JP2001024965A - System for selecting electronic program table - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the electronic program table of a desired date or day of the week by means of one operation of a user by providing a means for converting an input from an input means into the date or the day of the week and a means for taking-out program table data of the selected date or the day of the week from a memory. SOLUTION: The date or the day of the week of the electronic program table being display possible is retrieved by a retrieving block 9 and indicated to the user by a retrieval result display block 10. The assigned numerical keys or buttons of a remote control unit are used for selecting and displaying the program table of the desired date or day of the week in a program table display state. When the user executes the input by the assigned keys or the buttons, it is converted into the date or day of the week by a conversion block 6, the electronic program table corresponding to the date or the day of the week converted by the conversion block 6 is taken-out from a memory block 4 by a taking-out block 7 and the electronic program table of the date or day of the week desired by the user is displayed by a program table display block 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic program guide selection system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system for selecting an electronic program guide on a predetermined date or a day of the week has been known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-275077.

When an electronic program guide for a predetermined date or day of the week is desired, several key operations are required for the current date or day of the week. For example, when the electronic program guide on Friday is to be displayed on Monday, the electronic program guide on Friday can be displayed by pressing a key four times from the electronic program guide on Monday.

In some cases, an electronic program guide is displayed by selecting a desired date or day of the week from a menu. However, even with this method, a menu is displayed, selected, and determined at least three times. Operation is required.

[0005]

In such a program guide selection system, a user is required to easily display an electronic program guide on a desired date or day of the week by one operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic program guide selection system that solves the above problems.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, an electronic program guide selection system according to the present invention uses, for example, a remote control signal, a key, and a touch panel by input means capable of directly designating a date or a day of the week with a single operation. By performing the input by pressing or the input by voice recognition and displaying the electronic program guide of the input date or day, the user can quickly and easily display the electronic program guide of the desired date or day in one operation. Can be done accurately.

Further, in such a configuration, by searching for a date or a day of the week in a displayable program table and displaying the search result, the user can eliminate unnecessary input operations.

When the input means is realized by a remote control key, a date or a day of the week obtained from the search result is assigned to a numeric key of the remote control, and the user presses the assigned key in an electronic program guide display state. By displaying the electronic program guide on a desired date or day of the week, there is no need to increase the number of new remote control keys.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first invention of the present invention is a means for storing program guide data received from a broadcasting station in a memory, and an electronic device which displays a part or all of the program guide data stored in the storage means. Means for displaying a program guide, input means capable of directly designating a desired date or day of the week with one operation, means for converting the input from the input means to a date or day of the week, and a program for the selected date or day of the week An electronic program guide selection system comprising means for extracting table data from a memory, and displaying an electronic program guide of a desired date or day of the week by one operation. For example, program schedule data received from a broadcast station is stored in a memory, and a user can input a desired date or day of the week by an input means which can be directly designated by a single operation. The signal or key, the input by pressing the touch panel or the input by voice recognition, is converted to a date or day by the conversion means, and based on the converted date or day, the date or date selected from the memory by the extraction means. The program table data of the day of the week is taken out, and the display means displays the program table of the desired date or the day of the week.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for searching for a date or a day of the week in an electronic program guide which can be displayed from a memory, and means for displaying a search result by the searching means. The electronic program guide selection system described in this section is used to search for a displayable program guide date or day of the week from the memory, and display the result to enable the user to display the electronic program guide of any date or day of the week. It has the effect of indicating whether there is.

A third invention of the present invention is characterized in that the input means is operated by a remote control key, and a number key on the remote control is used to directly designate a date or a day of the week of an electronic program guide which can be displayed from a search result by the search means. A means for assigning a date or a day of the week of the search result, wherein the key assigned by the assigning means is used as a means for directly designating an electronic program guide of the date or the day of the week in a program guide display state. According to the electronic program guide selection system described in the above, from the search result, in order for the user to actually select the electronic program guide of the desired date or day of the week, directly specify the date or day of the week or a remote controller corresponding to it Assign the date or day of the week to the numeric keys. Alternatively, an electronic program guide of a desired date or day can be displayed by pressing a button.

