JP2006217215A - Program retrieving apparatus and program retrieving method, program, recording medium, and receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program retrieving apparatus capable of retrieving a desired program precisely, simply, and quickly, and to provide a program retrieving method, a program, a recording medium, and a receiver. <P>SOLUTION: Program information comprising the title of a program and information such as detailed information and expansion information is acquired by, for example EPG data, and the acquired program information is converted to hiragana. Every time when one character of a keyword of a program to be retrieved is inputted into a keyword inputting section 34 at least by hiragana by using a commander or the like for remote control, the program information containing one or a plurality of character strings inputted into the keyword input section 34 is retrieved from the program information converted to hiragana, and the result is displayed at a section 36 for displaying the retrieved result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program search device, a program search method, a program and a recording medium, and a receiving device, and in particular, a program search device, a program search method, a program, and a recording medium that can quickly narrow down a desired program from a large amount of program information. And a receiving apparatus.

  Electronic devices that capture broadcast programs such as television receivers, set-top boxes, and recording / playback devices in recent years can search for favorite programs using an electronic programming guide (EPG). is there.

  For example, it has been proposed to search for a desired program by genre search and keyword search. In the genre search, the user selects a genre of a program to be searched such as “drama”, “animation”, etc., compares the selected genre with the genre information of EPG data, and narrows down matching programs as candidate programs. . In the keyword search, a user specifies a keyword of a program to be searched, compares the specified keyword with information such as title information and detailed information of EPG data, and narrows down matching programs as candidate programs.

  In the following Patent Document 1, in a program information retrieval system for retrieving broadcast program information transmitted via a satellite, a storage unit for storing broadcast program information and a search condition for the broadcast program information stored in the storage unit are described. A program information search system including an input unit for input and a search unit for searching for broadcast program information in accordance with the search condition input by the input unit is described.

JP-A-7-160732

  However, the conventional program search method described above has the following problems. In the genre search, the number of candidate programs increases, and it is troublesome to find a desired program from among them. In addition, when the genre information of the EPG data is inaccurate, or when the genre is, for example, “music” or “variety”, it is difficult to determine whether the genre information is genre information or genre information. There is a problem that it is difficult to find a desired program.

  Also, in keyword search, it is not possible to know how many candidate characters can be narrowed down by entering the keyword, so it is necessary to enter all characters of the keyword, or when converting kanji The search work was very troublesome because operation was necessary. For example, when “Ramen” was entered in Hiragana, the Chinese character “Ramen” and Katakana “Ramen” did not match. That is, the program cannot be searched without being aware of the keyword kanji, katakana and hiragana.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a program search device, a program search method, a program and a recording medium, and a receiving device that can search for a desired program accurately, simply and quickly.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first aspect of the present invention includes a program information acquisition unit that acquires program information, a kana conversion unit that converts program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit into a kana, and at least A keyword input unit for inputting a keyword by kana, and each time a character is input by the keyword input unit, one or a plurality of input character strings are included in the program information converted into kana by the kana conversion unit A program search device having a presentation unit that searches program information and presents a search result.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program information acquisition step for acquiring program information, a kana conversion step for converting the program information acquired in the program information acquisition step into a kana, and a keyword for inputting a keyword by at least a kana. Each time a character is input in the input step and the keyword input step, the program information converted into the kana in the kana conversion step is searched for program information including one or more input character strings. And a presentation step for presenting a result.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program information acquisition function for acquiring program information, a kana conversion function for converting program information acquired by the program information acquisition function into a kana, and a keyword for inputting a keyword by at least a kana. Each time a character is input by the input function and the keyword input function, the program information converted to the kana by the kana conversion function is searched for program information including one or more input character strings. This is a program for causing a computer to realize a presentation function for presenting results.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program information acquisition function for acquiring program information, a kana conversion function for converting program information acquired by the program information acquisition function into a kana, and a keyword for inputting a keyword by at least a kana. Each time a character is input by the input function and the keyword input function, the program information converted to the kana by the kana conversion function is searched for program information including one or more input character strings. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to realize a presentation function for presenting a result.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving unit that receives a broadcast signal, a program information acquiring unit that acquires program information from the broadcast signal received by the receiving unit, and program information acquired by the program information acquiring unit. In the program information converted into kana by the kana conversion unit every time a character is input by the kana conversion unit, the keyword input unit that inputs a keyword by at least kana, A receiving device including a presentation unit that searches for program information including one or more input character strings and presents a search result, and a processing unit that selectively processes a program of the program information presented by the presentation unit is there.

  According to the present invention, the program information is acquired, the acquired program information is converted into a kana, and at least one keyword character is input by the kana, the program information converted into the kana is already input. By searching for program information including one or a plurality of character strings and presenting the search results, it is possible to narrow down the programs immediately each time a keyword is input. For example, thousands of programs can be narrowed down to a few programs by inputting only a few keywords. Also, it is not necessary to perform kana-kanji conversion when inputting a keyword. Thus, a desired program can be quickly found, and the operation burden when searching for a program by a remote control commander or the like can be reduced. It is possible to search for programs without being aware of the types of characters such as kanji, katakana and hiragana as keywords.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a recording / playback apparatus 1 having a program search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as a program search function. The recording / playback apparatus 1 receives a digital broadcast signal obtained by performing transmission path coding on a transport stream (TS: Transport Stream) of MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) -2 system, and receives a desired digital broadcast signal from the received digital broadcast signal. The program is recorded by the MPEG-2 system. The recording / playback apparatus 1 plays back a desired program from a program recorded in the MPEG-2 system. In this example, the MPEG-2 system is used as a compression encoding system for video signals and audio signals, but the compression encoding system is not particularly limited to the MPEG-2 system.

