JP2005295173A - Recording/reproducing apparatus, system, and recorded program reproducing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording/reproducing apparatus capable of processing an electronic program table that is acquired from outside so that a recorded program can be discriminated by a user, and further capable of selecting and reproducing the recorded program from the electronic program table. <P>SOLUTION: A recording/reproducing apparatus 1 comprises a program information input I/F 22 for acquiring the electronic program table consisting of a plurality of programs from outside, a memory 32 for storing a recording information about a recorded program, a display image signal processor 35 that processes the electronic program table based on the stored recording information, a display control unit 14 for controlling displaying of the processed electronic program table, and a data decoder 13 that selects the recorded program from the displayed electronic program table for reproducing the recorded program. The display image signal processor 35 processes the electronic program table so that the display mode (for example, color of a program column or the like) of the recorded program corresponding to the recording information stored in the memory 32 differs from other programs. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus, a system, and a recorded program reproducing method, and more particularly to a recording / reproducing apparatus, system, and recorded program reproducing method for recording / reproducing a program of digital television broadcasting or cable television broadcasting.

  Currently, digital television broadcasting using satellites and the like is being put into practical use. Digital television broadcasting using satellites has multiple channels, and the number of channels is, for example, hundreds of tens. Also, cable television broadcasting with tens to hundreds of channels has already been put into practical use. Due to such multi-channeling, information related to broadcast programs becomes large, and there are cases where it is not possible to cope with only a conventional program guide such as a newspaper or magazine.

  Therefore, in such digital television broadcasting, a program guide electronic distribution system that electronically distributes a program schedule scheduled to be broadcast, displays it on a television screen, and allows a user to select a program to be viewed from the electronic program guide. Is used. Such an electronic program guide is called an EPG (Electronic Program Guide).

  In a conventional program guide electronic distribution system, character information such as a program channel, broadcast time, and title name is transmitted. The user searches for the program that he / she wants to watch from the transmitted program guide, writes down the channel and broadcast time of the program, and when that time is reached, sets the channel to view the program, and the program's channel and broadcast time. Is set in advance as a timer and viewed later.

  However, in the method as described above, for example, the user may forget to watch a desired program due to oversight of the program. Furthermore, the timer setting needs to be set by checking the program guide, which is troublesome for the user. Also, the contents of the program guide cannot be grasped only by text information.

  Thus, Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which program-related information is modulated with a carrier wave (IrDA, etc.) and information is transferred to a recorder so that program recording reservation and program detailed information can be easily obtained. ing.

Further, in Patent Document 2, a recording / playback apparatus stores a method in which a user inputs a keyword in advance and automatically records a program according to the keyword, a user's program preference, and the like, and automatically A recording / playback apparatus for recording a favorite program is disclosed. Patent Document 3 discloses a method for selecting a program to be recorded by the user by selecting a program according to the user's program preference. As described above, many methods for automatically recording a program according to the user's preference have been disclosed.
JP 9-44932 A JP-A-7-135621 JP 2003-319304 A

  However, the number of programs recorded by the above-described program recording may be within a range that can be remembered by the user, but when a large number of programs are recorded, the recorded programs may be left forgotten. There are many things that need to be checked so that you do not forget. In addition, in the case of automatically recording by keyword search or the like, it is necessary to confirm whether or not the recording was successful. Also, since old recorded data is deleted sequentially, there is a possibility that if it forgets to see it, it will be deleted as it is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a recording / playback apparatus, system, and recorded program playback method that allow a user to easily determine a program that has already been recorded or a program that has been reserved for recording. It was made for the purpose of providing.
More specifically, an electronic program guide such as EPG acquired from the outside is processed so that the user can discriminate between a program already recorded on the electronic program guide or a program reserved for recording. The purpose is to select a recorded program from a program guide so that it can be played back.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention processes an electronic program guide such as EPG acquired from the outside so that a user can discriminate between a program already recorded on the electronic program guide or a program reserved for recording. The recorded program can be selected and reproduced from the electronic program guide.

  According to a first technical means of the present invention, there is provided an electronic program guide acquisition means for acquiring an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs from the outside, a recording information storage means for storing recording information relating to an already recorded program, and the stored information Electronic program guide processing means for processing the electronic program guide based on recording information, and the electronic program guide processing means is configured so that the display form of the recorded program corresponding to the stored recording information is different from that of other programs. And processing the electronic program guide.

