JP2001218121A - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital broadcast receiver with a reservation function that can enhance the operability when a viewer makes program reservation with a limited memory capacity. SOLUTION: The digital broadcast receiver has a storage means for storing required and minimum information for program reservation, that is, only basic information including the channel of the program, the number to identify the program and a start/end time. The program reservation operation is started from display of an electronic program guide(EPG) (S1), and a reservation menu is displayed (S2). Then a viewer selects whether a main video image/main audio signal is forcibly received (S3). When the viewer desires forcible reception of the main video image/main audio signal, only the basic information is used for confirmation processing (S4) to complete the reservation processing (S11). When the viewer desires selection of other video image/audio signal, information other than the basic information is received and acquired, processing similar to that of a conventional receiver is conducted (S5-S10) and the reservation processing is finished (S11).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of converting video, audio, and program information into a bit stream as a digital signal.
One or a plurality of programs are multiplexed and transmitted as one stream, and the receiver extracts a desired program from the multiplexed stream and reproduces the program from the multiplexed stream. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital broadcasting system, information related to a program usually called program arrangement information is transmitted separately from video and audio. The receiver can construct a program list called an electronic program guide (EPG) using this information, and can perform program reservation processing from this EPG screen. Generally, in digital broadcasting, a plurality of images and sounds are allowed to be broadcast. Therefore, when a digital broadcast receiver performs a reservation process on a program, information on the images and sounds to be broadcast is required. First, a reservation process in a conventional digital broadcast receiver is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. At the start of the reservation operation, an EPG screen is displayed using the information stored in step 21. When the viewer selects the corresponding program, if the program is a future program, the process proceeds to step 22 in which a reservation setting operation is started. Thereafter, it is determined in step 23 whether the information of the program has been acquired or not acquired, and if not acquired, the information is acquired via step 24 of the acquisition routine. After the information is obtained, the reserved video is selected in step 25, the reserved voice is selected in step 26, the other reserved information is selected in step 27, and the reservation setting by the viewer is confirmed in step 28, At 29, the reservation setting process has been completed. As can be determined from this conventional example, since the setting operation of video and audio is always included, when information is not acquired, trouble such as waiting time for information acquisition and setting of each item occurs, and viewer's operation Properties are significantly reduced.

As another conventional reservation processing, there is a method of specifying a date and time as in a normal VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). In this reservation processing, as shown in FIG. 6, a reservation screen with date and time designation is displayed in step 31 and the operator sets the reservation date in step 32 using the reservation screen, and starts the reservation in step 33. The time is set, and the reservation end time is set in Step 34, and Step 3
After setting the reservation channel in step 5, the reservation setting by the operator is confirmed in step 36, and the reservation setting process is completed in step 37. In this reservation processing, it is necessary to set the channel to receive, the broadcast date of the program desired to be reserved, and the start / end time, and the operability is not good because the number of settings operated by the viewer is large. .

[0004]

In the digital broadcast receiver, since it is necessary to receive the program arrangement information and present it to the viewer as described above, the digital broadcast receiver obtains information required for display at the time of request, or It will be stored and stored. For this reason, if the information of the desired program is farther from the current time, for example, to display information one week ahead, it is necessary to increase the amount of memory provided in the receiver and store as much information as possible. It is necessary to sacrifice operability such as waiting for an operation until a message can be received. Increasing the amount of memory means increasing the price of the receiver. In addition, in the operation of waiting until information acquisition, especially in the setting of the reservation, the reservation setting cannot be completed unless the information of the program desired to be reserved exists in the receiver, so that the operability is poor for the viewer and improvement is desired. .

[0005] In addition, if there are a plurality of images and sounds in the acquired information, the viewer must set the selection of the main image and the auxiliary sound for each of them, which is an increase in the setting procedure unique to digital broadcasting. There are also new operability issues. Accordingly, a main object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver with a reservation function, which can improve operability when a viewer reserves a program despite using a limited capacity memory. Is to do.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and a first technical means for achieving the object is to provide a digital broadcast receiving a digital broadcast in which supplementary information for a program is transmitted. In a broadcast receiver, storage means for storing only basic information including at least a channel on which a program is broadcast, a number for identifying a program, and a start / end time, and other storage means for a program corresponding to the stored basic information. And receiving display means for receiving and acquiring the information later and displaying the information.

The second technical means is a digital broadcasting receiver of the first technical means, wherein the first reservation means for reserving the program using only the basic information, It is characterized by comprising a second reservation means for reserving a program and a selection means for selecting one of the first and second reservation means.