  The recording / playback apparatus 1 includes a signal processing unit including a tuner 2, a demodulation circuit 3, a descrambler 4, a card interface (I / F) 5, a demultiplexer (DEMUX) 6, a video decoder 7, an audio decoder 8, and a presentation processing circuit 9. A control unit including a CPU 10 (Central Processing Unit), a ROM 11 (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12, a controller 13, a timer circuit 14, and a remote control interface (I / F) 15, and a hard disk (HDD) 16 And a recording unit comprising a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) drive 17.

  The tuner 2, the demodulation circuit 3, the descrambler 4, the card interface 5, the demultiplexer 6, the video decoder 7, the audio decoder 8, the presentation processing circuit 9, and the controller 13 are connected through a common bus. The controller 13 is also connected to the hard disk 16 and the DVD drive 17 via a bus.

  The tuner 2, demodulating circuit 3, descrambler 4, card interface 5, demultiplexer 6, video decoder 7, audio decoder 8 and presentation processing circuit 9 constituting the signal processing unit are supplied from the CPU 10 via the controller 13. It is controlled based on the control signal.

  The tuner 2 is connected to an antenna 18 capable of receiving a digital broadcast signal, and performs channel selection and detection of a selected channel for the digital broadcast signal supplied from the antenna 18. The signal selected and detected by the tuner 2 is supplied to the demodulation circuit 3.

  The demodulation circuit 3 demodulates the signal supplied from the tuner 2 and decodes an MPEG-2 transport stream (hereinafter simply referred to as a stream). The stream decoded by the demodulation circuit 3 is supplied to the descrambler 4.

  The descrambler 4 performs descrambling when the stream program signal supplied from the demodulation circuit 3 is scrambled. The descrambler 4 performs descrambling using, for example, a CAS (Condition Access System) function. An IC card 19 can be attached to the recording / playback apparatus 1 via the card interface 5, and the descrambler 4 can receive the card interface 5 when, for example, the stream supplied from the demodulation circuit 3 is limited reception. The key data stored in the IC card 19 is acquired via the scramble, and the scramble is released by decrypting the encryption in the broadcast signal with the acquired key data.

  During the live broadcast viewing operation, the stream processed by the descrambler 4 is supplied to the demultiplexer 6. During the recording operation, the stream processed by the descrambler 4 is also supplied to the recording medium of the recording unit via the controller 13.

  For example, when a stream is recorded on the hard disk 16, the stream is supplied from the descrambler 4 to the hard disk 16 via the controller 13, and the stream is recorded on the hard disk 16 as recorded content. When a stream is recorded on a DVD, the stream is supplied from the descrambler 4 to the DVD drive 17 via the controller 13, and the stream is recorded as recorded content on the DVD.

  At the time of the reproduction operation, the stream read from the recording medium of the recording unit is supplied to the demultiplexer 6 via the controller 13. For example, when reproducing a stream recorded on the hard disk 16, the stream is read from the hard disk 16 and the read stream is supplied to the demultiplexer 6 via the controller 13. When playing back a stream recorded on a DVD, the stream is read from the DVD by the DVD drive 17, and the read stream is supplied to the demultiplexer 6 via the controller 13.

  The hard disk 16 and the DVD drive 17 constituting these recording units are controlled based on control signals supplied from the CPU 10 via the controller 13, respectively. In this example, the hard disk 16 and the DVD drive 17 constitute a recording unit, but the type and number of recording media constituting the recording unit are particularly limited as long as they are suitable for stream recording / reproduction. It is not a thing.

  The demultiplexer 6 separates a video packet and an audio packet of a desired program from a stream supplied from the descrambler 4 during a live broadcast viewing operation and from a hard disk 16 or a DVD drive 17 during a reproduction operation. Further, the demultiplexer 6 acquires program information from the stream supplied from the descrambler 4. In one embodiment, EPG data is used as program information.

  Based on the packet identifier (PID) described in the header of the packet, the demultiplexer 6 is a video packet, audio packet, data packet, PSI (Program Specific Information) and SI (Service Information) packet of a desired program. Isolate. In SI, various information such as the service channel name, the title of each program, the program start date and time, the broadcast duration, the detailed contents of the program and the progress status are transmitted. EPG data can be acquired by reading SI.

  The program information acquired by the demultiplexer 6 is supplied to the hard disk 16 via the controller 13 and recorded on the hard disk 16. Details of the program information acquisition process will be described later.

  The video packet separated by the demultiplexer 6 is supplied to the video decoder 7. The video decoder 7 decodes the video signal from the video packet supplied from the demultiplexer 6. The video signal decoded by the video decoder 7 is supplied to the presentation processing circuit 9.

  The presentation processing circuit 9 performs a process such as a menu screen, a program guide based on EPG data, a recorded program list displayed during a reproduction operation, a program search screen, etc., on the video signal supplied from the video decoder 7. A presentation screen to be presented to the user is added as necessary. The video signal processed by the presentation processing circuit 9 is output from the recording / playback apparatus 1.

  On the other hand, the audio packet separated by the demultiplexer 6 is supplied to the audio decoder 8. The audio decoder 8 decodes the audio signal from the audio packet supplied from the demultiplexer 6. The audio signal decoded by the audio decoder 8 is output from the recording / playback apparatus 1.

  The demultiplexer 6 extracts the title information of the recorded program from the program information during the recording operation. The title information of the recorded program taken out by the demultiplexer 6 is supplied to the hard disk 16 via the controller 13 and recorded on the hard disk 16.

  The title information of the recorded program is read from the hard disk 16 when the recorded program is reproduced, and is used by the presentation processing circuit 9 to create a recorded program list to be added to the video signal.

