JP2003264752A - Program information display device, program information display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program information display device enabling a user to select more appropriate program information in correspondence with the latent request of the user by displaying the program information over a plurality of classification items, and a program information display method or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The program information display device comprises: an operation part 140 for performing input for the selection of the program information and the selection of the classification items; a display category classification part 221 for selecting all or a part of a plurality of the classification items; an each-category display program information and display position judgment part 222 for selecting the program information included in EPG (electrical program guide) information for each classification item on the basis of the selection of a classification item selection means and displaying the selected classification item and program information on a screen; and a program property information retrieval part 223 for retrieving program property information included in the displayed program information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program information display device for displaying an electronic program guide, a program information display method, and the like, which are used in set-top boxes, televisions, video recorders, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a system for digitizing and transmitting a television signal through a satellite such as a broadcasting satellite or a communication satellite and receiving the digitized signal in each home is becoming popular.
In this system, for example, since it is possible to secure nearly 200 channels, an extremely large number of programs are broadcast as compared with the conventional terrestrial analog television broadcasting in which the number of channels is around 20. be able to.

In such a system, it is more difficult for the viewer to grasp the program to be broadcast than in the current broadcast. Therefore, in order to allow the viewer to quickly and surely select a desired program from among many programs, the broadcast side views all receivable programs such as channels and broadcast times. Information that a person needs is an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as EPG: Select
Rica1 Program Guide)).

When the EPG is created and transmitted on the broadcasting side and received by the receiving side, it is displayed on the same screen as the screen on which the program is received. The user can grasp the content of the desired program by using this EPG.

Here, as a display example of a conventional EPG, there is a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-284734. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-284734. In this conventional EPG display method, a plurality of display areas are formed by vertically partitioning the entire display screen. As these display areas, a first area 1310 in which the broadcast date of the program is displayed and each broadcast date can be designated individually,
A second area 1320 in which the broadcast time zone of the program can be displayed and each broadcast time zone can be individually designated, the title of the program which is a part of the EPG, the broadcast station, and the broadcast time are displayed, and each program can be individually designated. A possible third area 1330 and a fourth area 1 in which the genre of the program is displayed and each genre can be specified individually
340 are assigned respectively.

The first area 1310 and the second area 132
The program information displayed in the third area 1330 can be narrowed down by operating the individual designation cursor in the 0th and fourth areas 1340.

For example, in FIG. 13, the first region 13
The broadcast date is “5th (Tuesday)” at 10, the second area 13
At 20, the broadcast time zone is designated as “8:00 to 12:00 (only the start time is shown in the figure. It corresponds to the part displayed as“ 8 ”here. The same applies below)”, and the fourth time When the genre is further designated as “sports” in the area 1340 of FIG. 14, the broadcast date “5th (Tuesday)” defined in the first area 1310 and the second area 1320 are set as shown in FIG. In the third area 1330, all the program information of the programs in the broadcast time zone “8:00 to 12:00” defined by the above and the genre “sports” defined in the fourth area 1340 are included in the third area 1330. Will be displayed in. Note that FIG.
In 3 and 14, the first region 1310 to the third region 1
In 340, only the broadcast date, the broadcast time zone, the EPG, and a part of the genre are displayed, and when displaying a portion that is not currently displayed, the broadcast date, the broadcast time zone, the E
From the entire PG and genre, the first area 1310 to the fourth area 1340 are scrolled and moved. For scrolling the screen, a well-known screen display technique is used, and details thereof will be omitted.

Further, if the date and time or the genre is changed, the title display of the program is also changed corresponding to the change.

[0009] As described above, the viewer has a large amount of information E
It becomes possible to easily select the necessary program information from the PG.

[0010]

However, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-284734 mentioned above has the following problems.

In the above operation example, the first area 131
0 and the second area 1320, after determining the broadcast date and time and the broadcast time zone, once the genre indicated by the fourth area 1340 is once determined, the third area 1330 displays the program information of the determined genre. However, the program information of other genres is not displayed at all.

That is, the program information regarding the back program of the program of the program information currently displayed is not provided on the screen.

When attempting to obtain information about a program by using a TV section of a newspaper without using the EPG, since the information comes into the sideways in addition to the information that the user gazes at, the user is not allowed to watch the back program. Can be attentive to the presence of a traditional EP
When displaying a program such as G, such information is deleted at the display stage, so that it becomes impossible to call the user's potential attention.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and by displaying the program information over a plurality of classification items, a more appropriate program can be provided according to the potential demand of the user. An object of the present invention is to provide a program information display device, a program information display method, and the like capable of selecting information.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention (corresponding to claim 1) of the present invention is a program information storage means for storing a plurality of program information about a program, and at least the program. A display unit for displaying information including information on the screen; a selection unit for selecting a specific one from the information displayed by the display unit; and a search unit for searching the program information of the program information storage unit, The plurality of program information are classified based on a predetermined standard, each program information includes a plurality of program property information that characterizes the program, and the display unit displays each item of the classification. Each of them is displayed as a classification item, the selecting means selects any one of the displayed classification items, and the displaying means displays specific program information belonging to the classification item selected by the selecting means as a main program. Displayed as a group of reports, the selection unit selects predetermined program property information from the program information of the main program information group, and the search unit has a program having contents related to the selected predetermined program property information. Another program information including property information is searched from the program information storage means, and the display means is a program information display device that displays the program information searched by the search means as a related program information group.

