JP3950894B2 - Receiver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus capable of receiving a program information superimposed on a television broadcast signal and displaying the program guide, for example, and in particular, displaying in a limited information display space of the program guide. The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus that has been improved to easily grasp the contents of a desired program from the information thus obtained.

  In recent years, in digital broadcasting using a communication satellite or the like, program information for displaying a program guide or the like on a screen of a receiving device such as a television receiver has been sent together with video information of the program. It was. This program information includes information on the title, detailed information, broadcast time, channel, program category (movie, sports, drama, etc.) of each program.

  On the other hand, a receiving device such as a television receiver that receives a television broadcast on which such program information is superimposed is based on the program information received together with the video information, and displays a list of broadcast statuses and schedules of a plurality of programs. By creating a program guide to display and displaying it on the screen, it is configured to provide the user with program guide information about what channel and what content will be broadcast from which time. ing. This program table is displayed on the screen in a table format based on the time axis and the axis of the broadcasting station or a list format for each program category, for example.

  When displaying the program guide on the screen of the receiving device, a certain character size is required due to the resolution and viewing distance of the display, and the information display area allocated for each program is limited. Therefore, the amount of information that can be displayed for each program is limited.

  By the way, when information such as the received program title is displayed on the screen, there is a program title for the program and a content title for the content depending on the program. For example, if the information regarding the title of a program is “Friday Road Show“ Paris Holiday ””, “Friday Road Show” corresponds to the program title, and “Paris Holiday” corresponds to the content title. When such title information is displayed in the information display area corresponding to the program in the program guide, only the program title is displayed as shown in the information display area 302 of FIG. 4, for example, due to the relationship between the display area and the display character size. (In this example, only the “Friday Road Show” section is displayed), or only a part of the program title and content title may be displayed. In this case, the viewer does not understand the contents of the program, and it is difficult to determine whether the program is a program desired by the viewer.

  Also, when the program table is displayed in the above table format or the like, it is difficult to recognize whether the program being displayed is currently being broadcast, or from now on or before the present time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a receiving apparatus capable of displaying a user-friendly program guide.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a receiving unit that receives program information including a first title that represents a program and a second title that represents program content, and a memory that stores a preset program category. And a program guide created using the second title without using the first title when creating a program guide using program information corresponding to the program category stored in the storage unit And a creation unit.

  The program information may be transmitted by being superimposed on a television broadcast, or may be transmitted via a network such as a communication line.

  According to such a configuration, since it is possible to extract and display information that makes it easy to specify the contents of a program, even if the information display area for each program in the program guide is small, useful program information can be viewed by viewers. Can be provided.

  As described above, the present invention can provide a receiving apparatus capable of displaying a user-friendly program guide.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention, where 101 is a signal input terminal, 102 is a signal separation unit, 103 is an image processing unit, 104 is an image reproduction unit, 105 is an image processing unit, and 106 is an image composition unit. 107 is a signal output terminal, 108 is an information processing unit, 109 is a data extraction unit, 110 is a data storage unit, 111 is a display data creation unit, 112 is a central processing unit, and 113 is an external control input unit.

Next, the operation will be described. First, a signal input terminal 101 receives a signal transmitted via a terrestrial broadcast received by an antenna (not shown), a satellite broadcast such as CS or BS, or a communication line. For example, the transmission signal is obtained by superimposing program information, which is data for creating a program guide, in the form of a digital signal in a vertical blanking period of a video signal constituting a video of a program. This program information includes broadcast date and time of each program, program title, and turn pairs category. The character information indicating the program title and the like is represented by a 2-byte character code defined by JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) used in personal computers, for example. For example, the character code representing the English letter “A” is “2341”, and the character code representing the hiragana “na” is “244A”. In addition, program category information is added to each program broadcast as an identification code indicating the type of “movie”, “news”, “drama”, etc. for each program, and the channel information and the like are the same. .

  The signal input to the signal input terminal 101 is supplied to the signal separation unit 102. The signal separation unit 102 separates and outputs image information including a video signal and data information including various program information from the input signal. The image information is output to the image processing unit 103, and the data information is output to the information processing unit 108. The image processing unit 103 processes, processes, and outputs the input image signal so that it can be displayed on the screen. For example, the image processing unit 103 includes an image reproduction unit 104 and an image processing unit 105, and reproduces the image information encoded by the image reproduction unit 104 into an original image. The reproduced image is input to the image processing unit 105, the image brightness, contrast, contour correction processing, image reduction and enlargement are performed, and the image is input to the image composition unit 106.

The information processing unit 108 creates and outputs image data of a program guide based on program information included in the data information separated by the signal separation unit 102. The information processing unit 108 includes, for example, a data extraction unit 109, a data storage unit 110, and a display data creation unit 111. The data extraction unit 109 extracts and decodes program information from the data information output from the signal separation unit 102 and outputs the program information to the data storage unit 110. The data storage unit 110 stores the input program information and outputs it to the display data creation unit 111 when creating image data of the program guide. The display data creation unit 111 creates and outputs image data of the program guide based on the program guide information output from the data storage unit 110. At this time, the display data creation unit refers to the character code dictionary stored in the memory 114 and converts the character code included in the program information into the corresponding character display data. The program table image data output from the display data creation unit 111 is input to the image composition unit 106.

