JPH10269757A - Electronic equipment, electronic equipment control method, electronic control device, and electronic equipment control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reserve a number of programs. SOLUTION: Reservation information is stored in a reservation-only memory 65 when a program is reserved. When further reservation information cannot be stored in the reservation-only memory 65, the reservation information is transferred to a program information database 83 of a server 11 via a telephone line 12 and is stored. When a specific reservation recording is performed by a video deck 2, reservation information that is stored in the program information database 83 of the server 11 is transferred to the reservation-only memory 65 again and is stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device, an electronic device control method, an electronic device control apparatus, and an electronic device control system, and more particularly, to an electronic device capable of reliably performing more control. Equipment, electronic equipment control method,
The present invention relates to an electronic device control device and an electronic device control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a video deck, so-called scheduled recording can be performed. Normally, this scheduled recording is performed by selecting a desired program by checking a program table such as a newspaper, confirming the broadcast date and time of the program, and inputting the date and time using a remote commander or the like.

When a reservation is made, the reservation information is stored in a memory built in the video deck. When the broadcast time of the reserved program arrives, the VCR automatically turns on the power, receives the broadcast of the registered channel, and records it.

[0004]

However, in a conventional video deck, the number of programs that can be reserved is limited to, for example, ten, and one program is reserved.
There was a problem that it was not possible to reserve one or more programs. As a result, the program that has already been reserved has not been broadcast yet, so even if you want to reserve a program that will be broadcast later, you will not be able to make a reservation, and you will eventually lose your reservation opportunity. In some cases, the program cannot be recorded.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to be able to reliably reserve more programs.

[0006]

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a storage unit configured to store control information; a processing unit configured to perform a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the storage unit; And a transfer unit that transfers control information to an external device and stores the control information in accordance with the determination result of the determination unit.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling an electronic device, comprising: a storage step of storing control information for controlling the electronic device;
A processing step of performing a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the storage step, a determination step of determining the storage capacity in the storage step, and transferring the control information to the external device in accordance with the determination result of the determination step And a transfer step of storing.

[0008] The electronic device control device according to claim 10 is
Receiving means for receiving the control information transferred by the electronic device, storing means for storing the control information received by the receiving means, and transmitting the control information stored in the storing means to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device And transmitting means for transmitting the data to

An electronic device control method according to claim 11 is
A receiving step of receiving the control information transferred by the electronic device, a storing step of storing the control information received in the receiving step, and, when requested by the electronic device, transmitting the control information stored in the storing step to the electronic device. And a transmitting step of transmitting to

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic equipment control system, the electronic equipment performs first processing based on control information stored in the first storage means and control information stored in the first storage means. Processing means, determining means for determining the storage capacity of the first storage means, and transferring means for transferring and storing control information to the information processing apparatus in accordance with the determination result of the determining means, The apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives the control information transferred by the electronic device, a second storage unit that stores the control information received by the receiving unit, and a second storage unit that receives a request from the electronic device. Transmitting means for transmitting the stored control information to the electronic device.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic device control method comprising:
The electronic device determines a first storage step for storing control information, a processing step for performing a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the first storage step, and a storage capacity in the first storage step. A determination step; and a transfer step of transferring control information to the information processing device and storing the control information in response to the determination result of the determination step, wherein the information processing device receives the control information transferred by the electronic device. A second storage step of storing the control information received in the receiving step, and a transmission step of transmitting the control information stored in the second storage step to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device. It is characterized by having.

An electronic device according to claim 1 and a ninth aspect.
In the electronic device control method described in (1), the storage capacity for storing the control information is determined, and the control information is transferred to the external device according to the determination result.

In the electronic device control apparatus according to the tenth aspect and the electronic device control method according to the eleventh aspect, control information transferred from the electronic apparatus is stored. And
When there is a request from the electronic device, the stored control information is transmitted.

In the electronic equipment control system according to the twelfth aspect and the electronic equipment control method according to the thirteenth aspect, the electronic equipment determines a storage capacity for storing control information, and according to the determination result, The control information is transferred to the information processing device. The transferred control information is stored in the information processing device. When requested by electronic equipment,
The stored control information is transmitted from the information processing device to the electronic device.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In order to clarify the correspondence between each means of the invention described in the claims and the following embodiments, each means is described. When the features of the present invention are described by adding the corresponding embodiment (however, an example) in parentheses after the parentheses, the result is as follows. However, of course, this description does not mean that each means is limited to those described.

