JP2006254018A - Electronic program guide display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm program information that can not be put in a program cell in program guide display without changing character sizes and display areas and without feeling a nuisance such as switching images. <P>SOLUTION: This electronic program guide display device includes a means that can scroll program information of a program in each program cell by an operation from a user when the program information can not be put in program cells for displaying program information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for displaying program information that does not fit in a program cell in an electronic program guide display device.

  In recent years, broadcast information that is scheduled to be broadcast is superimposed on a satellite or terrestrial television broadcast signal, or the television signal is converted into a digital signal and the program information is also converted into a digital signal for reception. Systems that display electronic program guides as program information on machines have become widespread.

However, in the display of the electronic program guide, characters are displayed in a readable size, and if a large number of programs are displayed on the time axis and the broadcast channel axis of the electronic program guide, the program information of each program is displayed. There is a problem that the program information cannot be stored in the program cell for displaying the program information. In order to display the program information that does not fit, if the area of the program cell for displaying the program information is enlarged, the number of programs that can be displayed on the screen at a time becomes very small, which is not practical. Further, if the character size is reduced to display all program information in the program cell, the character itself cannot be read and is not practical. In the conventional electronic program guide, as a means for displaying program information that does not fit in the program cell, the user can move the cursor to the program cell for which detailed program information is to be confirmed and select the program information display screen from the electronic program guide. The program information of the selected program is displayed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-194249 A

  However, in this case, when the program information of a plurality of programs is to be confirmed one after another, screen switching occurs many times, resulting in annoyance to the user. As another means, there is a program information display monitor installed on the remote control device that displays the program information of the selected program, and a monitor in which the user's line of sight displays an electronic program guide The user is going to go back and forth from the remote control device that is displaying the program information, which can be bothersome.

  In order to solve this problem, the present invention enables confirmation of program information that does not fit in a program cell while maintaining the size of characters to be displayed and the number of programs displayed on the screen at the same time in the electronic program guide display. The purpose is to obtain a user-friendly electronic program guide.

  The electronic program guide display device according to the present invention can scroll program information for each program cell by a user operation when the program information of each program does not fit in the program cell for displaying the program information. It is characterized by having.

  In the electronic program guide display, when the program information of each program does not fit in the program cell for displaying the program information, the program information can be scrolled for each program cell, thereby reducing the size of characters to be displayed. It is no longer difficult to read characters, the program cell for displaying program information is enlarged to reduce the number of programs that can be displayed on the screen at the same time, and there is no need to switch screens to display program information. This has the effect of further improving the usability of the electronic program guide.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment of an electronic program guide display device of the present invention. The electronic program guide display device includes a program information storage unit 100, an electronic program guide configuration determination unit 110, an operation unit 120, a cursor position control unit 130, a scroll position control unit 140, a program cell creation unit 150, a display The monitor 160 is configured.

  The program information storage unit 100 stores input program information. Here, the program information is extracted from, for example, transmitted signals, and is a signal in which broadcast channels, program contents, broadcast times, and the like of a plurality of programs are input in a predetermined format. The program information may be sent simultaneously with the video signal, audio signal, and data signal of the program, or may be sent independently.

  The electronic program guide configuration determination unit 110 acquires the program information stored in the program information storage unit 100 and determines the size of a program cell for displaying the program information of each program in consideration of the information amount of each program To do. That is, the overall configuration of the electronic program guide displayed on the screen is determined.

  The operation unit 120 outputs a user instruction given through a remote controller or a button mounted on the device. The cursor position control unit 130 stores that one program cell in the electronic program guide is currently selected, and receives a cursor movement instruction from the user output from the operation unit 120. The selection of the program cell is updated according to the instruction for moving the cursor.

  The scroll position control unit 140 stores the number of scroll lines of the currently selected program cell stored in the cursor position control unit 130, and issues a scroll movement instruction from the user output from the operation unit 120. Is received, the number of scroll lines is updated according to the scroll movement instruction from the user. The program cell creation unit 150 uses the program information stored in the program information storage unit 100 to assign each program information to each program cell. At this time, if the allocated program information does not fit in the size of the program cell determined by the electronic program guide configuration determining unit 110, a scroll bar is added to the program cell in which the program information does not fit. The display monitor 160 displays the electronic program guide output from the program cell creation unit 150.