An embodiment of the electronic program guide selection system of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic program guide selection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a receiving block for receiving television program information data superimposed on a vertical blanking interval (VBI) in a television broadcast signal; 2, a sampling block for actually extracting data from 1 input; A classification block for classifying the extracted data for each date or day of the week, 4 is a memory block for storing data, and 5 is an input by an input means capable of directly specifying the date or day of the week desired by the user at once. This input means may be anything such as a remote control signal, a key input, a touch panel input, and a voice recognition input. 6 is a conversion block for converting the input by 5 into a date or a day of the week, 7
Is a retrieval block for retrieving program guide data corresponding to the date or day of the week converted by 6; 8 is a program table display block for displaying an electronic program table; 9 is a search for a date or day of the displayable electronic program table from a memory. Is a search result display block for displaying the search result by 9, and 11 is an assignment block for allocating the search result by 9 to a key or a button. An example of the operation of the electronic program guide selection system configured as described above in the case where the input means by the user is performed by the remote control key will be described.

First, when an input is received from the receiving block 1,
The data extraction block 2 extracts data of the electronic program guide, and the extracted data is classified by the classification block 3 by date or day of the week. The memory block 4 stores electronic program guide data classified by the block 3.

Next, a search block 9 searches for a date or a day of the week in the displayable electronic program guide, and the search result display block 10 indicates the date or day. This makes it possible to eliminate unnecessary input operations for the user. Also, in order to select a desired date or day of the week using the search result, the date or day of the search result is assigned to a numeric key or button of a remote controller.

The assigned numeric keys or buttons of the remote controller are used for selecting and displaying a desired date or day of the week in the program guide display state. Then, by inputting the assigned key or button, the user converts the date or day of the week by the conversion block 6, and then extracts the electronic program guide corresponding to the date or day of the week converted by the conversion block 6 by the extraction block 7. After taking out from the memory block 4, the electronic program guide on the date or day of the week desired by the user is displayed by the program guide display block 8.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a program table display. In FIG. 2, a tag A is a program table that can be displayed by date or day of the week from a received program table, and B is a program table that is currently displayed or can be displayed. Date, day of the week, and C are constituted by keys assigned to remote control keys.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the date or the day of the week is input by means of an input means capable of directly specifying the operation by a single operation, for example, by inputting by pressing a remote control signal, a key, a touch panel, or by voice recognition. By configuring to display the electronic program guide of the input date or day of the week, an advantageous effect of enabling the user to display the electronic program guide of the desired date or day of the week with one operation is obtained.

Further, in such a configuration, by searching for a date or a day of the week in a displayable program table and displaying the result, an advantageous effect of eliminating unnecessary input operations for the user can be obtained.

In the case where the input means is realized by a remote control key, a date or a day of the week obtained from the search result is assigned to a numeric key of the remote control, and the user presses the assigned key in an electronic program guide display state. By displaying the electronic program guide on a desired date or day of the week, the advantageous effect of eliminating the need to increase the number of new remote control keys can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a program selection system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide of the program selection system according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 data reception block 2 data extraction block 3 block for classifying by date or day of week 4 memory block 5 user key input 6 block for conversion to date or day of the week 7 block for taking out program table corresponding to date or day of the week 8 program table display block 9 Search Block 10 Search Result Display Block 11 Key Assignment Block 12 Tag Showing Displayable Program Guide 13 Date or Day of Program Guide Currently Displayed or Displayed 14 Remote Control Key Assigned

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Oi 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) EA01 EB33 EB35

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A means for storing program guide data received from a broadcast station in a memory, and a means for displaying an electronic program guide displaying a part or all of the program guide data stored in the storage means. Input means capable of directly specifying the date or day of the week by a single operation, means for converting the input from the input means into a date or a day of the week, and means for extracting program guide data for the selected date or the day of the week from a memory, An electronic program guide selection system, wherein an electronic program guide of a desired date or day of the week is displayed by one operation. 2. The electronic program guide selection according to claim 1, further comprising: means for searching for a date or a day of the week in an electronic program guide that can be displayed from a memory; and means for displaying a search result by the search means. system. 3. The input means is characterized by input using a remote control key, and the date of the search result is input to a numeric key of the remote control in order to directly designate a date or a day of the week of an electronic program guide which can be displayed from the search result by the search means. 2. The electronic program guide according to claim 1, further comprising means for assigning a day of the week, wherein the key assigned by the assigning means is used as a means for directly designating an electronic program guide of a date or a day of the week in a program guide display state. Selection system.