An electronic device according to a first aspect of the present invention provides a storage means for storing control information (for example, a reservation-only memory 6 shown in FIG. 16).
5) and processing means for performing predetermined processing based on the control information stored in the storage means (for example, the recording reservation unit 6 in FIG. 16).
4), determining means for determining the storage capacity of the storage means (for example, step S129 in FIG. 17), and transferring means for transferring control information to an external device and storing the control information in accordance with the determination result of the determining means ( For example, it is characterized by comprising (Step S131) of FIG.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the processing unit performs a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the storage unit, the control unit transfers the control unit to the external device. Request means for requesting the transfer of information (for example,
It is characterized by further including step S179) in FIG.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a receiving unit (for example, a tuner 66 in FIG. 16) for receiving selection information for selecting control information transmitted from an external device; It is characterized by further including a generating means (for example, steps S127 and S128 in FIG. 17) for generating control information.

An electronic equipment control device according to claim 10 is
A receiving unit for receiving the control information transferred by the electronic device (for example, the communication control unit 84 in FIG. 16); a storage unit for storing the control information received by the receiving unit (for example, the program information database 83 in FIG. 16); Transmitting means for transmitting control information stored in the storage means to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device (for example, CPU 81 in FIG. 16)
And characterized in that:

In the electronic equipment control system according to a twelfth aspect, the electronic equipment is stored in a first storage means (for example, a reservation only memory 65 in FIG. 16) for storing control information and a first storage means. Processing means for performing a predetermined process based on the control information (for example, the recording reservation unit 64 in FIG. 16) and determination means for determining the storage capacity of the first storage means (for example,
17 (Step S129 in FIG. 17), and a transfer unit (for example, Step S131 in FIG. 17) for transferring and storing the control information to the information processing device in accordance with the determination result of the determination unit. A receiving unit (for example, the communication control unit 84 in FIG. 16) for receiving the control information transferred by the electronic device, and a second unit for storing the control information received by the receiving unit.
Storage means (for example, the program information database 8 of FIG. 16)
3) and a transmission unit (for example, the CPU 81 in FIG. 16) for transmitting control information stored in the second storage unit to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an electronic equipment control system according to the present invention. In this specification, the term “system” refers to an entire device including a plurality of devices.

In this electronic equipment control system, a server 11 is connected to electronic equipment in each home via a telephone line 12 as a communication line. In this configuration example, electronic devices such as an analog video deck 2, a digital video tape deck 3, a television receiver 4, and a home gateway 1 are interconnected via a home bus 5.

The home gateway 1 appropriately controls the analog video deck 2, the digital video deck 3, the television receiver 4, and the like via a home bus 5.

FIG. 2 shows a home gateway (HGW).
1, a more detailed configuration example of the digital video tape deck 3 and the television receiver 4 is shown. The home gateway 1 has a built-in CPU 21, and the CPU 21 executes various processes according to a program stored in the ROM 22. The RAM 23 has C
Data and the like necessary for the PU 21 to execute various processes are appropriately stored. A hard disk drive (HDD) 24 is controlled by the CPU 21 and appropriately stores various data and the like.

The communication control unit 25 communicates with the server 11 and other external devices via the telephone line 12. The communication control unit 26 also controls the home bus 5
The communication with the digital video tape deck 3, the television receiver 4 and the like is performed via the. The input unit 27 is operated by a user when inputting various commands.

The digital video tape deck 3 has an RO
It has a memory 32 composed of M, RAM and the like. The CPU 31 executes various processes according to a program stored in the ROM of the memory 32, and stores data necessary for the process in the RAM of the memory 32. The communication control unit 33 communicates with the home gateway 1 and the television receiver 4 via the home bus 5. Data recording / reproducing unit 34
Is designed to record and reproduce video data on a mounted cassette tape.

The television receiver 4 has a CPU 41 for executing various processes according to a program stored in a ROM built in a memory 42. C
Data and the like necessary for the PU 41 to execute various processes are stored in the RAM of the memory 42 as appropriate. The display unit 43 includes an LCD, a CRT, and the like, and displays an image. The communication control unit 44 communicates with the home gateway 1, the digital video tape deck 3, and the like via the home bus 5. The input unit 45 is controlled by the user when inputting various commands.