  According to a second technical means of the present invention, there is provided display control means for controlling display of the electronic program guide processed by the electronic program guide processing means in the first technical means, and the recorded video from the displayed electronic program guide. And a program reproducing means for reproducing the recorded program by selecting the program.

  According to a third technical means, in the first technical means, the recording information storage means stores the electronic program guide acquired by the electronic program guide acquisition means.

  According to a fourth technical means, in the third technical means, the electronic program guide processing means can simultaneously display the electronic program guide stored in the recorded information storage means and the recorded information of the recorded program. It is characterized by processing an electronic program guide.

  According to a fifth technical means, in the fourth technical means, the recording information includes a required recording time of the recorded program.

  The sixth technical means comprises recording reservation information storage means for storing recording reservation information relating to a program reserved for recording in the first technical means, and the electronic program guide processing means corresponds to the stored recording reservation information. The electronic program guide is processed such that the display form of the scheduled recording program is different from that of other programs.

  According to a seventh technical means, in the recording / reproducing system comprising: an external device that acquires and stores an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs; and a recording / reproducing device that is communicably connected to the external device. The apparatus comprises means for storing recording information relating to a program that has already been recorded, and means for storing recording reservation information relating to a program that has been reserved for recording, wherein the external device receives the recording information or recording reservation from the recording / reproducing apparatus. Means for acquiring information, means for processing the electronic program guide so that a display form of the program corresponding to the acquired recording information or recording reservation information is different from other programs, and displaying the processed electronic program guide It is characterized by providing the means to do.

  The eighth technical means includes an electronic program guide acquisition step for acquiring an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs from the outside, a recording information storage step for storing recording information relating to the already recorded program in the storage means, An electronic program guide processing step for processing the electronic program guide so that a display form of a recorded program corresponding to the recording information is different from other programs, a display control step for controlling display of the processed electronic program guide, And a program playback step of playing back the recorded program by selecting the recorded program from the displayed electronic program guide.

  A ninth technical means includes a recording reservation information storing step for storing recording reservation information relating to a program reserved for recording in a storage means in the eighth technical means, and the stored recording in the electronic program guide processing step. The electronic program guide is processed so that a display form of a recording reservation program corresponding to reservation information is different from that of other programs.

  According to the above technical means, it is possible to discriminate a program that has already been recorded on an electronic program guide such as an EPG acquired from the outside or a program that has been reserved for recording, and the user wants to view the program that has already been recorded on the electronic program guide. Since the program can be selected and reproduced easily and without hesitation, the recorded program is not accidentally deleted or overlooked.

  An electronic program guide such as EPG acquired from the outside is processed so that the user can discriminate a program that has already been recorded on the electronic program guide or a program that has been reserved for recording. Since it can be selected and played back easily and without hesitation, the recorded program is not accidentally deleted or overlooked.

(Example)
FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram for explaining a configuration example of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a recording / reproducing apparatus, and 2 is an external device such as a personal computer (hereinafter, PC). Indicates. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 has a recording function for recording input broadcast data on a hard disk (HD) or an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.) and a function for reproducing broadcast data recorded on the HD or optical disk.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 includes a main recording / reproducing unit 10, a program information input / output unit 20, and a control unit 30. Further, the main recording / reproducing unit 10 includes a data encoding unit 11, a disk drive unit 12, a data decoding unit 13, a display control unit 14, and a reproduction data output I / F (interface) unit 15. Consists of a recording / reservation information output I / F unit 21, a program information input I / F unit 22, and a user input unit 23. The control unit 30 includes an MPU (microprocessor) 31, a memory 32, a thumbnail creation unit 33, and a time setting unit. 34, a display image signal processing unit 35.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 may be provided with a tuner (not shown) for receiving a digital television broadcast. In this case, an electronic program guide such as an EPG transmitted from the outside such as a broadcasting station is used. It can be acquired via the program information input I / F unit 22. The recording / playback apparatus 1 can be connected to an external device 2 that can receive and record an electronic program guide via the program information input I / F unit 22, and acquires the electronic program guide from the external device 2. Also good. The memory 32 stores the acquired electronic program guide and information related to program recording and recording reservation (hereinafter referred to as recording / reservation information).

