JP2005057557A - Recording reservation program and recording reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize recording reservation using a portable telephone set capable of corresponding to change of broadcast start time without imposing burden to a user. <P>SOLUTION: A processing part 5 of the portable telephone set 1 has: a function requesting program data from a program server 2 and receiving transmitted program data; a function specifying program specification information of a reserved program selected by a selection signal inputted through an operation part 4 in program data, broadcast start scheduled time and broadcast termination scheduled time and storing and transmitting these to a recording device 3; and a function for requesting program data of the reserved program from the program server when time from present time to broadcast start scheduled time of the reserved program becomes setting time which is previously set, comparing program data returned from the program server with stored broadcast start scheduled time, determining presence or absence of change of broadcast start scheduled time and transmitting changed broadcast start scheduled time to the recording device together with program specification information when time is changed, by a recording reservation program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program for reserving recording of a broadcast program using a mobile phone and a recording reservation system using the program.

With the increasing penetration of mobile phones, various functions have been added to mobile phones, and the use of mobile phones is increasing. Under such circumstances, there is a system for making a reservation for recording a TV program using a mobile phone.
In this recording reservation system, a mobile phone sets a recording reservation via communication to a recording device installed at home.

In order to make such a recording reservation, the recording apparatus has a function of acquiring an electronic program guide from a program server that distributes the electronic program guide, and a function of setting recording reservation according to a signal transmitted from a mobile phone It is necessary to have.
In addition, the mobile phone has a browser function, and can display the program guide acquired by the recording device. Then, a program is specified in the electronic program guide from the mobile phone, and a recording reservation instruction signal for the specified program is output to the recording apparatus.
JP 2001-359030 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-199082

As described above, by using a mobile phone, it is possible to set a recording reservation in a recording apparatus installed at home even from a location outside the home.
However, the start time and end time of a program for which recording reservation is set may change. For example, in the case of a baseball broadcast, the broadcast time may be extended if the game is prolonged. The program extended in this way has an end time later than scheduled, and the program after this program will be delayed in broadcasting until the end of the baseball broadcast. Therefore, if a recording reservation is made for the program after the baseball broadcast based on the program table before the broadcast extension of the baseball broadcast is decided, the recording starts before the program to be recorded starts. On the other hand, since the recording end time is also set at the scheduled broadcast end time before extension, not only the recording start becomes earlier, but also the recording ends during the broadcast of the program to be recorded. In other words, the program reserved for recording can only be recorded halfway.

  As described above, in order to prevent the recording from being ended in the middle of a program even if the start time or end time of the program once set for recording reservation in the recording device is changed The user must reset the recording reservation. For this purpose, the user needs to know the change of the broadcast time, and has to check the change of the broadcast time by displaying the program data via the recording device by the mobile phone.

Some mobile phones have a function to directly access the program server and acquire program data. Even when using such a mobile phone, the user accesses the program server and confirms the change of the broadcast schedule. Must.
When the broadcast time is changed, the updated program guide data is transmitted from the broadcast station to the program server in advance.

As described above, it is troublesome for the user to check whether or not the broadcast time of the program once set for recording reservation by operating the mobile phone is changed. In addition, the broadcast time is often changed after approaching the scheduled start time of the broadcast. However, if the recording is not desired to be failed, the program data is frequently checked.
On the other hand, making a recording reservation is often impossible to watch during a broadcast time, and there are many other tasks during that time. Accordingly, it is troublesome to frequently check the program data at such time, and it may be difficult to check. If the change of the broadcast time is not confirmed and the recording is performed as it is, the recording of the program that the user wants to watch ends in the middle or another program is recorded.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to reserve recording of a broadcast program using a mobile phone, and to reliably cope with a change in broadcast start time without bothering the user.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording reservation program having a function of transmitting a signal requesting program data to a program server storing program data to a processing unit of a mobile phone having an operation unit and a processing unit; A function for receiving program data transmitted from the program server in response, program identification information of a reserved program selected by the selection signal input via the operation unit among the received program data, a scheduled broadcast start time, and A function for identifying the scheduled broadcast end time, a function for storing program identification information of these reserved programs, a scheduled broadcast start time and a scheduled broadcast end time, and a recording device for recording the program specific information, the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled broadcast end time When the time from the current time to the scheduled broadcast start time of a specific reserved program reaches a preset time A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on a set of program specifying information, a function for receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal, and the received program data And a function to determine whether or not the scheduled broadcast start time is changed by comparing with the stored scheduled broadcast start time, and when there is a change, the changed scheduled broadcast start time is transmitted to the recording apparatus together with the program identification information. It is characterized in that the function to be realized is realized.

