JP2006041671A - Program information display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program information display device including a display means capable of automatically displaying program detailed information without hiding a video image to the utmost by channel selection operations. <P>SOLUTION: The program information display device is configured to include: an information reception means 100 for receiving a program and service attached information; a storage section 25 for storing the program and service attached information received by the information reception means 100; and a display means for extracting program title information from the storage section 25 and displaying the extracted information, succeedingly extracting program detailed information from the storage section 25, and displaying all the program detailed information on a display area for one line while scrolling the display area horizontally. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program information display apparatus that displays program title information and program detailed information of a program.

  In particular, the present invention does not display only the title of the program when starting to watch the program, but program information that provides service additional information of the program by the simplest operation in which the user switches channels. It is a display device. Here, the service additional information is information including information necessary for displaying the program information, for example, information such as the program title, the program overview, the detailed contents of the program, and the broadcast time.

  It is common practice to simultaneously display program information such as channel numbers, program title information, and program details in conjunction with channel switching by a user operation, and allow the user to instantly recognize the program information. If the amount of information is large enough to cover the video, change the size of characters to be displayed according to the amount of information in the program information, change the size of the area to display the program information, and display it combined with the video. Since the video is almost invisible, a method of automatically reducing the size of the video and displaying the program information in an empty area is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  When searching for a program that the user wants to watch casually, the user may select an interesting program from among the programs displayed by switching by repeatedly operating the channel up / down key or the channel number key. By displaying only the title of the program to be switched and displayed at this time, it is usually possible to determine what kind of program the program is. However, in rare cases, it may not be possible to determine the contents of the program only with the program title information. At this time, it is desired that the outline and detailed information of the program be presented. In addition, in a device (for example, a television) having a function of presenting a program summary and detailed information, a dedicated remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) is used to present the program summary and detailed information using the function. In most cases, it cannot be presented without an operation.

In general homes, when switching TV channels, the TV remote control may be used, but other AV devices such as video remote controllers or remote controllers that have only a channel switching function and volume adjustment function available on the market. Etc. may be used. Channel switching may be performed using a remote controller that does not have a dedicated key for presenting the outline of the program and the contents of the program. In this case, it is impossible to provide a user with a function of presenting an outline or detailed information of a program when searching for an interesting program. For most programs, the contents of the program can be imagined from the program title information. Therefore, it is sufficient that only the program title information is displayed while switching the channel repeatedly, and this technique is already known.
JP 2000-152112 A JP 05-284477 A

  When the above-described channel number, program title, program overview, and detailed information are simultaneously displayed, there is a problem that if the amount of information increases, the area that covers the video increases, making it difficult to view the video. In order to solve this problem, in the conventional technique, there is provided a program information display device that divides an area for displaying video and program information and changes the size of the video so that the video and program information display areas do not overlap. I have. However, it is not preferable for the user that the video is displayed in a small size by switching the size of the video to a size that allows the program information to be displayed simultaneously without overlapping.

  In addition, when searching for a program of interest with the channel up / down and channel number keys, in most cases, the program title information is sufficient to determine the contents of the program. However, there are rare cases where the program content cannot be determined only by the program title information.

  The present invention displays only the minimum program title information necessary for recognizing a program from the channel number, program title information, and broadcast time program information in conjunction with channel switching by a user operation. After automatic time-out, the program summary information and the program detailed information are automatically displayed in a region for one line in combination with the video. It is another object of the present invention to provide a program information display device capable of presenting a more detailed program summary and detailed information even when channel switching is performed instead of a device-specific remote controller.

  In order to solve the conventional problem, a program information display apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 1) is provided with a program information from a program including video, audio and / or data, and service additional information which is information related to the program. In the program information display device, the information receiving means for receiving the program and service additional information, the storage means for recording the program and service additional information received by the information receiving means, and the program information of the viewing-target program Is recorded from the service additional information, program title information extracting means for extracting program title information from the program information detected from the recording section control means, and program details from the program information detected by the recording section control means Program detailed information extracting means for extracting information, display means for displaying in a predetermined display area, and display time system for controlling display time The program title information of the program instructed every time the channel is switched by the user operation is extracted by the program title information extraction means, displayed by the display means, and the program title information display time managed by the display time control means has elapsed. At this point, the program detailed information is extracted by the program detailed information extracting means, and all the program detailed information is displayed in the display area for one line by the display means.