The second invention of the present invention (corresponding to claim 2)
Is the program information display device according to the first aspect of the present invention, which displays the related program information group by classifying the related program information group by the classification.

A third aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 3)
Is the program information display device according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the classification is the same as the displayed classification item.

A fourth invention (corresponding to claim 4)
The display means includes at least the main program information group,
The program information display device according to any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, which displays the program information including the related program information group on the same screen.

The fifth invention (corresponding to claim 5)
The display means includes at least the main program information group,
A program information display device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, which simultaneously displays the program information including the related program information group on the screen.

The sixth invention (corresponding to claim 6)
Is the program information display device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein the display means displays the program information including at least the related program information group together with the classification item.

A seventh aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 7)
Is a display area of the main program information group,
Sixth display larger than the display area of the related program information group
Is a program information display device of the present invention.

The eighth invention (corresponding to claim 8)
The display means displays each program information of the main program information group and the related program information group in a vertical column, and the first classification item is displayed in a horizontal row. Is.

The ninth invention (corresponding to claim 9)
The program property information is information about a genre to which the program belongs, information about a date on which the program is broadcast, information about a time zone at which the program is broadcast, information about a broadcasting station broadcasting the program, and appearance of the program. It is the program information display device according to the first aspect of the present invention, which includes all or part of the information about the person and / or part of the content of the program.

In the tenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 10), the classification items are the genre of the program, the date on which the program is broadcast, the time zone at which the program is broadcast, and the broadcasting station broadcasting the program. The program information display device according to the first or ninth aspect of the present invention includes all or part of the name or channel.

The eleventh aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 11) is a program of program information including predetermined program property information in the main program information group, and a program of program information in the related information group. Is the program information display device according to the first aspect of the present invention, which is in a back program relationship.

The twelfth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 12) is a program of program information recorded in the program information storage means, wherein the viewing time of a program viewed by a viewer is measured. The display unit displays the program information of the measured program with a long viewing time, and the display unit displays the program information of the measured program with a long viewing time. When
It is a program information display device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, which displays the index together.

In the thirteenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 13), the contents of the index are different depending on the length of the measured viewing time. Is.

The 14th aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 14) comprises a receiving means for receiving program information and a program corresponding to the program information, and at least an image generating means for displaying the program information. A set top box having the program information display device according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects of the present invention as the image generating means.

The fifteenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 15) is a program information display method for displaying program information about a program, wherein a plurality of the program information are classified based on a predetermined standard. , Each of the program information includes a plurality of program property information that characterizes the program, a step of accumulating a plurality of the program information, a step of displaying each item of the classification as a classification item, and a display From the selected category items, a step of displaying specific program information belonging to the selected category item as a main program information group, and a predetermined program information from the program information of the main program information group, Selecting the program property information, and searching the program information storage means for other program information including program property information having contents related to the selected predetermined property information. And that step, the program information the searching means searches a program information display method comprising the step of displaying a relevant program information group.

A sixteenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 16) is a program information accumulating means for accumulating a plurality of program information relating to a program of the program display device according to the first aspect of the present invention, and at least the program information. All or part of display means for displaying information including the information on the screen, selection means for selecting a specific one from the information displayed by the display means, and search means for searching the program information of the program information storage means Is a program for operating a computer as.

The 17th aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 17) is a medium carrying the program according to the 16th aspect of the present invention, which can be processed by a computer.

[0032]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a receiving system including a program information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the receiving system 100 includes a tuner 110, a set top box 120 to which the tuner 110 is connected, and a monitor TV 130 to which the set top box 120 is connected.

The tuner 110 is means for receiving a television broadcast wave such as a transport stream, and the program content and EPG are multiplexed on the television broadcast wave.

Further, the set top box 120 is a means having a program information display device, and is used for changing the broadcast wave to the EPG.
And program content are separated and each is processed,
It is a means for preparing an image signal and a video signal.

The monitor television 130 is, for example, an AV
It is realized as a television provided with a signal input terminal, has a monitor device 131 and a speaker 132, and is a means for reproducing an image signal and a video signal output from the set top box 120 and outputting an image and a sound.

The operations of the tuner 110 and the set top box 120 are controlled by the operation unit 140. Here, the operation unit 140 is realized as a remote controller of the tuner 110 or the set top box 120, or as an input interface provided in each main body.