In this system, for example, if the digital video tape deck 3 cannot store all the data because the capacity of the built-in video tape is insufficient, the digital video tape deck 3 needs Thus, the data to be recorded can be transferred, and the data can be recorded on another electronic device via the home gateway 1. Home gateway 1
When such a request is made, it is determined whether or not the data transferred from the digital video tape deck 3 can be recorded in another electronic device connected to the home bus 5, and the recording is performed. If possible, the data is transferred to the electronic device and recorded.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing of the home gateway 1 in such a case. The CPU 21 of the home gateway 1 first performs an initialization process in step S1, and then proceeds to step S2.
It is determined whether or not data has been received from the communication control unit 26 via the home bus 5. If the data has not been received, the process proceeds to step S7, and other operations are performed.

If it is determined in step S2 that data has been received, the CPU 21 temporarily stores the data in the HDD 24, and then proceeds to step S3.
A process for selecting a storage destination of the received data is executed. Details of the data storage destination selection processing are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, the CPU 21 determines in step S11
, The type and number of electronic devices connected to the home gateway 1 via the home bus 5 are checked. In step S12, a currently usable electronic device is searched from the checked electronic devices.
Further, the process proceeds to step S13, where the size of the data (file) to be stored is checked, and in step S14, an electronic device capable of recording a file (data) of that size is selected.

Next, the process proceeds to step S15, where it is determined whether or not the selected electronic device has a sufficient storage capacity. If there is no sufficient storage capacity, the process proceeds to step S16. It is determined whether there is any other electronic device that has not been checked yet. If there is another electronic device, the process proceeds to step S17, another electronic device is selected, and the process returns to step S15 to check the capacity of the electronic device.

As a result of checking all the electronic devices as described above, when it is determined that there is no electronic device having a sufficient capacity, steps S16 to S1 are performed.
Proceed to 8 to determine that storage is not possible.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S15 that there is a sufficient recording capacity in the predetermined electronic device, the process proceeds to step S19 to determine whether data can be written to the electronic device. Is determined. If data cannot be written to the electronic device, the process proceeds to step S16, and a process of selecting another electronic device is executed in the same manner as described above.

If it is determined in step S19 that the selected electronic device is writable, the flow advances to step S20 to determine that data can be saved.

After the above-described data storage destination selection processing is performed, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S4 in FIG. 3 to determine whether data can be stored. This determination is made according to the determination result of step S18 or S20 in FIG. If it is determined in step S4 that the data cannot be saved, the process proceeds to step S5, and a process when the data cannot be saved is executed. The details of the processing when storage is not possible are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, the CPU 21 determines in step S41
Generates a message indicating that the transferred data could not be stored, and
6 to the television receiver 4 via the home bus 5. When receiving this message via the communication control unit 44, the CPU 41 of the television receiver 4 outputs this message to the display unit 43 to display it.

Alternatively, in the home gateway 1, the transferred data may be stored in the hard disk drive 24, and when space becomes available, may be transferred to the electronic device and stored.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 in FIG. 3 that the data can be stored, the process proceeds to step S6, and the processing of the storage operation is executed. Details of this storage operation are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, first, in step S31, the CPU 21 sets the data storage destination to an HTML (Hyper Tex
t Perform processing to convert to Markup Language). The details of the HTML conversion process of the data storage destination are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In step S51 of FIG.
1 judges whether or not the data to be stored is a digital signal. If the data is not a digital signal, the process proceeds to step S52, in which the A / D conversion is performed to convert the analog signal into a digital signal. If it is determined that the data to be stored is a digital signal, the process of step S52 is skipped.

Next, the operation proceeds to step S53, where the CPU 21
Determines whether a file name has been added to the data to be saved, and if no file name has been added,
Proceeding to step S54, a process for adding a file name is executed. This file name is input by the user operating the input unit 27 of the home gateway 1, for example. If the file name has already been added, the process of step S54 is skipped.

Next, the operation proceeds to step S55, where the CPU 21
Creates HTML. Then, in step S56, the created HTML is stored in the HDD 24.

FIG. 8 shows how the CPU 21 operates as described above.
This shows an example of the HTML created in step S55.
In this example, for example, the file swiss.com transferred from the digital video tape deck 3 to the VTR 1 (analog video deck 2 in FIG. 1). The example in the case of saving mpg is shown. data_97010
1_001_swiss. mpg indicates the title of the file, and http: // VTR1 indicates the storage location.

In addition, for example, when a file as shown in FIG. 9 is recorded in any electronic device connected to the home bus 5, an HTML as shown in FIG. Is done.

Returning to the description of FIG. 6, as described above,
After the process of converting the data storage destination into HTML is performed in step S31, the process proceeds to step S32, and the CPU 21 of the home gateway 1 outputs a file write request to the electronic device that stores the data. The output request is transferred from the communication control unit 26 to the data storage destination electronic device, for example, the analog video deck 2 via the home bus 5.