  According to the present invention, when the channel is switched by a user operation, the program title information extraction unit extracts the program title information of the channel designated by the storage unit control unit, and the display unit displays the program title information. Here, the display time of the program title information is controlled, and after the display time of the program title information has elapsed, the program detailed information is extracted to the program detailed information extraction means, and the program detailed information is horizontally scrolled in the display area for one line by the display means. By displaying the program details information, the program details information is automatically displayed without hiding the video as much as possible when the contents of the program cannot be determined by the program title information alone. Therefore, there is an effect that the contents of the program can be easily judged while watching the video.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a program information display apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Hereinafter, the configuration of the program information display apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 11 denotes an information source including a video signal consisting of a still image or a moving image, an audio signal and / or data, and 12 denotes a predetermined encoding method such as MPEG (Moving Picture Image Coding Experts Group) of the video signal and / or audio signal. An information encoding unit 13 that encodes according to the standard, 13 is related information that does not need to be encoded again among service additional information that is information necessary for selecting a program to be transmitted, and content that is the content of the program It is a related information generation unit that generates information that does not need to be encoded again. The related information is, for example, video, audio and data types constituting the program, program number, broadcast start time, etc., and is information that does not need to be encoded. This information is usually stored in MPEG system standards (GENERIC CODING OF MOVING PICTURES AND
ASSOCIATED AUDIO: SYSTEM Recommendation H. 222.0, ISO / IEC 13818-1), or DVB system standard (Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) systems, ETS 300468, January 1996), which is a European digital broadcasting standard.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a multiplexing unit that multiplexes the encoded signal and related information, 15 a channel that includes error correction code means for processing data for protection against transmission errors, and digital modulation means for sending a digital signal. Encoding part. Reference numeral 16 denotes a transmission path composed of a transmitter, an actual transmission path, and a tuner on the information receiving apparatus side. Further, 100 is an information receiving means, 17 is a channel decoding section comprising digital demodulating means for demodulating a digitally modulated signal and error correcting means for data errors occurring in the transmission path 16, and 18 is a channel decoding. A demultiplexing unit for demultiplexing the multiplexed digital signal output from the unit 17 into an encoded video signal, audio signal and / or data signal and related information; 19 is a video signal for the encoded signal; An information decoding unit that decodes a signal and / or audio signal, 20 is a related information processing unit that processes related information that is input from the demultiplexing unit 18 and does not need to be decoded, and 21 is an information decoding unit 19 and related information processing Information synthesizing unit for synthesizing video, audio and / or data output from the unit 20, and 24, video and audio synthesized by the information synthesizing unit 21 It is information output unit for outputting beauty / and data.

  Reference numeral 23 denotes an output of the information synthesizing unit 21 and an external control signal input via the external signal input unit 22 to create and output program title information and program detailed information, as well as program and service additional information, etc. An input / output information control unit for controlling signal recording, that is, a program information display device. Reference numeral 25 denotes a storage unit 25 that stores service additional information for creating program title information and program detailed information output by the input / output information control unit 23, that is, storage means.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the program information display apparatus according to the first embodiment, that is, the input / output information control unit 23.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 23 a denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “CPU”) that controls information via the input / output information control unit 23. Reference numeral 23b denotes a program ROM that stores a computer program for controlling each means connected to the CPU 23a, and is used for the CPU 23a to control data writing, reading, searching, and the like. Reference numeral 23c denotes a work RAM for temporarily storing information when the CPU 23a performs calculation and control of information. Reference numeral 23d denotes an information input / output unit that exchanges information including video, audio, and / or data with the information synthesis unit 21.