Next, the set top box 120 includes a program information extraction circuit 121, a video signal reproduction circuit 122, an audio signal reproduction circuit 123, a video mix circuit 124, a screen display signal generation circuit 125 and the program information display device of the present invention. An internal control microcomputer 126 including

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the internal control microcomputer 126. In the internal control microcomputer 126, the EPG
The database 210 is a means for accumulating the EPG extracted from the broadcast wave by the program information extracting circuit 121, a genre-specific display program information creating section 220 is a means for processing genre-specific display program information, and a genre display signal creating section 230 is a A means for creating a genre display signal for displaying a genre name on the screen, a command temporary storage unit 240 for temporarily storing a command from the operation unit 140, and a screen display data creation unit 250 for displaying by genre. It is a means for creating the data and the genre display signal created by the program information creation unit 220 as data that can be displayed on the screen.

FIG. 3 is an internal block diagram of the genre-specific display program information creating section 220. In the genre-specific display program information creating section 220, the display genre classifying section 22 is shown.
Reference numeral 1 is a means for classifying display genres, genre-specific display program information and display position determining section 222 is means for creating genre-specific display program information and deciding its display position, and program property information searching section 223 is an operating section 140. Alternatively, it is means for retrieving program information including program property information from the EPG database 210 according to an instruction temporarily stored in the instruction temporary storage unit 240.

The operation of the program information display device according to the embodiment of the present invention and the embodiment of the program information selection display control method according to the present invention will be described by explaining the operation of the receiving system having the above-mentioned configuration. I will explain. In the following description, a basic operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and then a detailed description will be given with reference to FIGS.

As a first operation example, an operation for displaying the display screen in the initial state will be described. The tuner 110 receives the broadcast wave. Broadcast content includes program content and EP
G is multiplexed, and under the control of the internal control microcomputer 126, the program information extraction circuit extracts the EPG from the broadcast wave received by the tuner and outputs it to the internal control microcomputer 126.

E output from the program information extraction circuit 121
The PG is first stored in the EPG database 210.
When a plurality of genres desired to be displayed are determined by the user operating the operation unit 140, the operation unit 140 issues a command indicating the determined plurality of genres to the genre-specific display program information creation unit 220. Is output. Upon receiving an instruction from the operation unit 140, the genre-specific display program information creation unit 220 acquires program information from the EPG database 210 based on the command. At this time, the operation unit 14
The command output from 0 may be directly output to the genre-specific display program information creation unit 220, or may be stored in the command temporary storage unit 240 and read at any time such as when the device is started. You may

On the other hand, the genre display signal creating section 230
With the processing in the genre-specific display program information creation unit 220, a genre display signal for displaying the genre itself determined by the operation unit 140 is created.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, in the genre-specific display program information creating section 220, the display genre classifying section 221 sets the program information output from the EPG database 210 into a plurality of pieces designated by the operating section 140. The display program information for each genre is output to the display program information and display position determining unit 222. The display program information for each genre and the display position determination unit 222 are displayed by the display genre classification unit 22.
1 decide the display position of the program information output on the screen,
The program information and its display position information are transmitted to the screen display data creating section 250.

When the screen display data creating section 250 obtains the program information and the display position information from the genre-specific display program information creating section 220 and the genre display signal creating section 230, respectively, the genre display signal creating section 220 acquires the information.
The signal is shaped as data for displaying a tube surface that can be displayed on the tube surface. The pipe surface display data is output from the internal control microcomputer 126 to the pipe surface display signal creating circuit 125. When the tube surface display signal creation circuit 125 acquires the tube surface display data, it forms this into a tube surface display signal which is a video signal, and outputs it to the monitor television 130 via the video mix circuit 124.

In the first operation example, the video mixing circuit 124 simply passes the screen display signal. However, if necessary, the screen display signal and the video signal of the program content are mixed. Then, the program and the program information are simultaneously displayed on the same screen.
At this time, the content of the program is the program information extraction circuit 121.
After passing through, the video component is extracted as a video signal by the video signal reproducing circuit 122, and the audio component of the content is extracted as an audio signal by the audio signal reproducing circuit 123.
The video signal passes through the video mixing circuit 124 and is output to the monitor television 130 together with the audio signal.

FIG. 4 shows a program information display screen in the initial state completed by the first operation example. The genre is displayed in the genre display area 410, and in the figure, a plurality of genres “drama”, “sports”, “variety”, and “news” that are initially determined based on a command from the operation unit 140 respectively correspond to selection windows. Is displayed in. The user can select one from the genres displayed in the genre display area 410. The choice is
The operation is performed by the instruction cursor 411 that borders the edge of the selection window of each genre on the screen, and the genre is determined by placing the instruction cursor 411 on the desired selection window and making an input. Is generated. The operation of the selection window and the pointing cursor 411 is realized by a mechanism similar to the conventional menu selection mechanism of EPG or the like, and the details thereof will be omitted. In this case, it is assumed that "drama" has been decided as the genre.

