JP2003219332A - Program reservation apparatus and method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program reservation apparatus allowing a user to make program reservation even from a place much apart from the apparatus such as a visit place and capable of realizing efficient program reservation by realizing voice interaction between the user and the program reservation apparatus via a public line network. <P>SOLUTION: The program reservation apparatus 104 makes program reservation on the basis of voice entered from a telephone set 101 via the public line network 102 and includes an interaction generating section 109 for controlling a voice synthesis section 107 for generating a synthesis voice and a voice recognition section 108 for recognizing the received voice to introduce information with respect to the program reservation and acquires electronic program information of the reservation object and for a retrieving key on the basis of the information with respect to the program reservation obtained under the control of the interaction generating section 109. Then an electronic program information retrieving section 114 retrieves the electronic program information corresponding to the retrieving key on the basis of the acquired searching key. Then a program reservation data generating section 115 generates the program reservation data on the basis of the searched electronic program information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to electronic program information (EP
The present invention relates to a program reservation device by voice recognition using G = Electronic Programming Guide), a method thereof, and a program. In particular, the present invention relates to a program reservation device, a method, and a program for reserving a program by a voice conversation using a voice and a push tone signal with a user connected by a telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the start of digital broadcasting, the number of television programs that a user can select has increased dramatically. Along with this, from the conventional distribution / provision of program information only on paper, what is called electronic program information has been distributed. If this electronic program information is used, it is possible to search for the target program information using electronic search, and televisions and tuners that support this have already been announced. Many of the products currently on the market display electronic program information on a television screen and allow a user to select program information using a device such as a mouse or a television remote controller.

There is also proposed a technique for interactively retrieving target program information using a voice recognition / voice synthesis technique (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-250575). Since voice recognition excels in the task of selecting one from a large number of candidates, it is compatible with program information retrieval. Therefore, products that have the function of program reservation / program selection that uses voice recognition,
It is expected to be more likely to be adopted in the market.

[0004]

In the conventionally proposed program reservation apparatus using voice dialogue (speech recognition, voice synthesis), the user is in front of the program reservation apparatus or a device such as a microphone / TV remote controller. , It is required to make a speech regarding program reservation. Therefore, when the user forgets the recording reservation and goes out, for example, it is not possible to have a voice conversation with the program reservation device from the destination via the telephone line.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and realizes a voice dialogue between a user and a program reservation device via a public line network, so that the user can go to a remote place such as a place to go. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program reservation device, a method thereof, and a program capable of realizing program reservation even from the above.

Further, since the voice transmitted to the program reservation device via the telephone line has a narrow band and a small amount of information can be transmitted, the voice recognition rate may be low. In particular, it is expected that it will be very difficult to recognize continuous numbers such as broadcasting time and channel numbers such as "ichiji" and "shichiji".
Therefore, in the present invention, the voice input and the push tone signal input are used together, and it is possible to realize more effective program reservation.

[0007]

A program reservation device according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration.
That is, a program reservation device for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone via a public network, a voice synthesizing means for creating a synthetic voice, and a voice recognizing means for recognizing the input voice. An electronic program to be reserved based on the dialogue generation means for controlling the voice synthesis means and the voice recognition means to derive information on the program reservation, and the information on the program reservation obtained by the control of the dialogue generation means. Information and an acquisition unit for acquiring a search key for searching, a search unit for searching for electronic program information corresponding to the search key based on the search key acquired by the acquisition unit, and a search unit searched for by the search unit. Creating means for creating program reservation data based on the electronic program information.

[0008] Further, preferably, it further comprises detection means for detecting a push tone signal output from the telephone.

Further preferably, the detecting means detects a push tone signal indicating that the creating means is instructed to be executed.

Further, preferably, the detecting means detects a push tone signal representing an instruction to re-execute the voice synthesizing means.

Further, preferably, the detecting means detects the push tone signal sequence as a channel number or a broadcast time.

Further, preferably, the detecting means detects the push tone signal sequence as a recognition candidate number assigned to an electronic program information candidate.

Further, preferably, the detecting means operates during the input of the voice.

Further, preferably, the dialogue generation means is
When the voice recognition result of the voice recognition unit and the detection result of the detection unit are different, the detection result of the detection unit is used as the information regarding the program reservation.

Further, preferably, the detecting means operates while outputting the synthetic sound.

