JP2006180058A - Program recorder/reproducer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder/reproducer presenting comfortable operability when viewing a series program broadcast every day or every week at the identical time from a large quantity of program recorded by a television program recorder/reproducer using a large capacity hard disk. <P>SOLUTION: The recorder/reproducer comprises a database recording means (recorded program information database section 5) for recording a program and program information as a database on a recording medium while attaching a program ID, a program ID setting means (record reservation information database section 12) for searching a program ID identical to that of a selected program from programs recorded on the recording medium when a program selected from the programs recorded on the recording medium is reproduced and setting it as a common ID, and a means (image voice decoder 6) for reproducing a program recorded on the recording medium by detecting the common ID. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program recording / playback apparatus that improves the convenience of program selection when playing back a large amount of recorded TV programs and the like.

In recent years, with the addition of BS broadcasting (Broadcast Satellite) and CS broadcasting (Communication Satellite) to conventional TV broadcasting, TV programs have been diversified, and the timer recording reservation function of TV program recording and playback devices is also easy to use Various ideas have been made.
Patent Document 1 below provides a means for automatically selecting a program of interest to a user from among CS broadcast multi-channel programs by inputting a keyword and simply and reliably making a recording reservation. There is also provided a means for recording a series program that is broadcast every day or every week at the same time so that it can be continuously recorded with a single setting.

On the other hand, as a television program recording / reproducing apparatus, an apparatus capable of recording a large number of television programs by using a large-capacity hard disk as a recording medium has become widespread.
In terms of usability of a recording / playback apparatus using such a hard disk, one of the major differences from the conventional recording / playback apparatus using a video cassette is that a recorded program is stored in the apparatus using a hard disk recording / playback apparatus. When a large number of programs are stored and played back, the user performs an operation of selecting a program to be viewed from a list of stored programs displayed on the screen.
As an example of a recording / playback apparatus using a hard disk, if the built-in hard disk has a capacity of 250 GB (gigabytes), it can record 100 hours or more in the standard mode and 200 hours or more in the long-time mode. The number is huge, from tens to hundreds.

JP-A-11-187328

As described above, in a television program recording / playback apparatus using a large-capacity hard disk, it is necessary to first call a stored program list and select a program to be played back from the stored program list. However, when the number of recorded programs is from tens to hundreds, it is difficult to find a specific program from among them.
In particular, when you want to continue watching a relatively short series of programs that are broadcast daily or weekly at the same time, you can call up the list one by one each time you finish watching one, and other programs are recorded during that list. Because it is not displayed side by side, it is often inconvenient to search for the next program.

As described above, in recent years, the recording reservation has been devised to improve the user's convenience as seen in Patent Document 1, however, the convenience of the user when reproducing the recorded program is not so much. It is not done. The above-mentioned patent document 1 does not mention anything about improvement in operability during reproduction.
The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a television program recording / playback apparatus using a large-capacity hard disk at a same time every day or every week from a large amount of recorded programs. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording / playback apparatus that takes into account the convenience of continuously watching a broadcast series program.

The present invention has the following configurations (1), (2), and (3) as means for solving the above problems. That is,
(1) In a program recording / playback apparatus that records a program to be broadcast and program information related to the program on a recording medium, and reads out and plays back from the recording medium, a program ID is assigned to the program and the program information. A database-recording means for creating a database and recording a plurality of programs on the recording medium; and when a program selected from the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium is reproduced, the selected program is recorded. The program ID setting means for searching for the same program ID from the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium and setting it as a common ID, and detecting the common ID and recording it on the recording medium A program recording / playback apparatus comprising: playback means for playing back a program that is present.
(2) In a program recording / playback apparatus that records a program to be broadcast and program information related to the program on a recording medium, and then reads out and plays back from the recording medium, a program ID is attached to the program and the program information. When a database recording means for creating a database and recording a plurality of programs on the recording medium and playing a regularly broadcast program among the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium, A program ID setting means for searching the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium for the same program ID as the regularly broadcasted program and setting it as a common ID; and detecting the common ID Replaying means for replaying a program recorded on the recording medium.
(3) The program recording / playback described in (1) and (2) above, including operation means for searching for the common ID and performing playback sequentially from a program selected in the previous period to a program recorded in the past. Device.

