JP2000341593A - Program managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select or retrieve an arbitrary program by catching the broadcasting pattern of the program on the basis of program table information acquired by a program table information acquiring means. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a program information receiving means 1 for receiving program information to be broadcasted and a received program information managing part 2 for managing the received program and performing format conversion or the like and a program information storage device 3 composed of a hard disk drive(HDD), and a flash memory or the like, for example, stores the information of the received program information managing part 2. A program information database 4 stores program information in the program information storage device 3, and a program table database 5 stores the program table information in the program information storage device 3 similar to the program information data base 4. By using the information in the program table data base 5, a broadcasting pattern detecting part 6 detects the broadcasting pattern of a specified program. Thus, the broadcasting pattern of the program can be captured on the basis of the acquired program table information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program management apparatus for managing or displaying program information and program guide information additionally broadcasted to a broadcast program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a viewer of a broadcast program, when selecting a program, uses an electronic program guide (EPG).
The user inputs a keyword, a program name, or the like using a program table or a search engine in a newspaper or a magazine, selects a desired program, selects a channel, and watches a specific program.
These are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos.
No. 252446, such as a program guide information broadcast at a specific fixed time or a fixed time interval, or a device that conceptually describes a device that receives and displays program information or a receiving device It is.

[0003] Here, the program guide information is information broadcasted for displaying an electronic program guide, and the program information is information broadcasted for providing additional explanation to the contents of a broadcast program. Point. The receiving device displays program information distributed simultaneously or in advance with respect to the program being viewed as additional information of the program being viewed. This uses information created and distributed in advance by the program provider, and the program provider provides additional information (hereinafter referred to as additional information) for the broadcasted program or supplementary information for the program content. Is to deliver strategic information.

[0004] The additional information includes a supplementary explanation for a broadcast program, a related program for a broadcast program, such as a next broadcast schedule or a previous broadcast program for a continuous program.
And information about the special program. With a device capable of receiving and displaying such information, it is possible to receive a program having a high expressive ability with respect to a broadcasted program. This also makes it possible to provide information that will be required for many viewers in response to the viewer's request. Then, it becomes possible to operate an externally connected device or the like on the display device by using broadcast program information or the like.

[0005]

By the way, when viewing a program related to the program being viewed, it is necessary to search for and find the related program using program table information and program information for the broadcast program. Usually, as a means used at this time, a search engine built in the apparatus or a method of browsing an EPG at an arbitrary time and date is used. At this time, a soft keyboard or the like is used to input a program name. In this method, characters to be input are selected using a cursor key or the like, and characters are input one by one. However, there is a problem that it takes time and effort to input a program name.

[0006] Some programs broadcast and display information on related programs as program information. Further, when the broadcast time frame of the broadcast program is changed, unless the program broadcaster or a TV program magazine provides information on the changed program, the broadcast program time is changed by the user. It is difficult to know. Means for obtaining information on a related program for a viewed program differs depending on the service for the program to be broadcast, and this is a confusion factor when a user contacts a program.

[0007] Even if related program information is distributed as additional program information and received and displayed, this information is distributed for display purposes.
Unless an input is made to the device for making a viewing reservation, a viewing reservation and a recording reservation cannot be made. In the conventional apparatus, received program information and program guide information are managed, for example, for each broadcast date and broadcast time, that is, for each broadcasted program. Therefore, in order to search for a program with an arbitrary program title, it is necessary to search all information in the storage device. There is a problem that a storage device is wasted by separately managing such overlapping information, and that an enormous search time and an amount of search are required at the time of search.

[0008] As described above, the fact that the selection means for a plurality of types of programs differs depending on the content of additional information for a program is as follows.
Although it is possible to provide a program that allows a certain kind of expression, a user needs to change the method of selecting and selecting a program because the means for selecting and selecting a program changes. Therefore, there is a problem that even selecting a program becomes difficult.

Next, the program guide information and the program information are broadcast at a specific time or a time interval, received by a receiver, and recorded in a storage device (RAM, hard disk device, or the like). However, in the case of broadcasting as communication using radio waves or the like, noise may be superimposed on broadcasted data due to rainfall or a broadcast accident, and broadcasted information and received information may be different. In the case of displaying the EPG, the program table data is not included in the program table data due to the transmission time, the transmission path, or an error generated at the time of reception in the program table data because the program information distributed at an arbitrary interval is used. At the time of perfection, the program guide was not displayed. Then, the information for displaying the next program table is transmitted and cannot be displayed until it is received. For this reason, when a viewer requests display of an EPG, the EPG cannot be displayed quickly, which makes it difficult to select, select, or search an arbitrary program.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points. By using broadcast program information and program guide information, it is easy to select information related to a desired program, and it is possible to select an arbitrary program and It is an object of the present invention to provide a program management device capable of performing channel selection and search.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a program management apparatus comprising: program table information acquiring means for acquiring program table information including a program title, a broadcast channel, and a broadcast time of a broadcast program; Pattern detecting means for capturing a broadcast pattern of a program based on the acquired program guide information. In addition, by providing program information storage means for storing common information about different broadcast programs in the same program title as common information in the same program title, the amount of memory used can be reduced, and the search time can be shortened. .

