JP2000023074A - Picture recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture recording device which does not need reservation that is conscious and troublesome. SOLUTION: This device learns viewing customs of a viewer, that is, stores television programs actually viewed in each time zone every day or every week as a picture recording candidate on a picture recording schedule 21 and performs picture recording of broadcast content of the channel in the time zone of the next day or the next week according to it. Also, it changes significance evaluation as a picture recording candidate of every day or every week according to whether or not the same program is viewed the preceding day or the preceding week and selects a program to be subjected to picture recording as occasion demands according to the significance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus for automatically recording a television broadcast program on a daily or weekly basis (TV = television).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Television broadcasting has provided various benefits to our viewers, although the utility differs for each genre, such as news, culture, entertainment, and the like. However, our audience,
Each person has a job, and it is difficult to watch the program directly at each broadcast time. For this reason, a method of recording the television broadcast with a recording device such as a video coder and viewing it later can be considered.

[0003]

In this case, in order to perform television recording, a conscious and troublesome operation for setting a recording reservation of a video coder is required. For this reason, it is well known that video coders are often used exclusively for reproduction, and there are very few opportunities to use recording. An object of the present invention is to realize a recording device that does not require such a conscious and troublesome operation.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention has a recording candidate recording means for recording an actually watched television program as a recording candidate in a recording plan table; Recording execution means for recording the broadcast contents of the channel in the time zone of the next day or the next week for the recorded recording candidates.

[0005] In the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording candidate recording means further executes an importance evaluation on the recorded recording candidates on the next day or the next week based on the viewing state of the viewer. The means determines whether or not to record the recording candidate with reference to the result of the evaluation.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a main part of a recording apparatus 10 according to the embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a hard disk. Recent technological advances have made it possible to use large-capacity hard disks instead of videotapes. The use of hundreds of gigabytes of hard disk enables long-term digital recording, and allows the individual parts of the recorded content to be freely retrieved and erased at random access. Here, the latest technology is used.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a tuner, which is provided with a plurality of tuners, corresponding to various transmission media such as VHF and UHF terrestrial waves, cable television, and satellites, and receives a television broadcast of a designated channel. These tuners 12 convert received contents to digital data and output when the received television broadcast is analog, and output the received contents as they are when the television broadcast is digital.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a channel selector, which is similar to a channel selector of a normal television receiver. When a viewer selects a channel, the information is supplied to a corresponding tuner 12, and the corresponding tuner 12 is provided.
The video signal and the audio signal of the channel output from are supplied to the display 14 and the speaker 15,
Video display and audio output of the channel are performed.

When a channel is switched, the channel selector 13 refers to a timer 22 or the like to determine the elapsed time from the time when the channel is selected to the time when this channel is switched to another channel. That is, a time (viewing time) during which the viewer has actually viewed the program continuously is output. The recording candidate recording unit 17 executes the processing shown in FIG. 2 in response to the output of the viewing time.

Here, first, the outline of the processing in FIG. 2 will be described. First, a television program is usually constituted in a cycle of one day or one week, and a viewer continuously plays the same program every day or every week. Often watched. Therefore, in the process of FIG. 2, according to the viewing habit of one day or one week, the program actually viewed on each day is recorded on the next day or the same time period of the next week as shown in FIG. It is recorded in the recording plan table 21 as the recording candidate 18 to be recorded.

[0011] Furthermore, on the next day or the next week, these already recorded recording candidates 18 are viewed again so that these recording candidates 18 are learned from the viewer's viewing behavior on a daily or weekly basis. It is determined whether or not it is. Here, the fact that the same program (time zone) was viewed the next day also means that the program is likely to be viewed every day. The fact that the same program was viewed the next week means that the program is likely to be viewed on a weekly basis.

Therefore, the recording candidate recording unit 17 increases the importance of the program watched on the next day or the next week as a recording candidate on a daily or weekly basis. Those that did not, on the contrary, reduce their importance. By repeating this, recording candidate 1
What is maintained in the recording plan table 21 as 8 is one that sufficiently learns and reflects the viewing state of the viewer on a daily or weekly basis. Note that the recording schedule table 21 is constructed on the hard disk 11, and as shown in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis shows the day of the week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Sat) and time, and the vertical axis shows a number of television stations. It is a table that is.

Hereinafter, the processing shown in FIG. 2 will be specifically described. That is, when the processing is started, the recording candidate recording unit 17
First, the channel selection unit 13 outputs the output data, that is, the channel number of the program being viewed up to that time,
The day of the week and the viewing continuation time (viewing time) are obtained (step S1 (hereinafter, the word “step” is omitted)). Next, the obtained viewing time is inspected (S2). Here, if the viewing time exceeds a certain time, for example, 10 minutes, it is considered that the viewer had an intention to view the program at that time.