When receiving the request, the analog video deck 2 notifies the home gateway 1 when the preparation for recording the data is completed. Therefore,
In step S33, the CP of the home gateway 1
U21 waits until receiving a notification of the completion of preparation from the electronic device of the data transfer destination, and upon receiving the notification, proceeds to step S34 to transmit a file to the electronic device.
That is, the CPU 21 controls the communication control unit 26 to transfer the data transferred from the digital video tape deck 3 to the analog video deck 2 via the home bus 5. When the recording of the transferred data is completed, the analog video deck 2 notifies the home gateway 1 to that effect. CPU 21 of home gateway 1
In step S35, the analog video deck 2
And waits until a notification of the end of reception is made. When the notification is received, the data storage operation is terminated.

As described above, each electronic device performs a predetermined process in response to a command from home gateway 1. For example, when the digital video tape deck 3 receives an instruction to write a file or read a file from the home gateway 1, the digital video tape deck 3 executes processing as shown in FIG. 11 or FIG. Become.

That is, in the file writing process shown in FIG. 11, first, in step S61, the CPU 31 of the digital video tape deck 3 executes an initialization process. Next, in step S62, it is determined whether or not a file write request has been received from the home gateway 1, and if not, the process proceeds to step S63.
To execute other processing.

If it is determined in step S62 that a file write request has been received from the home gateway 1, the process proceeds to step S64, in which the CPU 31 determines whether or not the file can be written at present. If the current file is not writable, the process proceeds to step S65, where the CPU 31 controls the communication control unit 33 to notify the home gateway 1 that writing is impossible.

If it is determined in step S64 that the file can be currently written, the process proceeds to step S66, in which the CPU 31
4 to execute a preparation process for writing a file. Next, proceeding to step S67, the CPU 31 notifies the home gateway 1 of preparation completion.

When such a notification is received, the CPU 21 of the home gateway 1 transmits the file in the above-described step S34 in FIG. 6, so that the CPU 31 of the digital video tape deck 3 executes the processing in step S6.
At step 8, this file is received.

Next, in step S69, it is determined whether or not the file receiving process has been completed. If not, the process returns to step S68 to execute the file receiving process.

If it is determined in step S69 that the file receiving process has been completed, the process proceeds to step S70,
The CPU 31 controls the data recording / reproducing unit 34 to record the file body and the file name on the attached cassette tape. Next, in step S71, the CPU
31 notifies the home gateway 1 that the file reception has been completed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S63 to execute other processing.

On the other hand, when the home gateway 1 instructs to read the file, the CPU 31
The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 12 is executed.
First, after performing initialization processing in step S81, it is determined in step S82 whether a file read request has been received from the home gateway 1. If a file read request has not been received, the process proceeds to step S83, and a process other than the file read process is executed.

If it is determined in step S82 that a file read request has been received, the process proceeds to step S84, where the CPU 31 determines whether the file can be read at present. If the file cannot be read at present, step S8
Proceeding to 5, the CPU 31 controls the communication control unit 33 to notify the home gateway 1 that reading is impossible.

If it is determined in step S84 that the file can be read at present,
Proceeding to step S86, the CPU 31 controls the data recording / reproducing unit 34 to execute preparation for reading a file. Then, in step S87, the communication control unit 33
Informs the home gateway 1 of the completion of preparation.

Next, the operation proceeds to step S88, in which the CPU 31
Controls the data recording / reproducing unit 34 to reproduce the file recorded on the attached cassette tape, and causes the communication control unit 33 to transfer the file to the home gateway 1 via the home bus 5. The data thus transferred is transferred to and stored in, for example, the analog video deck 2 as described above.

Next, the operation proceeds to step S89, in which the CPU 31
Determines whether the file transmission has been completed, and if not completed, the process proceeds to step S88 to continue the file transmission process.

If it is determined in step S89 that the file transmission has been completed, the process proceeds to step S90, where C
The PU 31 notifies the home gateway 1 that the file transmission has been completed. Then, the process proceeds to step S83,
Perform other processing.

Next, the operation when the television receiver 4 instructs the digital video tape deck 3 to reproduce a video file will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In addition, FIG.
FIG. 14 illustrates processing in the television receiver 4, and FIG.
FIG. 15 shows a process in the home gateway 1.
This shows the processing of the digital video tape deck 3.

In step S91 in FIG. 13, when the user operates the input section 45 of the television receiver 4 which is constituted by, for example, a remote commander, and instructs the digital video tape deck 3 to be reproduced, the CPU 4
1 outputs a request corresponding to this command to the home gateway 1 via the communication control unit 44 in step S92.