Further, when there is a lack in the program guide information obtained by the program guide information obtaining means, an information complementing means for complementing with the common information stored in the program information storing means is provided. For example, it is possible to complement a program title and display a program table without waiting for broadcast of program information again. In addition, the provision of the related program display control means for displaying and controlling the related program based on the common information stored in the program information storage means enables the related program to be displayed in a table format, for example.

A program information acquiring unit for acquiring program information including information on a program content, wherein a special program is provided based on the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detecting unit and the program information acquired by the program information acquiring unit; Is provided, the special program information can be detected. In addition, new program information can be detected by including a new program detection unit that detects a new program based on the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detection unit. Further, by providing a change broadcast detecting means for detecting a change in the program broadcast date and time based on the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detecting means, it is possible to cope with a change in the program broadcast date and time.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a program management device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of each unit of a receiving device used in the program management device of the present invention. The receiving device or the receiving device built-in type display device used in the present invention,
An apparatus that can receive and manage broadcast information such as video, audio, and data, and manages and displays program information and program guide information.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes program information receiving means for receiving broadcasted program information and the like;
The received program information management unit 3 that performs format conversion and the like is a program information storage device including, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, and the like, and stores information of the received program information management unit 2. A program information database 4 stores program information in the program information storage device 3 and a program table database 5 stores program table information in the program information storage device 3 similarly to the program information database 4.

6 uses information of the program guide database 5,
It is a broadcast pattern detection unit that detects a broadcast pattern for a specific program. Reference numeral 7 denotes a missing program guide information supplementing unit,
When the received information is analyzed by the received program information management unit 2, when inappropriate information or missing information is detected in the received program information, the information of the program table database 5 is used to delete the missing program information. It complements. Reference numeral 9 denotes a special program information detecting unit which detects a broadcast pattern of a program from text data such as received program table information and program information, and changes the broadcast pattern of the program as information not included in the data broadcast service. This is to automatically detect whether a new program has started or a special program.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a broadcast pattern adding unit,
Special program detection unit 1902 and new program detection unit 190
3. A pictogram corresponding to the detection result of the changed broadcast pattern detection section 1904 is detected from the special program pictogram database 1905, and the pictogram to be added to the EPG is transmitted to the EPG display section 10. Reference numeral 12 denotes a related program information display control unit that detects and displays additional information for the viewed program.
As shown in FIG. 17, the related program table 1700 shows the viewing program 1
701 can also be displayed. Hereinafter, the program information receiving means 1 and the received program information management section 2 of FIG. 1 will be described.

[Received Program Information Management Unit] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the received program information management unit 2. FIG. 2 shows the program guide information received by the program information receiving means 1 in a table format, which includes a broadcast date, a channel, a broadcast start time, a broadcast end time, and a program title. Also,
FIG. 3 shows the received program information in the form of a table.
In addition to the program guide information, information such as staff, subtitles, additional information, and keywords is included. It should be noted that a number item is added to both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 for convenience. In the flowchart of FIG. 5, from the program table data and the program information data stored in a temporary recording device such as a RAM,
In step S1 (step characters are omitted in the following description), the first program data in the received program information is detected. If there is program data, the process goes to S2. If there is no program data, the process ends.

In S2, it is determined whether or not there is inappropriate data in the first program data. If an error is detected, the process proceeds to S3 to supplement the error information. If not, the process proceeds to S4. Processing proceeds. As a method of detecting an error, a conventionally used method, for example, when the received information does not conform to a predetermined format as shown in FIG. Using detection means such as when there is no
Detects an error.

At S4, the type of the received program information is identified, and whether the information transmitted from S2 is received program table data or received program information data is identified. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the received program guide data and the received program information data have different amounts of information for one program. Using this, the type of information is determined, and in the case of received program information data, the received program information data is managed in S5 (described in detail in FIG. 6). In the case of received program table data, the received program table data is managed in S6 (described in detail in FIG. 7).

Next, the information is stored in the program information database 4 and the program table database 5 by the management of the program information in FIG. 6 and the management of the program table information in FIG. Thereafter, the program table data for the first program of the received program table data in FIG.
In the procedure for erasing the detected program data in step (1), as shown in the received program table data shown in FIG.
The first program data is deleted, and the procedure moves to S1.
The processing of the part corresponding to the management of the program information in S5 is shown in the flowchart of the program information management unit in FIG. 6, and the processing of the part corresponding to the management of the program table information in S6 is shown in the flowchart of the program table information management unit in FIG. . Next, the information structure will be described. The flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 for the recording method for this information structure will be described later.