  The second invention is based on the first invention, the function of storing the scheduled broadcast start time of the changed reserved program in the processing unit of the mobile phone, and the updated broadcast of the specific reserved program from the current time A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on the program specifying information of the reserved program when the time until the scheduled start time reaches a preset set time, and based on the request signal A function to receive program data returned from the program server, a function to compare the received program data with the stored scheduled broadcast end time, and to determine whether the scheduled broadcast start time has changed In this case, it is characterized in that the function of transmitting the scheduled broadcast start time changed together with the program identification information to the recording device is realized.

  3rd invention presupposes the said 1st or 2nd invention, when the time from the present time to the scheduled broadcast end time of the reserved program has reached a preset time in the processing unit of the mobile phone, A function of transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on program identification information of the reserved program, a function of receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal, and the received program The function of comparing the data with the stored program data to determine whether or not the scheduled broadcast end time is changed, and when there is a change, the changed broadcast scheduled time is transmitted to the recording apparatus together with the program identification information. It is characterized in that the function is realized.

  4th invention presupposes the said 1st-3rd invention, The function which memorize | stores the scheduled broadcast end time of the changed reserved program in the process part of a mobile telephone, The above-mentioned of a specific reserved program from the present time A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on the program specifying information of the reserved program when the time until the updated scheduled broadcast end time reaches a preset set time; The function for receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal, the function for comparing the received program data with the stored program data, and determining whether or not the scheduled broadcast end time is changed, and the change This is characterized in that the function of transmitting the scheduled broadcast start time changed together with the program identification information to the recording device when there is a program is realized.

  5th invention presupposes the said 1st-4th invention, The function which transmits the time request signal which requests | requires time data to the process part of a mobile telephone with the program request signal which requests | requires program data to a program server, A function for receiving the time data transmitted from the program server based on the time request signal, a function for adjusting its own clock based on the received time data, and a program data of the reserved program to be transmitted to the recording device. Furthermore, it has a transfer feature that realizes the function of transmitting time data.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording reservation system capable of communicating between a mobile phone storing the recording reservation program according to the first to fifth aspects of the invention and the mobile phone, and corresponding to program specifying information of a program. A program server storing program data including a scheduled broadcast start time and a scheduled broadcast end time, and a recording device capable of communicating with the mobile phone, wherein the program server receives a program request signal from the mobile phone, A function of returning program data corresponding to the request signal to the mobile phone, and the recording device receiving a program information transmitted from the mobile phone and a broadcast corresponding to the received same program specifying information A function that always sets recording reservation information based on the latest program data within the scheduled start time and a function that records programs based on the set recording reservation information To have the feature.

According to the first to sixth inventions, even when the scheduled broadcast start time of a program reserved for recording using a mobile phone is changed, the changed start time is saved without any user effort. It can correspond to. Therefore, a user's mistake does not miss a necessary recording.
In addition, since the processing unit of the mobile phone according to the first to sixth inventions has a limited timing to connect to the program server or the recording device, the communication cost of the mobile phone for setting the recording is kept low. In addition, while the recording reservation program is running, the communication time for acquiring program data is short, so the communication is less likely to interfere with the communication function as a telephone. .