  A TV program recording / playback device that uses a large-capacity hard disk, and when watching a series of programs that were broadcast daily or every week from a large number of recorded programs, save each program when you finish watching Since there is no need to call up the list and find and select the next program from a large number of lists, comfortable operability such as being able to immerse yourself in watching the program becomes possible.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining the contents of a recording reservation information database, FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the contents of a recording program information database, and FIG. It is a figure explaining the content of the video recording program information database.

  First, the configuration of the recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The TV broadcast radio wave received by the tuner 1 is demodulated into an image / audio signal, supplied to the next image / audio encoder 2, and converted into a predetermined digital compression signal such as an MPEG signal. The converted digital compressed signal is then supplied to the mass storage device 3 having a hard disk therein and recorded in the video / audio data unit 4. At the same time, various information such as date and time is recorded in the recorded program information database unit 5. Next, the digital compressed signal recorded in the video / audio data unit 4 is read out and enters the next video / audio decoder 6, where the digital compressed signal is decoded and returned to the original video / audio signal. The audio / video signal restored from the digital compression signal is then switched as appropriate according to a display signal from an on-screen display 13 described later, and is output to the outside via the audio / video output unit 7.

  On the other hand, the recording / playback apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a microcomputer 10 that controls each part in the apparatus in accordance with input commands from the operation unit 8 and the remote controller 9 of the main body. Further, in order to improve the operability of the recording reservation, a storage device 11 for storing the reservation information once inputted in the recording reservation information database unit 12 is provided. In addition, an on-screen display 13 for generating a display image signal is prepared for screen display of the recording reservation information in the recording reservation information database unit 12 and the recorded program information in the recorded program information database unit 5.

Next, the recording reservation operation and the operation of the recording / playback apparatus will be described.
First, the user operates the operation unit 8 or the remote controller 9 to set recording reservation for a television program. The recording reservation data input by the user is basically the recording start date, recording start time, recording end date, recording end time, and number of channels of the broadcasting station. Of these, the recording start date and the recording end date are dates. It can also be designated as daily or weekly (day of week). There is also a method of inputting a program code in a program guide such as a newspaper. Even in this case, the input program code is converted into the above various data and used inside the recording / reproducing apparatus.

The input recording reservation data is generated as a display image signal through the microcomputer 10 on the on-screen display 13, output through the image / audio output unit 7, and displayed on an external television screen. At the same time, the recording reservation data is registered in the recording reservation information database unit 12 of the storage device 11.
When viewing the registered recording reservation contents, the microcomputer 10 reads the contents of the recording reservation information database 12 by the operation of the operation unit 8 or the remote controller 9 and supplies them to the on-screen display 13 in a list format. In the on-screen display 13, a display image signal is generated, and the display image signal is output and displayed on an external television screen via the image / audio output unit 7. FIG. 2 shows an example of displaying the registered recording reservation contents.

Next, the addition of “program ID” which is the center of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 2, “program ID” is provided at the end of the item column. The numerical values in this column are not input by the user, but are automatically inserted by the recording / playback apparatus in accordance with the rules.
The program ID is an ID added to a program for which recording is continuously reserved every day or every week, and the same numerical value is applied to the same program. In the example shown in Fig. 2, “01” is assigned as the program ID for programs from 10:00 to 21:00 every Monday, and “02” is assigned to programs from 21:00 to 22:00 every Tuesday. ing. In addition, “00” is applied to a scheduled recording program that is not periodic but is a single shot. As will be described later, this program ID is recorded in the recorded program information database unit 5 together with various information such as recording date and time when each program is recorded.

  Next, the description returns to the recording operation. The microcomputer 10 monitors the contents of the recording reservation information database 12, sets the broadcasting station channel of the tuner 1 at the recording start time on the recording start date, and digitally compresses the image / audio data section 4 of the mass storage device 3. The signal is recorded and saved, and the recording start date, recording start time, recording end date, recording end time, broadcasting station channel, program ID, and the like of the recorded program are recorded in the recorded program information database unit 5.

Next, the operation when playing back a recorded program will be described. When viewing the recorded program, the recorded program information recorded in the recorded program information database 5 is displayed on the screen, and the program to be viewed is selected and reproduced. FIG. 3 shows a display example of recorded program information.
Here, when the program that has been reproduced is finished, the microcomputer 10 searches the recorded program information database 5 and continues to search for the next recording start date and time with the same program ID as the program and reproduces the program. To control. With this operation, the user does not have to select a continuous program from the recorded program information.

