JP2002320167A - On-vehicle digital broadcast receiver and method of displaying program guide thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a program which ends, before a user reaches his destination, to be recognized easily. SOLUTION: Multiplexed program guide information is extracted from digital broadcast receiving signals and stored, data which specify the time a user to reach his destination from a navigation side are acquired, and when a program guide information is requested to be displayed, programs which end before the user reaches his destination are searched; the programs are displayed on a program guide display as they are distinguished from the others (1), or programs will start from this time forth and end before the user reaches his destination are searched; and the programs are displayed on a program guide display as they are distinguished from the others (2), or the programs which are searched in steps (1) and (2) and whose categories conform to a user's preferences are displayed on a program guide display, being made distinguishable from others (3).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle digital broadcast receiver and a program guide display method therefor, and more particularly, to an on-vehicle digital broadcast receiver for identifiably displaying a program that ends broadcasting before reaching a destination. And a program guide display method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In CS satellite digital broadcasting and CATV digital broadcasting, video / audio information and program arrangement information SI (Service) of a plurality of programs using the MPEG-2 TS (MPEG-2 transport stream) format as a logical format are used.
Information) is multiplexed and transmitted to a digital broadcast receiving terminal installed at home via a network, and the subscriber receives the multiplexed signal at the receiving terminal and enjoys a desired program. The program includes a digital television broadcast program and a digital audio broadcast program, and the program arrangement information selects and decodes a desired program from a plurality of programs (programs) multiplexed in the MPEG-2 TS format. There are various tables necessary for reproduction.

FIG. 4 is a table showing the correspondence between the names of various tables constituting the program arrangement information SI, the packet identifiers PID, and the table IDs. The tables include (1) PAT (Program Association Table), and (2) CAT (Conditional Access). (Table) (3) PMT (Program Map Table) (4) NIT (Network Information Table) (5) SDT (Service Description Table) (6) BAT (Bouquet Association Table) (7) EIT (Event Information Table) (8) TDT (Time Date Table) (9) RST (Running Status Table) (10) ST (Stuffing Table).

The first four tables PAT, CAT, PMT, NIT
Is a table defined by a ministerial ordinance and is called program specification information PSI (Program Specific Information). The outline of the functions of these tables is as follows. That is, (1) PAT designates the packet identifier (PID) of the TS packet transmitting the table PMT describing the configuration of each broadcast program, and (2) CAT designates the related information of pay broadcasting (decoding the scrambled program). (3) PMT transmits each coded signal (video signal, audio signal, etc.) that composes a broadcast program. One that specifies the identifier of the TS packet, (4) NIT transmits information that associates transmission path information such as the modulation frequency with the broadcast program, and (5) SDT is the name of the organization channel, the name of the broadcaster, etc. (6) BAT is the name of the bouquet (set of the organization channels), and indicates the information about the bouquet, such as the included channels, (7) EIT
Indicates information about the program, such as the program name, broadcast date and time, and a description of the contents of the program. (8)
TDT indicates the current date and time, (9) RST indicates the current progress status of the program, and (10) ST is a table indicating invalidation of the table.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the hierarchical data structure of MPEG-2 TS PSI. The PAT (Program Association Table) is transmitted as a packet with a packet identifier PID = 0, and a table PMT (Progra
m Map Table) indicates the PID of the TS packet. The figure shows that the identifier of the packet transmitting the PMT of the program (program) i is PID = Mi, and the identifier of the packet transmitting the PMT of the program j is PID = Mj. PMT indicates an identifier PID of a packet transmitting a video stream or an audio stream constituting a program. An identifier of a packet transmitting a video stream of the program i is PID = Vi, and an identifier of a packet transmitting an audio stream is PID = Ai, and the identifier of the packet transmitting the video stream of program j is
PID = Vj, which indicates that the identifier of the packet transmitting the audio stream is PID = Aj.