When the CPU 21 of the home gateway 1 receives the request transferred from the television receiver 4 via the home bus 5 from the communication control unit 26 in step S101 in FIG. Requests file transfer to the tape deck 3.

This request is taken into the CPU 31 of the digital video tape deck 3 via the home bus 5 via the communication control unit 33 in step S111 of FIG. Then, in response to this request, the CPU 31
In step S112, the data recording / reproducing unit 34 is controlled to reproduce the file, and the file is transmitted from the communication control unit 33 to the home gateway 1 via the home bus 5.

When the home gateway 1 receives the file transmitted by the digital video tape deck 3 in step S103 in FIG. 14, the home gateway 1 converts the file into a file that can be directly reproduced by the television receiver 4 in step S104. Is determined. If the file is not a file that can be directly reproduced on the television receiver 4, the process proceeds to step S105, where the CP
U21 converts the format of the file to the television receiver 4
Then, a process of converting to a format that can be directly reproduced is executed. If the file can be directly reproduced on the television receiver 4, the process of step S105 is skipped.

Next, the process proceeds to step S106, where the CPU 2
1 transfers the file transferred from the digital video tape deck 3 to the television receiver 4 via the home bus 5 from the communication control unit 26.

The CPU 41 of the television receiver 4 receives this file via the communication control unit 44 in step S93 in FIG. 13, and outputs this file to the display unit 43 for display in step S94.

FIG. 16 shows a configuration example of the video deck 2 and the server 11. The video deck 2 has a CPU 61 that executes various processes according to a program stored in a ROM in a memory 62. Memory 62
In the RAM, various data necessary for the CPU 61 to execute various processes are stored as appropriate. The input unit 60 outputs a signal corresponding to a user operation to the CPU 61. The communication control unit 63 communicates with the server 11 via the telephone line 12.

The recording reservation section 64 is controlled by the CPU 61 to execute recording reservation processing, and to store reservation data in the reservation dedicated memory 65. Tuner 66
Is configured to receive a broadcast radio wave via an antenna (not shown) and output the received signal to the recording / reproducing unit 67 or the video output unit 68. The communication control unit 69 communicates with other AV devices via the home bus 5.

The server 11 has a CPU 8 for performing various processes.
One. According to the program stored in the ROM of the memory 82, the CPU 81 executes various processes, and causes the RAM of the memory 82 to appropriately store data necessary for executing the various processes. The program information database 83 stores an EPG. This EPG is appropriately updated by the CPU 81 to the latest EPG when the broadcast time is changed. Communication control unit 8
Numeral 4 communicates with electronic devices in each home (the video deck 2 in the example of FIG. 16) via the telephone line 12. Note that communication via the telephone line 12 may be performed by the home gateway 1 instead of being performed independently by individual electronic devices.

Next, with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 and 18, a description will be given of a process in which the video deck 2 is operated to make a recording reservation. FIG. 17 illustrates the processing of the video deck 2, and FIG. 18 illustrates the processing of the server 11.

Step S12 in the flowchart of FIG.
In step S1, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 executes the initialization process, and then in step S122, the input unit 6
From 0, it waits until the user makes some input.

When the user operates the input unit 60 to instruct, for example, a recording reservation, the process proceeds to step S123, and C
The PU 61 requests the server 11 to transfer a program guide (EPG). That is, the CPU 61 controls the communication control unit 6.
3 to output an EPG transfer request signal to the server 11 via the telephone line 12.

When the CPU 81 of the server 11 executes an initialization process in step S141 of FIG. 18 and receives an EPG transfer request from the video deck 2 in step S142, it controls the program information database 83 in step S143. Then, the EPG stored therein is reproduced and transmitted from the communication control unit 84 to the video deck 2 via the telephone line 12.

In step S124 of FIG. 17, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 transmits
Receive this EPG. Next, in step S125, the CPU 61 transfers the EPG to the recording reservation unit 64, stores the EPG in the reservation dedicated memory 65, and stores the EPG in the communication control unit 6.
9 to output the EPG data to the television receiver 4 via the home bus 5.

When the CPU 41 of the television receiver 4 receives the EPG data via the control unit 44,
This is output to the display unit 43 and displayed. This allows
For example, a program reservation screen as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed.