When the genre is determined, the program information belonging to the genre is displayed in the main program information display area 420 by the operation of the genre-specific display program information creating section 220 as described above. Main program information display area 420
Is a genre name display window 470 for displaying the determined genre name and a plurality of program information display windows 4 for displaying program information.
20a to 420b and the like, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the program information display window and the program. In each program information display window, a broadcast destination display field 451 that displays the broadcast station name and / or channel of the program, a broadcast date display field 452 that displays the broadcast date of the program, and a broadcast that displays the broadcast time zone of the program A time zone display field 453, a program name display field 454 for displaying a program name, an auxiliary information display field 455 for displaying auxiliary information about a program such as a subtitle, and a performer display field 456 for displaying performers are provided. The program information is classified and displayed for each display column. The arrangement of the display windows in the main program information display area 420 may be arbitrarily set based on the contents of the respective display columns. For example, in FIG. 4, the contents of the broadcast date display column 452 and the broadcast time zone display column 453 are shown. Based time series and broadcast destination display column 451
The order of ascending power of the number of channels displayed in was set. Also,
The types of display fields shown in FIG. 4 are examples, and the number of display fields may be increased or decreased according to the size of the screen.

Subprogram information display areas 440a to 440c
Has the same configuration as the main program information display area 420 except for its size, and is classified by the genre name display windows 430a to 430c corresponding to the individual sub program information display areas.
A plurality of program information display windows 460a to 460 for displaying program information
It has 60c. In the current operation, the subprogram information display areas 440a to 440c and the genre name display windows 430a to 430c are blank.

As a second operation example, the operation of the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

The user checks the desired program by referring to the program information display window of the main program information display area 420 displayed in the initial state. Further, in the program information display window of the desired program, the display column of interest is selected. In addition,
The selection operation is performed by a mechanism similar to the operation of the selection window of the genre display area 410 and the instruction cursor 411, and the edge of the selected display column is trimmed by the instruction cursor. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the program information display window 420b is selected, and the broadcast time zone display field 453 is selected and determined as the display field. As a result, a command in the operation unit 140 is generated.

Next, in FIG. 3, the command from the operation unit 140 generated by the determination of the display column is output to the program property information search unit 223. When the program property information search unit 223 acquires the command, the program property information search unit 223 sends an EP
The G database 210 is searched to search and extract the program information including the program property information corresponding to the display column,
It is transferred to the display genre classification unit 221. In this case, since the broadcast time zone display field 453 indicates the broadcast time zone, the program property information is the broadcast time zone, and the EPG database 210 indicates that the time zone that is the same as or partially coincides with this broadcast time zone. All the program information including the program property information is searched and extracted.

Next, the genre-specific display program information creating section 2
20, the display genre classification unit 221 displays the program information transferred from the program property information search unit to the operation unit 1
The information is classified into a plurality of genres designated by 40, and is output to the genre-based display program information and display position determination unit 222. At this time, even if the program information belonging to a genre different from the genre designated by the operation unit 140 includes program property information, it is not output to the genre-specific display program information and the display position determining unit 222. .

The genre-based display program information and display position deciding section 222 decides the display position on the screen of the program information outputted by the display genre classifying section 221, and displays the program information and the display position information on the screen display data. It transmits to the creation part 250. In this case, the display position is subprogram information display area 4
40. Thereafter, the same processing as in the case of the main program information display area 420 is performed, and the program information is displayed in the sub program information display area 440.

FIG. 5 shows a program information display screen completed by the above operation. The states of the genre display area 410 and the main program information display area 420 are the same as those of the initial state shown in FIG. 4, except that the selected program information display window 420b and the broadcast time zone display field 453 are outlined by the instruction cursor. Is.

Next, sub-program information display areas 440a-44
The display state of 0c will be described. Subprogram information display area 440
a-440c corresponding to genre name display windows 430a-4
30c displays the same genre name as the genre name displayed in the genre display area 410. In FIG. 5, “Drama”, “Sports”, “Variety”, and “News” are displayed in the genre display area 410,
Of these, the "drama" has already been set in the main program information display area 420, so the genre name display windows 430a to 430 are displayed.
0c displays "sports", "variety", and "news", respectively.

Next, genre name display windows 430a-430.
In the sub-program information display areas 440a to 440c to which c corresponds, the main program information display area 42 for each genre.
Program information is displayed for each program information display window in the same manner as 0. The program information displayed in the sub-program information display areas 440a to 440c is the program property information search unit 223.
The search is limited to those including the program property information based on the selection of the broadcast time zone display field 453 in the main program information display area 420.

The program information display windows 460a to 460c of the sub program information display area 440 are the main program information display area 4
Since the display area is smaller than that of the 20 program information display windows, the types of program information display columns are smaller than the types of program information display columns in the program information display windows of the main program information display area. At this time, the type of the program information display column in the program information display window of the sub program information display area may be set arbitrarily, but it is necessary to include at least a display column corresponding to the program property information.

As an example, in the sub-program information display area 440b, as shown in the genre display area 410b as "variety", program information of variety programs is shown in three program information display windows. this house,
The program in the program information display window in the middle row has the same broadcast date as the program in the program information display window 420b in the main program information display area 420 from the broadcast date display column. The broadcast date of the program in the program information display window in the upper row is one day earlier than the program in the program information display window 420b in the main program information display area 420. further,
The program in the lower program information display window is the main program information display area 4
The broadcast date is one day later than the program in the 20 program information display window 420b. Also, the broadcast stations for each program are different.