In such digital broadcasting, an electronic program guide is used.
(Electronic Program Guide: EPG) displays a broadcast program of each channel and allows a desired program to be selected. The EPG data is the program arrangement information SI (Service Informat
ion) and has the contents shown in FIG. EPG
To perform a program guide display using data, (1) request the EPG screen display by operating the key / remote control during the normal screen display, and (2) send the EP from the normal screen as shown in FIG.
Switching to the G dedicated screen, (3) scrolling the EPG dedicated screen as appropriate to recognize the program arrangement, and, if necessary, displaying a digest of the desired program or selecting the desired program as a received program, (4) Return to the normal screen by the return operation.

[0007]

In the prior art, EP
In order to provide G data to the user, an EPG screen is created based on the program arrangement information transmitted from the broadcast station side, and the EPG screen and the digest screen are displayed and provided to the user according to the user operation. It did not create and display EPG screens in cooperation with other devices. For this reason, when the digital broadcast receiver is used in a vehicle cabin, there is a concern that the conventional EPG screen providing method may dissatisfy the user in a predetermined situation. For example, the user is traveling to a specific destination, which is a car, and it takes a certain time (for example, about one hour) to reach the destination.
Under such circumstances, the user selects a program from the EPG screen, and the program is longer than the specified time (for example, 1 hour or more).
, The user arrives at the destination during the broadcast of the program, and the user cannot view the selected program to the end. To avoid this, a program that ends before the arrival time must be selected. As an example, it is assumed that the vehicle is currently moving to the destination by car, and the time is 14:00. It will take about one hour to reach the destination.
In such a case, on the EPG screen display of FIG. 7, in order to search for a program that can be viewed without interruption before reaching the destination, it is necessary to stare at the screen. It is inconvenient because it cannot be sought.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to avoid the problems of the prior art and to make it possible to easily recognize a program whose broadcasting ends before reaching a destination. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily recognize a program whose broadcast starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily recognize a program which is a favorite program of a user and which ends broadcasting before reaching a destination.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver for displaying a digital broadcast program guide and a program guide display method therefor, which extracts program guide information multiplexed on a digital broadcast reception signal. And accumulate,
When data for specifying the destination arrival time is obtained from the navigation side and the program guide information display is requested, (1) a program whose broadcast ends before the destination arrival time is obtained, and the program is displayed in the program guide display. Displayed so that it can be distinguished from other programs,
Alternatively, (2) a program whose program broadcast starts after the current time and whose program broadcast ends before the destination arrival time is obtained, and the program is displayed in the program guide display so as to be distinguishable from other programs, or 3) The program of (1) or (2), whose category matches the category of the user's preference, is displayed so as to be distinguishable from other programs. In this way, it is possible to easily recognize and select a program whose broadcast ends before reaching the destination. Also, it is possible to easily recognize and select a program that starts broadcasting after the current time and ends broadcasting before the destination arrival time. In addition, the user can easily recognize and select a program whose broadcast ends before reaching the destination or a program which starts broadcasting after the current time and ends broadcasting before the arrival time of the destination and which the user likes. can do.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (A) Outline of the Present Invention FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the present invention, showing an EPG screen displayed in place of a normal display screen in response to an EPG screen display request. E
When the PG screen display is requested, an expected time of arrival at the destination is obtained from a navigation device (not shown), and (1) a program that ends broadcasting before the destination arrival time (first reference clear program) or (2) ) A program whose program broadcast starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time (second reference clear program) is obtained, and the program is displayed on the EPG screen so as to be distinguishable from other programs (for example, inverted). indicate.

It is assumed that the vehicle is currently moving to the destination by car, the current time is 14:00, and it takes about one hour to reach the destination. Under such circumstances, in the EPG display of FIG. 1, programs P1 and P2 that can be viewed without interruption during the program broadcast start after the current time and arrive at the destination
Is searched and highlighted. As a result, a desired program can be identified at a glance, and program selection becomes easy. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the second reference clear program is displayed in reverse video, the first reference clear program can also be searched and displayed in reverse video. In this case, the soccer program of channel 3 is also displayed in reverse video. . Also, the category set by the user or the category specified from the past viewing history is regarded as the user's favorite category, and the first or second reference clear program, which is the category matching the category desired by the user, is considered. Highlight only the program. In this way, it is possible to easily find a program that the user really wants to watch and that ends broadcasting before arriving at the destination.