A third technical means is the digital broadcast receiver according to the first technical means, characterized in that the digital broadcast receiver has a reservation means for reserving the program using only the basic information.

A fourth technical means is the digital broadcast receiver according to the first technical means, wherein the basic information has information indicating whether the program is a paid program or a free program, and only the basic information is stored. The reserving means for reserving the relevant program by using the program receives the necessary information only when the relevant program is a pay program and makes a reservation.

(Operation) According to the present invention, a maximum number of program information can be stored according to the memory capacity of the digital broadcast receiver, so that a reservation function that effectively uses the memory capacity can be realized. Become. Furthermore, if the user wants to reserve the main video and main audio for the stored program, the viewer can end the reservation operation without repeating many selections and the like. Conversely, even when the main / sub video and audio are present, if the setting on the main side is sufficient, the user is not required to select each setting item, so that a reservation setting function with good operability can be provided to the viewer. .

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. One of the reasons for acquiring information about the program in digital broadcast program reservation is that the number of video and audio that make up the program is indicated to the viewer, and the viewer is asked to select which of them is selected. It's up to the decision. Therefore, information related to video and audio is acquired, but the number of video and audio constituting a program is determined for each program, and it is generally not possible to expect regularity. Therefore, a memory configuration is usually set so that the broadcaster broadcasting the program can store the maximum number of transmissions of video and audio based on the operation rules. For this reason, video and audio
For example, when there is a possibility that a maximum of four transmissions may be performed, a total of eight areas are prepared in order to acquire video and audio information. With this information configuration, storing program information increases a useless area, so that only the memory capacity is increased.

However, most viewers actually want to make reservations for the main video and main audio that make up the program, and rarely want to make reservations for sub-videos and sub-audios. Information on the broadcast start time of a program as performed in a normal VCR is transmitted in digital broadcasting. In other words, in order to increase the operability set by the viewer, the time information is transmitted,
It is the best operability that the setting of what constitutes a program such as audio is provided only when the viewer deems it necessary.

Therefore, the function of forcibly reserving only the main video and main audio without obtaining the video and audio information and the function of obtaining the video and audio information and allowing the viewer to select them are divided. If the program information is to be stored and stored as much as possible according to the memory capacity of the receiver based on the channel on which the program is broadcast, the program identifier, and the broadcast start and end date and time, Main video,
If it is desired to make a program reservation with the main audio, it is possible to make a reservation setting only with the stored basic information. In addition, if the user wants to make a program reservation with sub-pictures and sub-audios, it is necessary to obtain information necessary for making a reservation again. However, this cannot be a serious problem in view of the rate of reservation.

Therefore, the present invention has a storage means for storing only the minimum information necessary for the reservation. In the reservation setting function of the viewer, the function for forcibly reserving the main video and the main audio, the video, The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver characterized in that a function of making a reservation after acquiring audio information is prepared to improve operability for a viewer.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital broadcast receiver. A digitally-modulated signal is input to the digital broadcast receiver, demodulated and error-corrected by the tuner 1, and output in the form of a normal MPEG transport stream. If the transport stream output from the tuner 1 is a scrambled pay broadcast signal, the descrambler 2 descrambles the transport stream to return to the original signal.
The descrambled transport stream extracts necessary signals with a demux (DEMUX) 3, decodes the signals with a video / audio decoder 4, and outputs video and audio outputs. The tuner 1, the descrambler 2, the demux 3, and the video / audio decoder 4 are connected to the CPU 5 by a control bus, and similarly connected to the memory 6, the IC card control unit 7, and the modem control unit 8 by the control bus. Are each controlled by the CPU 5.

The CPU 5 controls the extraction of the transmitted program sequence information from the demux 3. Since the extracted program sequence information includes header information and the like necessary for transmission, it is processed into an information form actually required by the receiver and stored in the memory 6. If the memory 6 has an infinite capacity, it is possible to hold all the transmitted information in the form as it is, but in practice, only a memory having a finite capacity in consideration of the price of the receiver and the like. I can't have it. Therefore, as a usage of the capacity of the memory 6, for example, when the information to be stored is EPG data,
At the expense of the number of days that can be displayed, that is, all information for one day is stored, and the information after that must be obtained at the request of the viewer.

