

The block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the broadcast recording apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The external view which shows an example of the remote control device for similarly operating a broadcast recording device. The partial block diagram of the structure of FIG. 7 is a control-related flowchart of the temporary storage recording control unit 56b. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the list display of the broadcast content which the broadcast recording apparatus holds. The flowchart which shows an example of the list display process which a broadcast recording apparatus similarly performs. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the list display of the broadcast content which the broadcast recording apparatus similarly holds. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the list display of the broadcast content which the broadcast recording apparatus similarly holds. The recording reservation related flowchart.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Communication part, 12 ... BS / CS digital / analog tuner part, 13 ... Terrestrial digital / analog tuner part, 19 ... Optical disk drive part, 20 ... Signal edit part, 21 ... Encoder part, 22 ... Buffer part, 23 ... MPEG decoder unit, 24 ... audio video processing unit, 26 ... display, 27 ... I / F unit, 28 ... multiplexing unit, 29 ... demultiplexing unit, 30 ... control unit, 32 ... operation unit, 33 ... display unit, R ... Remote control unit 42... Related content control unit 56. Reservation recording unit / program table generation unit 57. ROM 58 58 RAM 59 Non-volatile memory.

Claims (6)

A tuner unit that receives a broadcast signal, demodulates it, and outputs broadcast content;
A recording unit for recording the broadcast content from the tuner unit;
A control unit for controlling automatic recording setting even if the recording reservation is not currently set for the subsequent broadcast content related to the broadcast content, based on past recording reservation information of the broadcast content;
A broadcast recording apparatus comprising: a scheduled recording unit that records the broadcast content for which the automatic recording setting has been set in a temporary storage area provided in the storage unit.   2. When recording reservation is currently set, recording in a normal recording area provided in a previous storage unit is prioritized over recording in the temporary storage area based on the recording reservation. The broadcast recording apparatus described.   Only when the control unit identifies that the content related to the recording reservation information is content of a specific broadcast genre, the recording unit sets an external setting for the broadcast content related to the broadcast content. 2. The broadcast recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control is performed so as to set automatic recording separately from the broadcast content to be recorded based on the content.   The control unit determines that the content demodulated by the tuner unit and the broadcast content set for automatic recording are the related content when the title, the recording day, the recording time, and the recording channel are common. The broadcast recording apparatus according to claim 1.   The broadcast recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether automatic recording setting is possible based on a recording frequency of a plurality of broadcast contents as the automatic recording setting method.   The broadcast recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether automatic recording setting is possible based on a recording frequency of a plurality of broadcast contents of the specific broadcast genre as the automatic recording setting method.

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