JP2005151049A - Television receiver and broadcasting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiver and a broadcasting system for determining the switching time, between a program main part and a commercial. <P>SOLUTION: The television receiver 1 comprises a broadcasting content detector 15 for detecting the switching time information between the commercial contained in a broadcasting program and the program main part; a remaining broadcasting time calculator 16 for calculating the remaining broadcasting time of the commercial related to the switching of the commercial, based on the switching time information of the commercial; and a display data control unit 17 for overlappingly displaying a decoded image signal and calculated remaining time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver and a broadcast system for receiving a broadcast program including commercials.

  In broadcasting systems such as terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and CATV, the introduction of commercials (CM) allows transmission costs and content costs to be replaced by the CM sponsor on behalf of the viewer. You can receive service. In order to realize this, in the current broadcasting system, a broadcast station inserts a CM into a program content and transmits it.

  Regarding the advertisement selection method at the time of advertisement recording, for example, in Patent Document 1, the viewer registers his / her preference for the CM in the restriction unit, and only the signal referring to the corresponding CM candidate is multiplexed and received in the broadcast program. On the side, the CM is selected from the stored CMs based on the reference signal and the viewer's preference, and inserted into the program. A method for a viewer to select advertisement broadcasting is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a display device and an on-air progress display method for displaying the occurrence time of each event during program broadcast on a screen in a time chart.

  Patent Document 3 discloses an apparatus that does not show the viewer the received content other than the net broadcast program portion of the television broadcast program. In this apparatus, the contents of the broadcast program are acquired by accessing an external server from a portable terminal or the like, and other than the net broadcast program part is not displayed on the screen or recorded on the recording device.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a home voting device that displays on a screen the remaining time until the start time of a horse race. In this apparatus, odds information (information related to horse racing) and the like are received by text broadcasting in a horse racing race broadcast program, and time information until the start of horse racing is notified by video and audio.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-79711 JP-A-9-224191 JP 2003-69975 A JP-A-7-143254

  In such a conventional broadcast program receiving apparatus or the like, the start time of each event in the program can be visually displayed, but the user cannot know the remaining time of the event intuitively. Moreover, in order to acquire the broadcast time of the main part of the program, the user is required to perform special work (other than watching TV). Furthermore, a technique for superimposing time information until a race starts on a broadcast signal of a horse racing program can be applied only to a specific program.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver and a broadcasting system that can know when a program main part and a commercial are switched.

  The television receiver of the present invention is a television receiver for receiving a broadcast program, a commercial detection means for detecting a commercial included in the broadcast program, and a switching time for detecting switching time information between the commercial and the main program. Detection means, commercial detection means for detecting switching time information between commercials included in the broadcast program and the main part of the program, and related information creation means for creating information related to commercial switching based on the switching time information, Output means for outputting the related information.

  More preferably, the switching time detection means detects switching time information between a commercial included in a broadcast program and a main program based on information added to a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcast station.

  As a more preferable specific aspect, the information added to the broadcast signal is information included in the program supplementary information included in the EPG or the signal in the vertical blanking interval of the television signal.

  The switching time detecting means includes commercial data construction means for learning commercial broadcast results for each program and constructing commercial schedule data, and information on switching time between the commercial and the main program based on the commercial schedule data. It is more preferable to detect.

  The information related to the commercial switching may be the remaining broadcast time of the commercial or the remaining broadcast time of the main program until the next commercial starts.

  As a more preferred specific mode, the remaining broadcast time is counted down and output.

  The output means may display the related information as message data on a screen, or may notify the related information by a voice message or sound.

  The present broadcast system is a broadcast system including a broadcast station and a television receiver that receives a broadcast program transmitted from the broadcast station, and the broadcast station uses a broadcast signal to switch between a main program and a commercial. Information is added and transmitted, and the television receiver uses the television receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

  As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to know when the main program and the commercial are switched. Thereby, it is possible to easily know the time until the program returns, and by displaying it on the screen, it is possible to easily and accurately notify the user of the time until the program returns.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a television receiver and a broadcasting system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a television receiver according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The television receiver according to this embodiment is applied to a television receiver having a digital broadcast receiving function capable of receiving digital broadcast radio waves.