  Reference numeral 23e denotes external signal input means for inputting an external control signal such as channel switching by the user via the external signal input unit 22. 23f is a clock means for counting the current time. Reference numeral 23g denotes display time control means for controlling the time during which the display means 23k described later displays program title information and program detailed information. The storage unit control unit 23 h is a unit that controls recording and reading of the information received from the information synthesis unit 21 to the storage unit 25, and the storage unit control unit 23 h further includes service additional information received from the information synthesis unit 21. Is recorded in the storage unit 25, and additional service information necessary for extracting the program title information and the program detailed information is read from the storage unit 25 and provided to the program title information extracting unit 23i and the program detailed information extracting unit 23j described later. It is means to do. The program title information extracting means 23 i extracts program title information from the service additional information stored in the storage unit 25.

  The program detailed information extracting means 23j extracts the program detailed information from the service additional information stored in the storage unit 25. The display means 23k displays the program title information and the program detailed information extracted by the program title information extracting means 23i and the program detailed information extracting means 23j in accordance with the time controlled by the display time control means 23g, and outputs it to the information output unit 24. It is means to do.

  Next, the operation of the program information display device according to the first embodiment will be described. First, on the information sender side, the information encoding unit 12 encodes a video signal, audio signal and / or data consisting of a still image or a moving image from the information source 11 according to an encoding method, for example, an encoding method defined in MPEG. The related information generation unit 13 needs to encode the additional service information necessary for selecting a program, for example, information such as program genre, time information such as data size program start time and program end time, etc. The multiplexing unit 14 multiplexes signals output from the information encoding unit 12 and the related information generation unit 13. The multiplexing is performed in accordance with, for example, the MPEG system standard or the DVB system standard that is the European digital broadcasting standard. The channel encoding unit 15 is an error correction code means for processing data for protection against transmission errors and a digital modulation means for sending the digital signal to the multiplexed digital signal. The transmission path 16 is an actual transmission path for transmitting the output signal of the channel encoding unit 15.

  On the other hand, on the information receiving means 100 side, the channel decoding unit 17 performs digital demodulation and error correction processing on the signal transmitted through the transmission path 16. The channel decoding unit 17 performs processing reverse to that of the channel encoding unit 15 and outputs the same signal as the signal output from the multiplexing unit 14 to the demultiplexing unit 18. The demultiplexing unit 18 demultiplexes the output signal of the channel encoding unit 17, and the demultiplexed signal is output to the information decoding unit 19 and the related information processing unit 20. The information decoding unit 19 decodes the input encoded signal into a video or audio signal in accordance with, for example, the MPEG standard. The information synthesizing unit 21 synthesizes signals output from the information decoding unit 19 and the related information processing unit 20 and outputs the synthesized signals to the information output unit 24 and the input / output information control unit 23. As for the signal output to the information output unit 24, the video signal is output to, for example, a monitor display unit, the audio signal is output to, for example, a speaker, and the data signal is output to, for example, a computer. Further, the input / output information control unit 23 records the additional service information output from the information combining unit 21 in the storage unit 25 via the storage unit control unit 23h. The operation on the information receiving apparatus side is shown in step 1 and step 2 of FIG.

  Next, an operation for displaying program title information and program detailed information of a program instructed by the user will be described.

  The user inputs an external control signal for requesting program switching to the input / output information control unit 23 via the external signal input unit 22. The program title information extracting unit 23i reads the service additional information stored in the storage unit 25 through the storage unit control unit 23h in response to a program switching request (FIG. 4B, step 3) by the user, and this service additional information. The program title information is extracted from the information and output to the information output unit 24 by the display means 23k (step 4 in FIG. 4B). At this time, the display time control means 23g starts measuring the display time of preset program title information. When the display time of the program title information elapses, the program detailed information extracting means 23j subsequently extracts and displays the program detailed information from the service additional information in the same manner as the program title information extracting means 23i in accordance with the instruction of the display time control means 23g. It outputs to the information output part 24 by the means 23k (FIG.4 (b) step 5).