[Information Structure] The program information database 4
The structure illustrated in FIG. 10 is composed of a three-layer information structure. The top level is composed of the program title 1001, the intermediate directory is composed of the main data 1002, and the program subtitle 1010. The main data 1002 is information used in a unified manner for all programs in the program title 1001 and includes, for example, a main caster, keywords for unifying all programs, genre information, and the like. The lowest sub data 1003 includes the program subtitle 1 which is the upper layer.
For example, casters, keywords, program information, genre information, and the like, which are used only in the program 010, broadcast information for the program subtitle 1010, and viewing behavior using the receiving device are stored.

The information on the viewing behavior includes information on the operation of the receiving apparatus with respect to the broadcast program (broadcast date, broadcast start time, etc.) 1005, and information obtained by reproducing a subtitle program recorded on a recording medium such as a VTR. (Reproduction date, reproduction start time, etc.) 1006, information (copying date, recording start time, etc.) of subtitle programs copied from a recording medium such as a VTR to another recording medium.
.. etc.) 1007 etc. Since the information 1005 is the operation of the receiving apparatus for the broadcast program, the information 1006,
A slot for storing parameters for the viewing behavior 1008 shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a program information data structure when actual data is inserted. In this example, the main title 1101 is “News ○ △” and the subtitle 11
03 is for the program of “Conversation with Jiro”, and the broadcast date and time are shown in the information 1104 at 23:05 on December 1st.
It shows that the viewing and recording (View / Rec) 1107 was performed on the broadcast channel 10ch from 0 minute to 0:20, and the recording medium was recorded 1108 from address 320 on the recording medium of ForNews1. Similarly, information 110
5 indicates that the information 1006 was reproduced, and 1106 indicates that the information 1007 was recorded and reproduced.

The program guide database 5 has a structure illustrated in FIG. 8, and has a four-layer information structure. The highest order is the broadcast month 801, the next is the broadcast date 802, the broadcast channel 803, and the directory structure indicating the location of the program information 804 stored in the program information database 5, each being stored in the program information storage device 3. ing. FIG. 9 is an example using the information structure shown in FIG. The directory 904 indicates the subtitle 1103 in FIG. In this way, by collectively managing overlapping information in the same title program, the storage capacity of the storage device can be reduced, and even when a program list for the same program is detected, Since it is sufficient to perform a search for the information, the search cost can be reduced.

[Recording Structure] The program information management section of FIG. 6 shows the management of program information (S5) of the reception program information management section of FIG. 5, and the program table information management section of FIG. 5 shows the management of the program guide information by the received program information management unit (S6). The program information management unit in FIG. 6 sends out the program information identified in S4 in FIG. 5, and the program guide information management unit in FIG. 7 sends out the program guide information identified in S4, and stores them in the recording structure. Is done. For these program data, the directory of the same program title is detected in S11.

Here, when the same program title directory is not detected in the detection of the directory of the same program title in S11, a new directory for the program title is created in S12. After that, in S13, sub-data and a subtitle directory are created in the directory other than the program title as main data. Next, the broadcast date,
Convert to broadcast time, broadcast channel data structure. After these are completed, they are stored in the program information database in S24.

If the directory of the same program title is detected in S11, the main data in the same program title directory is detected in S14. Next, in S15, the received program data is compared with the main data detected in S14, and the common part is detected. After detecting this common part,
If the main data detected in S14 is not detected from the program data without any excess or shortage in S16, the main data is updated in S17, and the sub data for each subtitle program in the same program title is updated. Thereafter, or if the main data is detected from the program data without any excess or shortage in S16, a subtitle is detected from the program data in S19.

If no subtitle is detected in S19, it is determined in S20 whether an existing subtitle in the same program directory is a numeral. If the existing subtitle is a numeral, a value obtained by adding 1 is set as the subtitle, and the process proceeds to S23. If there is no existing subtitle or there is a subtitle but it is not a number, the number “0” is set as the subtitle, and the process proceeds to S23.
In S23, a directory having a subtitle as a name is newly created in the program directory, and the directory is converted into a structure in which the sub data is located. The sub data is composed of only information such as casters, staffs, genres, keywords, and the like. The information of the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel is, similarly to the sub data, a directory of a layer below the subtitle. Is stored in

That is, a directory for each broadcast date exists in the subtitle. If a subtitle is detected in S19, it is detected in S28 whether a directory with the same subtitle name exists in the same program title. If the same directory is detected,
The subtitle and data other than the subdata in the detection directory are detected, and information such as a broadcast date, a broadcast end time, and a broadcast channel is stored in a lower layer of the subtitle. Next, when the same directory is not detected, the processing described above is performed in S23. After these, the converted program data is stored in the program information database in S24.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the program guide information management unit, that is, the management (S6) of the program guide information of the received program information management unit of FIG. The program data is converted into a broadcast month 801, a broadcast date 802, a broadcast channel 803, and a program information directory structure 804 shown in FIG.
In S25, this is used as the program guide data structure, and the converted program guide data is stored in the program guide database in S26, and the processing is terminated. With such an information structure, it is possible to manage each program of the same title, and
Since information serving as common data in the same title is grouped together, the situation where the same data is stored in a plurality of positions is eliminated. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the cost of retrieving a program for the same title and to reduce the amount of memory used for storing the program in a storage medium.

