JP2003333492A - Control method for viewing and recording programs - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control method for viewing and recording programs, which enables users to view or record in accordance with users' desire by controlling viewing and recording at a scene unit of programs. <P>SOLUTION: A broadcasting station transmits information related to scenes of programs (program scene information) to receivers. When receiving the program scene information, a receiver controls viewing and/or recording for a scene unit of programs based on the program scene information and the receiver setup when a user views and/or records programs. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program viewing / recording control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when viewing or recording a program on a television receiver, a user has selected to view or record by the program or time unit.

[0003]

Therefore, if the user wants to watch (record) the program X but does not want to watch a part of the program scene (for example, a violent scene or an adult scene), it is not possible to cut only that program scene. could not. Further, even when it is desired to record only a specific program scene of a certain program, it is not known when the specific program scene will be broadcast, so that the entire program must be recorded.
In this case, the recording medium for recording has to be used wastefully, and it takes a lot of time to search for a specific program scene when playing back and checking.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
Viewing / recording can be controlled for each scene of the program, and viewing / recording can be performed in accordance with user's wishes.
An object is to provide a recording control method.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A program viewing / recording control method according to the present invention comprises transmitting means for transmitting information on a scene of a program to a receiver, and the scene of the program transmitted by the transmitting means. Receiving means for receiving information regarding the information by a receiver, setting means for setting "yes" and "no" for viewing or recording on the receiver in scene units of a program, and when watching a program by the receiver or / Further, at the time of recording, a control means for controlling viewing or recording and / or recording for each scene of the program based on the setting by the setting means and the information about the scene of the received program is provided.

[0006] As a preferred form, the information about the scene of the program is MPEG2-used in digital broadcasting.
A program described in the extended format event descriptor in the information table called EIT in the TS, or a basic local event descriptor in the information table called LIT, or using a part of the program-linked additional information service in digital broadcasting. It is transmitted in each scene. Also, the setting of "Yes" or "No" for viewing or recording and / or recording for each scene of a program is made commonly for each program or for all programs. In addition, viewing and
The settings of "Yes" and "No" for recording can be set differently for viewing and recording.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a program viewing / recording control method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the program viewing / recording control method according to the present invention,
While information about the scene of the program (hereinafter referred to as program scene information) is transmitted from the broadcasting station to the receiver, the receiver receives this program scene information and based on this program scene information and the settings of the receiver. , Viewing / recording is controlled for each scene of the program when the program is viewed or / and recorded.

Various cases are conceivable as the program scene. In the case of the sumo program as shown in FIG. 3 (a), various efforts are made, and in the case of the movie program as shown in FIG. 3 (b), CM / violence scenes. There are various cases such as each content such as an adult scene and each race in the case of a horse racing program as shown in FIG. 3 (c).

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the MPEG2-TS in which the information on the above-mentioned program scene (that is, the program scene information) is used in digital broadcasting.
EIT (Event Information T)
The information is described in the extended format event descriptor in the information table called "abl)" and transmitted from the broadcasting station to the receiver.

The format of the extended format event descriptor is shown in FIG. Currently, this descriptor provides a detailed description of the program. For example, the information about the performers of the program and the original / script information. Item names such as "Cast" and "Original / Screenplay"
It is described in em_description_char, and item descriptions such as a person's name are described in item_char. Using this detailed information, the program scene name of the program scene information is described in the item name, and the start time, end time and period of the program scene in the program scene information are described in the item description and transmitted.

The receiver receives the digital broadcast including the program scene information transmitted as described above. Then, the receiver extracts and displays the program scene information in an arbitrary program according to the user's operation (instruction). For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, the user may use an EPG (Elect) before broadcasting the program.
ric Program Guide: channel (program) you want to watch on the electronic program guide (for example, channel 203)
When is selected, as shown in FIG. 1B, the program scene name in the selected program (for example, "violence""adult""C
"M" and the like) are displayed on a display device (not shown) according to the program scene information so that they can be confirmed. At the same time, on the display device, you can view / unview, record, or not view each of the scenes by program scene.
The recording setting screen is displayed. On this screen, the user operates an operation unit such as a remote controller to set “view”, “not view”, “record”, or “do not record” for each scene. In FIG. 1B, viewing and recording are set to “not” for a violent scene, and viewing and recording are set to “not” for an adult scene. Furthermore, regarding CM, viewing is set to “Yes” and recording is set to “No”.