  The data storage unit 110 classifies programs for each category regardless of the channel, or the form representing the broadcast time for each channel, with one axis being time and the other axis being a channel as published in newspapers and magazines. The program information is accumulated in the form of the category-specific program list. The display form of the program guide displayed on the screen is determined by this storage form. The program table displayed on the screen corresponding to the storage form representing the broadcast time for each channel has a display form as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 (hereinafter referred to as the first display form), for example, by category. In the program list storage form, for example, a display form as shown in FIG. 6 (hereinafter referred to as a second display form) is used.

  The information processing unit 108 also performs a process for extracting a specific character code from the program information stored in the data storage unit. This will be described later.

  The image composition unit 106 synthesizes the image signal output from the image processing unit 105 and the image data of the information program guide output from the display data creation unit 111 into one image and outputs the image. The output image is output from the signal output terminal 107 and displayed on the screen by a display unit (not shown).

  Here, the central processing unit 112 controls the image processing unit 103 and the information processing unit 108 in response to a command input from the external control input unit 113 such as a remote control operated by the viewer. For example, the image processing unit 103 is controlled for image display size and image quality correction. In addition, the information processing unit 108 performs control of program information accumulation, editing, search, and display type control or processing.

  When the command for displaying the program guide is received from, for example, the remote control 200 for the television receiver shown in FIG. 3, the display data creating unit 111 refers to the time information indicating the current time from the clock device 115 and is currently broadcasting. And the program after that is displayed on the screen according to a predetermined format such as the first display form or the second display form described above. This command is issued, for example, when the program guide button 201 of the remote controller 200 is pressed.

Here, due to the number of characters that can be displayed in the information display area for each program, not all information of the program title is displayed depending on the program, and usually, from the first character of the program title to the number of characters that can be displayed is displayed. Become. Moreover, it is conceivable that program guide information sent by broadcast radio waves or communication is sent in the same format as that already delivered to newspapers, magazines, etc., because of the efficiency of the program information distributor. In other words, as described above, there are two types of information representing the program title: the program title for the program and the content title for the content of the program. Only the program title or only a part of the content title is displayed in the area. In such a case, it becomes difficult to understand the contents of the program from the information displayed in the information display area. For example, if a title such as “Friday Western Theater” or “Friday Road Show” is added to the beginning of the title of a movie program, the information is displayed in the information display areas 301 and 302 as shown in FIG. Will be displayed as “Friday Western Theater“ Bac ”,“ Friday Road Show. ”This may result in viewers not knowing the title even though they want to know the title of the movie.

  Therefore, in the present invention, when program information is sent in the same format as that distributed in newspapers, magazines, etc., a portion where the content of the program appears concretely, that is, a content title is extracted and displayed. Thus, the contents of the program are more grasped. Since a content title is usually sandwiched between a pair of braces, in the present invention, a content title extraction process is performed by extracting a character code sandwiched between a pair of braces. This process will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In addition, since the above-described content title extraction process is effective for a program whose category is a movie, an example in which the category is a movie will be described. However, a set of categories other than movies is also described. Of course, there is information that exists between the brackets (for example, the title of the drama and the title “Life Story“ Reunion ”” enclosed in brackets). In the case of a movie program, the viewer may think that the title of the movie “Back Down” is more desirable than the information “Friday Western Theater”. It is difficult to recognize the contents of a program only with a title, and a title such as a drama is necessary information. Therefore, in the present invention, the information in the brackets is extracted and displayed only for a program whose category is a movie. Of course, if it is effective to extract the information in the brackets in categories other than movies, it is possible to do so.

  First, input of program information is started in step 120, and program information is accumulated in the data storage unit 111. When the program information storage operation for the data storage unit is completed, the process proceeds to step 121. In step 121, program information corresponding to a program whose category is a movie is selected from the program information stored in the data storage unit 111 by the display data creation unit 111. This process is performed by comparing an identifier representing a category added to each program with an identifier stored in advance in the memory 114, for example, and selecting matching program information. If the category is not a movie, the content title extraction process in step 122 is not performed, and the process proceeds to step 124 where the program information output process is performed.

  If the category is a movie, content title extraction processing is performed in step 122. It is assumed that the title information included in the program information at this time is “Friday Western Theater“ Back Town ””. In this case, since the content title is sandwiched between a pair of brackets (“”), a plurality of character codes included in the selected program information and characters corresponding to a pair of brackets stored in the memory 114, for example, By comparing the codes, that is, “2156” (corresponding to ““ ”) and“ 2157 ”(corresponding to“ “”), the extraction process of the content title can be performed. This extraction process is performed in the display data creation unit 111. The display data creation unit 111 compares the character code stored in the memory 114 sequentially for each character from the selected program information, and starts the character code extraction operation when it matches the character code “2156”. When the character code “2157” is matched, the extraction operation is terminated. In this way, it is possible to extract a character code corresponding to a content title sandwiched between a pair of braces, in this example, a character code corresponding to “Back Town”.

