JP2000333093A - Method and device for registering reservation of continuous program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To register continuous programs without previously checking program information to be viewed and with few operations by referring to the channel and the time of a designated program and registering the continuous programs for plural times when the program is designated once on an electronic program guide picture. SOLUTION: A remote controller 30 used for a display device is provided with a power key 31, an EPG key 32 for displaying electronic program guide(EPG), numeric keys 0 to 9, cursor moving keys 33U, 33D, 33L and 33R moving a cursor in up/down/right/left directions, a decision key 34, and a quick key 35 depressed at the time of reserving continuous programs. In the device, information on the channel, start time/termination time, which are specified by an EPG picture, is referred to and the continuos programs for plural times can be registered with one operation. When a reservation mode is only a designated date, the channel, a date and time are referred to and reservation is registered. When the reservation mode is every week, information on the channel, the day of the week and the time is referred to.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for registering a program for reserving a program such as a CS digital broadcast using an electronic program guide, and more particularly to a method for registering and registering a continuous program broadcasted two or more times continuously. And its device.

[0002] In CS digital broadcasting, broadcasting is carried out on many channels, and many programs such as animations and serial dramas are broadcast twice or more continuously. In order to register programs for these broadcasts, usually, an electronic program guide (EPG) of the network is displayed, and a program desired to be viewed is specified and registered.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art There are two methods for pre-registering a continuous program as described above. One is EPG
Is displayed and a reservation is registered for each broadcast of the program. The other method is to directly select a channel to be reserved,
This is a method of registering reservations by inputting the date and time and the continuous reservation mode.

[0004] As for the former, as shown in FIG.
Is displayed on the screen and the cursor is to be viewed, for example, if the user wants to view program C on channel 105 scheduled to be broadcast from 1:00 to 1:30 PM on May 17, move the cursor to the program and decide. Then, on the program reservation confirmation screen shown in FIG. 4B, the reservation is registered by moving the cursor to the Yes key to determine it. Following 2 of this program C
If the episode is broadcast at the same time on the 18th, similarly, move the cursor to the right on the EPG,
Program C on PM 18: 00-1: 30
Make a reservation registration for. If this program is broadcast continuously from Monday to Friday, a continuous program is registered by the same operation.

[0005] In this method, registration of each item is relatively simple, but the same operation must be repeated many times, which is very complicated. Also, since only up to one week's worth of data is sent in the EPG data of CS broadcasts or the like, for example, if a program to be viewed is a continuous program broadcast every Monday, the next 24 days of May 17 Cannot be reserved, and there is a possibility that the reservation may be forgotten. In addition, since reservations are individually registered, there is a problem that the storage capacity of a memory used for the reservation registration is increased.

On the other hand, in the latter reservation method, first, a date and time designation reservation input is selected on a menu screen (not shown), and then a date and time designation reservation input screen as shown in FIG. The channel you want to watch (Channel 1
05), reservation mode (Mon-Fri), time (PM 1: 00-
PM1: 30) is input using the up / down keys and numeric keys on the remote controller. Next, on the reservation confirmation screen shown in FIG. 5 (b), a cursor is placed on the Yes key in response to the question "Do you want to make a reservation?"

In this method, it is unlikely that a reservation is forgotten. However, it is necessary to check information about a target program such as a start time at the time of setting, and to input a program to be viewed directly. Procedure is troublesome.

[0008]

As described above, the conventional reservation method for individually reserving a continuous program requires a similar operation procedure a plurality of times, and the reservation requires a large memory storage capacity. In the conventional reservation method of directly inputting a continuous program to be reserved, it is necessary to check information on the continuous program at the time of reservation, and the operation is troublesome.

[0009] Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides a continuous program registration method and apparatus capable of registering a continuous program with a small number of operations without checking information on a program to be viewed in advance. With the goal.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to a basic feature of the method invention of the present application, a reserved program specifying step of specifying a desired reserved program on a screen of an electronic program guide; A reservation mode specifying step of specifying a reservation mode in response to an inquiry about a reservation mode in which the program is reserved once or a plurality of times specified by a day of the week, and a case in which the reservation mode specified in the reservation mode specifying step is plural times In addition, there is provided a method for registering and registering a continuous program, comprising: a plurality of reservation registration steps of executing a plurality of reservation registrations of the program with reference to a channel and a time of the program specified in the reserved program specifying step.

Therefore, a program is specified on the EPG screen, and in the case of a plurality of reservations, the reservation mode is set, and the information about the specified program is referred to and the reservation is collectively registered for a plurality of times by one input. Therefore, a continuous program can be reserved and registered by a simple operation without requiring information on the program in advance.

In the above configuration, the present invention is characterized in that the reservation mode to be queried in the reservation mode specifying step is a reservation of a continuous program which includes only a designated day, every day, a specific day, Monday to Friday, and Monday to Saturday. Provide a registration method.

According to a basic feature of the present invention,
Display means for displaying an electronic program guide; reserved program specifying means for specifying a desired reserved program on the screen of the display means; A reservation mode specifying means for specifying the mode of the reserved program by specifying the reservation mode on the display means on the screen of the display means; and setting the reservation program when the reservation mode specified by the reservation mode specifying means is plural times. A continuous program reservation registration device comprising a plurality of reservation registration means for executing a plurality of reservation registrations of a program with reference to a channel and a time of the program specified in the specifying step.