  A stream as recorded content is recorded on the hard disk 16, and a preference table and Hanwa dictionary data are recorded in addition to program information and recorded program title information. The preference table and the Hanwa dictionary data are used in the program search function described later together with the program information. In one embodiment, the program information database is constructed based on the program information, the title information of the recorded program, and the information about the program such as the preference table. However, the information is stored in the hard disk 16 without managing it as a database. The configuration may be such that direct reading / writing is performed.

  The ROM 11, RAM 12, timing circuit 14, and remote control interface 15 constituting the control unit are connected to the CPU 10 via the controller 13, and are controlled based on control signals supplied from the CPU 10 via the controller 13.

  When the recording / playback apparatus 1 is turned on, the CPU 10 reads a program stored in the ROM 11 and starts an application. The RAM 12 is used as a work memory space for storing temporary data when the CPU 10 executes a program. The program executed by the CPU 10 is not limited to being stored in the ROM 11 in advance, but may be a program installed on a removable recording medium such as a DVD or a memory card. The program may be downloaded from a predetermined server or the like via the network by providing the recording / playback apparatus 1 with a network interface that can be connected to a network such as the Internet.

  The timer circuit 14 manages time information such as the current time, and is for realizing functions related to time such as display of the current time, reservation recording, and acquisition of program information provided in the recording / playback apparatus 1. The current time is automatically acquired from a broadcast signal, for example.

  Input for operating the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is performed by a remote control commander (hereinafter simply referred to as a commander) 20. A remote control signal by infrared rays or the like transmitted from the commander 20 by a user operation or the like is received by a receiving unit (not shown) of the recording / playback apparatus 1 and supplied to the CPU 10 via the remote control interface (I / F) 15 and the controller 13. Is done. The CPU 10 controls each unit constituting the recording / playback apparatus 1 based on a control signal supplied from the receiving unit via the remote control interface (I / F) 15 and the controller 13. Note that it is also possible to directly operate the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 using an input unit such as an operation button (not shown) of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1.

  The recording / playback apparatus 1 has normal functions such as a recording / playback function, a reserved recording function, and a program guide display function, and a kanji conversion function and a program search function. The kanji / kana conversion function converts kanji or katakana into hiragana with reference to the kanji dictionary data recorded on the hard disk 16. These functions of the recording / playback apparatus 1 are realized by the CPU 10 appropriately controlling each part of the recording / playback apparatus 1 via the controller 13.

  Here, a process for realizing the program search function of the recording / playback apparatus 1 will be described. First, processing when acquiring program information used in the program search function will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of program information acquisition processing realized by the control of the CPU 10 and the controller 13. When the program information acquisition process is started, it is first determined whether or not the current time is the program information acquisition time (step S1). The program information acquisition time is a time at which program information can be acquired from a broadcast signal, and is set in advance.

  If it is determined in step S1 that the current time is not the program information acquisition time, the process of step S1 is repeated until the current time becomes the program information acquisition time. If it is determined in step S1 that the current time is the program information acquisition time, program information is acquired by the demultiplexer 6 (step S2).

  When the program information is acquired in step S2, the kanji and katakana of the acquired program information are converted into hiragana using the kanji-kana conversion function (step S3). In step S3, when the kanji and katakana of the program information are converted into hiragana, the program information after conversion together with the program information before conversion into hiragana is recorded in the program information database on the hard disk 16 (step S4).

  The processing from step S2 to step S4 is performed on all program information that can be acquired by the recording / playback apparatus 1. Therefore, if the program information before and after conversion is recorded in the program information database in step S4, it is determined whether or not acquisition of all program information has been completed (step S5).

  If it is determined in step S5 that acquisition of all program information has not been completed, the process is returned immediately before step S2, and the process from step S2 to step S5 is repeated for the next program information. If it is determined in step S5 that acquisition of all program information has been completed, the program information acquisition process ends. If the program information of each broadcasting station is sent all at once, the process of step S5 is not necessary.

  As described above, the program information database in which the latest program information and the program information converted into hiragana are associated with each other is created on the hard disk 16. In the program information database, for example, program information for eight days after the program information acquisition time and information obtained by converting the program information into hiragana are recorded.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a program information table composed of a program information database. In FIG. 3, a part of the display is omitted. “ID” is an identification number on the program information database assigned to each program. The “program start date / time” is information on the broadcast start date / time of the program, and the “program end date / time” is information on the broadcast end date / time of the program. “Channel” is channel information of a program consisting of a predetermined number assigned in advance for each broadcasting station. “Title” is program title information.

  For example, a program with ID “1984” has a program start date and time “04-Nov-04 ...”, a program end date and time “04-Nov-04 ...”, and the channel “522”. The title is “black leather…”. The program start date and time “04-Nov-04...” Indicates that the program start date and time is November 4, 2004. Note that information indicating the minutes, seconds when the program is started is written in the portion of “...” omitted in the program start date and time. “04-Nov-04...” Of the program end date and time indicates that the program end date and time is November 4, 2004. Note that information indicating the minutes, seconds when the program ends is written in the portion of “...” omitted in the program end date and time.

  “Kana title” is obtained by converting the kanji and katakana of the title information of the program into hiragana in step S3 of the program information acquisition process described above. Although not shown in the figure, detailed information and extended information of the program are recorded as program information in the program information database. The detailed information is information including a description of the program contents and the like, and the extended information is information on a program that is more extended than the detailed information. “Kana detailed information” in the program information table is obtained by converting the kanji and katakana of the detailed information of the program into hiragana in step S3 of the above-described program information acquisition process, and “kana extended information” is the above-described program information acquisition. In step S3 of the process, the kanji and katakana of the extended information of the program are converted to hiragana.

  For example, for a program with ID “1984”, the kana title is “Kurokawa Note…”, the kana detailed information is “Jinkinaki…”, and the kana extended information is “Motoko (Yone …).