  In FIG. 1, a television receiver 1 includes a tuner 12 that receives a broadcast signal from an antenna 11, and a program information separation unit 13 that separates program supplementary information multiplexed in the received broadcast signal (one of commercial detection means). ), A decoding unit 14 for decoding the stream data, and whether the current broadcast content is the main program or commercial from the program supplementary information included in the EPG (Electrical Program Guide) A broadcast content detection unit 15 (commercial detection means, switching time detection means), a remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 (related information creation means) that calculates the remaining broadcast time of the commercial when the broadcast content is switched to commercial, A display data control unit 17 (output) that displays the decoded video signal and the calculated remaining time in an overlapping manner. A part of the stage), a part of the display device 18 (output means for displaying the display data multiplexed on the television screen) and configured with a.

  The broadcast content detection unit 15 detects switching time information between a commercial included in the broadcast program and the main program.

  The remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 creates information related to the commercial switching based on the commercial switching time information and outputs the information to the display data control unit 17.

  The broadcast content detection unit 15, the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16, and the display data control unit 17 are specifically constituted by a TV microcomputer composed of a microprocessor, and are executed by a commercial remaining time control process of the TV microcomputer. The TV microcomputer controls the entire television receiver 1 and controls the remaining broadcast time to count down the commercial broadcast time acquired from the broadcast signal when the broadcast content is detected to be switched from the main program to the commercial. Display control for displaying the remaining broadcast time on the screen. Further, the TV microcomputer has an OSD generation function unit inside, and displays information such as a channel, time, and volume on a screen of a television or the like. In an electronic apparatus such as a video apparatus such as a TV or a video conference system, information such as a channel, time, and volume is generally displayed on a TV screen. The OSD data is not an image, but is stored in a format called a bitmap. This bitmap is converted into YUV format pixel values represented by Y, Cb, and Cr, and the converted pixels are used for television broadcasting or the like. Is superimposed on the original image. Further, if an image reproducing device such as a DVD (not shown) is connected to the TV output / video input terminal, OSD display is possible by superimposing the reproduced image on the display screen.

The operation of the television receiver configured as described above will be described below.
The television receiver receives broadcast television programs such as terrestrial, cable, BS, and CS. The broadcast television broadcast program is received by the receiving device as a signal including the received broadcast program from the input terminal, and the received data is input to the present television receiver.

  The tuner 12 is a processing unit that receives a broadcast signal from the antenna 11, selects a specific one or a plurality of program broadcasts, and generates a broadcast stream that can be used in the next process, such as a descrambler that preprocesses the program It is comprised including. The broadcast stream received by the tuner 12 is transmitted with the program accompanying information multiplexed as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a broadcast stream. As shown in this figure, the broadcast stream has video, audio, and program supplementary information packets, and the program supplementary information packet is composed of a header and information. Information for distinguishing whether the broadcast content is a program main part or a commercial and a commercial broadcast time are added to the program supplementary information. Also, a digital broadcast signal transmission device (not shown) transmits a signal by adding information for distinguishing whether the program is the main program or commercial and a broadcast time of the commercial to the broadcast signal.

  The program information separation unit 13 separates the program supplementary information multiplexed in the received broadcast signal, sends the separated program supplementary information to the broadcast content detection unit 15, and sends the broadcast stream to the decoding unit 14.

  The broadcast content detection unit 15 transmits the remaining broadcast time of the commercial acquired from the broadcast signal to the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 when the broadcast content is switched to commercial.