FIG. 19 shows a display example of a program table relating to travel information. It is difficult to randomly select a desired program from programs near 100 channels. Therefore, the user registers the genre of the program desired to be received in advance in the recording reservation section 64 by operating the input section 60, for example. If such registration has been performed, the CPU 61 determines in step S123 that the server 1
When requesting the transfer of the program guide to the recording scheduler 6,
4 requests the transfer of a program table relating to programs of a genre registered in advance. This makes it easy to select a desired program.

FIG. 20 shows a registration example of an EPG registered in the program information database 83. This registration example shows an example of an EPG with a program name of “Travel on a World Heritage Site” among the travel information programs in the display example of FIG. In the information shown in FIG. 20, "travel, overseas, history" is used as genre data, and when the user specifies any of these genres, the EPG of this program is transmitted to the user. Will come.

In addition, the first 10-digit number (1234)
567890) represents the ID of the program, and the next 20-digit number (19997010111200131000105) is
The broadcast date (January 1, 1997), start time (12:00), end time (13:00), channel number (01), and broadcast form (05) of the program are shown.

Next, in step S126 in FIG. 17, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 waits until a program is selected. For example, in a display state as shown in FIG. 19, the user operates the input unit 60 to move a cursor (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 19) and operates a confirm button to select a desired program. can do.

If it is determined in step S126 that a predetermined program has been selected, the process proceeds to step S127, and the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 requests the server 11 for reservation information of the selected program. That is, when transmitting the program guide in step S143, the server 11 has not transferred the information necessary for the reservation, which is indicated by a 20-digit number in the EPG data shown in FIG. Accordingly, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 requests the server 11 to transfer the reservation information represented by the 20-digit number shown in FIG. 20 in step S127 of FIG. Of course,
If the reservation information has already been transmitted from the server 11 in step S143, the processing in step S127 becomes unnecessary.

When receiving the reservation information request in step S144 of FIG. 18, the CPU 81 of the server 11 reads out the reservation information from the program information database 83 in step S145, and sends it through the communication control unit 84. Transfer to video deck 2.

The CPU 61 of the video deck 2 receives the reservation information transferred from the server 11 in step S128 in FIG. Then, in step S129, the CPU 61 determines whether or not there is an empty space in the reservation-only memory 65.
In step 30, the reservation-only memory 65 is stored in step S128.
The reservation information received in is stored. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S129 that there is no free space in the reservation only memory 65, the process proceeds to step S131, and the CP
U61 executes a process of insufficient reserved memory. The details of the processing of the reserved memory shortage are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S151, the CPU 61 determines whether the already reserved information has been set in step S128.
2. Sort the new reservation information received in the order of time. Then, in step S152, the temporally last reservation information is transferred to the server 11. When receiving this transfer, the server 11 stores the transfer in the RAM of the memory 82 or the program information database 83.

That is, the reservation at a later time is not executed yet, so that the urgency is low. Therefore,
If the reserved memory 65 has insufficient capacity, it may be transferred to the server 11 and stored, and no problem occurs for the time being.

Next, the process proceeds to step S153, where the CPU 6
1 sets a flag indicating that a part of the reservation information has been stored in the server 11 in the reservation-only memory 65. And
Proceeding to step S154, the CPU 61
7 and checks the remaining amount of the magnetic tape mounted thereon. See Fig. 2
2 is shown in the flowchart.

That is, the CPU 61 determines in step S16
In step 1, the remaining time of the attached video cassette tape is checked. Then, in step S162,
The sum of the total broadcast time of the already reserved program and the broadcast time of the newly reserved program is calculated, and it is determined whether this sum is greater than the remaining tape amount checked in step S161. If it is determined that the remaining amount of tape is smaller, the process proceeds to step S163, where the CPU 61 generates a message for replacing the tape, outputs the message to the television receiver 4, and displays the message on the display unit 43 thereof. Let it. The user exchanges the magnetic tape mounted on the video deck 2 as necessary according to this message. If it is determined in step S162 that the remaining amount of the tape is sufficient, the processing in step S163 is skipped.

When the reservation process is performed as described above, the information of the program reserved up to that time is stored in the reservation dedicated memory 65. When the reservation confirmation is commanded by operating the input unit 60, the CPU 61 reads the reservation information stored in the reservation-only memory 65, outputs this to the television receiver 4, and displays it. Thereby, for example, FIG.
As shown in 3, the title of the program reserved so far,
The introduction article of the simple program is displayed.