Therefore, there is provided a reservation registering apparatus capable of registering a continuous program by a simple operation without requiring information on the program in advance.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to program reservation for CS digital broadcasting will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen of a display device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a front surface of a remote controller 30 used in this embodiment.
In FIG. 3, 31 is a power key, 32 is an EPG key for displaying an electronic program guide, and 1 to 9, 0 are numerical keys of 1 to 9, 0, respectively. Cursor movement keys 33U, 33D, 33L, 33 for moving a cursor up, down, left, and right on the display screen substantially at the center of the remote controller 30.
R is arranged as shown, and a decision key 34 is provided at the center thereof. A quick key 35 is pressed at the time of reservation of a continuous program, which will be described later. (A)-described in each process of FIG.
(F) corresponds to (a) to (f) of FIG.

First, when the EPG key 32 of the remote controller 30 is pressed, the EPG is displayed on the screen of the display device as shown in FIG.
Is displayed (process 101 in FIG. 1). In this example, 105,
This shows that programs A, B, C, D, programs a, b, c, and programs a, b are broadcast on channels 110, 200, respectively. Currently PM on Monday, May 17
The program from 12:00 to 2:00 is displayed, and the cursor is placed on program A of channel 105. The operator uses the cursor movement keys 33U, 33D, 33L, 33R.
By pressing any of the above, the cursor on the display screen is moved to search for a program to watch. For example, if the operator is on channel 1
When the user wants to reserve the 05 consecutive program C, the cursor is moved to the program C by pressing the cursor movement key 33R.
Press the enter key 34 of the remote controller 30. FIG. 2B shows the state on the screen at this time, which means that the processing 102 for selecting a desired program on the EPG screen in FIG. 1 has been executed.

Then, the process proceeds to a process 103, where the screen shifts to a program reservation screen shown in FIG. 2 (c), and the operator is asked to confirm whether the program desired by the cursor designation is correct. In response to this, the operator depresses the cursor movement keys 33L and 33R of the remote controller 30 and depresses the enter key 34 to reserve a single program or not.
Next, the process proceeds to the process 104 in FIG. 1 to identify which key is selected by the operator. When the cursor is moved to the Yes key on the screen and the enter key 34 is pressed (hereinafter, such an operation is referred to as pressing the Yes key), the process proceeds to step 105 and FIG.
A reservation is registered with the contents of (c). When the No key is pressed, the screen returns to the screen shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the quick key 35 on the remote control is pressed on the screen of FIG. 2C, the process proceeds to the process 106 of FIG.
Is displayed. This screen asks the operator whether to convert. When the operator presses the No key on the screen shown in FIG.
Return to the program reservation registration screen. If the user presses the Yes key in step 107, the reservation mode designation screen shown in FIG. 2E appears, and the operator is inquired of the reservation mode (step 1).
08).

The reservation mode is, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 (e), whether the program is reserved only on a designated date,
This means the type of reservation, ie, how many days, every day, Monday to Friday, or Monday to Saturday, and the operator also presses the move key on the remote control 30 and presses the enter key to determine which reservation. Indicate whether you want to register in mode. Then, in step 109 of FIG.
The reservation registration confirmation screen in the designated mode (f) is displayed, and the operator is finally asked whether to make a reservation.
If the Yes key is pressed in process 110, process 11
After the reservation registration processing with this content is performed in 1, the process returns to the processing 101 and the EPG screen is displayed. On the other hand, No
When the key is pressed, the process returns to step 108, and the reservation mode is inquired again.

In this way, by referring to information such as the channel of the program specified on the EPG screen, the start time and the end time, it is possible to register a plurality of programs, that is, a continuous program, by one operation. In addition, if you make a reservation once, you can register for the next week and the next week.

Here, the relationship between the reservation mode and the information (channel, date, day of the week, time) of the program to be referred to will be described. When the reservation mode is only for the designated day, the channel, date and time (start time and end time) are referred to and registered for reservation. When the reservation mode is weekly, the channel, day of the week,
The time information is referenced. When the reservation mode is every day, Monday to Friday, and Monday to Saturday, the channel and time are referred to, and the reservation is registered at each day. Therefore, it is only necessary to refer to at least the channel and the time.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, E
If a program to be reserved is specified on the PG screen, and if the program is not a single program reservation, a program is specified only once on the EPG screen, and the channel and time of the specified program are referred to for a plurality of subsequent programs. Execute program registration. Therefore,
According to the present invention, a continuous program can be registered with a small number of operations without checking information on a program to be viewed in advance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a flowchart of an embodiment of a continuous program reservation method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state of a screen when the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an example of a remote controller used when performing the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen state when a conventional continuous program is reserved.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of a screen state when a conventional continuous program is reserved.

[Explanation of symbols]

30 remote control, 31 power key, 32
EPG key, 33L, 33R, 3U, 33D: Cursor movement key, 34: Enter key, 35: Quick key, 101 to 111: Processing

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A reserved program specifying step of specifying a desired reserved program on a screen of an electronic program guide, and a reservation mode in response to an inquiry of a reservation mode in which reservation of the program is performed once or a plurality of times specified by a day of the week. A plurality of reservation modes specified in the reservation mode specifying step, and referring to a channel and a time of the program specified in the reserved program specifying step, for a plurality of times of the program. A plurality of reservation registration steps of executing a reservation registration of a continuous program. 2. The reservation registration of a serial program according to claim 1, wherein the reservation modes to be queried in the reservation mode specifying step include only a designated day, every day, a specific day of the week, Monday to Friday, and Monday to Saturday. Method. 3. Display means for displaying an electronic program guide; reserved program specifying means for specifying a desired reserved program on a screen of the display means;
A reservation mode specifying means for specifying a reservation mode of a plurality of times by specifying the number of times or day of the week on the screen of the display means and specifying a mode of the reserved program; and a plurality of reservation modes specified by the reservation mode specifying means. A plurality of reservation registration means for executing a plurality of reservation registrations of the program by referring to a channel and a time of the program specified in the reserved program specifying step. apparatus.