  “Program ID” is an identification number assigned to each program. The “program ID” is given to each program, for example, for each broadcasting station so that each program in the supplied program information can be uniquely identified. The “preference value” is a preference value that is automatically calculated by a preference value calculation process described later and recorded in the program information database. When the preference value is large, the user's preference level is high, and when the preference value is small, the user's preference level is low.

  For example, a program with an ID “1984” has a program ID “1447” and a preference value “185247”.

  “Program start date and time”, “Program end date and time”, “Channel”, “Title”, “Detailed information”, “Extended information”, and “Program ID” are acquired by the program information acquisition process, and converted to Hiragana before conversion. The program information is updated to the latest information. “Kana title”, “Kana detailed information”, and “Kana extended information” are updated to the latest information by the program information obtained by the program information acquisition process and converted to Hiragana.

  Here, the preference value calculation process will be described. The preference value calculation process is calculated using the preference value of the preference table determined by the preference extraction process.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example of preference extraction processing realized by the control of the CPU 10 and the controller 13. When the preference extraction process is started, first, it is determined whether or not a predetermined operation capable of determining the user's preference level such as recording reservation, viewing, and deletion is performed by the user (step S11).

  If it is determined in step S11 that the predetermined operation has not been performed, the process of step S11 is repeated until the predetermined operation is performed. If it is determined in step S11 that a predetermined operation has been performed, the program for which the predetermined operation has been performed is set as a preference extraction target program, and the program information of the program is decomposed into elements (step S12).

  The elements here are a keyword, a genre, a channel, a program start time, etc. that can be acquired from the program information of the target program. The keyword is a phrase extracted from program information such as title information, detailed information, and extended information. For example, when the title information of the target program is “Kanto delicious ramen shop ranking”, four keywords “Kanto”, “Delicious”, “Ramen”, and “Ranking” are extracted. The genre is the genre of the target program such as “animation”, “drama”, “sports”, “variety”, “music”, the channel is the channel of the target program, and the program start time is from the program start date and time. This is the program start time of the target program that can be identified.

  The hard disk 16 stores a preference table for each element for calculating a preference value recorded in the program information database. In step S12, when the program information is decomposed into elements, a predetermined score is distributed to each preference table, and the distributed score is added to the preference value of the corresponding element (step S13), and preference extraction processing is performed. Ends.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of assigning points to the preference table for a predetermined operation. Positive operations are assigned to both keywords and genres for operations that seem to have a high user preference such as manual recording reservation setting, protection setting, viewing, etc., automatic recording reservation deletion, manual recording reservation deletion, deletion without viewing Negative values are assigned to both the keyword and the genre for operations that are considered to have a low user preference. A large score is allocated to keywords with fine classification, and a small score is allocated to genres with rough classification.

  For example, +25000 points are allocated to the keywords of the program for which manual recording reservation setting is set, and +10000 points are allocated to the genre. If the title of the target program is “Kanto's delicious ramen restaurant ranking” and the program with the keywords “Kanto”, “Delicious”, “Ramen”, and “Ranking” is set for manual recording, the keyword A total of +25000 points is added to each of the preference values of the keywords “Kanto”, “Delicious”, “Ramen”, and “Ranking” in the preference table. Also, +10000 points are added to the genre “variety”.

  Note that the score for the predetermined operation and preference table is not limited to that shown in FIG. 5 as long as the user's preference level is well extracted, and other operations and scores can be used.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a keyword preference table, and FIG. 7 is an example of a genre preference table. In these preference tables, items with a large preference value indicate a high user preference, and items with a small preference value indicate a low user preference.

  For example, in FIG. 6, “Mail” has a preference value of 4860 points. That is, “mail” has a higher preference level than “approach” with a preference value of 2272 points, and a lower preference level than “baby” with a preference value of 25000 points. In FIG. 7, “drama” has a preference value of 41666 points. That is, “drama” has a higher preference level than “sports” with a preference value of 16666 points, and a lower preference level than “anime” with a preference value of 50000 points.

  The preference table is created based on elements extracted by preference extraction processing. That is, the keyword preference table is created based on the keywords extracted by the preference extraction process, and the genre preference table is created based on the genre extracted by the preference extraction process. If the element extracted by the preference extraction process does not exist in the preference table, it is added as a new element to the preference table.

  An upper limit is set for the preference values in these preference tables. If any preference value exceeds the upper limit by the preference extraction process, all preferences are maintained while maintaining the relative relationship of each preference value. The value is reduced. The preference value of an element for which a positive score has not been added for a long time is zero, and the element for which the preference value is zero is deleted from the table. This prevents the elements of the preference table from increasing indefinitely.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example of a preference value calculation process realized by the control of the CPU 10 and the controller 13. The preference value calculation process is performed every time the program information is updated by the program information acquisition process. When the preference value calculation process is started, first, it is determined whether or not the calculation of preference values for all programs in the program information has been completed (step S21).

  If it is determined in step S21 that the preference values for all programs have been calculated, the preference value calculation process ends. If it is determined in step S21 that the preference values for all programs have not been calculated, it is determined whether or not the processing from step S23 to step S24 has been completed for all keywords in the keyword preference table (step S22). ).

  If it is determined in step S22 that the processing from step S23 to step S24 has not been completed for all keywords in the keyword preference table, whether or not the same character string as the keyword is included in the program information such as title information and detailed information. Is determined (step S23).

  In step S23, if it is determined that the same character string as the keyword is not included in the program information, the process is returned immediately before step S22, and the processes after step S22 are repeated for the next keyword.

  In step S23, if it is determined that the same character string as the keyword is included in the program information, the program information program including the same character string as the keyword is set as the additional target program, and the preference value of the additional target program in the program information database is set. The corresponding keyword preference value is added (step S24), the process is returned immediately before step S22, and the processes after step S22 are repeated for the next keyword.