As described above, the program information displayed in the sub-program information display area 440 is the genre shown in the genre display area 410 and the program property information determined by selecting the display column in the main program information display area 420. It is determined based on two types of conditions, and is not selected under other conditions.

Next, a third operation example will be described. In the above description, the user has selected one type of display column of interest in the program information display window of a desired program, but a plurality of display columns may be selected. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the program information display window 420b is selected,
It is assumed that the broadcast time display column 453 and the broadcast date display column 452 are selected and determined as the display columns. As a result, a command in the operation unit 140 is generated.

When the program property information retrieving unit 223 acquires the command from the operation unit 140 generated by the determination of the display column, the program property information retrieving unit 223 searches the EPG database 210 according to the command, and retrieves the program property corresponding to the display column. The display genre classification unit 22 searches and extracts program information including information.
Transfer to 1. In this case, since the broadcast time zone display column 453 shows the broadcast time zone and the broadcast date display column 452 shows the broadcast date of the program, the program property information is the broadcast time zone and the broadcast date, and from the EPG database 210, All program information that is the same or partially coincident with this broadcast time zone and that includes the same broadcast date as the program property information is searched and extracted.

FIG. 6 shows a program information display screen completed by the above operation. The difference from the example shown in FIG. 5 is that the program information displayed in the sub-program information display areas 440a to 440c is searched by the program property information search unit 223 and the broadcast time zone display field 45 in the main program information display area 420 is displayed.
3 and that the program property information based on the selection of the broadcast date display field 452 is included.

Therefore, since the selection conditions are narrowed, the total information displayed is smaller than that in the example of FIG. 5. As an example, in the sub program information display area 440b, the broadcast date is the main program information display area. The upper and lower program information display windows different from the programs in the program information display window 420b of 420 are not displayed.

Next, a fourth operation example will be described. In the operation example shown in FIG. 5, the user selects only the broadcast time zone display field 453 as the display field, but the broadcast date of the program in the program information display window of the sub program information display area 440 displayed by the selection is When the broadcast date of the program in the program information display window of the main program information display area 420 which is the source of selection is the same, the program in the main program information display area and the program in the sub program information display area are the back program. You have a relationship.

Therefore, in order to call the user's attention, as shown in FIG. 7, a sub-program information display area 440 including the program of the same broadcast date as the program selected in the main program information display area.
In particular, the program information display window will be notified by letters, images, etc. that it is a back program. In FIG. 7, it is indicated by the character “Uraban”. Although the notification information of the back program may be included in the EPG, it is generated by the program property information search unit or the genre-based display program information and display position determination unit 222 and is superimposed on the sub-program information display area 440. You may

In each of the second to fourth operation examples,
After the genre of the program to be displayed in the main program information display area 420 is determined, the user selects a specific program information display window in the main program information display area 420 and selects a specific display field from the window. , The instruction in the operation unit 140 including the program property information is generated and output to the program property information search unit.
As an example of the operation, the program property information may be input and stored in the command temporary storage unit 240 before the genre of the program displayed in the main program information display area 420 is determined.

In this case, the program information display window of the main program information display area 420 is also conditioned by the program property information, and the series of operations described above is automated. Simultaneously with the determination of the above, the program information display window of the main program information display area 420 and the sub program information display areas 440a to 440c
The program information display window of is displayed at the same time.

Here, the first to fifth operation examples will be described as a series of operations with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The apparatus is activated, and the user operates the operation unit 140.
When a plurality of genres desired to be displayed are displayed in the genre display area 410 by the operation of (1) and one of the genres is determined by the user (step 001), the command temporary storage unit 240 is stored in the program property information search unit 223.
It is determined whether or not the program property information that can be input to is set (step 002). When the program property information is not set, first, the program information of the determined genre is displayed in the main program information display area 420 (step 003), and an arbitrary program information display window is selected from there to further display the desired information. Select a column (step 0
04). The program property information is determined by the selection of the display column, and the program property information search unit is the EPG database 2
10 is searched to extract the program information including the program property information (step 005) and is displayed in the sub program information display area 440 (step 006).

On the other hand, when the program property information is set in step 002, the program property information searching unit searches the EPG database 210 to include the program property information and to display the genre displayed in the genre display area 410. All the program information corresponding to (step 007), and subsequently, the genre-based display program information and the display position determination unit, among the extracted program information,
Those belonging to the genre determined by the user are displayed in the main program information display area 420, and those belonging to other genres are displayed in the sub program information display area 440.

In the operation of the above flow, step 00
1 to 003 correspond to the first operation example, and step 00
4 to 006 correspond to the second to fourth operation examples, and step 0
07 to 008 correspond to the fifth operation example.