[Broadcast Pattern Detector] Next, the broadcast pattern detector 6 of FIG. 1 will be described. When a broadcast pattern detection request is made from the missing program table information complementing unit 7 and the broadcast pattern adding unit 8 to the EPG, the broadcast pattern detection unit 6 uses the program table before the broadcast date of the target program, and Is detected. When a request for detecting a broadcast pattern is made by the special program information detection unit 9, the program table for detecting the broadcast pattern may be before or after the broadcast date.

Here, the operation of the broadcast pattern detecting section 6 will be described for the case where a program table before the broadcast date of the target program is used. The broadcast pattern detection unit 6 uses a program table before the broadcast date of the program whose broadcast pattern is to be detected in the program table database 5 and uses a broadcast pattern for each broadcast program, for example, every Tuesday, from 7:00 to 7:55 on channel 104.
A broadcast pattern of a program having the same program title, such as a program broadcasted on the PC, is detected.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the broadcast pattern detector 6. A description will be given of the broadcast pattern detecting means by taking as an example the 103 channel of this week 1403 in the program table shown in FIG. 14 and the A news 1508 broadcasted from 17:00 to 18:00 on December 8 shown in FIG. FIG. 14 shows 103 channels, 17:00.
15 is an example of a weekly program table from 18:00 to 18:00. FIG. 15 shows 103 channels from December 6 to December 9, 17:00.
It is an example of a program table from 0 to 18:00. In FIG. 13, first, in S30, the programs having the same title (A news in this example) as the target program are the days before and after the same time zone according to FIG. 15, in this example, December 7 and December 9 Does not exist in the day.

However, a program having the same program title (A news) exists in the same time zone and the same broadcast channel of last week 1402 and next week 1404. From this, in S30, it is determined that there is no identical program on days before and after the corresponding time, but there is an identical program last week or next week.
08 is determined to be a weekly broadcast program. FIG. 1
5 does not correspond to S30 for the S news 1503 from 18:00 to 19:00 on December 8,
In S31, it is determined whether the broadcast date is Monday to Thursday. In this case, S news 1502, 1503, 15
04 and 1505, since this item is applicable, S32
Proceed to.

If the condition of S31 is not satisfied, S
At 34, it is determined whether there is a target program on both weekends and weekends. If the conditions are met, the broadcast pattern is "Saturday and Sunday". You. In S32, it is determined whether the target program is also present on Friday, and the condition of S32 is satisfied according to S news 1506, and the process proceeds to S33. If the condition of S32 is not satisfied, it is determined that the broadcast pattern is “Month to Thursday”. In S33, it is determined whether or not the target program is also present on Saturday. According to S news 1507, the condition of S33 is satisfied, and the process proceeds to S36.

If the condition of S34 is not met, it is determined that the broadcast pattern is "Monday to Friday". In S36, it is determined whether the target program exists on Sunday,
According to S News 1501, the condition of S36 is met,
It is determined that the broadcast pattern is “every day”. If S
If the broadcast pattern does not meet the conditions of 36,
Soil ". By automatically detecting the broadcast pattern in this way, it is possible to automatically provide a lot of information described below by the apparatus.

[Function Using Broadcast Pattern] By using the above-mentioned broadcast pattern detection result, missing program information can be complemented, a special program, a new program, a program with a changed broadcast pattern can be detected and added to the EPG. Information can be displayed. These will be described in order.

[Missing Program Table Information Completion] The missing program table information complementing section 7 shown in FIG. 1 determines that there is an error in S2 with respect to program data for a program table having a missing program title as shown in the broadcast frame 1601 in FIG. When it is determined, the missing program guide information supplementing unit 7 estimates the program title of the program of the target broadcast frame (broadcast time, broadcast channel, broadcast program title) using the program guide database 5 and the program information database 4. Is what you do. This detects a broadcast pattern for a broadcast program in the past and future program guide database, detects a program included in a target broadcast frame, and employs the detected program title as a target broadcast frame program title. Is what you do.

This pattern detection is performed in the program table database 5
It is not necessary to perform this for all the data in the broadcast frame 1 as shown in FIG.
This is made possible by searching at least one week of data before and after the same broadcast channel 601. If a program that matches the target broadcast frame is not detected,
The program title of the target broadcast frame is inserted as “title undecided”. In addition, the fact that the broadcast frame has the detected error is transmitted to the error detection S2.

As a result, the latest program information cannot be displayed because the program table information has not been normally received, or the EPG display request has been received from the user. Due to the lack of memory, the program title could not be complemented or corrected for program table information that could not be received normally, and the program title could not be displayed until the next broadcast of EPG information was received. The solution can be made only when it cannot be done.