[0016] Further, preferably, a network connected to a plurality of program reservation clients each having a program recording device, and holding means for holding user data for specifying each of the plurality of program reservation clients,
It further comprises an authentication means for authenticating a user who requests access to the program reservation device via the telephone, based on the user data.

[0017] Preferably, it further comprises a transmitting means for transmitting the program reservation data to the program reservation client.

A program reservation method according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, a program reservation method for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone via a public line network, which is a voice synthesizing step of creating a synthetic voice, and a voice recognizing step of recognizing the input voice. And a dialogue generation step of deriving information regarding program reservation by controlling the voice synthesis step and the voice recognition step,
Based on the information about the program reservation obtained by the control of the dialog generation step, based on the acquisition step of acquiring the electronic program information of the reservation target and the search key for searching, based on the search key acquired in the acquisition step, A search step of searching electronic program information corresponding to the search key, and a creating step of creating program reservation data based on the electronic program information searched in the search step.

A program according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, a program for causing a computer to perform a program reservation for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone through a public line network, and a program code of a voice synthesizing step for creating a synthetic sound, A program code of a voice recognition step for recognizing an input voice, a program code of a dialogue generation step for deriving information on a program reservation by controlling the voice synthesis step and the voice recognition step, and control of the dialogue generation step. The program key of the acquisition step for acquiring the electronic program information of the reservation target and the search key for searching based on the information about the program reservation obtained by the search key, and the search key based on the search key acquired in the acquisition step. To the program code of the search step for searching the electronic program information corresponding to the above and the electronic program information searched in the search step. Zui by, and a program code generation step of generating a program reservation data.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a broadcast program reservation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast programs described in the present invention are programs provided by various broadcasts such as television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, BS / CS broadcasts and the like.

In FIG. 1, the broadcast program reservation device 104.
(Hereinafter, the reservation device) interacts with the user via voice,
Program reservation data 116 for reserving the program requested by the user is generated. The program reservation data 116 is transmitted to an external program recording device 117 (a general-purpose video recorder or a personal computer / set-top box having a video recording function), and the program recording device 117 is based on the program reservation data 116. Records the program specified by the program reservation data.

The reservation device 104 is connected to the telephone 101 (fixed telephone or mobile telephone) via the public line network 102. The user can access the reservation device 104 using the telephone 101. Electronic program information (EPG: Electronic Pro) used by the reservation device 104
The gramming guide) 113 is an electronic program information receiving unit 112.
Is acquired from an external terminal (not shown) such as a server on the external network 103. The electronic program information 113 may be updated in real time or at regular intervals such as once a day. An example of electronic program information used in the present invention will be described later.

The telephone 101 has a group of buttons that a normal telephone having at least numeric buttons "0" to "9" and "*" and "#" buttons has.

At one end of the public line network 102, the reservation device 10
4 is connected to the voice input / output unit 105. Here, voice input / output is performed via the public line network 102. Here, the input voice is, in addition to vocalization,
There is also the possibility of standardized voice signals such as push tone signals.

The push tone detection unit 106 is used by the telephone 1
01 detects the push tone signal output by the telephone 1
Which push button 01 is pressed is determined. The voice synthesizing unit 107 uses a well-known voice synthesizing technique to convert the designated text data containing kanji and kana into a voice waveform. The voice recognition unit 108 analyzes the input voice data by using a known voice recognition technique,
The speech recognition result is output by comparing with the recognition grammar data created from the electronic program information 113. The creation of the recognized vocabulary using the electronic program information 113 will be described later. The voice recognition result is the electronic program information search key addition unit 11
1 is stored in the electronic program information search key buffer 110 as an electronic program information search key.

The dialogue generation unit 109 controls the push tone detection unit 106, the voice synthesis unit 107, and the voice recognition unit 108 to provide a UI for deriving the electronic program information requested by the user through an appropriate dialogue process. .

For example, when the voice recognition result is “8 channel 9 o'clock drama program”, the dialogue generation unit 109 uses the currently stored electronic program information search key (for example, 8 channel 9 o'clock drama). Use, electronic program information search unit 1
14 is requested to retrieve electronic program information. When the result of the electronic program information search is not uniquely determined, the dialogue generation unit 109 generates a response sentence that prompts the user for another search key. Such a dialogue is repeated, and when the search result becomes the only one in all the electronic program information, the program reservation data generation unit 115 creates the program reservation data, and the dialogue ends.