  For example, in the keyword preference table shown in FIG. 6, if the program information includes a character string that matches “Hiroshi Tamaki”, 5049 points are added to the preference value of the program information in the program information database, If the matching character string is included in the program information, all keywords in the keyword preference table are sequentially processed so that 5049 points are added to the preference value of the program information in the program information database.

  If it is determined in step S22 that the processing from step S23 to step S24 has been completed for all keywords in the keyword preference table, whether or not the processing from step S26 to step S27 has been completed for all genres in the genre preference table. Is determined (step S25).

  If it is determined in step S25 that the processing from step S26 to step S27 has been completed for all the genres in the genre preference table, the processing is returned immediately before step S21, and the processing after step S21 is repeated.

  If it is determined in step S25 that the processing from step S26 to step S27 has not been completed for all genres in the genre preference table, it is determined whether or not the genre in the genre preference table matches the genre of the program information (step S25). S26).

  If it is determined in step S26 that the genre in the genre preference table does not match the genre of the program information, the process is returned immediately before step S25, and the processes after step S25 are repeated for the next genre.

  If it is determined in step S26 that the genre of the genre preference table matches the genre of the program information, the program of the genre that matches the genre of the genre preference table is set as the target program, and the preference of the target program in the program information database The corresponding genre preference value is added to the value (step S27), the process is returned immediately before step S25, and the processes after step S25 are repeated for the next genre.

  For example, in the genre preference table shown in FIG. 7, if the genre of program information matches “animation”, 50000 points are added to the preference value of the program information in the program information database, and the genre of program information is “drama”. If they match, the processing is sequentially performed for all genres in the genre preference table such that 41666 points are added to the preference value of the program information in the program information database.

  In this way, the preference value of each program of the program information acquired by the program information acquisition process is calculated. For example, in the program information shown in FIG. 3, the preference value is calculated sequentially from the program with ID “1980” to the program “1981” and the program “1982”. Note that the method of calculating the preference value of the program information database is not limited to this, and for example, the preference value of the keyword preference table may be added after the preference value of the genre preference table is added.

  Next, a program search function by keyword input using the commander 20 made with reference to the program information database will be described. FIG. 9 shows an example of the key layout of the commander 20. The commander 20 includes an input unit 21, a character type switching unit 22, and an execution unit 23. The input unit 21 is capable of inputting at least three types of characters such as numbers, kana, and English characters. “Kana” means Hiragana. In this example, the alphabet input includes symbol input.

  Similarly to the input keys widely used for the numeric keypad of the cellular phone, each of the input keys 24a to 24l constituting the input unit 21 is continuously pressed a plurality of times in the case of kana input and alphabet input. Thus, the input candidates are sequentially switched. For example, the key 24b is configured such that the number 2 can be input in the number input mode, and the letters A, B, and C can be input in the kana input mode and the kana input line in the kana input mode. Yes. The key 24b is continuously pressed several times. In the kana input mode, “ka”, “ki”, “ku”, “ke”, “ko”, “ka”, “ki”,. The input candidates are sequentially switched, and in the alphabet input mode, the input candidates are sequentially switched to “A”, “B”, “C”, “A”, “B”, “C”,. Yes.

  The character type switching unit 22 includes a switching key group for switching the input mode of the input unit 21 to any one of a numeric input mode, a kana input mode, and an alphabetic input mode. The switching key 25a switches the input mode of the input unit 21 to the numeric input mode, the switching key 25b switches the input mode of the input unit 21 to the kana input mode, and the switching key 25c is the input unit 21. The input mode is switched to the alphabet input mode.

  The execution unit 23 includes key groups for selecting and confirming processes. For example, the key 26a (“menu”) is a key for displaying the menu on the screen, the key 26b (“return”) is a key for returning the processing to the previous state, and the key 26c ( "Tool") is a key for assisting character input, and key 26d ("Clear") is a key for erasing all input characters. Key 26d ("↑", "↓") , “←”, “→”) are keys for moving the cursor position on the screen up, down, left and right, and the key 26 f (“Determination”) is a key for confirming the process.

  Here, the program search process will be described with reference to display examples of screens when the program search shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is performed. FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an example of a program search process by keyword input realized by the control of the CPU 10 and the controller 13. When the user presses the key 26a of the execution unit 23 and selects program search from the menu, the program search process is started.

  When the program search process is started, first, the program search screen 31 shown in FIG. 10 is displayed, and the user's remote control operation by the commander 20 is accepted (step S31).

  The program search screen 31 includes a window section 32, a search type switching section 33, a keyword input section 34, a number display section 35, and a search result display section 36. In addition, the time display unit 37 of the program search screen 31 displays the current time, and the operation display unit 38 includes operations “select” and “tool” that can be selected by the execution unit 23 of the commander 20. , “Return” is displayed.

  The window unit 32 is configured by windows 39a and 39b in which advertisements are displayed and a window 39c in which a program currently being viewed is displayed. These windows 39a, 39b, and 39c are displayed as necessary.

  The search type switching unit 33 is a part for switching the type of program search method. By using the key 26e of the commander 20, the program search method type can be switched by moving the cursor to the search type switching unit 33 and scrolling the display of the search type to the left and right. In the illustrated example, keyword search is selected as the type of program search method as “free keyword” is displayed.

  The keyword input unit 34 is an area in which a keyword for searching for a program is input. When the cursor is moved with the key 26e of the commander 20, the keyword can be input as shown in FIG. The keyword is input by the input unit 21 of the commander 20. The acceptance of the operation by the commander 20 in step S31 means a state in which keyword input is possible. The user inputs hiragana even if the keyword is kanji or katakana. For example, even if you want to search for the Chinese character “Ramen” or Katakana “Ramen”, enter Hiragana “Ramen”. Note that the alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols of the keyword are input as they are.