[Special Program Information Detecting Unit] The special program information detecting unit 9 (described in detail with reference to FIG. 19) is a program to be broadcast or
The type of the broadcasted program, the type of program, whether it is a newly started program, a special program, the broadcast time zone, and the broadcast day have been changed. Whether it is a program or not is detected. Such information detected by the special program information detection unit 9 includes a case where the program is broadcasted by data broadcasting,
May not be broadcast. For this reason, it is unclear whether such program type information is broadcast when the broadcast pattern of the program viewed by the user is changed or the like. Therefore, if the receiving device does not detect the information from the received program guide information, it is impossible to provide the user with such information on all programs.

After the new program table information is stored in the program table database 5, the special program information detecting section 9 detects the type of the program using the new program table information. Here, for example, after the received program guide data shown in FIG. 2 is received and stored in the program guide database 5, FIG.
(A) A list indicating the storage directory of the received program table data as shown in the received program table list is transmitted to the special program information detecting unit 9. An example of the received program guide list is shown in FIG.
(B).

The information detected here is stored in the EPG display unit 1
At 0, it is used as additional information for the EPG and the related program information display control unit 12 displays related program information for the viewed program. By using such a detection unit, it is possible to detect the type of a program from program table information distributed only as program table information, and broadcast time is broadcast only for some programs. It is possible to change a frame (broadcast pattern) and automatically detect a special program or a new program. Hereinafter, the management means, detection means, and display means for the special program information will be described in detail.

[Special Program Information Management Unit] FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the special program information detection unit 9. In the special program information management unit 1901, the programs displayed by the EPG display unit 10 and the related program information display control unit 12 are listed by the detection units (the special program list in FIG. 23, the new program list in FIG. 31) is detected in the changed broadcast pattern list). And if detected,
When displaying on the EPG display unit 10, the corresponding pictogram information is sent to the EPG display unit 10 from the special program pictogram database 1905 in FIG. When the related program information display control unit 12 displays the related program table 3600 in FIG. 36, the special program list in FIG. 23, the new program list in FIG. 27, the changed broadcast pattern list in FIG. From the information database 4, for example, program information having the same title as the viewed program is detected, and the related program information display control unit 1 is detected.
2 is displayed in a table format, for example, as in a related program table 3600 in FIG.

In addition, the special program information management unit 1901
The special program list detected by the special program detection unit 1902, the new program list detected by the new program detection unit 1903, and the programs stored in the changed broadcast pattern list detected by the changed broadcast pattern detection unit 1904 , For example, two weeks after the broadcast date are deleted. less than,
The special program detection unit 1902, new program detection unit 1903, and changed broadcast pattern detection unit 1904 will be described, and then the related program information display control unit 12 will be described in detail.

[Detection of Special Program] The special program detection section 1903 in FIG. 19 determines whether or not the program whose broadcast pattern could not be detected by the broadcast pattern detection section 6 is a special program. FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the special program detection unit. FIG. 21 shows an example of a program table considered in such a case. In FIG. 21, this week 2103 is the day including the special program. For a program whose broadcast pattern could not be detected by the broadcast pattern detection unit 6 (hereinafter, referred to as a target program), a specific keyword such as “special program” or “special” is included in the program title in S41 of FIG. Is determined, and if not included, the process proceeds to S42, and if included, the target program is registered in the special program list shown in FIG. 23 in S43.

The special program list of FIG. 23 is managed by, for example, a serial number 2401 as illustrated in FIG. 24, and is stored in the program information directory 2402 in the same manner as the program information directory 804 of the program table data structure shown in FIG. 10,
Information indicating a specific directory in the program information data structure of FIG. 11 is described. In S42 of FIG. 22, it is determined whether or not a keyword indicating a special program such as “special program” or “special” is included in the keyword and genre information of the target program.
3, if not included, the new program detection unit 19 in S44
03, the process moves to the changed broadcast pattern detection unit 1904 in S45.

[Detection of New Program] FIG. 26 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the new program detection unit 1903 (see FIG. 19). The new program detection unit 1903 determines whether or not the program information determined to be not a special program by the special program detection unit 1902 is a new program. This is a program in which the broadcast pattern of the program is not detected by the broadcast pattern detection unit 6 from the program guide information before the broadcast date of the target program, and is not detected by the special program detection unit 1902 as a special program. (S5)
0).

In the new program detecting section 1903, the broadcast pattern detecting section 6 detects a broadcast pattern from program table information after the broadcast date of the target program (S51). In other words, in the case of the program table illustrated in FIG. 25, the current week's program table is displayed. If the target program for determining whether the program is a new program is the S-news 2503, the last 2501 , Last week at 2502, 17: 00-1
During 8:00, A-news was broadcast with a broadcast pattern, but it is S-news in the 2503 program listings this week. For this purpose, the broadcast pattern detection unit 6
No broadcast pattern was detected for S News 03. However, program schedule information after the broadcast date of the target program, that is, here, next week's program schedule 2504 includes S news, and it is necessary to detect a broadcast pattern between the program schedules of this week 2503 and next week 2504. Is possible. By doing so, it becomes possible to detect a new program when the old program ends and the broadcast of a new program with a broadcast pattern is started.