The reservation device 104 is a standard component (for example, CPU, RAM, etc.) mounted on a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a workstation.
ROM, hard disk, external storage device, network interface, display, keyboard, mouse, etc.). Further, for various functions realized by the reservation device 104 described below, a program stored in the ROM inside the reservation device 104 or an external storage device is a CPU.
May be realized by being executed by
It may be realized by dedicated hardware.

When the program recording device 117 is realized by a general-purpose computer, like the reservation device 104,
Standard components installed in the general-purpose computer (eg, CPU, RAM, ROM, hard disk,
External storage device, network interface, display, keyboard, mouse, etc.).

Next, the electronic program information 113 is shown in FIG.
Will be explained.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of electronic program information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The electronic program information 201a, 2 shown in FIG.
01b is a unique format specialized for voice recognition.

Here, the electronic program program information 201a will be described. The electronic program information 201a has a slot name 202 including a "program name", a "channel number", a "genre", a "broadcast time", and a "cast", and a slot value 203 corresponding to the slot name. There may be a plurality of "cast" slots, or none. For the slot value of each slot, read 204 and read 2
05 is managed, and voice recognition is performed by comparing the reading 205 with the input voice.

The program title, performers, etc. may be uttered by abbreviations or aliases such as "Pokemon" as "Pokemon". In order to absorb this, a plurality of readings 205 for the slot value notation 204 can be provided, and the reading 205 for the supposed utterance is configured in the notation 205. Abbreviations and aliases may be newly generated due to the influence of the fashion of the times,
It is desirable to include it in the electronic program information 113.

Next, the recognition grammar data incorporating the electronic program information used by the voice recognition unit 108 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of recognition grammar data incorporating electronic program information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In general speech recognition processing, the input speech is compared with a phoneme sequence (template) in the recognition grammar,
The recognition result is the one with the highest likelihood. In the present invention, the template in which the vocabulary of the electronic program information 113 is embedded is used as the recognition grammar data. The recognition grammar data may be managed inside the voice recognition unit 108 or may be managed separately.

In the example of FIG. 3A, a template for accepting a program name, in which the reading of the slot value of the program name of the electronic program information 113 is input in the box labeled "program name". Electronic program information 201a and 201 in the example of FIG.
In the case of b, as the slot value of the program name, "Waratteiimo", "Yitomo", "Bocket Monster",
"Pokemon" enters.

Here, the box labeled GB is Garbag
It is called e-model, and unnecessary words in the speech (user's breathing sound,
It is a function to absorb cough, "Eh", "Ah", "Please", etc.). This GB box can be skipped. In this way, by preparing a large number of templates that assume the user's utterance and using them as recognition grammars, it becomes possible for the user to input information with a natural utterance.

3 (b) to 3 (d) are a template for accepting performers / genres, a template for accepting channel numbers / genres, and a template for accepting broadcast times / genres, and their operations. For the above, according to the description of FIG.

Next, the operation of the reservation device 104 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the reservation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Since the reservation device 104 operates as a server for processing user input that is accessed irregularly, when it is started (switched on), the reservation device 104 always continues to operate. Further, the synthesized sound created in the steps in FIG. 4 is created by the voice synthesis unit 107, and the voice input / output unit 105 notifies the user of the synthesized sound.

First, when the switch is turned on, a state of waiting for a call from the user is entered (step S401). When the telephone 101 from the user reaches the reservation device 104, the line with the user is connected (step S402). After that, for example, a synthesized sound "This is a recording reservation system" is created and the user is notified of it (step S40).
3). Then, the reservation processing routine is entered (step S4).
04). This reservation process routine is a process of determining program information requested by the user by an interactive process realized by the interactive generation unit 109, and details thereof will be described later.

When the dialogue with the user is finished and the program to be reserved is decided, for example, a synthesized sound "Thank you for using" is created and the user is notified of it (step S405). Next, the program reservation data 116 to be actually reserved is created (step S406). When these series of processes are completed, the reservation device 104 disconnects the line with the user (step S407) and waits for the next user input.

The reservation device 104 is the public line network 102.
Since the access is accepted from the user through the, the line may be disconnected from the user side during the processing. In such a case, the reservation device 104 interrupts the processing and returns to the user waiting state. In addition, "" in the step in Figure 4
The character string inside indicates the notification content by the synthetic sound created by the reservation device 104.