  Next, the display operation of the electronic program guide of the electronic program guide display device will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S210, the electronic program guide configuration determining unit 110 retrieves program information stored in the program information storage unit 100, and in step S220, the electronic program guide configuration determining unit 110 determines the size of each program cell. Next, in step S230, the program cell creation unit 150 displays whether or not the program information of the program cell to be created extracted from the program information storage unit 100 can be displayed in the program cell determined by the electronic program guide configuration determination unit 110. Determine.

  When the determination result in step S230 can be displayed, the program cell creation unit 150 assigns the program information of the created program cell as it is to the program cell in step S240. If the determination result in S230 cannot be displayed, the program cell creation unit 150 adds a scroll bar to the program cell to be created in step S250, and further stores it in the cursor position control unit 130 in step S260. The selected program cell selection information is extracted, and it is determined whether or not the currently created program cell is the currently selected program cell.

  If the determination result in step S260 is not the currently selected program cell, the program cell creation unit 150, in step S270, displays the number of rows that can be displayed in the program cell from the top of the program information of the created program cell. Are assigned to program cells. If the determination result in step S260 is the currently selected program cell, the program cell creation unit 150 extracts the number of scroll lines stored in the scroll position control unit 140 in step 280, and creates the program to be created. Program information corresponding to the number of lines that can be displayed in the program cell from the number of lines obtained by adding the number of scroll lines to the top of the program information of the cell is allocated to the program cell. The process cell as described above is performed for each program cell, and the created program cell is displayed on the display monitor 160 as an electronic program guide in step S290.

  Next, the cursor and scroll movement operation of the electronic program guide display device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S310, the operation unit 120 determines whether the instruction from the user is a cursor movement, a scroll movement, or other than these. When the determination result in step S310 is cursor movement, the operation unit 120 instructs the cursor position control unit 130 to move the cursor.

  In step S320, the cursor position control unit 130 determines whether a program cell exists in the direction of the cursor movement instruction received from the operation unit 120 from the currently selected program cell. If the result of determination in step S320 is that there is a program cell, the cursor position control unit 130 shifts the cursor cell instruction from the currently selected program cell in the direction of the cursor movement instruction received from the operation unit 120 in step S330. The program cell is newly stored as the currently selected program cell. In step S340, the number of scroll lines stored in the scroll position control unit 140 is updated to zero.

  On the other hand, if the determination result in step S310 is scroll movement, the operation unit 120 instructs the scroll position control unit 140 to perform scroll movement. Next, in step S350, the scroll position control unit 140 retrieves the program information of the currently selected program cell stored in the cursor position control unit 130 from the program information storage unit 100, and performs the operation from the stored number of scroll lines. It is determined whether or not it is possible to scroll in the direction of the scroll movement instruction received from the unit 120. If the determination result in step S350 is scrollable, the scroll position control unit 140 updates and stores the number of scroll lines in step S360.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of an electronic program guide displayed by the electronic program guide display device of the present invention. In the electronic program display screen shown in FIG. 4, the time is displayed in the vertical axis direction and the broadcast channel is displayed in the horizontal axis direction.

  As described above, according to the electronic program guide display device of the present invention, the program information of each program that does not fit in the program cell can be scrolled on the electronic program guide display screen.

  In the above embodiment, the program information in the program cell that is not currently selected is always displayed from the top. However, the number of scroll lines is stored for each program cell, and the program cell in each program cell is stored in each program cell. Display may be performed in consideration of the number of scroll lines stored in. In addition, when program information does not fit in the program cell, a scroll bar is added to the program cell. However, the scroll bar does not necessarily have to be a scroll bar, and scroll display is possible for a user who replaces the scroll bar. A means for informing the user may be used, or nothing may be added.

  The electronic program guide display device of the present invention improves the usability of an electronic program guide for selecting a program, and is an electronic program of a system having an electronic program guide display function such as a television receiver or a recording device. It is useful as a guide display device.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic program guide display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement regarding the electronic program guide display of the electronic program guide display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the cursor and scroll movement of the electronic program guide display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the electronic program guide displayed by the electronic program guide display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Program information storage part 110 Electronic program guide structure determination part 120 Operation part 130 Cursor position control part 140 Scroll position control part 150 Program cell creation part 160 Display monitor

Claims (1)

An electronic program guide display device for selecting a program, comprising: display means capable of scrolling program information of each program for each program cell constituting the electronic program guide.

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