When the reservation is made as described above, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 executes a reservation recording process as shown in the flowchart of FIG. In other words, the CPU 61 is always performing a timekeeping operation, and determines whether or not the broadcast start time of the program stored in the reservation-only memory 65 has reached 10 minutes before the earliest broadcast start time. , In step S171. This time (10 minutes) can be arbitrarily set by the user operating the input unit 60. If it is determined in step S171 that the current time is 10 minutes before the broadcast start time, the process proceeds to step S172, where the CPU
61 inquires of the server 11 whether or not the broadcast date and time relating to the program has been changed. The server 11
As described above, the program information database 83 is constantly updated with the latest program information. CPU 81 of server 11
Outputs to the VCR 2 a signal indicating whether or not the information in the program information database 83 has been updated in response to the inquiry from the VCR 2.

The CPU 61 of the video deck 2
1, when this signal is received, the process proceeds to step S173.
In, it is determined whether or not the broadcast time of the program has been changed, and if there has been a change, the process proceeds to step S174 to execute a reservation update process. The details of this reservation update process are shown in FIG.

That is, the CPU 61 determines in step S19
In step 1, the server 11 requests the server 11 to transmit updated reservation information on the program. When receiving this request, the server 11 reads out the reservation information from the program information database 83 and outputs it to the video deck 2. In step S192, the CPU 61 of the video deck 2 receives the reservation information. Then, step S19
In 3, the reservation information is updated in the reservation-only memory 65.

If it is determined in step S173 that there is no change in the reservation information, the process returns to step S171.

If it is determined in step S171 that the recording start time has not been reached 10 minutes before the recording start time, the flow advances to step S175 to determine whether or not the recording start time has been reached. If it is determined that the recording start time has not been reached, the process returns to step S171 again, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

If it is determined in step S175 that the recording start time has been reached, the process proceeds to step S176, and
The CPU 61 controls the recording / playback unit 67 to start a recording operation. At this time, the recording reservation unit 64 controls the tuner 66 in response to this control, receives the reserved channel, and outputs the received signal to the recording / reproduction unit 67 for recording. Then, in step S177,
When the broadcast end time arrives, the recording operation ends.

Next, in step S178, the CPU
61 determines whether or not a flag indicating that the reservation information has been transferred and stored to the server 11 is stored in the reservation-only memory 65. If it is determined that the information of the program reserved for recording is transferred and stored in the server 11, the process proceeds to step S179, and the CPU 61 executes a reservation update process. That is, also in this case, the CPU 61 requests the server 11 to transfer the reservation information on the program. Then, the received reservation information is received and stored in the reservation-only memory 65. As a result, the reservation information of the program once saved in the server 11 is stored in the reservation-only memory 65 again.

If it is determined in step S178 that the reservation information has not been transferred to the server 11, the processing in step S179 is skipped.

FIG. 26 collectively shows the timings of the program reservation procedure described above. At time t1, when the video deck 2 requests the server 11 to transmit the program guide, at time t2, the server 11 transmits the program guide to the server 11.
, The program guide data is transmitted. As mentioned above,
In this case, only data of a specific genre such as travel or history can be transferred.

On the VCR 2 side, the transferred program guide is displayed on the television receiver 4 as described above, and the program to be reserved for recording is selected at time t3. When the selection is completed, the reservation information is stored in the video deck 2 at time t4. However, as described above, the reservation information is stored in the reservation-only memory 65.
If no more data can be stored, the time t5
In this case, this can be transferred to the server 11 and stored.

At time t6, the broadcast start time of 10
When the time comes a minute before, the video deck 2 checks with the server 11 whether or not the reservation information of the program has been changed. At time t7, the server 11 notifies the presence / absence of the change in response to the request from the video deck 2. If there is no change, when the broadcast start time comes, the video deck 2 starts the recording operation.

On the other hand, when the server 11 notifies the video deck 2 of the change of the reservation information at the time t8, the video deck 2 requests the server 11 to retransmit the reservation information, and Upon receiving the transfer, the reservation information is updated. Then, when the broadcast start time comes, the recording operation is started.

[0101]

As described above, according to the electronic device of the first aspect and the electronic device control method of the ninth aspect, the control information is stored in accordance with the determination result of the storage capacity for storing the control information. Since the information is transferred to the external device, more control information can be held at an arbitrary timing. As a result, it becomes easy to reserve the predetermined control in advance.

According to the electronic equipment control device of the tenth aspect and the electronic equipment control method of the eleventh aspect, the control information transferred by the electronic equipment is stored, and when the electronic equipment receives a request, Since the stored control information is transmitted to the electronic device, the storage capacity of the control information in the electronic device can be reduced.