Details of the reservation processing routine of step S404 will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing details of the reservation processing routine according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The reservation process routine is a process performed after the line connection with the user is established. Also, FIG.
The synthesized speech created in the middle step is the speech synthesis unit 107.
The synthesized sound (character string shown in """in the figure) created by the above is notified to the user from the voice input / output unit 105.

First, when this processing is started, the electronic program information search key buffer 110 is cleared (step S50).
1). As shown in FIG. 6, the electronic program information search key buffer 110 is composed of data in which the reading of the recognition result is associated with the slot name (on the electronic program information 113) of the recognition result. In FIG. 6, the reading of the channel number "Teleto" and its slot name "Channel number",
It indicates that the data in which the genre reading "animation" and its slot name "genre" are associated is stored.

When the electronic program information search key buffer 110 is cleared, for example, a synthetic sound "please say the program information to be recorded" is created and the user is notified of it (step S502). Next, the voice recognition unit 108 starts voice recognition processing of the voice input by the user (step S503). Here, for example, it is assumed that the user utters "Um, look at the TV Tokyo animation." By the voice recognition process, the voice input by this user matches the recognition grammar data having the template that accepts the channel number and genre, and "channel" = "tereto" and "genre" = "animation" are acquired. As shown in 6, the two pairs are added to the electronic program information search key buffer 110.

Next, the electronic program information search unit 114 searches the electronic program information 113 for electronic program information including all contents of the current electronic program information search key buffer 110 (step S504). Next, each process is executed based on the number of electronic program information candidates searched after the search.

First, the number of retrieved electronic program information candidates is 0.
If it is, for example, a synthetic sound "No corresponding program was found" is created and the user is notified of it (step S508). Then, step S501
Return to and execute the reservation process again.

The number of electronic program information candidates retrieved is 1
If, for example, "Is it okay with?"
A synthetic sound "(" is the program name) is created and the user is notified of it (step S509). Next, the voice recognition unit 108 performs voice recognition processing of the voice input by the user, and confirms the notification based on the voice recognition result (step S510).

If the voice recognition result is "no" (NO in step S511), the process returns to step S501 to execute the reservation process again. On the other hand, when the voice recognition result is “yes” (YES in step S511), the reservation process ends.

The number of retrieved electronic program information candidates is N.
(N = 5 is appropriate) or more, for example,
Create a synthesized sound "N corresponding programs were found"("N" = number of electronic information program candidates searched),
The user is notified of this (step S506). Then, for example, "Speak information that further narrows down."
The synthesized sound is created, the user is notified of it (step S512), and the process returns to step S503.

The number of electronic program information candidates retrieved is 1
If the number is less than N, a synthesized sound for notifying the program name is created and notified to the user (step S
507). For example, "the relevant programs are the news station broadcast at 22:00 on TV Asahi and the news forest broadcast at 21:00 on Fuji TV". Then, the process returns to step S503 through step S512.

Note that the synthesized sentence generated by the voice synthesis unit 107 of the reservation device 104 in FIGS. 4 and 5 for notifying the user is an example, and the reservation device 10 described in FIGS.
Any synthetic sentence may be used as long as the processing is completed between 4 and the user (that is, the input of information regarding program reservation is prompted).

The vocabulary set for voice recognition in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 is also an example, and in step S510, “Yes” / “No” which is the voice to be recognized is “YES” /
Languages other than English that correspond to "Yes" or "No", such as French ("Oui")
/ "Non")). By doing so, the present invention can be applied to users other than Japanese.

Further, FIG. 7A shows a concrete example of the dialogue of the processes of FIGS. 4 and 5.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the user can record a program owned by himself by realizing the voice dialogue between the user connected through the public telephone network 102 and the reservation device 104. It is possible to make a program reservation from a place far away from the device 117. [Embodiment 2] In the processing of FIG. 5 of Embodiment 1, in order to realize the dialogue between the user and the reservation device 104, instead of the voice recognition processing, a push tone signal output by various buttons of the telephone set 101 is supplementarily provided. It is also possible to use. For example, if the function of restarting the reservation processing routine from the beginning is assigned to, for example, the “*” button of the telephone 101, the user can always restart the processing from the beginning.

The detection of the push tone signal is realized by the push tone detection unit 106 described above.