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 allows the user to record an already recorded or reserved recording program corresponding to the recording / reservation information stored in the memory 32 from the electronic program table acquired from the outside via the program information input I / F unit 22. It has a function to process so that it can be identified. This function is executed by the display image signal processing unit 35, and for example, the color of a corresponding program on the electronic program guide (that is, a program that has already been recorded or reserved for recording) is processed into a different color from other programs. By displaying the electronic program guide, the user can see which program is recorded or reserved for recording. This display control is executed by the display control unit 14. The color of the corresponding program on the electronic program guide includes the background color of the display column of the corresponding program, the character color included in the display column, and both.

  In addition, the display image signal processing unit 35 is not limited to the above color difference, for example, displays the corresponding program with different character sizes, character types, etc., or displays characters (for example, “already recorded”, “recording reservation” on the corresponding program). ”), Graphics (for example, icons, etc.), and identification information such as symbols, etc., the display format of the already recorded or scheduled recording program in the electronic program guide is different from other programs. Can be processed as follows.

  As another embodiment, the external device 2 storing the electronic program guide may be able to acquire recording / reservation information via the recording / reservation information output I / F unit 21 of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. In this case, the external device 2 processes the electronic program guide so that a recorded or reserved program corresponding to the recording / reservation information acquired from the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 can be identified by the user on the electronic program guide. A function may be provided. That is, a display image signal processing unit 35 may be provided on the external device 2 side so that the program can be processed and displayed so that the user can see which program has been recorded or reserved for recording at a glance.

  In FIG. 1, when recording broadcast data, the broadcast data input from the outside is converted into a data format in a format that can be recorded by the data encoding unit 11, transferred to the disk drive unit 12, and recorded on a recording medium such as HD or DVD. To record. As information about the broadcast data recorded at this time, for example, the recorded date and time, the amount of data, and unique information (for example, program name, performer, etc.) of the broadcast data are stored in the memory 32.

  When making a recording reservation for a program, recording reservation information such as a recording start time manually input by a user through a key operation or the like is input from the user input unit 23 and stored in the memory 32 and the time setting unit 34 and set. When the recording start time comes, the recording operation is started. Further, an electronic program guide (for example, EPG) acquired from the outside via the program information input I / F unit 22 may be stored in the memory 32 and the time setting unit 34. In this case, the user refers to the electronic program guide stored in the memory 32 from the screen and inputs the recording reservation information by manual input or the like. When the predetermined time comes, the recording reservation information stored in the memory 32 is stored. Start recording operation. The electronic program guide acquired at this time is stored in the memory 32 so that the user can refer to it on the screen at any time.

  Further, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 has a function of acquiring and updating an electronic program guide distributed from outside each time. For example, an electronic program guide input via the program information input I / F unit 22 is stored in the memory 32, and when the storage capacity of the memory 32 becomes full, the old one is sequentially replaced, or the electronic user wants to delete A program guide may be selected and deleted. Further, when the external device 2 is connected via the program information input I / F unit 22, it is set so that the recording / playback apparatus 1 can always monitor whether or not the external device 2 has acquired the electronic program guide. .

  When an electronic program guide is stored in the memory 32 together with information relating to program recording and recording reservation (recording / reservation information), both the electronic program guide and recording / reservation information in the memory 32 are displayed in the display image signal processing unit 35. Then, the display image signal processing unit 35 processes the transferred electronic program guide so that the recorded or reserved program corresponding to the recording / reservation information can be identified by the user. Then, the display image signal processing unit 35 transfers the processed electronic program guide to the display control unit 14 and displays it. The electronic program guide processing method includes, for example, a method of changing the color of the program on the electronic program guide corresponding to a program that has been recorded or reserved for recording, and performing a display different from that of other programs. Any method can be used as long as it can be processed so that a user can view a recorded or reserved program only by watching it.

  When the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is connected to the external device 2, the recording / reservation information stored in the memory 32 is transferred to the external device 2 via the recording / reservation information output I / F unit 21. 2 refers to the recording / reservation information received from the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 and the electronic program guide acquired from the outside, and processes and displays the electronic program guide so that the user can record or schedule recording at a glance. It is also possible to make it possible to determine the program that has been played.