  In order for the user to instruct a program, for example, a remote controller is used. When the information to be displayed fits within the display area, the display means 23k displays it in a format such as that shown in FIG. In particular, this is a display format used when displaying program title information. Further, when the information to be displayed does not fit in the display area, the display means 23k displays it in a format as shown in FIG. 3B, for example. The display format shown in FIG. 3B sequentially displays information that cannot be displayed at a time by horizontal scrolling. In particular, this is a display format used when displaying detailed program information.

  As described above, according to the program information display device of the present invention, program title information is displayed in conjunction with channel switching by a user operation, and after the displayed program title information times out, program detailed information is displayed in an area for one line. All the information can be displayed, and when it is not possible to determine the contents of the program only with the program title information, the contents can be determined.

  In the first embodiment, when displaying information that does not fit within the area displayed by the display unit 23k, an example of sequentially displaying the information by horizontal scrolling in order to display all the information in the area for one line will be described. However, it can be displayed after displaying information that can be displayed in an area for one line, or with a display means that displays it in multiple lines as long as it can be determined that the image is not significantly covered. Even if it is configured with display means for switching and displaying information for the area that could not display information sequentially as pages, the user can read all the program detailed information, so the program title information alone can show the contents of the program When it cannot be judged, the same effect that the content of the program can be judged from the detailed program information can be obtained.

  In the first embodiment, the operation in the case where the program is switched in conjunction with the channel switching by the user operation has been described. However, the program being viewed is ended and the different program is started without changing the channel. Even when the program monitoring means for monitoring is provided, the program title information of the next program starting when the program changes is displayed, and the program title information is displayed when the program title information display time elapses. The same effect can be obtained that the contents of the program starting from the program detailed information can be determined when the information alone cannot determine the contents of the next program.

  The program information display device of the present invention automatically displays the program details by hiding the video as much as possible when the channel is switched by a user operation, when the program content cannot be determined only by the program title information. It has an effect that can be determined, and can also be applied to the use of displaying program detail information when the dedicated remote control button for displaying the program detail information is not provided.

The figure which shows the structure of the program information display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and the transmission apparatus and information receiving apparatus relevant to it. The figure which shows the detailed structure of the program information display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. (A) The figure which shows an example of the display means which displays the program title information of the program information display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention, (b) An example of the display means which displays the program detailed information of the program information display apparatus Illustration (A) The figure which shows the flow of the operation | movement which records the service additional information of the program information display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention, (b) The operation | movement which displays the program title information and program detailed information of the program information display apparatus Diagram showing the flow

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Information source 12 Information encoding part 13 Related information generation part 14 Multiplexing part 15 Channel encoding part 16 Transmission path 17 Channel decoding part 18 Demultiplexing part 19 Information decoding part 20 Related information processing part 21 Information synthesis part 22 External signal input part 23 Input / output information control unit 23a CPU
23b Program ROM
23c Work RAM
23d Information input / output unit 23e External signal input unit 23f Clock unit 23g Display time control unit 23h Storage unit control unit 23i Program title information extraction unit 23j Detailed program information extraction unit 23k Display unit 24 Information output unit 25 Storage unit 100 Information reception unit

Claims (1)

In a program information display device for displaying program information from a program including video, audio and / or data, and service additional information which is information related to the program, information receiving means for receiving the program and service additional information; Storage means for recording the program and service additional information received by the information receiving means, recording section control means for detecting program information of the viewing-target program from information recorded by the storage means, and detection by the recording section control means Program title information extracting means for extracting program title information from program information, program detailed information extracting means for extracting program detailed information from program information detected from the recording unit control means, and display means for displaying in a predetermined display area Display time control means for controlling the display time, and program title information of the viewing program every time the channel is switched by a user operation. Is extracted by the program title information extracting means, displayed by the display means, and when the program title information display time managed by the display time control means has elapsed, the program detailed information extracting means extracts the program detailed information, A program information display apparatus for displaying all program detailed information in a display area for one line by a display means.

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