Here, the program for which the broadcast pattern is detected is stored in the new program list of FIG. 27 (S53), and the program for which the broadcast pattern is not detected is put on hold (S52). Even if the broadcast pattern is not detected, if no program information for one week or more after the broadcast date of the target program is stored in the program table database 5 at the time of detection, the program table for one week or more is stored in the program table database 5. Is stored in a new program candidate list similar to the new program list shown in FIG. 28 for detection again. The detection of a new program with respect to the programs in the new program candidate list is performed by receiving a program table that is not stored in the program table database 5 and receiving the program table.
This is performed when a notification that a program table is newly stored is issued. The new program list (and the new program candidate list) shown in FIGS. 27 and 28 has the same structure as the special program list shown in FIGS. 23 and 24. ) Is shown as an example.

[Changed Broadcast Pattern Detector] FIG. 30 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the changed broadcast pattern detector 1904 (see FIG. 19). The changed broadcast pattern detecting unit 1904 detects (S60) from among the programs stored in the new program list (FIG. 27) that have been detected as new programs by the new program detecting unit 1903, and has the same title and the same broadcast as the target program. If there is a program in the program table before the broadcast date on the channel (S61), that is, if the changed broadcast pattern in FIG. 29 is used, A news 2 which is temporarily detected to be a new program
A program with the same title as 907 is a program table on the same broadcast channel before the broadcast date, 2901 last week and 2902 last week.
Can be detected (every Monday). In such a case, it is detected that the broadcast pattern of the program has been changed. The program whose broadcast pattern is determined to be changed is deleted from the new program list, and the changed broadcast pattern list (FIG. 31)
(S62). FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the changed broadcast pattern list.

As described above, for a program which is not detected as a special program by the special program detecting section of FIG. 22, both the new program detecting section of FIG. 26 and the changed broadcast pattern detecting section of FIG. By detecting the type of the program, it is possible to detect the type of the program even when there is little program table information after the broadcast date of the program whose type is to be detected.

It has been shown that a lot of information can be detected by storing in the above information structure, detecting a broadcast pattern, and using broadcast program information and program guide information. This can be detected without using such a method if a tag indicating a special program is described in the broadcast program table information or program information, but such information can be detected. By using a broadcast pattern, it is possible to detect information for which it is unclear whether or not it is included. In particular, it is difficult to detect a new program or a changed broadcast pattern unless it detects a broadcast pattern. Here, using these pieces of information, for example, information relating to the program being viewed is automatically detected and displayed in a table format. By using them, recording reservation, viewing reservation, and recording of the recorded program can be performed. The reproduction and the display of additional information on the broadcast of the viewed program will be described.

[Display of Related Programs in Tabular Format] FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a related program information display control unit 12 in FIG. 1. A related program information display detection unit 3310 uses a related program information detection unit 3301 to display, for example, a program having the same title as a viewed program. Detected from the database 4 and the special program list of FIG. 23, the new program list of FIG. 27, and the changed broadcast pattern list of FIG. An action or the like is detected, and the detection is performed, for example, as a list as shown in FIG.

That is, a program composed of a broadcast date, a broadcast start time, a broadcast end time, a program subtitle, a viewing behavior, and a type of a program is detected and generated as a related program list 3401. When the initial value Nil is inserted for the viewing behavior (see FIG. 12), the current date and time are compared with the scheduled broadcast date and time, and if the current date and time are past the scheduled broadcast date and time, the broadcast is ended. Conversely, if it has not passed, it will be broadcast.

As a result of inputting each item of the related program list 3401, FIG. 35 shows an example of the contents of the related program list. The type of the program differs depending on whether the program belongs to the list detected by the special program information detection unit 9,
For example, in the case of a special program, as indicated by 3502, Specia1 is added. The detected related program list 3401 is classified in the related program information display section 3302 into, for example, a viewing program 3602, a scheduled broadcast program 3603, a broadcast end program 3604, and the like as shown in a related program table 3600 in FIG. It is displayed on the display device 3320. In this way, the related program table 3600
Is displayed automatically.

A special program list stored in the special program detecting section 1902 and a changed broadcast pattern detecting section 1904
The same processing is performed for the changed broadcast pattern list detected by the above. For example, as shown in FIG. 18, a program stored in the special program list and the changed broadcast pattern list is detected and the same title program as the viewed program is detected. It is inserted into the program guide and displayed automatically. This makes it possible to obtain program information related to the viewed program irrespective of the content of the program information broadcast as additional information for the broadcast program.

Up to now, it has been shown that a lot of information can be detected and displayed for a viewing program, for example. However, these are displayed on the recording reservation apparatus again when the recording reservation is made only by displaying them as illustrated in FIG.
It becomes necessary to input numerical data such as a broadcast date and a broadcast channel. However, since the recording and playback device and the recording management system of the receiving device are separate, such a troublesome input operation has to be performed.