Further, in step S503 of FIG.
When recognizing voice for reserving electronic program information input by the user, it may be specified that a series of push-tone signals “○○ #” should be input as the number of channels or broadcasting time. It is possible. Since recognition of continuous numbers by voice is a relatively difficult process compared to other tasks, allowing a push-tone signal to be input instead of voice recognition has a great advantage for the user.

Also, instead of "Yes" / "No",
For example, it is effective to allocate the “7” / “9” buttons of the telephone 101. These push-tone signals are being notified by the reservation device 104 of the synthesized sound (step S
509), the notification can be skipped and the accustomed user can complete the reservation process in a short time.

If the reservation device 104 notifies the program name of the reservation candidate program in step S507,
Notify the title with the recognition candidate number to each program, such as "1. Pokemon, 2. Doraemon, 3. Norakuro." It is also possible to input with the number buttons of the telephone 101.

Further, in many cases, the voice utters "yes", and at the same time, the push tone signal "9" representing "no" is pressed. In this way, when voice input and push tone input are performed at the same time, it is possible to give priority to the input of the push tone signal and accept this as the input. This is because the detection of pushtone signals is more reliable than voice recognition.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 in the above configuration.
An example of the dialogue is shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, it is possible to detect the push tone signal output from the telephone set 101. Therefore, it is more accurate to input the push tone signal than the voice. If you can input various information (broadcast time, channel number, yes / no, etc.), you can adopt the input by push tone signal, so you can realize more accurate information input according to the situation of dialogue. You can [Third Embodiment] In step S502 of FIG. 5 of the first embodiment,
The reservation device 104 notifies the user of, for example, a synthesized sound “Please say the program information to be recorded”.
When prompting voice input for determining the search key after the first time, it is possible to change this notification and inquire about a slot name that is not stored in the current electronic program information search key buffer 110.

For example, when "TV Tokyo animation" is input by the first voice of the user, the electronic program information search key buffer 110 is in the situation as shown in FIG. Therefore,
The reservation device 104 can give a notification such as "Please say the broadcast time" in order to prompt the user to input the slot value of the slot name that is not stored in the electronic program information search key buffer 110 at the present moment. Further, by using only the recognition grammar template including the broadcast time, the recognition vocabulary can be reduced and the recognition rate is expected to be improved.

Further, the electronic program information corresponding to the search key in the current electronic program information search key buffer 110 is also
By incorporating in the above notification, it will be a guide for user input.

For example, in the above example, "programs corresponding to 12-channel animation are 12:00, 13:00, 19:00, 2
It's 2:00. It is possible to change to a notification such as "Speak the broadcast time." Furthermore, the four vocabulary words for voice recognition (“12:00”, “13:00”, “19”) are used.
If it is limited to “hour”, “22:00”), the success rate of voice recognition is also improved.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 in the above configuration.
An example of the dialogue is shown in FIG. 7 (c).

As described above, according to the third embodiment, a more efficient dialogue can be realized by appropriately changing the notification content to be notified to the user based on the search key in the electronic program information search key buffer 110. It can be realized and the success rate of voice recognition can be improved. [Fourth Embodiment] The reservation device 104 may be physically separated from the program recording device 117, or may be configured to be connected to a plurality of program recording devices 117.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of a program reservation system that configures the program reservation server 803 having the reservation device 104 and makes a recording reservation of a program to a plurality of program reservation client groups 810 each having a program recording device.

The program reservation server 803 is connected to a plurality of program reservation client groups 810 via an external network 809 such as the Internet or a public line network. The program reservation server 803 is operated / managed by, for example, a program reservation service company, and the program reservation client group 810 can be assumed to be owned at the home of the user who uses the program reservation server 803.

The program reservation device 804 corresponds to the program reservation device 104 of the first embodiment and realizes a dialogue with the user via the telephone 801 as described in the first embodiment.

The program reservation server 803 has a user authentication section 80 for determining whether the connected user is an authorized user.
It is equipped with 5. The user authentication unit 805 performs an authentication process so that only the contracted user can use the program reservation server 803. The program reservation server 803
A user ID for this authentication process, as shown in FIG.
It manages user data 807 including a personal identification number and an IP address. These user data 807 are created by the program reservation server 803 when the user makes a contract to use the program reservation server 803.