In particular, according to the second invention, it is possible to cope with the case where the scheduled broadcast start time is repeatedly changed.
According to the third and fourth inventions, even when the broadcast end time of a program reserved for recording is changed, it is possible to cope with the changed broadcast end scheduled time without user's trouble. Can do. Therefore, the user's mistake does not cause the recording to be missed.
In particular, the fourth invention can cope with the case where the scheduled broadcast end time is repeatedly changed.
Also, as in the second and fourth inventions, the timing at which the processing unit repeatedly requests program data from the program server is determined based on the scheduled broadcast start time and scheduled broadcast end time. It doesn't communicate. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the start of the recording reservation program from being disturbed by telephone communication and to keep communication costs low.

  According to the fifth aspect, the processing unit of the mobile phone, the program server, and the time of the recording device can be matched. Therefore, the mobile phone can request the program data from the program server at an accurate timing and confirm the change, and the recording reservation set based on the program data can be accurately executed in the recording apparatus. become.

  According to the sixth invention, even if the broadcast start time and end time of a program for which a recording reservation has been made once are changed, the processing unit of the mobile phone can automatically cope with them. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to take time and the recording is not missed due to the user's mistake.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of a recording system using a cellular phone 1 having a recording reservation program according to the present invention.
The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a mobile phone 1, a program server 2 capable of communicating with the mobile phone via a communication network N such as the Internet, a recording device 3 installed at home, and a broadcasting station 6. .

The cellular phone 1 includes an operation unit 4 including operation keys such as numeric keys and a selection key, and a processing unit 5 that processes a signal input via the operation unit 4 and data input through communication. . As will be described in detail later, the processing unit 5 includes the recording reservation program according to the present invention, and a recording reservation for a specific program can be set in the recording apparatus 3 by the recording reservation program.
The processing unit 5 has a clock function and a function for specifying time.

Further, the mobile phone 1 has a telephone call function as a telephone and a function of accessing the program server 2 and the recording device 3 via the communication network N.
The program server 2 is a server that stores program data corresponding to a program guide of broadcast programs and provides the data to the mobile phone 1. The program server 2 is configured to transmit program data scheduled to be broadcast every time the broadcast station 6 decides the timing or the broadcast time changes.

On the other hand, the recording device 3 is a device installed at home, and has a function of receiving broadcast radio waves, a function of recording it, and a function of outputting recorded data to a display device such as a television. Furthermore, a function for performing reservation setting for program recording based on data input from the mobile phone 1 is also provided.
Note that the recording device 3 may be capable of making a recording reservation for a broadcast program by manually inputting data directly without using the mobile phone 1.

  Hereinafter, a procedure for making a recording reservation from the mobile phone 1 to the recording device 3 in the system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Each processing step in this flowchart is a function of the processing unit 5 of the mobile phone 1, and the recording reservation program of the present invention is installed in the processing unit 5 in order to realize such a function. The recording reservation program may be installed in advance in the processing unit 5 of the mobile phone 1 or may be downloaded via a communication network N from a program providing server (not shown).

In step S1 of FIG. 2, the user of the mobile phone 1 starts up the recording reservation program. Once started, this program functions until all processes described below are completed unless the user intentionally terminates the program.
In step S2, the processing unit 5 accesses the program server 2 and outputs a program data request signal. This step S2 may be automatically performed by a recording reservation program of the processing unit 5, or may be performed based on a signal input from the user such as a user operating a specific key. Absent. In this way, when a user inputs a signal, a specific channel or date can be designated and only program data limited to that channel or date can be requested. Further, program data may be selected by a performer of the program.

  The program server 2 that has received the program data request signal transmits a plurality of program data relating to a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast. In step S3, the processing unit 5 receives the program data from the program server 2 and displays it. The program data is a set of program specifying information for specifying each program and data of the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled broadcast end time for each program. In addition, the program data may include information on performers of the program. And the process part 5 can display the above program data as a program schedule on the display of the mobile telephone 1 by the recording reservation program installed in itself.

  The program specifying information may be any data as long as the program can be specified, such as broadcast date / time, channel, program name, and combinations thereof. A set of program identification information, a scheduled broadcast start time and a scheduled broadcast end time for each program is individual program data, and a plurality of these sets together to form a program table is the program server in step S3. 2 is the program data received from 2.