According to the electronic equipment control system of the twelfth aspect and the electronic equipment control method of the thirteenth aspect,
In the electronic device, the storage capacity of the control information is determined, and the control information is transferred to the information processing device in accordance with the determination result, and the control information transferred in the information processing device is stored. Since the stored control information is transmitted to the electronic device when a request is made from the electronic device, a system capable of preliminarily reserving more control information without increasing the storage capacity of the electronic device. Can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic device control system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a home gateway 1, a digital video tape deck 3, and a television receiver 4 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the home gateway 1 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of a data storage destination selection process in step S3 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of a storage impossible process in step S5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of a save operation in step S6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of processing for converting a data storage destination into HTML in step S31 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of HTML.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of stored data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a case where the stored data of FIG. 9 is described in HTML.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the digital video tape deck at the time of writing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation at the time of reading of the digital video tape deck.

13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the television receiver 4. FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the home gateway 1.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the video deck 2.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the video deck 2 and the server 11.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the video deck 2 during a reservation process.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the server 11 during a reservation operation.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a display example of a program reservation screen.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of program reservation information.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing details of a process of a shortage of reserved memory in step S131 of FIG. 17;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing details of a tape remaining amount check process in step S154 of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a display example when a reservation is confirmed.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating processing during a video recording operation of the video deck.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing details of a reservation update process in step S174 of FIG. 24;

FIG. 26 is a timing chart showing a recording reservation operation of the video deck.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 home gateway, 2 video deck, 3
Digital video tape deck, 4 television receiver, 5 home bus, 11 server, 12 telephone line, 21 CPU, 24 HDD, 31 CP
U, 34 data recording / reproducing unit, 41 CPU, 43
Display unit, 61 CPU, 63 communication control unit, 64
Recording reservation unit, 65 recording-only memory, 66 tuner, 81 CPU, 83 program information database, 84 communication control unit

Claims (13)

[Claims] A storage unit configured to store control information; a processing unit configured to perform predetermined processing based on the control information stored in the storage unit; a determination unit configured to determine a storage capacity of the storage unit; According to the determination result of the means, the control information,
An electronic device comprising: a transfer unit that transfers the data to the external device and stores the data. 2. When the processing unit performs a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the storage unit, the processing unit transfers the control information transferred by the transfer unit to the external device. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising requesting means for making a request. 3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit stores the control information transferred by the external device in response to a request from the request unit. 4. The apparatus further comprises: receiving means for receiving selection information for selecting the control information transmitted by the external device; and generating means for generating the control information based on the selection information received by the receiving means. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the selection information is information on a program table. 6. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the selection information is information in a range registered in advance. 7. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control information is time information at which the processing unit starts a predetermined process. 8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the control information is time information at which the processing unit starts recording information transmitted by the external device. 9. A storage step for storing control information for controlling an electronic device; a processing step for performing a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the storage step; and a determination for determining a storage capacity in the storage step. And a transfer step of transferring the control information to the external device and storing the control information in response to a result of the determination in the determination step. 10. An electronic device control device connected to an electronic device via a communication line, a receiving unit for receiving control information transferred by the electronic device, and storing the control information received by the receiving unit. An electronic device control device, comprising: a storage unit for performing the control information stored in the storage unit to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device. 11. An electronic device control method for an electronic device control device connected to an electronic device via a communication line, comprising: a receiving step of receiving control information transferred by the electronic device; An electronic device comprising: a storage step of storing the control information; and a transmission step of transmitting the control information stored in the storage step to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device. Control method. 12. An electronic device control system including an electronic device and an information processing device that are interconnected via a communication line, wherein the electronic device includes: a first storage unit configured to store control information; Processing means for performing a predetermined process based on control information stored in the first storage means; determining means for determining a storage capacity of the first storage means; Control information
Transfer means for transferring and storing the information to the information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus stores reception information for receiving the control information transferred by the electronic device, and stores the control information received by the reception means An electronic device, comprising: a second storage unit; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the control information stored in the second storage unit to the electronic device when requested by the electronic device. Control system. 13. An electronic device control method for an electronic device control system including an electronic device and an information processing device connected to each other via a communication line, wherein the electronic device stores control information. Step, a processing step of performing a predetermined process based on the control information stored in the first storage step, a determination step of determining a storage capacity in the first storage step, and a determination result of the determination step. Correspondingly, a transfer step of transferring the control information to the information processing apparatus and storing the control information, wherein the information processing apparatus receives the control information transferred by the electronic device, and the reception step A second storage step of storing the control information received in the step, and when the electronic device receives a request, the control information is stored in the second storage step. Transmitting the control information to the electronic device.