  The number display section 35 displays the number of programs having program information including the input keyword. The search result display unit 36 displays program information of a program having program information including the input keyword.

  The search result display unit 36 includes a list display unit 36a and a detailed display unit 36b. In the list display section 36a, main program information such as the program start date and time of the search result program and titles is displayed in descending order of the user preference value. This preference value is the preference value of the program information database described above. When the preference values are equal, the program information is displayed in the order of the program start date and time on the list display unit 36a. Programs that cannot be displayed on the list display section 36a can be displayed by scrolling the display of the list display section 36a up and down with the key 26e.

  Detailed program information such as detailed information and extended information is displayed on the detailed display section 36b. For example, when the cursor is on the list display unit 36a, detailed information of the program at the cursor position is displayed, and when there is no cursor on the list display unit 36a, the detailed information of the program at the top of the list display unit 36a is displayed. Information is displayed.

  In step S31, when an operation by the commander 20 of the user is accepted, whether the content of the operation by the commander 20 is a character input by the input unit 21 for keyword input, or for selecting a desired program from the candidate programs of the search result. It is determined whether the input is a cursor up / down movement by the key 26e or an input by the key 26f for determining the selected program (step S32).

  If it is determined in step S32 that the content of the operation by the commander 20 is a character input to the keyword input unit 34, a candidate program is extracted by the characters input to the keyword input unit 34 (step S33). This candidate program is extracted by converting one or more character strings input to the keyword input unit 34 and hiragana characters such as “kana title”, “kana detailed information”, and “kana extended information” in the program information database. The program information is compared with each other, and a program included in the program information after the characters input as keywords are converted into hiragana is extracted. At this time, since the program information obtained by converting kanji and katakana into hiragana is compared with the keyword using hiragana, candidate programs can be extracted without being conscious of the character type. For example, when the keyword “Ramen” is input, a program including not only the Hiragana “Ramen” but also the Chinese character “Ramen” and the Katakana “Ramen” is extracted as a candidate program.

  When candidate programs are extracted in step S33, the extracted candidate programs are rearranged in descending order of preference values (step S34), and program information of the rearranged candidate programs is displayed on the search result display unit 36, respectively. At the same time, the number of candidate programs is displayed on the number display unit 35 (step S35), and the process is returned immediately before step S31. The processing from step S33 to step S35 is immediately executed every time one character of the keyword is input. Thereby, the user can instantly grasp the program information and the number of the candidate programs every time one character of the keyword is input. Even if all keywords are input and no search execution instruction is given, program information and the number of candidate programs can be recognized in the keyword input process. Since the candidate programs are rearranged in descending order of preference values, a desired program can be found more quickly.

  If it is determined in step S32 that the content of the operation by the commander 20 is the up / down movement of the cursor by the key 26e, it is assumed that the user is selecting a program (step S36), and the process is returned immediately before step S31. If it is determined in step S32 that the content of the operation by the commander 20 is confirmation of the selected program by the key 26f, a submenu is displayed (step S37). The submenu is a menu for performing processing such as reserved recording and viewing reservation for the selected program. After the submenu is displayed, the process selected in the submenu is executed.

  As an example, a case will be described in which a program titled “Black Leather Notebook” is searched by inputting the program title itself as a keyword. First, the key 24b of the commander 20 is pressed from the state of the kana input mode shown in FIG. When the key 24b is continuously pressed three times in order to input the hiragana "ku", the program information after converting "ka", "ki", and "ku" into hiragana as shown in FIGS. Are sequentially displayed on the list display section 36a.

  That is, when the key 24b is pressed once, the hiragana “ka” is input to the first character of the keyword input section 34, and as shown in FIG. 13, at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, and the kana extended information. Programs including the hiragana “ka” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, program information of the title “shopping” in which the kana title “Kaimono” includes the hiragana “ka” is displayed.

  When the key 24b is pressed once more, the first character of the keyword input section 34 becomes “KI” of hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 14, the hiragana is added to at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, and the kana extended information. Programs including “ki” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, program information titled “Good morning world top ...” in which the hiragana “ki” is included in the kana detailed information “6.00 school top ~” is displayed.

  When the key 24b is pressed once more, the first character of the keyword input section 34 becomes “ku” of hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 15, at least one of the kana title, kana detailed information, and kana extended information contains hiragana. Programs including “ku” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, the program information of the title “Healing” in which the kana title “Hiring” includes the hiragana “ku” is displayed. At the stage where “ku” is entered, the number of search result programs is limited to 1535.

  In this example, “gu” is also treated as “ku” by fuzzy search. In the fuzzy search, for example, muddy sounds and semi-voiced sounds are treated as clear sounds, and stuttering sounds and prompt sounds are also treated as straight sounds. That is, “ba”, “pa”, etc. are treated as “ha”, and “kya”, “i”, etc. are treated as “kiya”, “when”, respectively.

  Next, when the key 24i is continuously pressed five times to input “RO”, as shown in FIGS. 16 to 20, “Kura”, “Kuri”, “Kuru”, “Kure”, “Kure” Program information of programs including “Kuro” in the program information after conversion to Hiragana is sequentially displayed on the list display section 36a.

  That is, when the key 24i is pressed once, the hiragana “ra” is input as the second character of the keyword input section 34, and as shown in FIG. 16, at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, and the kana extended information. Programs including the hiragana “kura” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, the program information of the title “Classic Club…” in which the Kana title “Kurasik Club ...” includes the hiragana “Kura” is displayed.