Further, additional information on related programs and the like differs depending on program information to be distributed. Therefore, the user has to change the operation for selecting and searching for the related program depending on the program to be viewed. In response to these problems, the special program information detection unit can detect the type of a program from program table information or the like, and display a related program table 3600 as shown in FIG. Here, in order to omit such operations, recording reservations, viewing reservations, and the like are collectively managed, and broadcast patterns and the like are detected from the received program information and program guide information, as shown in FIG. Using the related program table 3500, an interlocking system with peripheral devices and the like using them will be described.

[Tuning and Recording Reservation Using Related Program Table Displayed in Table Format] Related program information display section 3302 in FIG.
Looking at the related program table 3600 of FIG. 36 displayed by
A control signal is transmitted by a remote controller 3319 as shown in FIG. 33 and received by an operation signal receiving unit 3311,
Related program list 3 in display related information selection control section 3303
The program described in 401 is controlled. Remote control device 331
Reference numeral 9 denotes a control signal which can be used to operate a cursor 3605 for selecting each program in the related program table 3600.
312.
Move the cursor 3605 up 3313, left 331
4. A control signal for moving in the rightward direction 3315 or the downward direction 3316 is transmitted.

When the cursor 3605 is set on the selected item, the display related information display section 3303 is transmitted by pressing the selection 3317 and release key 3318 and transmitting a control signal.
, The display information and the item selected by the cursor are controlled in accordance with the selected item. If the selected program is a program that can be currently selected based on the time information at the time of selection and the broadcast time of the selected program (hereinafter, referred to as the selected program), the display-related information selection control unit 3303 sends the reception device 3304 A reception request for the broadcast channel of the selected program is transmitted.

Next, when the selected program is a broadcast scheduled program belonging to 3603, a cursor 3705 (FIG. 37)
, And then select the pop-up menu 3801 (FIG. 3).
8) is displayed, for example, recording reservation 3802, viewing reservation,
It is made possible to select cancellation or the like for canceling the pop-up menu. When a program belonging to the recording reservation is selected in 3801 in FIG. 38, the character of the recording reservation 3901 indicating that the recording reservation 3802 selected in FIG. 38 is set is displayed in the related program table as shown in FIG. Is displayed.

Next, when the recording device is a built-in type, a reservation request is sent to the built-in recording / reproducing device and recording reservation unit 3306 in FIG. A recording reservation request is made to an external recording device. If the external recording device does not have a reservation function, the built-in recording / reproducing device, the recording reservation unit 33
06, a recording reservation request is made. When a recording reservation occurs, a recording request of a recording reservation program is made via the external device control interface 3308, and information on the viewing behavior 1008 of the selected program in the program information storage device 3 indicates the recording reservation. It is changed to RecRes as shown (see FIG. 12).

Next, FIG. 36 shows a case where the program 3604 belonging to the end of the broadcast is selected, and the information of the viewing behavior 1008 of the selected program is shown in FIG.
In the case of 001, a pop-up menu 4101 shown in FIG. 41 is displayed, and reproduction of a recorded program and cancellation of the pop-up menu are selected. Also,
When the reproduction 4102 is selected, the storage medium and the recording location of the selected program are detected by referring to the recording source 1009 at the time of recording the selected program. Based on this information, if the recording source is in the built-in recording device, a reproduction request is sent to the built-in recording device reproducing device 3307. If the recording source is in the external recording device, the reproduction request is made to the external recording device via the external device control interface 3308. A request is made.

If there is no corresponding storage medium or recording place in the internal recording / reproducing apparatus 3307 or the external device control interface 3308, the internal recording / reproducing apparatus 33
07 or a message prompting the user to insert the storage medium on which the recording source is recorded into the external recording / reproducing apparatus. Thus, regardless of the content of the program information broadcast as additional information to the broadcast program, it is possible to easily select and select a related program having the same title as the viewed program, and to provide a unified user interface. To provide.

[Display on EPG] FIG. 42 and FIG.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a result of adding pictograms corresponding to each broadcast pattern using the broadcast pattern and pictogram correspondence table shown in FIG. FIG. 42 is a weekly program guide for a specific channel from December 6 to December 12, and FIG. 44 is a program guide for channels 102 to 108 on December 10. These are shown on the EPG display unit 10 in FIG.
When G is displayed, the broadcast pattern adding unit 8 to the EPG sends a request to the display EPG to detect a broadcast pattern of each broadcast program to the broadcast pattern detection unit 6, and broadcasts pictograms corresponding to the detected broadcast pattern. When detecting from the pattern pictogram database 11 and displaying the title of each program on the EPG display unit 10, for example, a picture as shown in FIG. 43 is displayed in front of the program title.