(B) Digital Broadcast Receiver FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the digital broadcast receiver, in which 11 is an antenna, 12 is a BS converter, and 13 is a tuner pack (B
S tuner), 14 is a demodulation / decoding section, 15 is a deinterleave / descramble section, 16 is a Reed-Solomon decoding section, 17 is an MPEG separation section, 18 is a video decoding section, 19 is an audio decoding section, and 20 is EPG data / decoding section. Basic data decoding unit, 21 is an image output unit, 22 is an audio output unit, 23
Denotes a control unit, 24 denotes an operation / display unit, 25 denotes an EPG image creation unit, and 51 denotes a navigation device.

The BS converter 12 converts a signal in the 12 GHz band to 1 GHz.
The signal is converted into a band BS-IF signal and supplied to a BS tuner at a required level. A tuner pack (BS tuner) 13 performs tuning control and quadrature detection based on a tuning command. The demodulation / decoding section 14 demodulates and decodes the interleaved / scrambled transmission data from the baseband signal output from the tuner, and the deinterleave / descramble section 15 de-interleaves and descrambles the input data. The Reed-Solomon decoding unit 16 performs error detection and correction processing on the input data to decode / output high-efficiency coded data (MPEG data), and the MPEG separation unit 17 outputs MPEG video data / MPEG audio data and EPG of the program selected by the user. Output data and basic data separately. The video decoding unit 18 decodes the MPEG video data, inputs a video signal to the image output unit 21, and
Decodes the MPEG audio data into PCM audio data, converts it into an analog audio signal, and inputs the analog audio signal to the audio output unit 22. The EPG data / basic data decoding unit 20 decodes the EPG data / basic data and controls the control unit 2
Enter 3

The control unit 23 includes a CPU 23a, a program memory (ROM) 23b for storing various programs, a data memory (RAM) 23c for storing data, a communication interface 23d, and the like. The BS tuner 13, the MPEG separation unit 17, Operation / display unit 24, navigation device 51
Etc. are connected. The operation / display unit 24 includes a display unit 24
a, an operation unit 24b. The operation unit 24b includes a program selection key PSK, an EPG screen display request key ERK, and a category setting key C.
SK, a digest screen display request key DGK, and the like are provided. The control unit 23 transmits the user tuning information to the BS tuner 1
3 and the received program information (P
ID) is input to the MPEG separation unit 17. Also, the control unit 23
It can communicate with the navigation device 51 via the communication interface 23d, and obtains an expected arrival time to the destination or a required time to the destination by a request. Further, the control unit 23 accumulates EPG data input from the EPG data / basic data decoding unit 20, creates EPG screen information in response to an EPG screen display request from the operation / display unit 24, and sends the EPG screen information to the EPG image creation unit 25. input. The EPG screen information includes data for reversely displaying a program whose program broadcast starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time. The EPG image creation unit 25 creates an EPG screen (see FIG. 1) including guide information of all programs and all channels using the EPG screen information input from the control unit 23, and inputs the EPG screen to the image output unit 21.

(C) Program Display Processing FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a program display processing according to the present invention. During digital broadcast reception, the control unit 23 controls the EPG / basic data decoding unit 2
It is checked whether EPG data of one program has been received by referring to the input information from 0 (step 101). If received, the EPG data is stored (step 102), and it is checked whether an EPG screen display request has been made. (Step 1
03) If not, return to the beginning and wait for reception of the EPG data of the next program. If there is an EPG screen display request, the navigation device 51 is inquired of the destination arrival time, and the destination arrival time is obtained (step 104). Next, the current time is obtained from the timer (step 105), and a program whose program broadcasting starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time is obtained (step 106). Then, EGP screen information is created using the EGP data of each stored program, and the data for instructing the inversion of the program obtained in step 106 is included in the EPG image creating unit 25 by including the EGP screen information.
(Step 107). Figure 1 shows the EPG image creation unit
As shown in (1), an EPG image is created, input to the image output unit 21, and displayed (step 108). At this time, step 1
The programs P1 and P2 obtained in step 06 are highlighted. As a result, the user can easily recognize a program whose program broadcasting starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time.