In the above embodiment, the broadcast time zone display column and the broadcast date display column are used as an example of the program property information, but the program name display column 454, the auxiliary information display column 455, etc. Other information may be used as long as it is information displayed as a display column of the program information display window of the information display area 420.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which the performer display column 456 of the program information display window 420b of the main program information display area 420 is used as program property information. Subprogram information display area 4
In the program information display windows 40b and 440c, only those having a performer display column containing information on the same performer as the performer selected by the pointing cursor are displayed in the order of channels. In addition, in the sub-program information display area 440a,
It is not displayed because there is no program that contains the corresponding information.

Further, in the above embodiment, each genre of the program is displayed in the genre display area 410, but instead of the genre, the display column of the program information display window of the main program information display area 420 is displayed. Is displayed as
Other information may be displayed. Figure 15
Is an example in which a broadcasting station name is displayed in the genre display area 410 instead of a genre. As shown in the figure, the broadcasting station selected from the genre display area 410 by the instruction cursor 411 is displayed in the main program information display area 420, and the broadcast time zone display field 453 of the program information display window 420b of the main program information display area 420 is displayed. By using it as the program property information, the sub-program information display areas 440a, 440b,
In the program information display window 440c, the program information of the programs in the same time period as or in the time period selected by the instruction cursor is displayed in the order of channels.

Further, FIG. 16 shows a genre display area 410.
In this example, the broadcast time zone is displayed instead of the genre. As shown in the figure, the main program information display area 420 displays a program in the same time period or a time period as the time period selected by the instruction cursor 411 from the genre display area 410, and the program information display window 420 of the main program information display area 420 is displayed.
By using the genre display column 480, which is one of the display columns of b, as the program property information, the same program as the genre selected by the instruction cursor is displayed in the program information display windows of the sub-program information display areas 440a, 440b, 440c. The program information of is displayed in the order of channels.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the user selects a specific genre and checks the EPG to check the program content, the program displayed in the selected genre is checked. Since programs of other genres including the characteristics of the programs are also displayed, it is possible to select more appropriate program information according to the potential demand of the user.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a receiving system including a program information display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10, the same parts as in FIGS.
The same parts or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Also, in FIG. 10, the audience rating monitoring unit 510.
Is a means for monitoring by extracting the program content from the tuner 110, measuring the reception time thereof, and calculating and accumulating the "audience rating" of the program.

Further, referring to FIG. 11, the high viewing frequency information creating section 520 in the program information creating section 220 for display by genre.
Is a means for acquiring the audience rating from the audience rating monitoring unit 510, and based on this, creating high-viewing frequency information corresponding to the program information of programs with high viewing frequency from programs viewed by the user.

An operation of the program information display device and an embodiment of the program information selection display control method of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. However, the same points as in the first embodiment are omitted,
The differences will be mainly described.

In the broadcast wave received by the tuner 110, the program content and the EPG are multiplexed.
The set top box 130 performs a normal receiving operation,
While watching the program on the monitor television 130, the internal control microcomputer 126 extracts the program content from the broadcast wave received by the tuner.

In the internal control microcomputer 126, when the program content is input, the audience rating monitoring unit 510 measures the input time and records this as the viewing time for each program content. At this time, the program information in the EPG database 210 is used for classifying the program contents.
Therefore, the audience rating monitoring unit 510 monitors the viewing time in program information units.

Next, when displaying the EPG information, the display genre classifying unit 221 of the genre-specific display program information creating unit 220 performs the program information output from the EPG database 210 as in the first embodiment. , Operation unit 140
The information is classified into a plurality of genres designated by, and is output to the genre-specific display program information and display position determining unit 222.

On the other hand, in conjunction with the operation of the display genre classifying unit 221, the high viewing frequency information creating unit 520 acquires the audience rating from the audience rating monitoring unit 510, and based on this, the program viewed by the user is displayed. Of these, high-viewing frequency information corresponding to program information of programs with high viewing frequency is created. At this time, the level of the viewing frequency may be set by setting a predetermined threshold value in advance, or may be set by the relative evaluation of the viewing rates monitored by the high viewing frequency information creation unit 520.

The created high viewing frequency information is mainly applied to the genre-based display program information and display position determining section 222. Display program information by genre and display position determination unit 22
2 indicates that if there is program information output from the display genre classification unit 221 that is associated with high viewing frequency information,
Processing is performed so that the high viewing frequency information is superimposed and displayed on it, and the program information and the display position information are transmitted to the screen display data creating section 250. The subsequent operation is the same as in the first embodiment.
The same procedure is performed to obtain the program information display screen.

FIG. 12 shows a program information display screen obtained by this embodiment. The display example shown in FIG. 12 is obtained by the same operation as the second operation example of the first embodiment, but among the program information display windows displayed in the sub-program information display areas 440a to 440c, In the case of displaying programs that have been frequently viewed by users in the past, high-viewing frequency information is displayed in the form of characters, images, etc., superimposed on the screen. In the figure, the character "looks closely" corresponds to this.