  In step 123, the character code extracted in this way is displayed in the information display area of the program in place of the display data originally displayed (“Friday Western Theater” in this example). Examples of this display are shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which the present invention is used in the first display form. In the conventional case, as shown in FIG. 4, the information display areas 301 and 302 corresponding to the movie program include program titles or program titles such as “Friday Western Theater“ Bat ”and“ Friday Road Show ”. Although only a part of the content title is displayed, by using the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the content titles, that is, “Back Town” and “Paris Holiday” are displayed in the information display areas 303 and 304. Will come to be. In this example, the brackets that are originally present in the program information are not displayed. Brackets may be displayed if there is some room in the information display area.

  FIG. 6 shows an example in which the present invention is used in the second display form. Similarly to the display example shown in FIG. 5, the content title is displayed on the information display unit 305 where the program title is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 6, since the content title, that is, the title of the movie itself has a large number of characters, it is not possible to display all of the characters, but it is possible to grasp a rough content as compared with the conventional title.

  3 is operated to move the cursor (black thick frame in FIGS. 4 to 6) to the information display area of the desired program by operating the cursor movement keys 202 to 205 of the remote controller 200 shown in FIG. By pressing the enter button 206, the full text of the content title and other detailed information may be displayed at the top of the program guide.

  FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. When the cursor is in a selected state, a program currently being broadcast is selected with the cursor by displaying “Broadcasting” on the screen. This is an embodiment in which it is easy to recognize whether or not the program is a currently broadcast program. This embodiment will be described by taking as an example a case where a program guide is displayed by pressing the program guide button 202 of the remote control shown in FIG. 3 at a current time of PM8: 16.

  The control input unit 113 shown in FIG. 1 detects a control signal from the remote controller, and the information processing unit 108 refers to the current time information from the clock device 115, so that the program being broadcast at the current time is used as a reference. Create image data of the program guide in the form. At this time, the cursor is selecting the program currently being broadcast.

  This cursor can change (move) a selection item by the following processing. When the cursor movement keys 202 to 205 of the remote controller 200 shown in FIG. 3 are operated, a control signal is detected by the control input unit 113 shown in FIG. 1 and is transmitted from the central processing unit 112 to the information processing unit 108. The information processing unit 108 creates display data by moving the selected cursor position to a predetermined position based on the information obtained from the central processing unit 112 and outputs it.

  At this time, in the information processing unit 108, it is determined whether the program selected by the cursor is currently being broadcast based on the broadcast time information of the program selected by the cursor and the current time information obtained from the clock device. . If it is determined that the program selected by the cursor is currently being broadcasted, "Broadcasting" is displayed (316) as shown in screen 1 of FIG. In this state, when the right button 205 of the remote controller 200 is pressed, as shown in the screen 2, the cursor selects the right program.

  In this case, since the program is a program from PM9: 00 and is not currently being broadcasted, the “broadcasting” display 316 in the screen 2 is not performed.

  As a result, it is easy to recognize whether the program selected by the cursor is currently being broadcast or not, and in particular, when a program currently being broadcast is selected, the channel selection operation is facilitated.

The block diagram which shows the circuit structure of the receiver which concerns on this invention It is a figure which shows embodiment of this invention, Comprising: The flowchart which shows the process which extracts and displays a part of program information. FIG. 2 is an external view of a remote controller used in the receiving device in FIG. 1. The figure which shows the example of a display of the program schedule in the conventional receiver. The figure which shows an example of the example of a display of the program schedule by embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the example of a display of the program schedule by embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of the program guide by other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Signal input terminal 102 Signal separation part 103 Image reproduction part 104 Image processing part 105 Image processing part 106 Image composition part 107 Signal output terminal 108 Information processing part 109 Data extraction part 110 Data storage part 111 Display data creation part 112 Central processing part 113 External control unit 114 Memory 115 Clock device

Claims (5)

A receiving unit that receives program information including a first title representing a program and a second title representing program content;
A storage unit for storing preset program categories ;
When creating a program guide using the program information corresponding to該番set category stored by the storage unit, and the program table creating unit for creating with the second title without using the first Title A receiving apparatus comprising: The receiving device according to claim 1,
A receiving apparatus comprising: a determining unit that determines whether a program category of the program information received by the receiving unit is a program category stored in the storage unit. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The program information is transmitted by being added to a television broadcast. The receiving apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the program information is transmitted via a communication line. A receiving unit that receives program information including title information of a program having a first title related to the program and a second title related to the program content;
A storage unit for storing the program information received by the receiving unit;
A program guide creation unit for creating a program guide for recognizing program contents using the program information stored in the storage unit;
An output unit that outputs the program guide created by the program guide creation unit,
The program table creation unit that the program title information when having a the first title and the second title, to create a program table by extracting the second title from the program information A receiving device.

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