  The remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 that has received the remaining broadcast time of the commercial starts counting down the remaining broadcast time of the received commercial. At the same time, the remaining broadcast time is transmitted to the display data control unit 17 every predetermined time (for example, 1 second), and a display request for the remaining broadcast time is made. Upon receiving the display request, the display data control unit 17 multiplexes the received commercial remaining broadcast time with the decoded broadcast signal and outputs it to the display device 18, and the display device 18 displays the remaining commercial broadcast time on the TV screen. To do.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the remaining commercial broadcast time 20 (information related to commercial switching) displayed on the broadcast screen 10. As shown in FIG. 3, “Remaining broadcast time of commercial is 10 seconds” is displayed below the broadcast screen 10. The remaining time is displayed by counting down every second. The display position and display form are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a gauge indicating the remaining commercial broadcast time by OSD (block display with 1 second as one block) and the remaining time value may be displayed together, or the remaining time is flashed and displayed. A mode of displaying in stages by identification may also be used. Furthermore, a configuration in which an audio codec (a part of output means) that digitally processes an output signal from the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 as a sound generator may be installed. The audio codec is configured by a PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) sound source IC or the like, and converts the signal received from the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 into an audio signal and outputs it from the speaker. For example, before entering the commercial broadcast, “I will enter the commercial soon”, when I enter the commercial broadcast, “the remaining broadcast time for the commercial is 15 seconds”, etc. Pronunciation data.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 1, when returning from the commercial to the main program, the broadcast content detection unit 15 notifies the program resumption. The remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 notified of the program resumption stops the countdown of the remaining broadcast time and notifies the display data control unit 17 of cancellation of the remaining broadcast time display request.

  The above-described commercial remaining broadcast time display operation will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. The flow shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is executed by the commercial remaining broadcast time control process of the TV microcomputer.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process for detecting switching from the main program to the commercial. In the figure, S indicates each step of the flow.

  In the pre-processing to enter this flow, the program supplementary information (EPG) is separated and acquired from the broadcast signal by the program information separation unit 13 and is included in the program supplementary information by the broadcast content detection unit 15 from the main part of the program or from the commercial. It is assumed that switching time information for the main program has been detected.

  First, in step S1, the broadcast content detection unit 15 notifies the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 of the remaining broadcast time of the commercial. In step S2, the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 counts down the remaining broadcast time of the received commercial, and determines in step S3 whether one second has elapsed. If 1 second has not elapsed, the process returns to step S2 to continue the countdown until 1 second has elapsed. If 1 second has elapsed, it is determined whether or not the remaining broadcast time of the commercial has elapsed. If the remaining broadcast time of the commercial has not elapsed, the remaining broadcast time calculating unit 16 displays the display data control unit 17 in step S5. Issue a commercial remaining time display request. In step S6, the display data control unit 17 that has received the display request multiplexes the received commercial remaining broadcast time with the decoded broadcast signal and displays it on the television screen (see FIG. 3), and returns to step S2.

  On the other hand, when the remaining commercial broadcast time has elapsed in step S4, the display of the remaining commercial broadcast time is canceled in step S7, and this flow ends. Note that, as described above, in steps S5 to S7, the remaining commercial broadcast time request is output to the audio codec circuit, and the remaining broadcast time is notified in combination with the remaining commercial broadcast time display or only by voice. You may do it.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a detection process for switching from a commercial to a main program.
When the broadcast content detection unit 15 detects the switching time information from the commercial to the main program included in the program supplementary information, the program starts. In step S11, the broadcast content detection unit 15 sends the program to the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16. Issue a return notification. In step S12, the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 stops counting down the remaining broadcast time of the received commercial, cancels the commercial remaining broadcast time display request issued to the display data control unit 17 in step S13, and ends this flow.