At this time, the contents of the high-viewing frequency information are also changed in accordance with the high-lowness of the viewing rate so that a program having a higher viewing rate calls the user's attention more than a program having a low viewing rate. It is more effective if set to. In the figure, the character "Don't forget!" Corresponds to this.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the user selects a specific genre and checks the EPG to check the program content, the program displayed in the selected genre is checked. The programs of other genres including the characteristics of the programs are also displayed, and by highlighting the programs that are often viewed in the past as the programs that are also displayed, the viewer can display the main program information display area. It is possible to provide program information that may be potentially needed even if the user does not pay attention when selecting a genre.

In the above description, the high-viewing frequency information is described as being displayed only in the sub-program information display areas 440a to 440c. It may be displayed in the program information display window of the program information display area 420.

Also, in combination with the fourth operation example of the first embodiment, the high viewing frequency information and the notification of the back program may be performed at the same time. In this case, it is possible to more accurately meet the viewer's request for potential program information.

In each of the above embodiments, the operation unit 140 corresponds to the selection means of the present invention, the display genre classification unit 221 and the EPG database 210,
The program property information search unit 223 corresponds to the search means of the present invention, the genre-based display program information and display position determination unit 222 corresponds to the selection means and the display control means of the present invention, and the EPG database 210 of the present invention. It corresponds to program information storage means. The audience rating monitoring unit 510 corresponds to the viewing time measuring unit of the present invention, and the high audience frequency information creating unit 5 is included.
Reference numeral 20 corresponds to the index assigning means of the present invention.

Further, the genre of this embodiment is an example of the category item of the present invention, and the genre displayed in the genre display area and selected by the operation unit 140 corresponds to the category item of the present invention, and the main program information The program information displayed in the display area 420 corresponds to the main program information group of the present invention, and the program information displayed in the sub program information display area 440 corresponds to the related program information group of the present invention. Also, the broadcast destination display column 4
51, broadcast date display field 452, broadcast time zone display field 453,
The information displayed in the program name display field 454, the auxiliary information display field 455, the performer display field 456, the genre display area 410, and the genre name display windows 430a to 430c, 470 corresponds to the classification items and program property information of the present invention. To do.

The present invention is not limited to the above configuration, and the related program information group of the present invention may be selected and displayed without being classified for each classification item.

Further, the classification item for classifying the related program information group may be different from the first classification item.

The genre display area 410 which is the first classification item, the main program information display area 420 which displays the main program information group, and the sub program information display area 440 which displays the related program information group are all Are displayed on the same screen, but only a part of them may be displayed on the same screen. Further, it may be displayed for each different screen.

Further, the main program information display area 420 which is the display area of the main program information group is displayed larger than the sub program information display area 440 which is the display area of the related program information group, but both are the same. It may be displayed in the size or the opposite size.

Further, although the main program information display area 420 and the sub program information display area 440 are displayed in columns and the genre display area 410 is displayed in a row, the main program information display area 420 and the sub program information display area 420 are displayed. The program information display areas 440 may be displayed in rows and the genre display areas 410 may be displayed in columns. Further, all may be rows and all may be columns. In short, the display direction of each display area may be arbitrary, and the present invention is not limited by the display direction.

Further, the program property information of the present invention may also include information such as a moving image, a still image, a sound, etc., which is a part of the program content.

The present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute the functions of all or part of the means of the program information display device of the present invention described above, and is a program that operates in cooperation with the computer. May be.

Further, the present invention is a medium carrying a program for causing a computer to execute all or some of the functions of all or some of the means for displaying program information of the present invention described above, and is read by the computer. It may be a medium that allows the read program to execute the function in cooperation with the computer.

Note that some means (or devices, elements, circuits, sections, etc.) of the present invention, and some steps (or steps, operations, actions, etc.) of the present invention are those plural means. Or means a number of means or steps within a step or one of the means or steps
It means some functions or some operations.

Further, some devices (or elements, circuits, units, etc.) of the present invention mean some of those devices, or one of the devices. , Means a part of means (or an element, a circuit, a part, etc.) or means a part of the function of one means.

Further, the present invention also includes a computer-readable recording medium in which the program of the present invention is recorded.

Further, one usage form of the program of the present invention may be a mode in which the program is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium and operates in cooperation with the computer.

Further, one usage form of the program of the present invention may be a mode in which the program is transmitted through a transmission medium, read by a computer, and operates in cooperation with the computer.

Further, the data structure of the present invention includes a database, a data format, a data table, a data list, a data type, and the like.

The recording medium includes a ROM and the like, and the transmission medium includes a transmission mechanism such as the Internet.
Light, radio waves, sound waves, etc. are included.

The computer of the present invention described above is
The hardware is not limited to pure hardware such as a CPU, and may include firmware, an OS, and peripheral devices.

As described above, the configuration of the present invention may be realized by software or hardware.