A so-called G code obtained by coding the date, channel, scheduled broadcast start time, and broadcast time corresponding to each program can be used as it is as program data.
The program data may include the broadcast time instead of the scheduled broadcast end time, and the processing unit 5 may specify the scheduled broadcast end time using the scheduled broadcast start time and the broadcast time.

In step S3, the program guide is displayed on the mobile phone 1, so the user selects the program to be reserved for recording via the operation unit 4. In step S4, the processing unit 5 receives the program selection signal input from the operation unit 4.
In step S5, the processing unit 5 specifies a program corresponding to the received selection signal as a reserved program, and stores the corresponding program specifying information. Further, in step S6, the processing unit 5 stores the scheduled start time and scheduled end time of the reserved program. In steps S5 and S6, the processing unit 5 stores the program data of the reserved program. In this embodiment, the program data relating to the reserved program is stored as it is. However, if the program data includes data not related to the recording reservation such as performers and genres, the data is You may make it memorize | store only the data required for recording reservation, without memorize | storing.

In step S7, the program specifying information, the scheduled broadcast start time, and the scheduled broadcast end time of the reserved program are transmitted to the recording device 3. On the recording device 3 side, a recording reservation is set based on the received data.
In step S8, the processing unit 5 of the mobile phone 1 determines whether or not the time until the scheduled broadcast start time of the reserved program stored in step S7 is within a preset T1. For example, if T1 is set to 10 minutes, the process proceeds to step S9 if the broadcast start scheduled time is 10 minutes before, and if there is more than 10 minutes, the process returns to step S8.

In step S9, the processing unit 5 requests the program data from the program server 2 by designating the program specifying information of the reserved program. The program server 2 transmits program data in response to a request signal from the processing unit 5. In step S <b> 10, the processing unit 5 receives program data from the program server 2.
In step S11, the processing unit 5 compares the program data received in step S10 with the program data of the reserved program stored in itself, and determines whether or not the scheduled broadcast start time has been changed. . If there is a change in the scheduled broadcast start time, the process proceeds to step S13, and if there is no change, the process proceeds to step S15.

If there is a change in the scheduled broadcast start time of the reserved program, the process proceeds to step S13, where the processing unit 5 stores the changed scheduled broadcast start time and scheduled end time. In step S14, the changed broadcast start is started. The scheduled time and the scheduled end time are transmitted to the recording device 3. In step S14, the processing unit 5 transmits the program specifying information of the reserved program to the recording device 3 together with the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled end time.
At this time, the recording device 3 changes and resets the recording reservation corresponding to the received program identification information to the updated scheduled broadcast start time and scheduled end time.

  As described above, even when there is a change in the scheduled broadcast start time, the processing unit 5 automatically confirms the change in the scheduled start time and sets a recording reservation at a new time in the recording device 3. be able to. As described above, after setting the recording reservation after changing the scheduled broadcast start time in step S14, the process returns to step S8, and the same confirmation is performed for the updated scheduled broadcast start time. That is, when the new scheduled start time approaches within time T1, program data is requested (step S9) and the change is confirmed.

And even if it is within the time T1 of the scheduled start time, when the scheduled start time is not changed, the process proceeds from step S12 to step S15 for the first time. Then, the recording device 3 starts recording at the scheduled time.
It is assumed that when the broadcast start time and end time of a program are changed, the updated program data is transmitted from the broadcast station 6 to the program server in advance. If the change unit of the broadcast start time is determined in advance, the change will not be missed if the time T1 is set to a time shorter than the change unit.

For example, if the unit for changing the start time of a program is 15 minutes, if the time T1 is set to 10 minutes which is less than 15 minutes, the scheduled start time is changed 10 minutes before the first scheduled time. If not, broadcasting normally starts as scheduled.
Alternatively, the time T1 may be set to a negative value, for example, -30 seconds, and it may be confirmed that the scheduled time has not been changed 30 seconds after the scheduled start time. In this way, when the negative set time T1 is used, if there is no change in schedule, the program data will be confirmed after the actual broadcast starts. However, the broadcast start time 30 seconds before the confirmation is also confirmed. It is assumed that it is included in the scheduled broadcast start time of the present invention.

Further, in step S15 and subsequent steps, the processing unit 5 confirms the change of the broadcast end time.
If there is a change in the scheduled start time in the processing from step S1 to step S14, it corresponds to the scheduled broadcast end time updated accordingly, but the end time is further changed. Even if there is no change in the scheduled start time, only the scheduled broadcast end time may be changed. For example, the recording target is a program with an extension such as a baseball broadcast.

Therefore, the processing unit 5 repeats step S15 until the time until the scheduled broadcast end time of the reserved program stored therein falls within the preset time T2, and the time until the scheduled end time is reached. When it is within time T2, the process proceeds to step S16.
In step S16, the processing unit 5 outputs a request signal for requesting program data relating to the reserved program to the program server. Based on this request signal, the program server 2 transmits program data corresponding to the specific reserved program.

In step S17, the processing unit 5 receives the program data. In step S18, the processing unit 5 compares the received program data with the program data stored therein.
Then, in step S19, it is determined whether or not there is a change in the scheduled broadcast end time. If there is no change, the process proceeds to step S22, the processing of the processing unit 5 is terminated, and the scheduled broadcast end time is changed in step S19. If there is, the process proceeds to step S20.

In step S20, the processing unit 5 stores the changed scheduled end time, proceeds to step S21, and transmits the changed scheduled broadcast end time from the processing unit 5 to the recording device 3. At this time, although not shown in FIG. 2, the processing unit 5 also transmits the program specifying information of the reserved program corresponding to the broadcast end time. Receiving this data, the recording device 3 changes the recording end time based on the changed broadcast end time.
Furthermore, it returns to step S15 from step S21, and it is confirmed again whether there is any change also about new scheduled end time (steps S15-S19). Then, step S15 → step S21 → step S15 is repeated until it is determined in step S19 that there is no change in the scheduled end time.

If it is determined in step S19 that there is no change in the scheduled end time, the process proceeds to step S22 and the process ends. However, the processing flow of steps S1 to S22 is processing performed by the processing unit 5 with respect to one reserved program. When a plurality of programs are reserved for recording, the same processing is performed for each program, and the processing of the recording reservation program of the processing unit 5 is completed until it is confirmed that there is no change in the recording end time of all the programs. do not do.
If the set time T2 is set to a time shorter than the unit of the program extension time, that is, the end time change unit, it is possible to prevent the change from being missed with a minimum number of confirmations. .

As described above, in the system of this embodiment, the processing unit 5 can automatically confirm the change of the program data by the mobile phone 1 provided with the recording program of the present invention. For this reason, it is possible to cope with changes in the broadcast start time and end time without taking the user's trouble, and there is no omission of confirmation of the change.
In addition, in order to confirm the change of the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled end time, the timing for accessing the program server 2 is determined based on the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled end time before the change. There is no need to access the program server 2. Further, by setting the set times T1 and T2 within the unit of program change time, the number of accesses to the program server 2 is minimized to confirm the change of the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled end time. Can be. Therefore, the communication cost of the mobile phone 1 can be kept low.

  Although the processing unit 5 of the mobile phone 1 has a clock function, the recording reservation program of the processing unit 5 outputs a signal requesting time data to the program server 2 at the timing of requesting program data. The function of adjusting its own clock based on the returned time data and the function of transmitting the time data when transmitting the program reservation data to the recording device 3 can also be realized. Thereby, the clock of the processing unit 5 and the clock of the recording device 3 can always function correctly, and the times of the program server 2, the processing unit 5, and the recording device 3 can be matched. Therefore, the processing unit 5 of the mobile phone 1 can confirm the change of the scheduled broadcast start time and the scheduled end time at an accurate timing, and the recording device 3 can record at the accurate time.