  As described above, the television receiver 1 according to the present embodiment includes the broadcast content detection unit 15 that detects the switching time information between the commercial included in the broadcast program and the main part of the program, and the commercial based on the commercial switching time information. Since the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 that calculates the remaining broadcast time of the commercial related to switching is provided and the display data control unit 17 that displays the decoded video signal and the calculated remaining time in an overlapping manner, The time until program return can be easily known, and by displaying it on the screen, it is possible to easily and accurately notify the user of the time until program return. As a result, for example, when watching a TV such as a drama and trying to go to the toilet during the CM, the time until the CM ends is displayed, so the user can return in time to resume the main program drama. It becomes possible. Further, if the start time until the next program after the end of the CM is displayed, the program can be viewed from the beginning. The above-described effect is particularly effective when the switching state between the main part and the CM is not known, such as when the channel is switched to another program.

  Further, in this embodiment, since commercial broadcast time information is added to a broadcast signal in advance, a special operation other than viewing a television is not required for the user, and a general digital television including a commercial is included. Applicable to broadcasting.

  In this embodiment, the example in which the commercial information is detected from the program supplementary information included in the EPG has been described. However, the commercial information is not limited to the EPG as long as the commercial information can be detected. For example, the vertical blanking interval of the television signal Commercial information included in an EDS signal included in an EDS (Extended Data Service) signal or a TELTEXT signal may be used.

Second Embodiment FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a television receiver according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The television receiver according to the present embodiment is an example in the case where information for distinguishing whether the program is the main program or commercial is not added to the broadcast signal, or when the program supplementary information is not used. is there. The same components as those of the television receiver shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 6, a television receiver 30 includes a tuner 12 that receives a broadcast signal from an antenna 11, a program information separation unit 13 that separates program-accompanying information such as EPG multiplexed on the received broadcast signal, and a stream CM data that learns commercial broadcast results accumulated based on a program guide such as an EPG including commercials, and constructs commercial schedule data (hereinafter referred to as CM data). A construction unit 31 (commercial data construction means), a program table including commercials and commercial broadcast results, a CM data recording unit 32 for recording the constructed CM data, and a CM from the CM data construction unit 31 Frames when the broadcast content is switched to commercial based on the data learning result The remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16 for calculating the remaining broadcast time of the Schal, the display data control unit 17 for displaying the decoded video signal and the calculated remaining time in an overlapping manner, and the multiplexed display data on the television screen. And a display device 18 for displaying.

  The CM data construction unit 31 and the CM data recording unit 32 constitute a broadcast content detection unit 33 (commercial detection unit, switching time detection unit) that detects whether the broadcast content is a main program or a commercial as a whole. To do.

  The broadcast content detection unit 33, the remaining broadcast time calculation unit 16, and the display data control unit 17 are specifically configured by a TV microcomputer composed of a microprocessor, and are executed by a commercial remaining broadcast time control process of the TV microcomputer.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of program CM information constructed based on a program guide such as EPG. The CM data recording unit 32 holds the program CM information shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, program CM information includes “program identifier”, “channel”, “broadcast start date / time”, “broadcast end date / time”, “program name”, “genre”, “CM type”, “CM count”, n Each item includes “CM start time / end time” and “CM information flag” items. For the items “program identifier” to “genre”, program table data such as EPG is used as it is. “CM type” is a constant unit (many 15-second unit), and a regular broadcast CM is usually “1”, a CM that varies in unit time or broadcast time is “0”, a commercial such as NHK broadcast Notification information that does not fall under “−” is not set. In the remaining broadcast time display operation in the present embodiment, a CM learning value whose “CM type” is “1: normal” is a control target. “Number of commercials” is the number of commercials broadcast during a program, not to mention the commercials being broadcast, but also commercials before the start of the program broadcast and after the end of the program broadcast until the start of the next program. Count as belonging to the program. In “CM start time / end time”, the start time and end time of CM are recorded in units of hour, minute, and second for the number of CMs corresponding to the number of CMs. Here, a commercial in a broadcast program can be detected by a conventionally known method by detecting a change in frequency or output level of a broadcast signal of a main program and a broadcast signal during CM broadcasting, a change in stereo / monaural signal, or the like. . By the way, depending on the detection state, the “CM start time / end time” recorded as program CM information may fluctuate in units of seconds. Therefore, a value obtained by taking a moving average with the previous value is used as “CM start time / Preferably, it is recorded as “end time”. In addition, when the detected value is significantly different from the previous value, in addition to the case where the CM broadcast time is changed, there may be a case of erroneous detection, so although it is temporarily recorded as “CM start time / end time”, The “CM information flag” is set to “0” and is not used for CM display control in the current program broadcast. When the next detection value is slightly different from the previous value, the “CM information flag” is returned to “1”. The “CM information flag” is a flag for notifying / notifying the CM data detection result. This flag is set to “1” when the CM data detection result is appropriately obtained, and when it is the flag “1”, it is notified according to the request. Further, the flag can be set to “0” by a user instruction, and the CM data detection result can be made non-notified.

