JPH0434749A - Reservation video recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dissolve inconvenience of complicated code management on the side of each broadcasting station or acknowledgement of a code change of a VTR user by changing a reservation data based on information as to a change in the broadcast ing time for a program to be sent from the broadcasting station by superimposing. CONSTITUTION:A video signal in an area where a superimposing display is performed at the time of changing the broadcasting time is taken out by time sharing by a signal separating part 2, and the taken out video signal is digitized and stored in a post stage picture memory 3. The picture data stored in the picture memory 3 is inputted to a post stage acknowledging part 4 to acknowledge characters of the infor mation of the change, and this is transferred as it is coded with a code to a reservation information changing part 5. In the reservation information changing part 5, the infor mation of the change is added to the reservation information stored in a reservation information memory 6. That is, the time as shown in the information of the change is added to the previously set video recording starting time and finishing time respec tively, and as a result of this addition, the reservation information of the reservation information memory 6 is renewed. By this method, it is not necessary to perform extra work for program code management, etc., and a sudden change in the program broadcasting time can flexibly be dealt with.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a reservation recording device that records television programs and the like transmitted from a broadcasting station using reservation data.

(B) Prior Art A typical video tape recorder is equipped with a scheduled recording function for recording television programs transmitted from broadcasting stations. This reservation method is a method of specifying a program channel, recording start time, and recording end time in advance.

With this reservation method, if the program broadcast start time changes for some reason, recording will continue as originally set unless the recording start time and recording end time are set again. The program you want to record cannot be recorded in its entirety. Particularly during the baseball season, approximately 2 hours of programs such as movie roadshows are broadcast after the baseball broadcast time slot, but if the baseball game does not end within the predetermined broadcast time, the game will end. Baseball broadcasts may be extended until then, and subsequent programs may be broadcast at a later date by the amount of time that the baseball broadcasts have been extended. Incidentally, when a program is changed, the information about the program change is conveyed by an announcer as appropriate and is usually displayed on the screen in a superimposed manner.

In such a case, the program will be postponed by the time the program is postponed.
The latter half of the program scheduled for recording will not be recorded.

In order to solve this problem, the code given to each program is sent from the broadcasting station at the same time as the program is broadcast, the code is also set on the recording device side at the time of reservation, and recording is performed only when the received code and the reservation code match. The method for starting is
Publication No. 1-168173 (HO4N5/44) or Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 01-218231 (HO4N1100)
has been proposed.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention In the above-mentioned system, it is necessary to assign standardized codes to all broadcast programs, and each program is reorganized irregularly several times a year. , it is necessary to assign a new code to a new program each time it is reprogrammed, and the management of codes at each broadcasting station is extremely complicated.

Furthermore, there is the inconvenience that the receiving VTR user must be aware of the code change.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is a scheduled recording device that records a program transmitted from a broadcasting station based on preprogrammed reservation data regarding recording start and recording end times. The present invention is characterized in that the reservation data is changed based on information about changing the broadcast time of the program superimposed from the station.

(e) Operation Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the inconvenience of complicated code management on the side of each broadcasting station or recognition of code changes by VTR users is eliminated.

(f) Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a circuit block diagram of this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart explaining the operation of each part of this circuit block diagram.

A video signal transmitted from a broadcasting station is applied to an input terminal (1) via a receiving section such as an antenna, and then sent to a signal separating section (2).
is supplied to The signal separation unit (2) extracts the video signal of the lower right area of the screen from the video signal, that is, the area where superimposed display is performed when the broadcast time is changed, in a time-division manner.
In the subsequent image memory (3), the video signal extracted by the signal separation section (2) is digitized and stored.Display of changed information by superimposition will now be described in detail. Now, for some reason, the broadcast time of the previous program (A) has been extended by time ([0), and the next program (
If the postponement of the broadcast start time of B) becomes unavoidable,
As shown in FIG. 1, a superimposed display indicating change information is periodically displayed on the T~' screen during the broadcast of the program (A) for a certain period of time (T2) at certain time intervals (Ll). In this display format, as shown in Figure 3, the time change information is shown in the lower left area of the screen as "+00"30", and furthermore, the following parentheses contain information for TV viewers. Here, "+" in the change information indicates a postponement of the broadcast time, "-" indicates an advance of the broadcast time, and ":
" represents the division between hours and minutes. Specifically, when the broadcast time is moved back by 30 minutes, the change information is "+00:
30” and six characters.