In the case of such a configuration, it is affected by a retransmission cycle of information requested by a viewer. If this retransmission cycle is short, the stress on the display waiting time of the viewer is not a problem because the time until information is acquired and displayed is short, but if the retransmission cycle is long, the viewer will have a long time until display, You will feel great stress. Therefore, according to the present invention, instead of reducing the number of days in which all the information can be stored and displayed at an instant, the channel and the program for broadcasting the program from the table of the program information extracted from Demax 3 according to the capacity that can be stored in the memory. The CPU 5 processes the basic information into as few items as possible, such as the start and end times of the program, and stores it in the memory 6. Then, information other than the basic information is configured to be acquired at the request of the viewer. As a result, the number of days and programs that can be displayed at an instant can be increased, and the stress of simply waiting without displaying anything in response to a viewer's request can be reduced.

An embodiment of the reservation processing in the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The reservation operation is started from the program display by the EPG. EP using basic information stored in step 1
The procedure from the G display to the display of the reservation screen by the program selection in step 2 is the same as the conventional one. Thereafter, in step 3, the viewer selects whether or not to receive the main video / main audio forcibly, and as a result of this processing, the viewer forcibly receives the main video / main audio.
If the user selects to receive the main voice, the reservation process is completed in step 1 only by confirming and setting the reservation method in step 4. In step 3, the video desired by the viewer,
If it is desired to select a voice, step 23 of the conventional example shown in FIG.
The same processing as the processing of steps 28 to 28 is performed. In step 5, it is determined whether the information of the program has been acquired or not acquired. If not, the information is acquired via step 6 of the acquisition routine. After acquiring the information, select the reserved video in step 7,
In step 8, a reservation voice is selected, in step 9, other reservation information is selected, in step 10, confirmation processing of the reservation setting by the viewer is performed, and in step 11, the processing ends. As described above, when the viewer forcibly selects the main video / main audio, the operation of acquiring information and setting each item can be omitted, and operability can be improved.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a reservation process in which selection of video and audio is omitted. In this reservation process, after the reservation setting screen launching step 2, there is only a step 4 for confirming the reservation setting and a step 11 for ending the reservation setting, so that the reservation operation is simple and the operability can be remarkably improved. .

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a program reservation process in a digital broadcast receiver which additionally has, as basic information, information for determining whether the program is paid or free. It is characterized in that it has a step 12 of determining whether a broadcast is a pay broadcast or a free broadcast when setting a reservation. When the broadcast is a free broadcast, only the reservation setting confirmation processing is performed in step 4 and the reservation processing ends in step 11. When the broadcast is a pay broadcast, as in the embodiment shown in FIG.
This is to make the determination of whether reservation is possible more accurately.
It goes without saying that this step can be added to the flowcharts of FIGS.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the maximum number of program information can be stored according to the memory capacity of the digital broadcast receiver, so that a reservation function using the memory capacity effectively can be realized. Also, compared to the conventional digital broadcast receiver reservation setting operation, the number of viewers can be reduced, and the waiting time for information reception when unnecessary can be reduced,
It is possible to improve the operability of the viewer regarding program reservation. Also, if the user wants to reserve the main video and main audio for the stored program, the viewer can perform the reservation operation without repeating many selections and the like. Furthermore, in the reservation operation of a pay program, since the reservation process is performed using other information other than the basic information, a careful operation can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a program reservation setting process of the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a different program reservation setting process of the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing still another program reservation setting process of the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a conventional program reservation setting process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a different program reservation setting process in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... tuner, 2 ... descrambler, 3 ... DEMUX,
4 video and audio decoder, 5 CPU, 6 memory, 7
... IC card controller, 8 ... Modem controller

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A digital broadcast receiver for receiving a digital broadcast in which supplementary information on a program is transmitted, stores and stores only basic information including at least a channel on which the program is broadcast, a program identification number, and a start / end time. A digital broadcast receiver comprising: a storage unit for storing the information; and a reception display unit for later receiving and acquiring and displaying other information on the program corresponding to the basic information stored and stored. 2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein a first reservation means for reserving the program using only the basic information, and a second reserving means for reserving the program by receiving the other information. A digital broadcasting receiver, comprising: a reservation unit of (1), and a selection unit for selecting one of the first and second reservation units. 3. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising a reservation unit for reserving the program using only the basic information. 4. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the basic information includes information indicating whether the program is a paid program or a free program, and the program is reserved using only the basic information. The digital broadcasting receiver, wherein the reservation means performs the reservation by receiving necessary information only when the program is a pay program.