The operation of the television receiver configured as described above will be described below.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the CM data learning process.
First, in step S21, program table configuration content data is acquired from the EPG or the like, and in step S22, it is determined whether broadcasting based on the program table has been performed. When broadcasting based on the program guide is not being performed (for example, when a special program is assembled or when the program time is changed), it is determined that the CM data construction condition is not satisfied, and this flow is terminated. When the broadcast is being performed based on the program schedule, a commercial in the broadcast program is detected in step S23, and the commercial start time and end time are temporarily stored. The commercial detection can be detected by changing the frequency of the broadcast signal of the main program and the broadcast signal at the time of CM broadcast, the change of the output level, and switching between the stereo / monaural signals.

  In step S24, the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are recorded, and it is determined whether there is any change. If the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are not recorded or the time is changed, the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are updated in step S25. Next, in step S26, it is determined whether the program has been changed or the program has been changed to the next program. If there is no change in the program, the process returns to step S23 to continue the commercial time learning process in the broadcast program.

  If the program is changed in step S26, it is determined in step S27 whether or not the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are properly obtained, and the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are obtained. If YES in step S28, “1” is set in the “CM information flag” of the program CM information shown in FIG. Further, when the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are recorded in step S24 and there is no change, the process proceeds to step S28, and the "CM information flag" is set to "1" and this flow is ended. If the commercial start time and end time in the broadcast program are not properly obtained in step S27, the "CM information flag" is set to "0" and this flow ends.

  The program CM information shown in FIG. 7 can be constructed by executing the CM data learning process described above over a certain period (preferably for several weeks) and accumulating data. The CM data learning process shown in FIG. 8 is executed by a device other than the television receiver 30 (for example, an AV device control system or a program reservation device), and the television receiver 30 receives the program CM information. Only an aspect may be sufficient.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing CM data notification processing.
First, in step S31, it is determined whether or not there is a CM data output request. If there is a CM data output request, in step S32, the program currently being broadcast is designated by the original program broadcast time, that is, the program table such as EPG. It is determined whether or not the program is broadcast at the program broadcast time. When the currently broadcast program is broadcast at the original program broadcast time, the CM of the program currently being broadcast to the CM data construction unit 31 from the program CM information recorded in the CM data recording unit 32 in step S33. Output data.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the CM information flag is set (CM information flag: 1) in the CM data output in step S34. If the CM information flag is set, the CM corresponding to the current time is determined in step S35. The start time and end time of the data (CM data at the current time and the next CM data) are selected and notified, and this flow ends.

  For example, an example is given of “sea tale” (drama) of the program CM information shown in FIG. If the current time is 19:58 and there is no channel change, the “Umimonogatari” will start from 20:00, but the CM broadcast will start prior to the main broadcast. By learning past data, it is stored as data that commercials are broadcast for 75 seconds in the first CM broadcast. Therefore, when a CM data output request is issued at 19:58, the first commercial start time (20:00: 00) and end of the next program (here "Sea Story") broadcast on that channel. Data of time (20:01:15) is selected and notified.