(D) Modified Example In the above, a program (second reference clear program) in which program broadcasting starts after the current time and ends before the destination arrival time is obtained in step 106 and inverted and displayed. However, in step 106, a program (first reference clear program) whose program broadcasting ends before the destination arrival time can be obtained and displayed in reverse video. Further, a category set by the user or a category having a large number of viewings from the past viewing history is set as a user's favorite category, and the first or second standard clear program is selected in step 106 in FIG. It is also possible to search for a program that matches a favorite category and highlight only the program.
In the above description, the display is distinguished from the others by reverse display. However, the display can be distinguished from the others by changing the display color of the corresponding portion, blinking, or making some change. Can also be performed.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the EGP screen display, a program whose broadcasting ends before reaching the destination is displayed in an identifiable manner, so that the program can be easily recognized and selected. Further, according to the present invention, a program that starts broadcasting after the current time and ends broadcasting before the arrival time at the destination is displayed in an identifiable manner, so that the program can be easily recognized and selected. Further, according to the present invention, only a program whose broadcasting ends before reaching the destination or a program which starts broadcasting after the current time and ends broadcasting before the arrival time of the destination and which is the user's favorite program Are displayed in an identifiable manner, the program can be easily recognized and selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an EPG screen display of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a digital broadcast receiver.

FIG. 3 is a program display processing flow of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a correspondence table of names of various tables constituting the program arrangement information SI, packet identifiers PID, and table IDs.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a hierarchical data structure of MPEG-2 TS PSI.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of EPG data.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a program guide technique using an EPG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11. Antenna 12. BS converter 13. Tuner pack (BS tuner) 14. Demodulation / decoding section 15. Deinterleave / descrambling section 16. Reed-Solomon decoding section 17. MPEG separation section 18. Video decoding unit 19 Audio decoding unit 20 EPG data / basic data decoding unit 21 Image output unit 22 Audio output unit 23 Control unit 24 Operation / display unit 25 EPG image creation unit

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C025 AA30 BA25 BA27 BA28 CA02 CA09 CB09 DA01 DA05 DA07 5C063 AA01 AB03 AB07 AC01 AC10 CA23 CA29 CA36 DA03 DA07 DA13 EA01 EB33 EB37 EB45 5K061 AA09 BB06 BB17 DD00

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A program guide display method for an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver for displaying a program guide of a digital broadcast, comprising: extracting and accumulating program guide information multiplexed on a digital broadcast reception signal; Acquires data specifying the arrival time, and when a program guide information display is requested, finds a program that ends broadcasting before the destination arrival time, and displays the program in the program guide display so that it can be distinguished from other programs A program guide display method for an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver. 2. A program that starts broadcasting after the current time and ends broadcasting before the destination arrival time, and displays the program in a program guide display so as to be distinguishable from other programs. A method for displaying a program guide for a vehicle-mounted digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1. 3. A category set by the user or a category specified from a past viewing history is set as a user's favorite category, and the program to be identifiably displayed has a category that matches the user's favorite category. 3. The method for displaying a program guide of an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein 4. An in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver for displaying a program guide of a digital broadcast, a program guide information extracting means for extracting and accumulating program guide information multiplexed on the digital broadcast received signal, Means for acquiring data for specifying the arrival time, means for requesting the display of program guide information, when the display of the program guide information is requested, the program whose broadcast ends before the destination arrival time is obtained from the stored program guide information. An in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver comprising: a program search means for searching; and a display means for displaying the searched program in a program guide display so as to be distinguishable from other programs. 5. A category setting means for setting a category desired by the user, wherein the program search means searches for a program whose broadcasting ends before the arrival time at the destination and which is in a category desired by the user. The in-vehicle digital broadcast receiver according to claim 4, wherein: