JP2005101859A - Television receiver, program guide providing program, and program guide providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiver, a program guide providing program, and a program guide providing method whereby a program guide for providing easily graspable contents of programs as to terrestrial digital broadcasting can be organized in a short time. <P>SOLUTION: When a control signal S1 is received as a trigger for display of a program guide, a control section 11 sequentially selects each channel of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and controls each section so as to acquire program information, image and audio in parallel. A video processing section 6 combines program information with thumbnail pictures resulting from the image information to configure a program guide of a prescribed form. A display section 20 displays the program guide and a speaker 30 outputs thumbnail voice acquired synchronously with the thumbnail pictures. Even in the terrestrial digital broadcasting, the program guide capable of delivering nearly real states of programs during broadcasting can be provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver having a function of receiving terrestrial digital broadcasting, and a program guide presentation program and a program guide presentation method applied to such a television receiver.

  Currently, digital broadcasting is carried out in BS (Broadcasting Satellite), CS (Communication Satellite), and CATV (cable television). Digital broadcasting can transmit digital signals several times as much as conventional analog broadcasting by using MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) compression encoding technology. Therefore, the number of channels is so large that it cannot be compared with analog broadcasting, and the receiver can enjoy a wide variety of contents. Furthermore, from this fiscal year (2003), terrestrial digital broadcasting is to be started, and it is planned that conventional terrestrial analog broadcasting will be switched to terrestrial digital broadcasting. In this terrestrial digital broadcast, the number of channels that can be viewed is expected to be 50 to 60 or more for general viewers.

  In order to increase the number of channels, techniques for allowing viewers to select programs comfortably and easily have been proposed. The basis of this is the EPG (Electrical Program Guide). The EPG is a system for displaying a program guide on a TV screen. The EPG is multiplexed with broadcast waves to send program guide data and received by a dedicated terminal or a television receiver having a receiving function. .

  In the case of satellite broadcasting, program-related information is shared by all organized channels. That is, if any one channel is viewed, program information superimposed at intervals of several seconds between broadcast signals is automatically received. Such program information is provided to support the convenience of viewing by broadcasting stations as the number of channels increases, and is referred to as program sequence information (SI). Hereinafter, this is simply referred to as program information SI.

By receiving such program information SI once, it is possible to acquire character information such as a program table and program contents for one week, image information of still images or moving images of typical scenes of the program, and the like. . In the following Patent Document 1, a program guide for BS and CS broadcasts is displayed using the program information thus obtained, and at the same time, a program designated by the user from the displayed program guide or a program scheduled to be broadcast in the future, A technique for displaying image information included in received SI is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-247565

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is applied to conventional digital broadcasting, and cannot be simply applied to terrestrial digital broadcasting to be started in the future. This is because, in the case of terrestrial digital broadcasting, program information SI is transmitted only within a band that can be operated by each broadcaster. The program information SI is not transmitted. Therefore, in order to acquire program information of individual channels, the user has to bother to select the channels one by one and receive the program information superimposed on the carrier wave together with the image and sound.

  Therefore, based on the conventional program schedule creation method applied to BS / CS digital broadcasting, if a program schedule for one week is created for all stations, there is a problem that a required time in minutes is required. The program schedule could not be displayed quickly and easily. In addition, in order to acquire the program information SI for all channels, the user needs to switch the channel selection in sequence, which places a heavy burden on the user. In addition, during that time, the user is expected to have to stop viewing the program that the user originally wants to view. Under these circumstances, it is considered that further ingenuity is required for creating a program guide corresponding to terrestrial digital broadcasting.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to efficiently organize and present a program table in a form that allows easy understanding of program contents without burdening the user even in terrestrial digital broadcasting. It is an object of the present invention to provide a television receiver, a program guide presentation program, and a program guide presentation method.

  The television receiver of the present invention includes a receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting, and heading information obtained by expressing program contents in an image and audio format based on the image and sound information of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means. For each channel, program information acquisition means for acquiring program information related to the broadcast program from the broadcast wave received by the reception means for each channel, heading information and program information acquisition means generated by the header generation means, In response to a program guide presentation request for creating a program guide based on the acquired program information, and outputting the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the receiving device in a viewable manner and requesting the presentation of the program guide Presenting means for presenting the program guide. In this television receiver, it is preferable that the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information regarding the program being broadcast in parallel with the generation of the header information regarding the program currently being broadcast by the header generation unit. It is preferable that the program information acquisition means also acquires program information relating to programs after the next program. In this case, it is preferable that the program information acquisition means execute the acquisition of the program information related to the program after the next program in parallel with the acquisition of the program information related to the program currently being broadcast.

  The program guide presenting program of the present invention is a computer-readable program applied to a television receiver having receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting, and an image of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means. A step of generating for each channel header information that represents the contents of a program based on audio information in a video and audio format, a step of acquiring for each channel program information relating to a broadcast program from broadcast waves received by the receiving means, and a header A step of creating a program table based on the header information generated by the generating unit and the program information acquired by the program information acquiring unit, and outputting the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the receiving unit in a viewable manner and the program table A program table is presented in response to a program guide presentation request for presenting a program. A.

  The program guide presenting method of the present invention is a method applied to a television receiver having receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting, and is based on video and audio information of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means. Generating header information for each channel in which the contents of the program are expressed in a video and audio format, acquiring program information about the broadcast program from the broadcast wave received by the receiving means for each channel, and generating the header information The program table is created based on the headline information and the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means, the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the reception means is output in a viewable manner, and the program guide is requested to be presented And a step of presenting a program guide in response to a program guide presentation request.

  In the television receiver, the program guide presentation program, and the program guide presentation method of the present invention, the headline information of the image and sound is generated for each channel based on the received image and sound information of the broadcast wave, and from the broadcast wave for each channel. Program information is acquired. Based on the generated headline information and the acquired program information, a program guide is created and presented in response to a program guide presentation request.

  The program information can be acquired, for example, by using a trigger that is set in advance, using a time zone that the user is not viewing, or when the program guide is opened on the screen.

  The “program information” in the present invention refers to information related to a program. For example, the program name, the name of a broadcasting station that broadcasts the program, the genre of the program, the channel, the broadcast time zone, and character information that represents the outline of the program Etc. are included. “Image / audio information” means information including image or sound, or both image and sound, and “image / audio format” refers to an aspect expressed using image or sound, or both image and sound. Say. “Heading information” is thumbnail information that represents program content using at least one of an image and a sound instead of characters. The term “in parallel” means that it is not necessary to be completely physically at the same time, and it is sufficient that at least a part of both of them proceed at the same time.

  According to the television receiver, the program guide presenting program, and the program guide presenting method of the present invention, even in terrestrial digital broadcasting, a program guide including heading information in an image / audio format is automatically created, At the same time, the video and audio being broadcast can be presented. For this reason, in terrestrial digital broadcasting as well as in other BS / CS digital broadcasting, it is possible to efficiently create and provide a user with a program table in an easy-to-understand manner without making the user aware of it.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a main part of a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. This television receiver has a configuration that allows viewing of terrestrial digital broadcasts, but actually has a configuration that allows viewing of BS broadcasts and CS broadcasts in addition to terrestrial digital broadcasts. . However, here, only the reception system of the terrestrial digital broadcast wave is shown, and illustration of other broadcast wave reception systems is omitted. The program guide presentation method and the program guide presentation program according to an embodiment of the present invention are embodied by the television receiver according to the present embodiment, and will be described below.

This television receiver includes a display unit 20 for displaying video, a speaker 30 for outputting sound, and a reception block 40 for receiving broadcast waves and processing signals.
The display unit 20 is configured using a display element such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) or an LCD (liquid crystal display), and outputs an image of a program currently being broadcast, and also displays a program table PG (FIG. 2) described later. It has a function.

  The reception block 40 includes a tuner 1 connected to the reception antenna AN, a separation unit 2 connected to the output side of the tuner 1, a video decoder 3, an audio decoder 4 and a memory 5 connected to the output side of the separation unit 2. And a video processing unit 6 connected to the output side of the video decoder 3. Details of these parts will be described later. Actually, a circuit such as a descrambler is included in addition to these, but is omitted here.

  The television receiver also includes a video encoder 8 provided between the video processing unit 6 and the display unit 20, and a digital / analog converter (D / A) 9 provided between the audio decoder 4 and the speaker 30. A thumbnail image memory 7 connected to the output side of the video decoder 3, a thumbnail audio memory 10 connected to the output side of the audio decoder 4, and a control unit 11 for controlling the entire television receiver. ing. The thumbnail image memory 7 and the thumbnail audio memory 10 are also connected to the video processing unit 6. Here, the display unit 20 and the speaker 30 correspond to a specific example of “presenting means” in the present invention.

  The tuner 1 of the reception block 40 has a function of selecting a target carrier wave from the broadcast waves supplied from the reception antenna AN and demodulating it to obtain an MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream). Note that MPEG-2 TS is a standard for collectively transmitting content such as video data, audio data, and program information compressed by the MPEG-2 system into one transport stream TS. The transport stream TS is composed of hierarchized TS packets and is multiplexed by digital modulation. The tuner 1 is configured to perform processing for restoring one transport stream TS from one carrier wave. The TS packet is a 188-byte data packet, and a packetized stream (PES; Packetized Elementary Stream) obtained by packetizing video, audio, independent data, etc. with variable length, and program information SI are mapped to the TS packet. Section, which is a syntax structure used at the time, is transmitted.

  The separation unit 2 is a so-called de-multiplexer (Demux), and has a function of separating the transport stream TS from the tuner 1 into an image signal VD, an audio signal AD, and program information SI.

  The video decoder 3 decompresses the image signal VD input from the separation unit 2 and decodes it to the original video data. The audio decoder 4 decompresses the audio signal AD input from the separation unit 2 and decodes the original audio data. The memory 5 stores program information SI input from the separation unit 2. The program information SI stored in the memory 5 includes, for each channel, the program name of the currently broadcast program, the program name of the next program, and detailed information (broadcast time zone, broadcast content) about the program. Character information, etc.).

  The thumbnail image memory 7 reduces the video data output from the video decoder 3 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 11, and holds this as a thumbnail image that is a part of the heading information. The thumbnail image may be a reduced moving image for a predetermined time (that is, a predetermined number of frames), or may be a reduced still image.

  The video processing unit 6 has a function of performing various image processing on the input image from the video decoder 3, and based on the program information SI stored in the memory 5 and the thumbnail image stored in the thumbnail image memory 7. In addition, it has a function of creating a program table PG (see FIG. 2) containing a headline image (thumbnail image). In order to secure this function, the video processing unit 6 has a video memory 6A therein, which temporarily stores an input image from the video decoder 3 or a composite image created as a program guide. It is supposed to be.

  The video encoder 8 is for encoding the video data output from the video processing unit 6 into, for example, video data according to the NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard. The digital audio data output from the audio decoder 4 is converted to analog and output to the speaker 30.

  In response to an instruction from the control unit 11, the thumbnail audio memory 10 extracts audio data of a portion corresponding to (synchronized with) the thumbnail image stored in the thumbnail image memory 7 from the audio data output from the audio decoder 4. This is held as a thumbnail sound which is a part of the heading information.

  The control unit 11 includes a CPU (central processing unit) (not shown) and a non-volatile memory (not shown) that stores the program guide presentation program according to the present embodiment. The CPU executes the program guide presentation program, and performs overall control so that the above-described units operate in cooperation with each other. For example, control of acquisition timing of program information SI, thumbnail images and thumbnail audio, control of transferring program information SI from the memory 5 to the video processing unit 6, and control of synchronizing thumbnail image display and audio output of the program guide Etc. Here, the control unit 11 functions together with the thumbnail image memory 7 and the thumbnail audio memory 10 as a specific example of the “heading generation unit” in the present invention. The control unit 11 also functions as a specific example of the “program information acquisition unit” in the present invention together with the memory 5. The control unit 11 further functions as a specific example of the “program table creation means” in the present invention together with the video processing unit 6.

  FIG. 2 shows a specific example of a program table displayed on the display unit 20. This program table PG has a configuration in which a thumbnail 42 of a program name currently being broadcast and a thumbnail 43 of a program name to be broadcast next are arranged for each receivable channel. Furthermore, for each program currently being broadcast, a thumbnail image 41 is provided to show the broadcast status on a small screen, and audio is output together with the image. The thumbnail image 41 may be a still image or a moving image. The output audio is audio for a predetermined period before and after the image is acquired when the thumbnail image 41 is a still image, and is synchronized with the video when it is a video. In either case, the audio output period (acquisition period) may be set to about 3 seconds, for example. When any one of the thumbnails 42 and 43 of the program name is selected by the user, a detailed description of the program indicated by the selected thumbnail (broadcast time zone, character information indicating broadcast content, etc.) It is displayed in the detail display area 44.

  Here, in the terrestrial digital broadcasting, program information transmitted by being superimposed on the broadcast wave will be described.

  The program information SI includes a number of tables and descriptors, and includes a network information table (NIT), an event information table (EIT), and the like. The NIT transmits information for associating transmission channel information such as frequency and organization channels, in which all organization channel ID numbers included in one distribution system are described. The EIT is composed of character information such as a program name, broadcast date and time, and program contents.

  The EIT has a data unit called EIT [p / f] sent in a fast cycle of about 1 second and a data unit called EIT [sch] sent in a relatively slow cycle of 3 to 60 seconds. EIT [p / f] describes the program currently being broadcast and the latest detailed information about the next program, [p] means the current program information, and [f] is the next program. Means information. On the other hand, EIT [sch] describes program information for a period of about one week, and [sch] means a schedule.

  In the present embodiment, a description will be given assuming that the program table (FIG. 2) is created using EIT [p / f] with a short acquisition period. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, EIT [p / f] may be reacquired in a time zone in which it is determined that the user is not viewing terrestrial digital broadcasting, or EIT [Sch] may be acquired.

  In BS digital broadcasting and CS digital broadcasting, EIT [p / f] and EIT [sch] of all channels are transmitted by all carriers, so only one carrier is received. The latest program information can be acquired not only for the own channel but also for other channels. On the other hand, in terrestrial digital broadcasting, program information SI relating to only one broadcast program is superimposed and transmitted only on the carrier wave of the broadcast program. Therefore, in order to obtain the latest information for each channel, it is necessary to select a channel sequentially. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in consideration of the possibility of an extraordinary program being performed, in order to be able to display the program table (FIG. 2) composed of the latest detailed program information, prior to displaying the program table. Further, each channel is selected and EIT [p / f] is acquired again. Alternatively, periodic reacquisition of program information may be considered.

  In this embodiment, when re-acquiring program information, thumbnail images and thumbnail audio are generated simultaneously based on channel image information and audio information included in each broadcast wave. These thumbnail images and thumbnail sounds are reflected in the program guide.

  In terrestrial digital broadcasting, as in BS digital broadcasting and CS digital broadcasting, a plurality of channels are often superimposed on one broadcast wave and transmitted. The program information SI can be acquired at once for all channels superimposed on the received wave. However, a decoder corresponding to each channel is required to acquire image information and audio information. It is not always possible. For this reason, in this embodiment, image information and audio information are sequentially acquired in the physically possible range in the separation unit 2. In this case, by acquiring EIT [p / f] in parallel for each channel, more program information can be acquired at once.

  For example, if image information and audio information are acquired for 3 seconds per channel, it is sufficiently possible to acquire EIT [p / f] during that time. Also, since it takes a certain time to acquire the program information, a moving image is captured at a length of several seconds at the same time and displayed as a thumbnail image 41. This makes it easier to understand the contents of the program. As described above, the information acquisition period for creating the program guide PG can be determined based on the balance between the length of image information and audio information to be acquired and the time required to acquire program information.

  The control unit 11 performs all the control of the information acquisition timing as described above and the determination of the range or data amount of the program information acquired at that time. For example, when the control unit 11 receives a control signal S1 instructing presentation of a program guide based on a user operation, the control unit 11 starts a series of operation control for creating and presenting the program guide PG.

  Thus, in consideration of the difference between BS / CS digital broadcasting and terrestrial digital broadcasting, even if a similar program guide PG is created, in the case of terrestrial digital broadcasting, information must be acquired efficiently. You can see if it doesn't happen. As a contrivance for this, in the present embodiment, it is possible to effectively utilize a time zone during which the user is not viewing digital terrestrial broadcasting, an idle time such as an acquisition period of image information and audio information, etc. Get program information by range. Note that the time zone when the terrestrial digital broadcast is not viewed is, for example, a period when a broadcast other than the terrestrial digital broadcast (for example, BS broadcast or CS broadcast) is received, and the power of the television receiver is in the sleep state. This corresponds to a period during which the power is turned off or a state in which a command to turn off the power is input.

  If the program information acquired in this way is temporarily stored in the memory 5 and the program table PG is created, if the data stored in the memory 5 can be applied to the program table PG at the present time. Until the new program information is acquired, the already-obtained program information may be substituted. Alternatively, when already obtained program information exists in the memory 5, the already obtained program information may be used as it is without re-acquiring the program information.

  When program information is acquired by using idle time such as an acquisition period of image information and audio information, when the amount of program information stored (the period of stored information) differs between channels, the amount stored It is preferable to preferentially acquire program information from a channel with a small number of channels (or a channel without accumulation). In this case, it is checked whether there is program information (specifically, program information about a program being broadcast or pre-broadcast) that can be used to create a program guide in previously acquired program information. For channels with such program information, re-acquisition of program information SI may be postponed, and re-acquisition of program information SI for channels without program information SI accumulation may be performed preferentially.

  If a channel from which image information and audio information are to be acquired is determined to be broadcasting the same image / audio as another channel by sharing events from program information acquired at the same time, the channel The acquisition of image information and audio information may be skipped, and the same image information and audio information may be shared between those channels.

  In this embodiment, only terrestrial digital broadcasting is described. However, in an actual television receiver, in addition to receiving blocks for terrestrial digital broadcasting, BS digital broadcasting and CS digital broadcasting are received. Often also has blocks. In this case, as described above, in BS digital broadcasting and CS digital broadcasting, EIT [p / f] and EIT [sch] of all channels are transmitted on all carriers, so that the latest information is acquired. Although it is not necessary to select channels sequentially as in the case of terrestrial digital broadcasting, a unified user interface can be realized by presenting acquired information by applying it to the same program table PG as in terrestrial digital broadcasting.

  Next, operations relating to the program guide presentation in the television receiver will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the operation related to the program guide presentation in the television receiver of FIG. First, when a user inputs a channel of a program to be viewed from a television receiver or a remote controller (not shown), the tuner 1 selects a channel corresponding to the input signal based on the control of the control unit 1 in the receiver. The selected broadcast wave is demodulated into a transport stream TS. The transport stream TS is sent to the separation unit 2. The separation unit 2 separates the transport stream TS into an image signal, an audio signal, and program information SI by referring to a program association table (PAT) or a program map table (PMT). . The PAT designates a packet ID of a TS (Transport Stream) packet that transmits the PMT. The PMT designates a packet ID of a TS packet that transmits each encoded signal constituting a program and a packet ID of a TS packet that transmits common information among related information of pay broadcasting.

  The image signal separated by the separation unit 2 is decoded into digital data expanded by the video decoder 3, converted into an NTSC video signal by the video encoder 8, and sent to the display unit 20, where it is displayed as an image. The On the other hand, the audio signal separated by the separation unit 2 is decoded by the audio decoder 4, converted into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 9, and output from the speaker 30. Thereby, the reception of the television signal and the output of the image sound are performed (step S1). This operation state is maintained until a control signal S1 for instructing display of the program guide PG is input (step S2: N).

  When the user operates a dedicated operation button provided on, for example, a television receiver or a remote controller (not shown), for example, a control signal S1 for instructing display of the program guide PG is input (step S2: Y), the control unit 11 determines that the error has occurred, and starts control for creating and presenting the program guide PG for each unit. In this case, the program guide presentation request corresponds to the program information acquisition request.

  First, the control unit 11 determines (selects) a channel from which program information is to be acquired (step S3). The channel may be determined by checking a receivable channel stored in advance, or by referring to information stored in the memory 5 and a channel that needs to be reacquired (that is, broadcasting from now on). It may be performed by checking a channel in which program information on a scheduled program does not exist. The receivable channel can be acquired in advance from the network information table NIT or the like included in the program information SI.

  Next, the control unit 11 controls the tuner 1 so as to perform channel selection sequentially for the determined channel (step S4). Then, for each channel, in parallel with the generation of the heading information related to the currently broadcast program, the program information related to the currently broadcast program is acquired. Specifically, the received television signal (transport stream TS) of each channel is separated into the image signal VD, the audio signal AD, and the program information SI by the separation unit 2 (step S5). Here, when a plurality of channels are superimposed on one broadcast wave, the moving images are separated in parallel within the range of the maximum possible decoding number. When capturing of image and audio information is completed for all channels in the broadcast wave, the next broadcast wave is selected. And these information acquisition is performed sequentially.

  The image signal VD extracted by the separation unit 2 is decoded into data through the video decoder 3 and then reduced under the control of the control unit 11 and is thumbnail image memory as a thumbnail image of a predetermined length (for example, several seconds). 7 (step S6).

  On the other hand, the program information SI output from the separation unit 2 is temporarily stored in the memory 5 (step S7), and then a part necessary for creating the program guide PG is transferred from the memory 5 to the video processing unit under the control of the control unit 11. 6 (step S8).

  The video processing unit 6 creates a program table PG as shown in FIG. 2 based on the transferred program information (SI portion) and the images stored in the thumbnail image memory 7 (step S9). The created program guide PG is sent from the video processing unit 6 to the display unit 20 via the video encoder 8 and displayed (step S10). However, if the image takes more time than the program information, the program guide PG is created and displayed without including the thumbnail image 41 for the time being, and automatically or some operation instruction from the user Accordingly, the program information and images to be added to the program information may be sequentially acquired and stored, and these may be sequentially reflected in the program guide and displayed.

  The audio data output from the separation unit 2 is temporarily stored in the audio thumbnail memory 10 (step S11), and then output to the speaker 30 via the D / A converter 9 under the control of the control unit 11. (Step S12). At this time, for example, when the thumbnail image 41 of one program is selected from the program guide PG of FIG. 2, the control unit 11 performs control to output the sound of the program. When the thumbnail image 41 of the program guide PG is a moving image, the control unit 11 performs control so that the display of the thumbnail image 41 and the output of sound are synchronized. Thereby, the user can grasp the actual situation of the program currently being broadcast. When a thumbnail 42 or a thumbnail image 41 of a program name currently being broadcast on a certain channel is selected, character information and the like related to the program are displayed in the detailed display area 44 together with the sound output of the program. Further, when the thumbnail 43 of the program name scheduled to be broadcast next on a certain channel is selected, character information and the like related to the program are displayed in the detailed display area 44.

  As described above, for BS digital broadcasting and CS digital broadcasting, the latest information for all the organized channels can always be obtained, but the information obtained in this way is the same program table as for terrestrial digital broadcasting. It is also possible to present them together in a PG. In this case, the television receiver does not make the user aware of the fact that the program information is acquired by a different acquisition method depending on the type of the broadcast wave, and the broadcast wave with a different communication method is used. A unified user interface can be provided.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the video / audio and program information of the currently broadcast program are sequentially acquired for each channel of the terrestrial digital broadcasting, the program including the image / audio corresponding to a plurality of channels is obtained. A table can be presented. In particular, since the program information by characters is displayed in the detailed display area 44 (FIG. 2) and video and audio are presented, it becomes easier for the user to grasp the contents of the program.

  Unlike Patent Document 1 in which still images or moving images of typical scenes of the respective programs included in advance in the program information SI are displayed on the program table, in the present invention, images from the currently broadcast program are displayed. -Since the audio is extracted, it is possible to incorporate the current broadcasting status into the program table as the actual status.

  Also, since the program information SI is acquired in parallel with the acquisition of video and audio currently being broadcast for each channel of terrestrial digital broadcasting, unlike BS / CS digital broadcasting, for each channel. Program information can be efficiently acquired even for terrestrial digital broadcasts where program information cannot be acquired unless channel selection / reception is performed. As a result, it is possible to speed up the creation of a program guide for terrestrial digital broadcasting, and avoid situations such as the user being forced to interrupt viewing as a result of the screen display being delayed during acquisition of program information SI. Can provide a comfortable use environment.

  The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, the display format of the program guide presented by the present invention is not limited to the program guide PG shown in FIG. For example, if there are multi-channels or channels that automatically start data broadcasting among the receivable channels, the area of the thumbnail image 41 is further divided as shown in FIG. You may make it display (thumbnail image 41A, 41B). Such hierarchical display may be performed in any hierarchical division. When one broadcast station broadcasts on a plurality of channels, the area corresponding to 200 channels (200 ch) in FIG. It is also possible to arrange the images of each channel in the area of the thumbnail image 41A. In addition, about data content (program information SI), you may devise, such as acquiring after the starting.

  Further, in the program guide PG of the embodiment, information is presented for the currently broadcast program and the next program, but information about the subsequent program may be presented.

  Further, the acquisition timing of the program information SI may be acquired together with the acquisition of the image and sound of the currently broadcast program, or only the program information SI may be acquired separately in other periods. In particular, as described above, when displaying not only the currently broadcast program and the next program, but also program information of the subsequent programs, the program information SI can be acquired by effectively using the idle time. desirable.

  The program information SI and thumbnail images / audio may be acquired at the timings listed below, for example.

(1) A dedicated button for program information reacquisition is prepared in the television receiver, and the user presses this button at an arbitrary timing to acquire program information SI and thumbnail images / audio.

(2) Program information SI and thumbnail images / audio are automatically acquired when the power is turned on. Alternatively, when a power shut-off operation is performed, program information SI and thumbnail images / audio are automatically acquired prior to the power shut-off operation. Further, it may be possible for the user to appropriately set whether or not to acquire the program information SI and the thumbnail image / sound in conjunction with such power on / off.

(3) When the television receiver is also capable of receiving BS / CS broadcasting, when the use of the tuner for terrestrial digital broadcasting is terminated, Program information SI and thumbnail images / audio are automatically acquired.

(4) The program information SI and thumbnail images / audio are sequentially and automatically acquired for each receivable channel.

(5) Program information SI and thumbnail images / audio are periodically acquired at arbitrary time intervals.

(6) The program information SI and the thumbnail image / audio are acquired after an arbitrary time has elapsed from the channel program switching time or the switching time. The acquisition timing is shifted from the switching time because the content of the program is good in the image / sound at the switching time, such as when a commercial is broadcast from the switching time or a description of the program is inserted immediately after the switching. This is because it may not be understood.

(7) If the television receiver has multiple terrestrial digital broadcast tuners or if an external terrestrial digital broadcast tuner is connected separately, it is not used for viewing. The program information SI and thumbnail images / sounds are automatically acquired using the tuner. In this case, a user can watch a digital terrestrial broadcast of a certain channel and create a program guide for all digital terrestrial broadcasts behind the user. When a terrestrial digital broadcast tuner is built in, it is only necessary to provide a plurality of receiving blocks 40 in FIG. 1, and other parts (thumbnail image memory 7, thumbnail audio memory 10, control unit 11 and the like) It can be shared by a plurality of receiving blocks 40.

  Further, in order to shorten the time required for information acquisition at the time of presenting the program guide and to be able to present the program guide more quickly, the following may be performed.