Similarly, the special program information detection unit 9
For the programs stored in the special program list, the new program list in FIG. 27, and the changed broadcast pattern list in FIG. 31, pictograms corresponding to the list in which the programs are stored are recorded in the special program pictogram database 1905 (see FIG. 19). E
When displaying the PG, the special program information detecting unit 9 detects the target program from each list, detects pictograms as illustrated in FIG. 45 from the special program pictogram database 1905, and sends them to the EPG display unit 10. I do. As a result, an EP with pictograms that allows the user to glimpse programs belonging to the special program list, the new program list, and the changed broadcast pattern list
G can also be displayed. The pictograms corresponding to the special programs are illustrated in FIG.

As a result, the broadcast pattern for each program can be grasped by the user only by glance at the broadcast pattern of the program displayed on the EPG. This makes it easier for the user to make a viewing plan for each program. Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The special program information management unit 1901 may automatically delete the new program selected by the display-related information display unit 3303 from the new program list in FIG. 27 at least once.

[0069]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, by using broadcast patterns, program information, and program guide information, even a program to which no additional information is distributed can be used as additional information. A related program table can be displayed. Further, the displayed information uses the program information and the program guide information received by the receiving device. By selecting a program in the related program guide displayed here, it is possible to perform channel selection, viewing reservation, and the like. Is possible. Therefore, even if the program information to be broadcast is displayed, the user only browses the information. However, it is possible to perform reservation, reproduction, and channel selection of the program using the information.

Also, by using a broadcast pattern,
It is also possible to supplement a program or display additional information on the EPG, which makes it easier to select a program and make a viewing plan. In addition, it is possible to provide the user with display means for related programs irrespective of the contents of program table information and program information broadcast by data broadcasting,
Furthermore, the related program using this display means is selected, selected,
It becomes possible to operate. As a result, for a broadcasted program, a user can be provided with an interface for a program that is unified in terms of display and operation, so that an easy-to-use user interface can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of each unit of a receiving device used in a program management device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of received program guide data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of received program information data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of received program table data after a detected program is deleted from the received program table data.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a received program information management unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of managing program information.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of managing program table information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a program table data structure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of program table data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a program information data structure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of program information data.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a correspondence table between viewing behavior parameters and viewing behavior.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a broadcast pattern detection unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a broadcast pattern for a specific broadcast frame on a specific day.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a program table for a specific broadcast frame for one week.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of complementing program table data.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a display example of a viewed program and a related program table for the viewed program.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a display example in which a special program or the like is added in a related program table for a viewed program.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a special program information detection unit.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a received program guide list.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of detecting a special program.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a special program detection unit.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a special program list.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a special program list.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of detecting a new program.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a new program detection unit.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of a new program list.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a new program list.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of detecting a changed broadcast pattern.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a changed broadcast pattern detection unit.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing an example of a changed broadcast pattern list.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a changed broadcast pattern list.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a related program information display control unit.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing an example of a related program list.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a related program list.

FIG. 36 is a view showing a display example of a related program table.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing an example of selecting a broadcast-scheduled program in a related program table.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing an example of viewing action selection for a broadcast-scheduled program in a related program table.

FIG. 39 is a view showing an example of a viewing action selection result for a broadcast-scheduled program in a related program table.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing an example of selecting a broadcast end program in a related program table.

FIG. 41 is a view showing an example of selection of recorded program reproduction in a related program table.

FIG. 42 is a view showing an example of a one-week program table of a specific channel to which broadcast pattern information is added.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a correspondence table between broadcast patterns and pictograms.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing an example of a program table for channels 102 to 108 to which broadcast pattern information is added.

FIG. 45 is a diagram showing an EPG display example in which pictograms for broadcast patterns and special programs are added.

FIG. 46 is a view showing a correspondence table between special programs and pictograms.

FIG. 47 is a diagram showing an example of an error in received information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 program information receiving means 2 received program information management section 3 program information storage device 6 broadcast pattern detection section 7 missing program table information supplement section 8 broadcast pattern addition section 9 special program information detection section 10 EPG display section 11 broadcast pattern pictogram database 12 Program information display control unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A program guide information obtaining means for obtaining program guide information including a program title, a broadcast channel, and a broadcast time of a broadcast program, and a program list based on the program guide information obtained by the program guide information obtaining means. A program management device comprising: a pattern detection unit that captures a broadcast pattern. 2. The program management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising program information storage means for storing common information on different broadcast programs of the same program title as common information in the same program title. 3. An information supplementing means for supplementing with the common information stored in the program information storage means when the program guide information acquired by the program information acquisition means is missing. 3. The program management device according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The program management apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a related program display control means for controlling display of a related program based on said common information stored in said program information storage means. 5. A special program comprising a program information obtaining means for obtaining program information including information on program contents, wherein the special pattern is obtained by the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detecting means and the program information obtained by the program information obtaining means. 2. The program management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a special program detection unit for detecting the program. 6. The program management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a new program detecting unit that detects a new program based on the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detecting unit. 7. The program management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changed broadcast detecting unit that detects a change in a program broadcast date and time based on the broadcast pattern captured by the pattern detecting unit.