FIG. 1 shows a case where a channel (program) is selected on the EPG, the scene name in the selected program is displayed based on the program scene information, and viewing and recording are set for each scene. It is also possible to display the scene name in the program based on the program scene information while the program is being received (viewing), and to set viewing and recording for each scene.
In that case, when an operation unit such as a remote controller is operated, as shown in FIG. 2, the viewing / recording setting for each scene including the name of each scene in the program is overlaid on the program image 11 currently being received (viewed). The screen 12 is displayed on the display device 13. And
In that state, operate the operation unit such as the remote controller to
As in the case of (b), viewing and recording can be set for each scene.

When viewing and recording are set for each program scene for an arbitrary program as described above, the program being received by the receiver (when watching or / and recording) is as described above. The program has been set to
When the program scene (which can be judged from the already received program scene information) becomes the program scene set as described above, viewing or / and recording is controlled based on the setting.
For example, in FIGS. 1B and 2, the violent scenes and the adult scenes are set to “not watch” and “do not record”. However, the viewing of violent scenes and adult scenes is stopped by switching to another still image and music, and during recording, recording of the violent scenes and adult scenes is stopped in the same manner while recording is paused. Also, since the CM is set to “view” and “do not record”, when the program scene becomes a CM, the CM is viewed as it is, but the CM is recorded.
Recording is stopped. Viewing / recording control for each scene based on such settings is hereinafter referred to as "program scene processing".

Details of the program scene processing will be described below with reference to FIG. When the receiver is powered on and reception (viewing and / or recording) is started by the receiver, or when the channel is changed, or when the user performs viewing / recording setting for each scene, the receiver It is determined whether or not there is a user setting (viewing / recording setting for each scene) regarding a program scene for the current program or the next program (step S
1). This is, for example, storing for each program that the operation unit has performed the operation of opening the scene-by-scene viewing / recording setting screen shown in FIG. 1B or FIG. 2 (entering the scene-by-scene viewing / recording setting mode). Here, it can be determined by detecting whether or not there is the stored information for each program. Then, if it is determined in step S1 that there is no user setting, the process proceeds to step S2 to perform normal processing (continuous viewing or / and recording processing not referring to "setting").

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that there is a user setting, the flow advances to step S3 to set a timer to the start time (obtained from the program scene information) of the scene to be set soon. Further, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the program scene processing is currently being performed. If no program scene processing is currently being performed, normal processing is performed (step S5), and it is further monitored whether the start time of the set scene has been reached (step S6). If the start time is reached, the processing up to this point is terminated. Then, the program scene processing is started, and at the same time, the end time (obtained from the program scene information) of the scene being processed is set in the timer (step S7).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S4 that the program scene processing is currently being performed, it is determined whether the start time of the set scene set in step S3 has been reached while the program scene processing is continued. It is monitored in S8, and if the start time is reached, the program scene processing for the set scene is executed, and at the same time, the end time of the scene (obtained from the program scene information) is set in the timer (step S9).

Then, after step S9 or S7, it is determined in step S10 whether or not there is a set scene in continuous time, and if there is a set scene in continuous time, step S10.
Returning to step 3, the start time of the set scene in the continuous time is set in the timer to prepare for the program scene processing in the set scene in the continuous time. Then, steps S4, S8, S
9. Repeat S10. Then, in step S11,
It is judged whether or not the end time of the set scene has come. If the end time has come, the program scene processing is ended (step S12), and the process returns to step S1.

According to the above-described program scene processing, the user subdivides the program and "watches" in program scene units.
You can select "Do not watch", "Record" or "Do not record". Therefore, for example, if you are watching a program with a child and do not want to see the violent scene or adult scene in the program, you can switch the video and audio of that part to another still image and music, etc. It is possible to prevent adverse effects on children such as scenes. It is also possible to extract and record only one race of a horse racing program or a scene in which an application destination such as a prize is displayed, or to cut a commercial part when recording a movie or a drama. Therefore,
It is possible to prevent unnecessary use of the recording medium for recording, and during playback,
It is easy to find the desired scene. In this way, it is possible to view and record according to the user's wishes.

The setting of viewing / recording for each scene can be set not only for each program but also for all programs.

In the first embodiment, the program scene information is described in the extended format event descriptor in the EIT information table in the MPEG2-TS and transmitted, but in the second embodiment, the MPEG2 is used. -LIT in TS (L
ocal event Information Ta
ble) (not used in current digital broadcasting)
Described in the basic local event descriptor in the information table, and sent. The format of the LIT is as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the local_event_Information of FIG.
description in section_section ()
In r (), basic_local_event_ of FIG.
descriptor () is written. LIT is “event identification in program” and its “event time information”
It is in a format that can describe. "Event identification in program" is local_event_id, and "time information of event" is different depending on the format.
end_time with art_time_NPT
How to send by me_NPT and start time start_t
There is a method of sending the duration time in duration by the time. The program scene information according to the present invention is handled as an in-program event, described in the LIT, and transmitted.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the program scene information is transmitted by utilizing a part of the program-linked additional information service in digital broadcasting. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, at the beginning of each scene in the program, at least the program scene information data representing the type of the program scene is superimposed and added to the program additional information data in synchronization with the video and audio being broadcast. And send.