  When playing back video data recorded on the HD or DVD, basically, the video data that the disk drive unit 12 plays from the HD or DVD is read from the playback information input from the user input unit 23, and the data decoding unit 13 is decoded, transferred to the display control unit 14, and a playback image is displayed on a television monitor (CRT, LCD, etc.) via the playback data output I / F unit 15.

  As described above, when the electronic program guide is stored in the memory 32, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 transfers the recording / reservation information input from the user to the display image signal processing unit 35 together with the electronic program guide, The display image signal processing unit 35 processes the electronic program guide based on the transferred recording / reservation information, and transfers the processed electronic program guide to the display control unit 14 to perform screen display.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic program guide screen in which recording / reservation information is reflected. 2A shows an example screen of the electronic program guide, and FIG. 2B shows an example screen in which recording / reservation information is reflected in the electronic program guide shown in FIG. In this example, a case where EPG is applied as an electronic program guide will be described as a representative example.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 processes the EPG by reflecting the recording / reservation information stored in the memory 32, and has already recorded a program, and further has a recording reservation. By changing the color of the program information corresponding to, etc., it can be understood only by the user. Furthermore, as the recording / reservation information of the already recorded program, not only the program name and performer, but also the thumbnail information of the program created by the thumbnail creation unit 33 and the required recording time set by the time setting unit 34 (recording start) Specific information about the recorded program, such as (/ end time), may be displayed, so that the user can easily grasp the contents of the already recorded program and select the program without hesitation during playback. It can be carried out.

  The user selects a program to be reproduced while viewing the processed EPG. Specifically, a target program is selected from the processed EPG by manually inputting the program using the user input unit 23. Selection is performed with a pointer such as a mouse or a cursor. This program selection information is sent to the disk drive unit 12 and the data decoding unit 13 via the MPU 31, and the target program is searched by the disk drive unit 12 and transferred to the data decoding unit 13 in order for reproduction. .

  According to the present invention, since the column of the already recorded program is clearly indicated on the electronic program guide obtained from the outside by coloring it, the user can easily and easily determine which program is recorded. Furthermore, it can be easily reproduced by selecting a desired recorded program from the electronic program guide.

  In addition, since an electronic program guide acquired from the outside can be stored, it is also possible to easily determine whether or not a previously broadcast program is recorded from the electronic program guide.

  In addition, since it is possible to store image information etc. of programs that have already been recorded, it is easy to see what kind of programs are recorded by displaying them on the electronic program guide as thumbnails etc. Can know.

  In addition, time information (recording time, recording time, etc.) of programs that have already been recorded can be saved and displayed at the same time by reflecting this time information in the electronic program guide. It is possible to easily determine whether the program is a program.

  In addition, since programs that have already been recorded, programs that have already been reserved for recording, or programs that are scheduled to be recorded are displayed on the electronic program guide acquired from the outside, it is possible to determine in advance which programs will be recorded in the future. .

Next, an embodiment of a recording / reproducing system in which an external device 2 such as a PC is connected to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 will be described.
The external device 2 has a function of reflecting and displaying the recording / reservation information acquired from the recording / reservation information output I / F unit 21 in an electronic program guide such as EPG acquired from the outside. As a display form, for example, the display is performed in a form clearly shown to the user by changing the color of the program information according to the recording / reservation information as shown in FIG. Select a program and play it. At this time, the program selection information selected by the user is input to the MPU 31 via the program information input I / F unit 22 and sent to the disk drive unit 12 and the data decoding unit 13.

  According to the present invention, since the electronic program guide in which the recording reservation status is always reflected can be displayed on an external device such as a PC, the recording reservation status can always be determined in real time, and further directly reproduced from the electronic program guide. can do.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a recorded program reproduction method to which the present invention is applied. In this example, a recorded program playback method executed using the recording / playback apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 acquires an electronic program guide from the outside via the program information input I / F unit 22 (step S1), and stores the acquired electronic program guide in the memory 32 (step S2). On the other hand, the user makes a recording (step S3) or a recording reservation (step S4). At this time, the recording / reservation information including information such as which program is recorded or reserved for recording is stored in the memory 32 (step S5). The order of steps S3 and S4 may be reversed.