  When the key 24i is pressed once more, the second character of the keyword input section 34 becomes “Hi” in Hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 17, hiragana is added to at least one of the Kana title, Kana detailed information, and Kana extended information. Programs including “Kuri” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, the program information of the title “Classic Club…” in which the Kana title “V Clip” includes the hiragana “Kuri” is displayed.

  When the key 24i is pressed once more, the second character of the keyword input section 34 becomes “Hi” in hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 18, hiragana is added to at least one of the kana title, kana detailed information, and kana extended information. Programs including “Kuru” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, program information with a title “Wakaba” in which hiragana “Kuru” is included in at least one of kana detailed information and kana extended information corresponding to a portion not shown in the drawing is displayed.

  When the key 24i is pressed once more, the second character of the keyword input unit 34 becomes “Hi” in Hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 19, at least one of the Kana title, Kana detailed information, and Kana extended information contains Hiragana. Programs containing “Kure” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, the program information of the title “The Judge EX person ...” in which hiragana “Kure” is included in at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, or the kana extended information corresponding to the omitted part is shown. It is displayed.

  When the key 24i is pressed once more, the second character of the keyword input section 34 becomes “Hi” in Hiragana, and as shown in FIG. 20, at least one of the Kana title, Kana detailed information, and Kana extended information contains the Hiragana character. Programs including “black” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, there is program information with a title “Young entertainers saw ...” in which hiragana “kuro” is included in at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, or the kana extended information corresponding to the omitted portion. It is displayed. At the stage where “Kuro” is entered, the search result programs are limited to 52 programs.

  Next, when the key 24b is pressed once to input “ka”, as shown in FIG. 21, the program information of the program including “kuroka” in the program information after conversion into hiragana is displayed in the list display section 36a. Is displayed.

  That is, when the key 24b is pressed once, the hiragana "ka" is input as the third character of the keyword input unit 34, and as shown in FIG. 21, at least one of the kana title, the kana detailed information, and the kana extended information. Programs including the hiragana “kuroka” are immediately displayed on the list display unit 36a in descending order of preference values in the program information database. For example, program information for the search purpose of the title “black leather handbag” in which the kana title “Kurokawa no Techo” includes the hiragana “Kuroka” is displayed. By the input up to “Kuroka”, the search result programs are limited to two.

  Thus, since the recording / playback apparatus 1 searches for a program every time one character is input, even if the number of keywords is large, the program can be easily and quickly input without inputting all characters. Narrowing can be performed.

  By moving the cursor to “black leather handbag” with the key 26e of the commander 20, detailed information of the title “black leather handbag” is displayed on the detailed display portion 36b as shown in FIG. When the selected program is confirmed, a submenu 40 is displayed. For example, when it is desired to make a recording reservation for “black leather manual”, the recording reservation submenu in the submenu 40 is selected.

  In addition to the keyword search described above, the recording / playback apparatus 1 can perform program search by genre search, channel search, search by broadcast date and time, and the like. Genre search is to narrow down a desired program by selecting one or more genres of programs to be searched. The channel search is to narrow down a desired program by specifying one or more channels of programs to be searched. The search by broadcast date and time is to narrow down a desired program by specifying one or more pieces of information related to the program start date and time such as a broadcast day.

  These keyword search, genre search, channel search, and broadcast date search can be performed independently or in combination of a plurality of types. Note that the recording / playback apparatus 1 can select candidate programs in descending order of preference values in the program information database, even in the case of program search methods other than keyword search such as genre search, channel search, and broadcast date search. Display program information. Thereby, a desired program can be found more quickly.

  As an example, a case will be described in which all of these program search methods are combined to search for the program titled “Black Leather Hands” described above. First, in the state shown in FIG. 10, the display of the search type switching unit 33 is scrolled by the key 26e of the commander 20 to switch the search type to genre search.

  FIG. 23 is an example of a screen presented during genre search. As shown in the program search screen 31 of FIG. 23A, in the screen genre search, the part that has been the keyword input unit 34 in the keyword search is the genre selection unit 41. FIG. 23B is an enlarged view of the genre selection unit 41. The genre selection unit 41 is composed of genre icon groups. The icons 42a to 42f are icons that specify the genre of the program to be searched. For example, the icons 42a to 42f mean “drama”, “movie”, “music”, “sports”, “animation”, and “variety”, respectively.

  By placing the cursor on the icon of the desired genre with the key 26e and confirming with the key 26f, designation and cancellation of the genre are switched. In this example, “drama” and “animation” are selected as desired genres, and as a result of the search, 459 programs corresponding to this genre are narrowed down.

  Next, the cursor is moved to the search type switching unit 34, and the display of the search type switching unit 34 is scrolled by the key 26e of the commander 20 to switch the search type to channel search.

  FIG. 24 is an example of a screen for channel search. In the channel search, the portion that was used as the keyword input unit 34 during the keyword search is used as the channel selection unit 43. The desired channel is displayed by scrolling the display of the channel selection unit 43 to the left and right with the key 26e, and switching between designation and cancellation of the desired channel is made by confirming with the key 26f. In this example, two channels are designated, and the search result program is further narrowed down to 132 programs.

  Next, the cursor is moved to the search type switching unit 34, and the display of the search type switching unit 34 is scrolled by the key 26e of the commander 20 to switch the search type to day search.

  FIG. 25 is an example of a screen for day of the week search. As shown in FIG. 25A, in the day of the week search, the part that was the keyword input unit 34 at the time of keyword search is the day of the week selection unit 44. FIG. 25B is an enlarged view of the day selection unit 44. The day selection unit 44 is configured by a day icon group. The icons 45a to 45g are icons for designating days of the week for programs to be searched. The icons 42a to 42g respectively designate “Sunday”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, “Friday”, and “Saturday”.