Therefore, the receiver receives (views or
And recording), as shown in FIG. 9, first, the program additional information data is separated from the received signal (step S21), and then, whether or not there is program scene information data in the separated program additional information data. Whether or not it is detected (step S22). Then, if there is no program scene information data, the program output restriction is not set (continuation of viewing / recording) (step S23), and the process returns to step S21 to detect the program scene information data.

On the other hand, when the program scene information data is detected in step S22, how is the program scene represented by the program scene information data set in the scene-by-scene viewing / recording setting as shown in FIG. 1 (b) or FIG. Is set in step S24. If the program scene represented by the program scene information data is set to “view” or “record” in the viewing / recording settings for each scene, the viewing / recording is continued without restricting viewing / recording. The process returns to step S21 to detect the next program scene information data.

On the other hand, the program scene represented by the program scene information data is "not viewed" in the viewing / recording setting for each scene.
When it is determined in step S24 that "not record" is set, the process proceeds to step S25 to temporarily stop the program output, that is, temporarily stop the viewing / recording.
Then, the procedure returns to step S21 to prepare for the detection of the next program scene information data.

Further, if the program scene represented by the program scene information data is different in viewing / recording setting for each scene between viewing and recording, for example, viewing is set to "Yes" and recording is set to "No". When judged in S25,
Different states are set between viewing and recording, for example, viewing is continued and recording is stopped. Then, the procedure returns to step S21 to prepare for the detection of the next program scene information data.

After that, the above viewing / recording state is maintained until the next program scene information data is detected, and if the next program scene information data is detected, the detected data and the scene-by-scene viewing / recording setting are set. Viewing based on the setting status of
The control of the recording state is repeated.

Therefore, also in the third embodiment, the user can subdivide the program and select the viewing state and the recording state for each program scene.

In the third embodiment, the scene-by-scene viewing / recording setting means is independently configured in the receiver regardless of the program scene information data. In addition, although there is no program scene information data between the program scene information data in FIG. 8, step S23 on the no data side does not operate in this portion. When the program scene information data is detected, the operation of the receiver is continuously determined at steps S24 and S25 until the next program scene information data is detected.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the program viewing / recording control method according to the present invention, the viewing / recording can be controlled for each scene of the program. Is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a first embodiment of the present invention, showing a case where scene-by-scene viewing / recording settings are made on an EPG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention, showing a case where scene-by-scene viewing / recording settings are made while viewing a program.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a program scene.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a data structure of an extended format event descriptor.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a flowchart showing a receiver operation (details of program scene processing).

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a data structure of a LIT (local event information table).

7 is a diagram showing a data structure of a basic local event descriptor in the LIT of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the third embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a configuration example of program data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the third embodiment of the present invention and is a flowchart showing a receiver operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Program video currently being received (viewed) 12 Scene-based viewing / recording setting screen 13 Display

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C025 BA11 BA14 BA25 DA01 DA04                 5C052 AB02 AB04 DD04 EE03                 5C053 FA20 GA01 GA11 GB21 GB38                       LA06 LA07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting means for transmitting information about a scene of a program to a receiver, a receiving means for receiving at the receiver the information about the scene of the program transmitted by the transmitting means, and viewing by the receiver. Or / and setting means for setting "yes" or "no" of recording for each scene of a program, and when the program is viewed or / and recorded by the receiver,
A program viewing / recording control method comprising: a control unit for controlling viewing or / and recording of each scene of the program based on the setting by the setting unit and the received information about the scene of the program. . 2. Information related to a scene of a program is an extended format event descriptor in an information table called EIT in MPEG2-TS used in digital broadcasting, or L
The program viewing / recording control method according to claim 1, wherein the information is transmitted by describing it in a basic local event descriptor in an information table called IT. 3. The viewing of a program according to claim 1, wherein the information on the scene of the program is transmitted in each scene of the program by utilizing a part of the program-linked additional information service in digital broadcasting. -Recording control method. 4. The setting of "Yes" or "No" for viewing or / and recording for each scene of a program is made for each program or for all programs in common. The viewing / recording control method of the program described in any of 1. 5. The setting of "Yes" or "No" for viewing / recording performed in scene units of a program can be set to different contents for viewing and recording. Viewing / recording control method for programs.