[0111]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the potential demand of the user,
A program information display device, a program information display method, and the like capable of selecting more appropriate program information can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a reception system including a program information display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an internal control microcomputer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a genre-specific display program information creation unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display state of a screen according to a first operation example of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display state of a screen according to a second operation example of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen display state according to a third operation example of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display state of a screen according to a fourth operation example of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining the operation of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another display example of the screen according to the second operation example of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of an internal control microcomputer according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of a genre-specific display program information creation unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display state of a screen by the program information display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an EPG display method according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining an EPG display method according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another display example of the screen of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another display example of the screen of the program information display device in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 receiving system 110 tuner 120 set-top boxes 126 Internal control microcomputer 121 Program information extraction circuit 122 Video signal reproduction circuit 123 Audio signal reproduction circuit 124 Video mix circuit 125 Tube display signal creation circuit 130 monitor TV 131 Monitor device 132 speakers 140 Operation unit 210 EPG database 220 Program information creation section for display by genre 221 Display genre classification section 222 Display program information by genre and display position determination unit 223 Program Property Information Retrieval Section 230 Genre display signal creation section 240 temporary storage for instructions 250 Pipe surface display data creation unit 410 Genre display area 411 Pointer cursor 420 Main program information display area 420a, 420b Program information display window 430a to 430c Genre name display window 440a to 440c Subprogram information display area 451 Broadcast destination display column 452 Broadcast date display column 453 Broadcast time zone display column 454 Program name display column 455 Auxiliary information display column 456 Performer display column

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Sumiyuki Okimoto             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5C025 BA25 BA27 BA28 BA30 CA09                       CB09 DA05                 5C063 AB03 AB05 AC01 AC05 CA23                       DA03 DA07 DA13 EB33

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A program information storage unit for storing a plurality of program information about a program, a display unit for displaying information including at least the program information on a screen, and a specific one of the information displayed by the display unit. The program information is provided with a selection unit for selecting and a search unit for searching the program information of the program information storage unit, and the plurality of program information is classified based on a predetermined criterion. A plurality of program property information characterizing the above are included, the display unit displays each item of the classification as a classification item, and the selection unit selects one from the displayed classification items, and the display unit Displays specific program information belonging to the classification item selected by the selecting means as a main program information group, and the selecting means selects a predetermined program information from the program information of the main program information group. Of the program property information, the search means searches the program information storage means for other program information including program property information having contents related to the selected predetermined program property information, and the display means Is the program information retrieved by the retrieval means,
A program information display device for displaying as a related program information group. 2. The program information display device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit classifies and displays the related program information group for each classification. 3. The program information display device according to claim 2, wherein the classification is the same as the displayed classification item. 4. The program information display according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays at least the main program information group and the program information including the related program information group on the same screen. apparatus. 5. The program information display device according to claim 4, wherein the display means displays at least the main program information group and the program information including the related program information group on the screen at the same time. 6. The program information display device according to claim 4, wherein the display unit displays the program information including at least the related program information group together with the classification item. 7. The program information display device according to claim 6, wherein the display means displays a display area of the main program information group larger than a display area of the related program information group. 8. The program according to claim 4, wherein the display unit displays each program information of the main program information group and the related program information group in a column, and the first classification item is displayed in a row. Information display device. 9. The program property information is information about a genre to which the program belongs, information about a date on which the program is broadcast, information about a time zone at which the program is broadcast,
2. The program information display device according to claim 1, wherein the program information display device includes information about a broadcasting station that broadcasts the program, all or part of information about the performers of the program, and / or part of the content of the program. 10. The classification item includes all or part of a program genre, a program broadcast date, a program broadcast time zone, and a broadcast station name or channel that broadcasts the program. 1. The program information display device described in 1 or 9. 11. The program of the program information including predetermined program property information in the main program information group and the program of the program information in the related information group have a back program relationship.
The program information display device described in. 12. A program of program information recorded in the program information storage unit, the viewing time measuring unit for measuring a viewing time of a program viewed by a viewer, and the program having a long measured viewing time. 5. The index assigning unit that assigns an index to the program information of, wherein the display unit displays the index together when displaying the program information of the measured long viewing time program. Program information display device. 13. The program information display device according to claim 12, wherein the contents of the index differ depending on the length of the measured viewing time. 14. A set-top box comprising program information and a receiving means for receiving a program corresponding to the program information, and an image generating means for displaying the program information, the set-top box comprising: A set top box comprising the program information display device according to claim 1. 15. A program information display method for displaying program information about a program, wherein a plurality of the program information are classified based on a predetermined standard, and each program information characterizes the program. A plurality of program property information is included, a step of accumulating a plurality of the program information, a step of displaying each item of the classification as a classification item, a step of selecting one from the displayed classification items, A step of displaying specific program information belonging to the selected classification item as a main program information group; a step of selecting predetermined program property information from the program information of the main program information group; Searching the other program information including program property information having contents related to the property information from the program information storage means, and the number searched by the search means. Information, the program information display method comprising the step of displaying a relevant program information group. 16. The program display device according to claim 1, wherein program information storage means for storing a plurality of program information related to programs, display means for displaying information including at least the program information on a screen, and the display means. A program for causing a computer to function as all or a part of a selection means for selecting a specific one from the information displayed by and a search means for searching the program information of the program information storage means. 17. A medium carrying the program according to claim 16, which can be processed by a computer.