  Also, the program server 2 can store advertisement data separately from the program data and transmit it to the mobile phone 1. Specifically, when the program server 2 transmits a program data request signal from the mobile phone 1 in step S2 in FIG. 2, when transmitting the program data to the program data, the program server 2 Advertisement data selected based on a random or predetermined specific rule is selected, and the advertisement data is attached to the program data to be transmitted and transmitted. An advertisement is always displayed on the mobile phone 1 when a program reservation is made.

It is a figure which shows the system of the Example of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the process sequence of the process part of an Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cellular phone 2 Program server 3 Recording device 4 Operation part 5 Processing part N Communication network

Claims (6)

  A function of transmitting a signal requesting program data to a program server storing program data to a processing unit of a mobile phone having an operation unit and a processing unit, and a program transmitted from the program server in response to the request signal A function for receiving data, a function for specifying program identification information, a scheduled broadcast start time, and a scheduled broadcast end time of a reserved program selected by a selection signal input via the operation unit among the received program data; A function for storing the program identification information, scheduled broadcast start time and scheduled broadcast end time for the reserved program, a function for transmitting the program identification information, scheduled broadcast start time and scheduled broadcast end time to the recording device, and identification from the current time When the time until the scheduled broadcast start time of the reserved program reaches a preset time, the above number is set based on the program identification information of the reserved program. A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the server, a function for receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal, the received program data, and a stored broadcast start scheduled time A recording reservation for realizing the function of determining whether or not the scheduled broadcast start time is changed by comparison and the function of transmitting the scheduled broadcast start time changed together with the program identification information to the recording device when there is a change. program.   A function for storing the scheduled broadcast start time of the changed reserved program in the processing unit of the mobile phone, and the time from the current time to the updated scheduled broadcast start time of the specific reserved program is a preset set time. A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on program specifying information of the reserved program, and a function for receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal; A function that compares the received program data with the stored scheduled broadcast end time to determine whether or not the scheduled broadcast start time has changed, and the scheduled broadcast start time that has been changed together with the program identification information if there has been a change The recording reservation program according to claim 1, for realizing a function of transmitting a message to a recording apparatus.   When the time from the current time to the scheduled broadcast end time of the reserved program reaches the preset time set in the processing unit of the mobile phone, program data is requested from the program server based on the program identification information of the reserved program. The function of transmitting a request signal, the function of receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal, and the received program data and stored program data are compared to determine the scheduled broadcast end time. The recording reservation program according to claim 1 or 2, for realizing a function of determining whether or not there is a change and a function of transmitting, to the recording apparatus, a scheduled broadcast end time together with program identification information when there is a change. .   A function for storing the scheduled broadcast end time of the changed reserved program in the processing unit of the mobile phone, and the time from the current time to the updated scheduled broadcast end time of the specific reserved program is a preset set time. A function for transmitting a request signal for requesting program data to the program server based on program specifying information of the reserved program, and a function for receiving program data returned from the program server based on the request signal; The function that compares the received program data with the stored program data to determine whether or not the scheduled broadcast end time has changed, and if there is a change, records the changed scheduled broadcast start time together with the program identification information The recording reservation program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, for realizing a function of transmitting to a device.   A function for transmitting a time request signal for requesting time data together with a program request signal for requesting program data to the program server to the processing unit of the mobile phone, and receiving the time data transmitted from the program server based on the time request signal And a function of transmitting time data when transmitting program data of a reserved program to the recording apparatus. Recording reservation program given in any 1 of -4.   6. A broadcast start scheduled time and a broadcast end that are communicable between the mobile phone storing the recording reservation program according to claim 1 and the mobile phone and correspond to the program specifying information of the program A program server storing program data including a scheduled time; and a recording device capable of communicating with the mobile phone, wherein the program server receives a program request signal from the mobile phone, and program data corresponding to the request signal The recording device has a function of receiving program information transmitted from the mobile phone and a broadcast start scheduled time corresponding to the received same program specifying information. A recording reservation system comprising a function of setting recording reservation information based on program data and a function of recording a program based on the set recording reservation information.

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