(8) When there is program information that can be used in the program guide in the program information acquired at the time of creating the program guide, the program information acquired before is acquired until the program information SI is re-acquired. It may be presented instead. Alternatively, previously acquired program information may be used as it is, and re-acquisition of program information SI may be omitted. In this case, either of these two methods may be determined according to the acquisition time of the already obtained program information (that is, the newness or oldness of information).
(9) Of the above two methods, when the former is taken, it is preferable that the program information SI of other channels is reacquired first, and this channel is postponed. By prioritizing channels that do not store program information SI, information can be efficiently acquired.
(10) The channel for reacquiring the program information SI can be a channel selected to be posted in the program guide. The channel selection can be performed by an arbitrary trigger. Such a trigger may be set by the user in advance, or may be realized by setting a certain condition in a television service or the like, such as selecting a channel that was last viewed (received). Also good.

  When acquiring program information SI and thumbnail images / audio, other information that can be acquired (for example, EIT schedule, broadcasting station logo,..., Etc.) is simultaneously acquired and displayed. Good.

  In addition, when the acquisition of the program information SI and the thumbnail image / sound is completed, the channel that was viewed (received) before the start of acquisition is selected again so that the program of that channel can be viewed. May be.

It is a block diagram showing the structure of the television receiver which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing an example of the program table displayed in the television receiver shown in FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a program guide presentation operation in the television receiver shown in FIG. 1. It is a figure showing the other example of the program schedule displayed in the television receiver shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tuner, 2 ... Separation part, 3 ... Video decoder, 4 ... Audio decoder, 5 ... Memory, 6 ... Video processing part, 7 ... Thumbnail image memory, 8 ... Video decoder, 9 ... D / A converter, 10 ... Thumbnail Audio memory, 11 ... control unit, 20 ... display unit, 30 ... speaker, 41, 41A, 41B ... thumbnail image, 42 ... thumbnail (of the current program name), 43 ... thumbnail (of the next program name), 44 ... Detailed display area, PG ... Program guide.

Claims (11)

Receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting;
Based on the image and sound information of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means, headline generating means for generating for each channel header information that represents the program content in an image and audio format;
Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information on a broadcast program for each channel from the broadcast wave received by the reception means;
A program guide creating means for creating a program guide based on the heading information generated by the heading generating means and the program information acquired by the program information acquiring means;
The present invention further comprises: presentation means for presenting the program guide in response to a program guide presentation request for requesting presentation of a program guide while outputting the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the receiving means in a viewable manner. A television receiver. 2. The television according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information about the program being broadcast in parallel with the generation of the header information about the program currently being broadcast by the header generation unit. John receiver. The television receiver according to claim 2, wherein the program information acquisition unit further acquires program information relating to a program after the next program. 4. The television receiver according to claim 3, wherein the program information acquisition unit executes acquisition of program information related to a program subsequent to the next program in parallel with acquisition of program information related to a currently broadcast program. . 2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition means acquires program information in response to a program information acquisition request for acquiring program information. 6. The television receiver according to claim 5, wherein the program information acquisition request is given as a trigger for an operation on a dedicated operation unit provided in advance. The television receiver according to claim 5, wherein the program information acquisition request is given with the start or end of presentation of the program guide as a trigger. 6. The television receiver according to claim 5, wherein the program information acquisition request is given as a trigger when power supply to the television receiver is started. And a second receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting,
2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information using the second reception unit in parallel with the reception of the broadcast program by the reception unit. . A computer-readable program applied to a television receiver provided with receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting,
Generating header information for each channel by expressing the contents of the program in an image and audio format based on the image and sound information of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means;
Obtaining broadcast program information for each channel from the broadcast wave received by the receiving means;
Creating a program guide based on the header information generated by the header generation means and the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means;
Outputting the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the receiving means in a viewable manner, and causing the computer to execute the step of presenting the program guide in response to a program guide presentation request for presentation of the program guide. Program listing program that features A method applied to a television receiver having receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave of terrestrial digital broadcasting,
Generating header information for each channel by expressing the contents of the program in an image and audio format based on the image and sound information of the broadcast wave received by the receiving means;
Obtaining broadcast program information for each channel from the broadcast wave received by the receiving means;
Creating a program guide based on the header information generated by the header generation means and the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means;
And outputting the image and sound of the broadcast program received by the receiving means in a viewable manner, and presenting the program guide in response to a program guide presentation request for presentation of the program guide. Program guide presentation method.

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