The image memory (3) has a capacity corresponding to six screen areas where the characters of the change information indicated by superimposition are displayed, that is, areas (Sl) to (S6) in FIG. ing.

The image data stored in the image memory (3) is input to a subsequent recognition section (4), where character recognition of the change information is performed. Next, the character (′+”) of the change information in this recognition unit (4)
, , ; and numbers from 0 to "9") An example of the recognition procedure is shown below.

(1) First, as preprocessing, we binarize the data,
Area division is performed for S1) to (S6).

(2) For the data after preprocessing, for example, O
It calculates the number of pixels that are different from each other, calculates the coordinates of the center of gravity in the area, and extracts various feature quantities such as horizontal projection and vertical projection.

(3) Characters are recognized by matching these feature amounts with characters of a model prepared in advance.

The above steps (2) and (3) are sequentially executed for all six areas.

The character recognition method described above is a well-known method of image recognition, and highly accurate recognition is possible by combining the various feature amounts described above.

Normally, the superimposed display lasts about 1 minute (t1#1m
In), character recognition does not need to be processed in real time, and complex processing to improve accuracy is also possible. The change information recognized in this way is transferred to the reservation information change unit (5) with the code attached.

The reservation information changing unit (5) adds the change information to the reservation information stored in the reservation information memory (6). here,
In the reservation information memory (6), a recording channel, recording start time, and recording end time are preset as reservation information by a reservation information setting section (7) such as an operation button. Therefore, the reservation information changing unit (5) adds the time indicated by the change information to the initially set recording start time and recording end time, and updates the reservation information in the reservation information memory (6) based on the addition result. do.

After that, the control unit (8) compares the updated reservation information with the real time, and when the current time reaches the updated recording start time in the reservation information, the recording unit (9) starts the recording channel. The control unit (8) controls the operation of the recording unit (9) so that recording starts and the recording unit (9) finishes recording when the updated recording end time is reached.

By the way, writing of a video signal of a specific area in the above-mentioned image memory (3), character recognition in the recognition unit (4), change of reservation information in the reservation information changing unit (5), and writing of a video signal of a specific area in the above-mentioned image memory (3),
) is shown in Fig. 4.
This is done at regular time intervals (t,), as shown in P (100) and (101). This time (t4) is the time (t4) during which the superimposed display continues, as shown in FIG.
, ), and is configured so that at least change information can be recognized during display even if the display is intermittently displayed. Furthermore, S T E P (99
) is the variable (T
) is used to set the initial value.

In addition, the series of processes after importing the image data into the image memory (3) are as shown in Figure 2. for a certain period of time (t) from the recording start time (T, ) scheduled for
, ) starts from before. That is, at the time (Ts ts) before the scheduled recording start time (T5), the control unit (8) detects this and stores the image memory (3).
), the recognition unit (4) and the reservation information change unit (5) are activated to monitor whether broadcast time change information is displayed by superimposition. Furthermore, S T E in Fig. 4
P (98) indicates this monitoring start operation.

In the above embodiment, the change information is defined as 6 characters, but it may be in an amorphous form, such as a sentence in parentheses, and the content of this sentence may be recognized to create change information of 6 characters. Needless to say, it may be configured.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need to change the current TV broadcasting system, no extra work such as program code management, and no sudden change in program broadcast time. It is possible to respond flexibly and eliminate failures when executing scheduled recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings all relate to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a time chart of superimposed display, FIG. 2 is a time chart of reservation information change, and FIGS. 3 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of superimposed display. , FIG. 4 is a flowchart, and FIG. 5 is a circuit block diagram. (3)...Image memory, (4)...Recognition unit, (5)...
... Reservation information change unit, (6) ... Reservation information memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a reservation recording device that records a program transmitted from a broadcasting station based on reservation data regarding recording start and recording end times programmed in advance, a program transmitted from the broadcasting station in a superimposed manner. 1. A reservation recording device that changes the reservation data based on information about a change in broadcast time.