  By designating the icon of the desired day of the week with the key 26e and confirming with the key 26f, designation and cancellation of the day of the week are switched. In this example, “Thursday”, “Friday”, and “Saturday” are designated as desired days of the week, and the search result programs are further narrowed down to 56.

  Next, the cursor is moved to the search type switching unit 34, and the display of the search type switching unit 34 is scrolled by the key 26e of the commander 20 to switch the search type to keyword search. In this example, the keyword search is performed as described above, and the search result program is finally limited to two. When the programs are narrowed down, the programs are selected, and as shown in FIG. 26, the submenu 40 is displayed and a desired process is performed.

  In this way, by combining search functions of different types, candidate programs can be easily and quickly searched even when the number of programs to be searched is very large. Note that the order in which searches are performed when search functions of different types are combined is not particularly limited.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, and various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the recording / playback apparatus 1 that performs recording / playback of digital broadcasting has been described. However, it can also be applied to analog broadcasting. For example, in the case of analog television broadcasting, EPG data superimposed on a vertical blanking interval (VBI) can be used as program information.

  In the above-described embodiment, the program search function of the recording / playback apparatus 1 has been described. However, the program search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a television receiver, a set-top box, a home server, a computer device, and the like. Can be applied to.

  In the above-described embodiment, keywords and genres are used as elements constituting the preference table. However, elements constituting the preference table are not limited to this, and other items such as a channel and a broadcast start time are used. May be.

  In the above-described embodiment, kanji and katakana are converted to hiragana, but it is also possible to input keywords as katakana by converting kanji and hiragana to katakana.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the video recording / reproducing apparatus by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a program information acquisition process. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of a program information table. It is a flowchart of an example of preference extraction processing. It is a figure which shows an example of allocation of the score to a preference table. It is a figure which shows an example of a keyword preference table. It is a figure which shows an example of a genre preference table. It is a flowchart of an example of a preference value calculation process. It is a figure which shows an example of the keyboard layout of a commander. It is an example of a screen presented when performing a program search. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting a keyword. It is a flowchart of an example of the program search process by keyword input. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 1st character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 1st character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when the keyword of the 1st character is input. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 2nd character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 2nd character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 2nd character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when inputting the keyword of the 2nd character. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when the keyword of the 2nd character is input. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when the keyword of the 3rd character is input. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown when a program is selected. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown in the case of a genre search. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown in the case of a channel search. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown in the case of a day of the week search. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen shown in the case of a keyword search.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Recording / reproducing apparatus 2 ... Tuner 3 ... Demodulation circuit 6 ... Demultiplexer 7 ... Video decoder 8 ... Audio decoder 9 ... Presentation processing circuit 10 ... CPU
11 ... ROM
12 ... RAM
14 ... Clock circuit 15 ... Remote control interface 16 ... Hard disk 17 ... DVD drive 20 ... Commander 21 ... Input unit 22 ... Character type switching unit 23 ... Execution unit 31 ... -Program search screen 34 ... Keyword input part 35 ... Number display part 36 ... Search result display part 40 ... Submenu 41 ... Genre selection part 43 ... Channel selection part 44 ... Day selection part

Claims (10)

A program information acquisition unit for acquiring program information;
A kana conversion unit that converts the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit into a kana;
A keyword input section for inputting a keyword by at least a pseudonym;
Each time a character is input by the keyword input unit, the program information including one or a plurality of character strings already input is searched from the program information converted into the kana by the kana conversion unit. A program search device having a presentation unit for presentation. In claim 1,
A program search device for selectively processing a program of program information presented by the presenting unit. In claim 1,
And a genre selection unit that allows the user to select at least one genre, and searches for program information of programs of the genre selected by the genre selection unit. In claim 1,
Furthermore, the program search device includes a time setting unit that allows the user to specify at least one or more broadcast start times, and searches for program information of a program whose time specified by the time setting unit is the broadcast start time. In claim 1,
Furthermore, the program search device has a channel selection unit that allows the user to specify at least one channel, and searches for program information of a program of the channel specified by the channel selection unit. In claim 1,
Furthermore, it has a preference value calculation unit that calculates the preference value of each program from the user's operation history, and program information is displayed by the presenting unit in descending order of preference based on the preference value calculated by the preference value calculation unit. Program search device to present. A program information acquisition step for acquiring program information;
A kana conversion step for converting the program information acquired in the program information acquisition step into a kana;
A keyword input step for inputting a keyword by at least a pseudonym;
Each time a character is input by the keyword input step, the program information including one or more character strings that have been input is searched from the program information converted to the kana by the kana conversion step. A program search method comprising a presenting step of presenting. A program information acquisition function for acquiring program information;
A kana conversion function for converting the program information acquired by the program information acquisition function into a kana;
A keyword input function to input keywords by at least kana,
Each time a character is input by the keyword input function, the program information converted into the kana by the kana conversion function is searched for program information including one or more input character strings, and the search result is obtained. A program that causes a computer to realize the presentation function to be presented. A program information acquisition function for acquiring program information;
A kana conversion function for converting the program information acquired by the program information acquisition function into a kana;
A keyword input function to input keywords by at least kana,
Each time a character is input by the keyword input function, the program information converted into the kana by the kana conversion function is searched for program information including one or more input character strings, and the search result is obtained. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to realize a presentation function to be presented. A receiver for receiving broadcast signals;
A program information acquisition unit for acquiring program information from the broadcast signal received by the reception unit;
A kana conversion unit that converts the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit into a kana;
A keyword input section for inputting a keyword by at least a pseudonym;
Each time a character is input by the keyword input unit, the program information including one or a plurality of character strings already input is searched from the program information converted into the kana by the kana conversion unit. A presentation unit to present;
And a processing unit that selectively processes a program of program information presented by the presenting unit.