  Thereafter, the program shifts from commercial to commercial / commercial to main switching detection processing shown in FIG. 4, and the remaining broadcast time of the commercial is counted down as described above, multiplexed with the broadcast signal, and displayed on the television screen ( (See FIG. 3). In the present embodiment, unlike the case of the first embodiment, since the CM data is an estimated value based on past learning, it is not appropriate to display it too closely. It is preferable to display such as “The remaining commercial time is about 15 seconds”. In this example, the message “Commercial is about 10 seconds away and the main story begins” is displayed. Here, in the present embodiment, the CM data is not simply stored in the timetable, but the CM data of the program CM information is stored as the program attribute of the program identifier and the program name. Therefore, the program information to which the CM data belongs. Can be displayed together. For example, the above-mentioned screen display can display “The commercial ends in about 10 seconds and the drama“ Umimonogatari ”begins”, which is even easier to understand for the user (including voice and voice only) It can be.

  The above description is a display example of the remaining broadcast time of the commercial based on the CM data, but it is also possible to display the end of the main story and the start of the commercial (including both voice and voice only) by the same method. For example, “The main story will end in about 30 seconds, and then about 75 seconds of commercials will begin.”

  Returning to the flow of FIG. 9, when the program currently being broadcast is not broadcast at the original program broadcast time in step S32, for example, when an emergency program is entered or a broadcast time such as a baseball broadcast is extended, When the program broadcast time is deferred, it is determined that appropriate CM data notification cannot be performed, and the CM data output request is canceled in step S36, and this flow is terminated. Further, even when the CM information flag is not set in the CM data output in step S34, it is determined that there is no CM data notification condition, and in step S36, the CM data output request is canceled and this flow is terminated. The case where the CM information flag is not set includes the case where the program CM information shown in FIG. 7 is not accumulated for the corresponding program, or the case where no display is made according to a user instruction.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing CM data display / non-display processing.
First, in step S41, it is determined whether or not CM data non-display is instructed by a user's remote control operation or the like during program display. When CM data non-display is instructed, recording is performed in the CM data recording unit 32 in step S42. The CM information flag of the program CM information being set is set to 0, and this flow ends. By this processing, notification of CM data of the corresponding program is skipped, and as a result, the CM data is not displayed. In this embodiment, since the accumulated program CM information itself is stored as a database, the accumulated data is not wasted, and it is possible to easily return to the CM data display state only by setting a flag.

  As described above, the television receiver 30 according to the present embodiment learns the commercial broadcast results accumulated based on the program table such as EPG including commercials and constructs CM data to construct CM data. In addition, the program table including commercials and the commercial broadcast results are accumulated, and the CM data recording unit 32 for recording the constructed CM data is provided. Thus, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition to being able to obtain, in particular, since CM data having the switching time information between the commercial and the main part of the program is constructed for each program, there is information for distinguishing whether the program is the main part of the program or the commercial in the broadcast signal. Even if it is not added, or if the program supplementary information is not used (cannot be used), the main program and the commercial will be disconnected. It is possible to know the time instead. Therefore, the present invention is suitable for application to a general-purpose television receiver that receives a broadcast program in which commercial information is not added to a broadcast signal. In addition, since the television receiver can be realized by using a part of the TV control unit and the memory provided in advance, the design of the existing television receiver is changed without adding a special member or a new part. And can be easily implemented at low cost.

  Note that the television receiver and broadcasting system of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to a television receiver as described above, but is not limited to this, and can be applied to all systems. It may be incorporated as a communication function of a recording / reproducing apparatus or a television receiver. Furthermore, the receiving side device may be a device integrated with information equipment functions represented by a personal computer.

  Also, any type of broadcast information and broadcast signal may be used. In addition to the so-called CM, a commercial is a concept that includes traffic information, environmental information (pollen information, etc.) that does not take the form of CM, and emergency information, and provides additional information. Is not limited.

  In the present embodiment, the names of the television receiver and the broadcasting system are used. However, this is for convenience of explanation, and it is a matter of course that a display control device, a commercial information selection / playback method, and the like may be used.