Therefore, for such a program, it is first checked whether or not the program at the same time is recorded (registered) in the recording plan table 21 as the recording candidate 18 (S11). If not registered, the program is a program newly viewed on this day. So, as new recording candidates, channel, date, day of the week,
The program data such as the time zone is recorded in the recording plan table 21, and the processing in FIG. 2 ends.

If the program has already been registered in the recording plan table 21 as the recording candidate 18, "yes" is given in S11. For such a program, it is checked whether the same program was viewed the previous day (whether the same time zone was viewed the previous day) (S12). If you watched the day before, the program is likely to be a program that is being watched every day. Therefore, for such a program, the importance as a daily recording candidate is increased by a predetermined value (S12 → S21). If not, the importance is reduced by a predetermined value (S12
→ S13).

Next, it is checked whether the same program has been viewed the previous week (whether the same time zone has been viewed on the same day of the previous week) (S14). If you watched it last week,
The program is likely to be watched weekly. So,
For such a program, the importance as a recording candidate on a weekly basis is increased by a predetermined value (S14 → S22). Otherwise, the importance is reduced by a predetermined value (S14 → S
15). Through these processes, the programs that the viewer watches every day or every week have their importance (points) increased, and the programs reflect and reflect the daily or weekly viewing state of the viewers.

On the other hand, the viewing time of a certain program is less than a predetermined value,
For example, if it is less than 10 minutes (S2 "No"), it is estimated that the viewer did not have much interest in the program. In this case, the program (the time zone) is a recording candidate 1
It is checked whether or not it is recorded as 8 in the recording plan table 21 (S3). If it has been recorded, the daily or weekly importance of the program is reduced by a predetermined value (S4).

As described above, the importance (point) of the recording candidate on which the learning result of the viewing state is reflected is referred to by the recording execution unit 23 when the recording of the next day or the next week is executed. . That is, the recording execution unit 23
With reference to the timer 22, the video information and the audio information of the designated channel are acquired from the tuner 12 for the recording candidate 18 held in the recording plan table 21 in the corresponding time zone of the next day or the next week, and the hard disk 11 (Recording) at this time, at this time, the recording execution unit 23
The number of programs included in the recording candidates is checked, and conditions relating to the recording at that time, for example, if only three VHF tuners are provided, but five VHF recording candidates are recorded in the time zone. In order to meet the conditions at this time, three of the images having the highest importance score are selected and recorded.

The recording conditions include, for example, when the remaining capacity of the hard disk 11 is low, the number selected by the viewer in advance, for example, only one program, It is conceivable that the user has a limited time during which he can view the recording, and he wants to reduce the total number of recorded programs to, for example, ten programs. It is also used when narrowing down recording candidates to satisfy the conditions. If a large number of programs have been recorded at this time and the capacity of the hard disk 11 is running short, the recorded programs 24 are also referred to their respective degrees of importance, and the importance is determined within the necessary range. It can also be used in such a way as to delete the recording of a program with a low score.

It should be noted that all the programs whose viewing time exceeds, for example, 10 minutes may be used as recording candidates for the next day or the next week without performing the processing such as the evaluation of importance shown in FIG. In this way, everything viewed on the previous day or the previous week is recorded on the next day or the next week. This is, as it were, one recording format that reflects the viewing results without fail, and it may be convenient depending on how the viewer uses it. Further, those whose viewing time is shorter than a predetermined value may be recorded in the recording plan table 21 as recording candidates on a daily or weekly basis. In this case, it is undeniable that all of the actually viewed content becomes a recording target, and it becomes complicated to reproduce and view the content, but it is considered to be useful depending on the application in that it is not missed.

[0021] Television programs are usually in units of 30 minutes or 1 hour. Therefore, if the start time and the end time of the television program to be recorded as the information of the recording candidates are set to 30 minutes or 1 hour, the management of the recording plan table 21 becomes easy. For example, Monday 18:03 to 18: 2
If it is actually viewed until 6 minutes, the start time and the end time may be from 18:00 to 18:30.

When the viewer watches the program, a message is displayed on the screen (display 14) at the end of the program.
The next day or the following week may be confirmed whether or not the user wants to watch this program. In this case, no extra program is recorded on the next day or the next week. If you do so,
Only when a viewer responds by operating a button (not shown) or the like, the program is recorded as a recording candidate 18 for the next day or the next week.