When the program reservation client 810 accesses the program reservation server 803, synthetic sounds such as "Please input user ID with push button" and "Please input password with push button" are created, The user is notified and prompted to enter these two data. Only when the two pieces of input data match the user data 807, the reservation processing routine in the program reservation device 804 is executed. The user data 807 can be updated by the user data updating unit 808.

The program reservation data transmission unit 806 transmits the program reservation data to the program reservation client 810 corresponding to the IP address in the user data. As a result, the user can transmit the program reservation data 811 to the program reservation client 810 at his / her own home by registering the IP address of the home program reservation client 810 in the user data 807 in advance.

The program reservation server 803 is a standard component (eg, CPU, R) installed in a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a workstation.
AM, ROM, hard disk, external storage device, network interface, display, keyboard, mouse, etc.). Further, various functions realized by the program reservation server 803 described above are
The program stored in the internal ROM or the external storage device may be implemented by the CPU, or may be implemented by dedicated hardware.

When the program reservation client group 810 is realized by a general-purpose computer, standard constituent elements (for example, CPU, RAM, ROM, hard disk) mounted on the general-purpose computer, like the program reservation server 803. , External storage device, network interface, display, keyboard, mouse, etc.).

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, by constructing the program reservation server 803, it is possible to centrally manage the program reservation for each of the plurality of program reservation clients connected on the external network 809. .

The present invention supplies a software program (in the embodiment, a program corresponding to the flow chart shown in the drawing) corresponding to the functions of the above-described embodiment directly or remotely to the system or apparatus, and the system or It also includes the case where it is achieved by the computer of the apparatus reading and executing the supplied program code. In that case, the form need not be a program as long as it has the functions of the program.

Therefore, the program code itself installed in the computer to implement the functional processing of the present invention by the computer also implements the present invention. That is, the present invention includes the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

In this case, the program may take any form, such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to an OS, as long as it has the function of the program.

As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD
-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM,
DVD-R).

In addition, as a program supply method,
It can also be supplied by connecting to a homepage on the Internet using a browser of a client computer, and downloading the computer program itself of the present invention or a compressed file having an automatic installation function from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from different homepages. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for implementing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

The program of the present invention is encrypted to C
By storing the information in a storage medium such as a D-ROM and distributing it to the user, and having the user who satisfies the predetermined conditions download the key information for decrypting the encryption from the home page via the Internet, and by using the key information It is also possible to execute the encrypted program and install the program in a computer to realize it.

Further, the computer executes the read program to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the OS running on the computer executes the actual processing based on the instructions of the program. The function of the above-described embodiment can be realized also by performing a part or all of the above.

Further, after the program read from the recording medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program,
CPU provided on the function expansion board or function expansion unit
Performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By realizing voice conversation between the user and the program reservation device via the public line network, the user can make a program reservation from a distant place such as a place where he / she is going, and realize an efficient program reservation. It is possible to provide a program reservation device, a method thereof, and a program that can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a broadcast program reservation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of electronic program information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of recognition grammar data incorporating electronic program information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the reservation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of a reservation processing routine according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data configuration example of a search key buffer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of interaction between a user and a reservation device according to each embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a functional configuration diagram of a program reservation system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of user data according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 telephone 102 public network 103 External network 104 Broadcast program reservation device 105 voice input / output unit 106 Push tone detector 107 voice synthesizer 108 Speech recognition unit 109 Dialog generation unit 110 Electronic program information search unit key buffer 111 Electronic program information search key addition section 112 Electronic Program Information Receiver 113 Electronic program information 114 Electronic Program Information Retrieval Section 115 Program reservation data creation section 116 Program reservation data 117 Program Recording Device 801 telephone 802 Public line network 803 Program reservation server 804 Program reservation device 805 User Authentication Unit 806 Program reservation data transmitter 807 user data 808 User data communication unit 809 External network 810 Program reservation client 811 Program reservation client 812 Program recording device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G10L 15/20 G10L 3/00 551A 15/28 551G H04N 5/44 571H 7/025 531Q 7/03 R 7 / 035 (72) Inventor Yama-Saki ▼ Shinichi Shinomaruko 3-30-2 Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. F-term (reference) 5C025 BA30 CA02 CB08 DA01 DA05 DA10 5C052 AB03 DD06 DD10 EE02 EE03 5C063 AA01 AB05 AB09 AC01 AC05 AC10 DA03 DA07 DA13 EB32 EB33 5D015 AA05 KK02 KK04 LL06 5D045 AB26