  Furthermore, the types of control devices, storage devices, etc., the types of CM data to be constructed, the selection method, the screen display method, etc. of the system constituting the broadcasting station and the television receiver are not limited to the above-described embodiments. Needless to say, the present invention may be realized not only by software but also by hardware.

  The television receiver and broadcasting system described above can also be realized by a program for causing the television receiver or the like to function. This program is stored in a computer-readable recording medium. In the present invention, as the recording medium, the main memory itself may be a program medium, or a program reading device is provided as an external storage device and can be read by inserting the recording medium therein. May be. In either case, the stored program may be configured to be accessed and executed by the CPU, or in any case, the program is read and the read program is not shown in a program storage area. The program may be downloaded and executed by the program. It is assumed that this download program is stored in the main device in advance.

  Here, the program medium is a recording medium configured to be separable from the main body, such as a tape system such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk or a hard disk, a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD, or the like. It may be a medium carrying a fixed program including a semiconductor memory such as a disk system of the above optical disk, a card system such as an IC card / optical card, or a mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash ROM or the like.

  Furthermore, although not shown in the figure, when a means capable of connection to an external communication network is provided, the program is fluidly supported so that the program is downloaded from the communication network via the communication connection means. It may be a medium. When the program is downloaded from the communication network in this way, the download program may be stored in the main device in advance, or may be installed from another recording medium. The content stored in the recording medium is not limited to a program, and may be data.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the television receiver of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the broadcast stream structure of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the commercial remaining broadcast time displayed on the broadcast screen of the television receiver of this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the switching detection process from the program main part of a television receiver of this Embodiment to a commercial. It is a flowchart which shows the switch detection process from the commercial of the television receiver of this Embodiment to a program main part. It is a figure which shows the structure of the television receiver of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the program CM information constructed | assembled based on program schedules, such as EPG of the television receiver of this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows CM data learning processing of the television receiver of this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows CM data notification processing of the television receiver of this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows CM data display / non-display processing of the television receiver of this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1,30 Television receiver 10 Broadcast screen 11 Antenna 12 Tuner 13 Program information separation unit (part of commercial detection means)
14 Decoding unit 15, 33 Broadcast content detection unit (commercial detection means, switching time detection means)
16 Remaining broadcast time calculation section (related information creation means)
17 Display data control unit (part of output means)
18 Display device (part of output means)
20 Commercial remaining broadcast time (information related to commercial switching)
31 CM Data Construction Department (Commercial data construction means)
32 CM data recording unit

Claims (10)

In a television receiver that receives a broadcast program,
Commercial detection means for detecting commercials included in the broadcast program;
Switching time detecting means for detecting switching time information between the commercial and the main part of the program;
Related information creating means for creating information related to commercial switching based on the switching time information;
A television receiver comprising: output means for outputting the related information. The switching time detection means includes
2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein switching time information between a commercial contained in a broadcast program and a program main part is detected based on information added to a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcast station.   The information added to the broadcast signal is information included in a program supplementary information included in an EPG or a signal in a vertical blanking interval of a television signal, according to claim 1 or 2. Television receiver. The switching time detection means includes
It has a commercial data construction means that learns the broadcast performance of commercials for each program and constructs commercial schedule data.
The television receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein switching time information between a commercial and a main program is detected based on the commercial schedule data.   The television receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the information related to the commercial switching is a remaining broadcast time of the commercial.   6. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the commercial switching is a remaining broadcast time of the main program until the next commercial starts.   7. The television receiver according to claim 5, wherein the remaining broadcast time is counted down and output.   The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the output means displays the related information as message data on a screen.   The television receiver according to claim 1 or 8, wherein the output means notifies the related information by a voice message or sound. A broadcast system including a broadcast station and a television receiver that receives a broadcast program transmitted from the broadcast station,
The broadcast station transmits the broadcast signal with the switching time information between the main program and the commercial added,
A broadcasting system using the television receiver according to claim 1 as the television receiver.

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