It is to be noted that the viewer may switch and watch a plurality of channels during a unit time, for example, a predetermined time such as 30 minutes or 1 hour. In this case as well, the processing of FIG. 2 is executed, so to say, the natural selection of programs. In other words, some of them have been watched for more than a predetermined time, so their importance has been increased as a daily or weekly candidate. Conversely, because the viewing time is short, the importance as a recording candidate on a daily or weekly basis is reduced.

The embodiment in which the importance is not increased or decreased in this way is one embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention. Further, in the case of the tenth embodiment in which the degree of importance is increased or decreased, an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention is provided.

The importance can be evaluated based on, for example, the following criteria.・ Recently updated candidates are highly evaluated. -When a user tries to record a program that has already been recorded as a recording candidate, the program is selected, and if the viewer watches the program during broadcasting, the evaluation is high. -If the viewer zaps and moves to another channel while watching a certain program, if the residence time on the moved channel exceeds a certain time (for example, 30 minutes), the program is changed to the next day or The recording candidate for the next week. The determination of the residence time can be performed in the same procedure as shown in FIG. If the recorded program 24 (FIG. 3) is left as a recording candidate and is not reproduced for several weeks after being recorded the next day or the next week, it is excluded from the recording candidates.

Returning to the description of the configuration of FIG. 26 is a reproduction control unit. The control unit 24 makes the top screen of the recorded content a small thumbnail image and arranges it on the recording plan table 21 displayed on the display 14 so that the recorded content can be listed. Viewers can freely select what they want to see and see the entire video.

Reference numeral 28 denotes a plan correction unit, and the display 1
The contents of the recording plan table 21 are corrected in accordance with a viewer's instruction via a user interface composed of a button 4 and buttons (not shown). The viewer sometimes checks the status of the reservation (recording candidate recording) in the recording plan table 21 and cancels,
A new recording reservation (recording candidate) can be added.
For this purpose, the recording schedule table 21 may be called up and displayed on the screen 14, and its contents may be corrected.

A reservation can be made by specifying a cell (channel and time) for which a recording reservation is made. This table can also be used to see if the TV has learned the viewer's viewing habits. If a TV program guide can be obtained by receiving the Internet or text broadcast, the TV program guide is displayed on the screen, and a cursor is moved in the TV program guide so that recording can be set freely. As a result, it is possible to specify recording while viewing not only the time and day of the week, but also the contents of a specific program. Sometimes you want to see a different program than what you always watch. That time,
The control according to the apparatus of the present invention may be released and the same program reservation operation as in the conventional video coder may be performed.

The present invention may be realized as hardware in a dedicated device, or may be realized as software of a computer of a television personal computer integrated with a television and distributed on a floppy disk or CDROM. It is possible. Further, in FIG. 2, the recording candidates are evaluated on both the side as the daily one and the side as the weekly one. However, the recording may be performed only on a daily basis or only on a weekly basis. Absent. Finally, the correspondence between the configuration of the embodiment and the configuration described in the claims will be described. The recording candidate recording unit 17 corresponds to a recording candidate recording unit described in the claims. The recording execution unit 23 corresponds to a recording execution unit described in claims. (The recording schedule table 21 has the same name as that in the claims.)

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the viewing state of the viewer is learned, that is, the television program actually watched in each time period of each day or week is set as a recording candidate. , And the broadcast content of the channel is recorded on the candidate for the next day or the next week at the time period. As a result, there is no need to perform any special operation for recording a television program as in the related art, and recording is automatically performed just by watching the television as usual. Therefore, the user can enjoy the desired TV program at any time by using the recording without missing the desired TV program. In particular, when the importance is changed according to the daily or weekly viewing state as described in claim 2, the state in which the recording candidates are recorded in the recording plan table reflects the actual state of the viewing more accurately. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure example of recording candidate extraction and importance evaluation;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a recording plan table.

[Description of Signs] 10 ... Recording device 11 ... Hard disk 12 ... Tuner 13 ... Channel selecting unit 14 ... Display 15 ... Speaker 17 ... Recording candidate recording unit 18 ... Recording candidate 21 ... Recording plan table 22 ... Timer 23 ... Recording execution unit 24 ... Recorded program 26 ... Reproduction control unit 28 ... Plan correction unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording candidate recording means for recording a television program actually watched as a recording candidate in a recording plan table, and for a recording candidate recorded in the recording plan table, a channel corresponding to the time slot of the next day or the next week. A recording execution means for recording the broadcast content. 2. The recording candidate recording means further executes, on the next day or the next week, the importance evaluation based on the viewing state of the viewer for the recorded recording candidate, and the recording execution means displays the result of the evaluation. A recording device for determining whether or not to record the recording candidate by referring to the recording device.