Claims (23)

[Claims] 1. A program reservation device for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone via a public network, the voice synthesizing means for creating a synthetic voice, and recognizing the input voice. A voice recognition unit, a dialogue generation unit that controls the voice synthesis unit and the voice recognition unit to derive information on a program reservation, and a reservation target based on the program reservation information obtained by the control of the dialogue generation unit. Acquiring means for acquiring the electronic program information and a search key for searching; searching means for searching electronic program information corresponding to the search key based on the search key acquired by the acquiring means; and the searching means. A program reservation device comprising: a creating unit that creates program reservation data based on the electronic program information retrieved in. 2. The program reservation device according to claim 1, further comprising a detection unit that detects a push tone signal output from the telephone. 3. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the detecting means detects a push tone signal indicating that the creating means is instructed to be executed. 4. The program reservation device according to claim 2, wherein the detection unit detects a push tone signal indicating an instruction to re-execute the voice synthesis unit. 5. The program reservation device according to claim 2, wherein the detection means detects the push tone signal sequence as a channel number or a broadcast time. 6. The program reservation device according to claim 2, wherein the detection means detects the push tone signal sequence as a recognition candidate number assigned to an electronic program information candidate. 7. The program reservation device according to claim 2, wherein the detection means operates during input of the voice. 8. The dialogue generation means, when the voice recognition result of the voice recognition means and the detection result of the detection means are different from each other, the detection result of the detection means is used as the information regarding the program reservation. Item 2. The program reservation device according to item 2. 9. The program reservation device according to claim 2, wherein the detection means operates while the synthetic sound is being output. 10. A network connected to a plurality of program reservation clients, each of which has a program recording device, holding means for holding user data for specifying each of the plurality of program reservation clients, and based on the user data. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an authentication unit that authenticates a user who requests access to the program reservation apparatus via the telephone. 11. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a transmission unit that transmits the program reservation data to the program reservation client. 12. A program reservation method for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone via a public network, the voice synthesizing step of creating a synthetic voice, and recognizing the input voice. A voice recognition step, a dialogue generation step of controlling the voice synthesis step and the voice recognition step to derive information on a program reservation, and a reservation target based on the program reservation information obtained by the control of the dialogue generation step. An acquisition step of acquiring the electronic program information and a search key for searching; a search step of searching for electronic program information corresponding to the search key based on the search key acquired in the acquisition step; A program reservation method, comprising: a creating step of creating program reservation data based on the electronic program information retrieved in. 13. The program reservation method according to claim 12, further comprising a detection step of detecting a push tone signal output from the telephone. 14. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step detects a push-tone signal indicating an instruction to execute the creating step. 15. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step detects a push-tone signal indicating an instruction to re-execute the voice synthesizing step. 16. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step detects the push tone signal sequence as a channel number or a broadcast time. 17. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step detects the push tone signal sequence as a recognition candidate number assigned to an electronic program information candidate. 18. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step operates during input of the voice. 19. The dialog generation step, when the voice recognition result of the voice recognition means and the detection result of the detection means are different from each other, the detection result of the detection means is used as information regarding the program reservation. Item 13. The program reservation method according to item 13. 20. The program reservation method according to claim 13, wherein the detecting step operates while the synthetic sound is being output. 21. A holding step of holding user data for specifying each of a plurality of program reservation clients, each of which has a program recording device, connected via a network; and a holding step based on the user data, via the telephone. 13. The program reservation method according to claim 12, further comprising an authentication step of authenticating a user who requests access to the program reservation apparatus. 22. The program reservation method according to claim 21, further comprising a transmission step of transmitting the program reservation data to the program reservation client. 23. A program for causing a computer to make a program reservation for making a program reservation based on a voice input from a telephone via a public line network, the program code of a voice synthesizing step for producing a synthetic voice. A program code for a voice recognition step for recognizing the input voice; a program code for a dialogue generation step for controlling the voice synthesis step and the voice recognition step to derive information on a program reservation; and the dialogue generation. Based on the information about the program reservation obtained by the control of the process, based on the program code of the acquisition process to acquire the electronic program information of the reservation target and the search key for searching, based on the search key acquired in the acquisition process, The program code of the search step for searching the electronic program information corresponding to the search key, and the code searched in the search step. And a program code of a creating process for creating program reservation data based on child program information.