When the “NEXT” button prepared on the operation unit 8 or the remote controller 9 is operated while watching the program, the microcomputer 10 searches the recorded program information database 5 and the same program as the program currently being viewed. It is possible to find the next recording start date and time by ID, stop the currently viewed program, and play the searched program.
Further, when the “PREV” button prepared on the operation unit 8 or the remote controller 9 is operated while watching the program, the microcomputer 10 searches the recorded program information database 5 and the same program as the program currently being viewed. It is also possible to find the next recording start date and time with the ID, stop the currently viewed program, and play the searched program.
As described above, since a common program ID is assigned to the series program, the recorded program information can be operated without being displayed and selected each time, and the user can enjoy a comfortable operation such as being immersed in viewing the program. It becomes possible.

Next, a description will be given of what to do when a predetermined broadcast time is changed during daily or weekly continuous recording reservation. For example, every Tuesday from 21:00 to 22:00 When recording is scheduled for channel 4 and the specified program is changed to broadcast hours from 23:00 to 24:00 due to the influence of a special program on the corresponding day of December 21, 2004 Is described.
In this case, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 2, reservation information such as recording date and time is newly input to make a recording reservation. At this time, since the program ID is determined as a single scheduled recording program, it becomes “00” and is not a common ID of the series program.
If recording is performed in this state, 2004/12/21 is recorded twice from 21:00 and 23:00, and the contents of the recorded program information database 12 at that time are as shown in FIG.

Here, since the program recorded from 21:00 on 2004/12/21 is a special program and is not originally intended to be recorded, it is deleted by operating the operation unit 8 or the remote controller 9. 2004/12/21 Since the program recorded from 23:00 was originally intended to be recorded from 21:00 on Tuesday, operate the operation unit 8 or remote control 9 to re-add the program ID to "02" To do. The contents of the recorded program information database 12 when corrected in this way are shown in FIG.
By reassigning the number ID in this way, it can be handled as a series program.

As described above in detail, in the program recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention, by adding a common program ID to a series program broadcast daily or weekly at the same time, and managing the recorded program, When watching a series program, the saved program list is displayed one by one at the end of each viewing, so that the next program can be searched from a large number of lists and played continuously without being selected. Comfortable operability, such as being able to immerse yourself in, is possible.
In this embodiment, the recording start date, the recording start time, the recording end date, the recording end time, and the number of channels of the broadcasting station are used as the recording reservation data. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) Of course, it is possible to input using. Also in this case, after selecting a program from the EPG, a common program ID is set by additionally specifying periodic information such as daily or weekly.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the video recording / reproducing apparatus based on this invention. It is a figure explaining the content of the video recording reservation information database. It is a figure explaining the content of the video recording program information database. It is a figure explaining the content of the corrected recorded program information database.

Explanation of symbols

1 Tuner 2 Image / Audio Encoder 3 Mass Storage Device 4 Image / Audio Data Unit 5 Recorded Program Information Database Unit 6 Image / Audio Decoder 7 Image / Audio Output Unit 8 Operation Unit 9 Remote Controller 10 Microcomputer 11 Storage Device 12 Recording Reservation Information Database Unit 13 On Screen display

Claims (3)

In a program recording / playback apparatus for recording a program to be broadcast and program information related to the program on a recording medium, and then reading out the recording medium for playback.
Database-recording means for creating a database by adding a program ID to the program and the program information and recording a plurality of programs on the recording medium;
When a program selected from the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium is reproduced, the same program ID as the selected program is recorded in the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium. A program ID setting means for searching from and setting as a common ID;
Reproducing means for detecting the common ID and reproducing the program recorded on the recording medium;
A program recording / playback apparatus comprising: In a program recording / playback apparatus for recording a program to be broadcast and program information related to the program on a recording medium, and then reading out the recording medium for playback.
Database-recording means for adding a program ID to the program and the program information to create a database and recording a plurality of programs on the recording medium;
When a regularly broadcasted program among the plurality of programs recorded on the recording medium is reproduced, the same program ID as the regularly broadcasted program is recorded on the recording medium. A program ID setting means for searching among the plurality of programs and setting as a common ID;
Reproducing means for detecting the common ID and reproducing the program recorded on the recording medium;
A program recording / playback apparatus comprising: 3. The program recording / playback according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an operation unit that searches for the common ID and sequentially plays back a program recorded in the past from a program selected in the previous period. apparatus.

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