  Next, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 transfers the electronic program guide and recording / reservation information stored in the memory 32 to the display image signal processing unit 35, and the display image signal processing unit 35 performs the electronic program based on the recording / reservation information. The table is processed and transferred to the display control unit 14, and the display control unit 14 displays the processed electronic program guide (step S7). The user checks the recorded program on the displayed electronic program guide, and as a result, issues a playback command to the recorded program selected from the electronic program guide by the user (step S8), and the selected recorded program is played back. (Step S9). The recording / reservation information of the program may be transferred to the external device 2 via the recording / reservation information output I / F unit 21. In this case, the external device 2 processes the electronic program guide, and the recording / Display the electronic program guide reflecting the reservation information.

  In this way, the user can easily and easily investigate a program that has already been recorded or a program that has been reserved for recording from the electronic program guide distributed to the user. Since the recorded program can be reproduced by selecting the recorded program, the search and selection of the recorded program can be easily executed without any mistake or omission.

It is a circuit block diagram for demonstrating the structural example of the recording / reproducing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the electronic program guide in which recording / reservation information was reflected. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the recorded program reproduction method to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Recording / reproducing apparatus, 2 ... External apparatus, 10 ... Main recording / reproducing part, 11 ... Data encoding part, 12 ... Disk drive part, 13 ... Data decoding part, 14 ... Display control part, 15 ... Reproduction data output I / F , 20 ... Program information input / output unit, 21 ... Recording / reservation information output I / F unit, 22 ... Program information input I / F unit, 23 ... User input unit, 30 ... Control unit, 31 ... MPU (microcomputer) 32 ... Memory, 33 ... Thumbnail creation unit, 34 ... Time setting unit, 35 ... Display image signal processing unit.

Claims (9)

  Electronic program guide acquisition means for acquiring an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs from the outside, recording information storage means for storing recording information relating to already recorded programs, and the electronic program guide based on the stored recording information Electronic program guide processing means for processing, the electronic program guide processing means processing the electronic program guide so that the display form of the recorded program corresponding to the stored recorded information is different from other programs. A characteristic recording / reproducing apparatus.   2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein display control means for controlling display of the electronic program guide processed by the electronic program guide processing means, and selecting the recorded program from the displayed electronic program guide. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising program reproducing means for reproducing the recorded program.   2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording information storage unit stores the electronic program guide acquired by the electronic program guide acquiring unit.   4. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the electronic program guide processing means can display the electronic program guide stored in the recording information storage means and the recording information of the recorded program simultaneously. Recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by processing   5. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording information includes a time required for recording the recorded program.   2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising recording reservation information storage means for storing recording reservation information relating to a program reserved for recording, wherein the electronic program guide processing means is a recording reservation corresponding to the stored recording reservation information. A recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the electronic program guide is processed so that a display form of a program is different from other programs.   In a recording / playback system comprising an external device that acquires and stores an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs, and a recording / playback device that is communicably connected to the external device, the recording / playback device is already recorded. Means for storing recording information relating to a program, and means for storing recording reservation information relating to a program reserved for recording, wherein the external device acquires the recording information or recording reservation information from the recording / playback device; Means for processing the electronic program guide so that a display form of the program corresponding to the acquired recording information or recording reservation information is different from other programs, and means for displaying the processed electronic program guide A recording / reproducing system.   An electronic program guide acquisition step for acquiring an electronic program guide comprising a plurality of programs from the outside, a recording information storage step for storing recording information relating to an already recorded program in a storage means, and a pre-recording corresponding to the stored recording information From the electronic program guide processing step for processing the electronic program guide so that the display form of the program is different from other programs, the display control step for controlling the display of the processed electronic program guide, and the displayed electronic program guide A recorded program reproduction method comprising: a program reproduction step of reproducing the recorded program by selecting the recorded program.   A recording reservation information storage step for storing recording reservation information related to the recording reservation program in a storage means, and in the electronic program guide processing step, the display form of the recording reservation program corresponding to the stored recording reservation information is other than 9. The recorded program reproduction method according to claim 8, wherein the electronic program guide is processed differently from the program.

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