JP2007116581A - Electronic program guide displaying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a displaying apparatus of an electronic program guide to easily determine a time zone of a program to be selected and acquire an operation feedback during a focus movement even if a program table is scrolled in a direction desired when a viewer operates the electronic program guide as the number of the program increases by a multi-channel. <P>SOLUTION: The displaying apparatus of an electronic program guide displays a bar to indicate a time axis adjacent to a channel column belonging to a program cell selected by the program table, allows the viewer to obtain a scroll direction easily by animation-displaying the bar to indicate the time axis or the movement of a display position of the program cell in a display range when the channel is changed, and facilitates identifying a broadcasting time of the program to be selected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic program guide display device, and more particularly to an electronic program guide display device that displays a program table as a table composed of a broadcast channel axis and a time axis representing program information such as the start time and title of a program scheduled to be broadcast. It is about.

  In recent years, with the spread of digital broadcasting, a large number of information can be transmitted, and the number of programs has been increased. Thus, there is an increasing need for an electronic program guide (EPG), which is a system for displaying a program guide on a screen. Program information of a general electronic program guide is sent together with a broadcast program by a line from a cable television broadcasting station or by radio waves from a broadcasting satellite.

  The receiver that receives the program information stores the received program information in a storage device, and creates a program guide and displays it on the display device when all information related to the program broadcast for a certain period is received. The program information can be obtained from a network such as the Internet, or from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, in addition to the above-described broadcast signal.

  Furthermore, such an electronic program guide searches for only programs belonging to the category desired by the viewer by assigning in advance a category (eg, movie program, variety program, sports program, etc.) to which the program belongs for each program. It is also possible to display. Thus, the electronic program guide is a very effective means for improving the operability of the receiver as the number of programs increases due to the increase in the number of channels. As the electronic program guide display device described above, for example, there is a device disclosed in Patent Document 1.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional electronic program guide. From FIG. 14, the vertical axis is time, the horizontal axis is a channel number indicating a broadcasting station that broadcasts each program, and both the channel axis and the time axis are fixed positions (the channel axis is the upper end of the screen / the time axis is the horizontal end of the screen). It is fixed. A rectangular range (hereinafter referred to as a program cell) corresponding to one program is provided on the two-dimensional screen, and a program title is described in each program cell. The viewer can use the operation switch (not shown) provided on the remote controller or the like to scroll and view the program guide in the desired direction. In order to select a program to be viewed, a cursor indicating the input position of each program cell is provided, and the cursor position is moved by an operation switch to select a program cell. It is also possible to make a reservation to record the selected program. The program table shown in FIG. 14 displays time on the vertical axis and channel numbers on the horizontal axis, but may display channel numbers on the vertical axis and times on the horizontal axis.
JP 2002-77762 A

  However, when trying to display a large number of channels and programs on the screen, a bar indicating the time axis indicating the broadcast time (also referred to as a timeline) is fixed at a fixed position. When it is displayed apart from the bar representing the time, there is a problem that it becomes difficult for the user to instantaneously identify which time zone the selected program is.

  Further, when the program cell is selected by the operation switch, there is a problem that since the focus moves in units of program cells, the screen change with respect to the operation is small, and it is difficult for the viewer to recognize that the screen display has been changed.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and even when the number of channels and the number of programs increases, the broadcast time zone of the selected program can be easily recognized, and when the focus of the program cell moves, An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic program guide display device capable of obtaining operation feedback so that the viewer can easily recognize that the screen display has been changed.

  In order to solve the above problems, the electronic program guide display device of the present invention uses a program cell representing program information such as a start time and a title of a program scheduled to be broadcast as a table composed of a broadcast channel axis and a time axis. An electronic program guide display device for displaying a table, (1) a program information storage unit for storing the program information, (2) a controller unit for sending input information such as an operation direction, and (3) moving the program table Program table control information consisting of the scroll mode such as direction and speed, the focus target broadcast channel of the program guide, the focus information such as time and program cell, and the drawing target area in the channel direction and time direction of the program guide from the controller unit A control information management unit that performs update management based on the input information, and (3) a broadcast channel and a program cell in the drawing target area A display reference position and a display attribute of the time axis in conjunction with input information from the drawing target area, the broadcast channel of the focus information, and the controller section. A display information creation unit comprising a time axis display information creation unit for determining the broadcast channel axis display information creation unit for determining a display reference position of the broadcast channel axis in conjunction with the drawing target area, and (4) the program cell Since the display unit, the drawing unit that generates the program guide image based on the display information, the time axis display information, and the broadcast channel axis display information, and (5) the display that displays the program guide image generated by the drawing unit, It can be easily recognized which time zone the selected program is. Further, it is easy for the viewer to recognize that the screen display has been changed when the focus of the program cell is moved, and operation feedback when the focus of the program cell is moved can be obtained.

  According to the electronic program guide display device of the present invention, a bar (timeline) representing a time axis is displayed at a position linked to a channel row position to which a program cell selected in the program guide belongs, and different channels or different program cells are displayed. At the time of selection, the broadcast time of the program can be easily identified while obtaining the operation feedback when the focus of the program cell is moved by displaying the animation indicating the movement of the bar representing the time axis or the program cell on the screen.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic program guide display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. An electronic program guide display device of the present invention is an electronic program guide display device that displays a program table as a table composed of broadcast channels and a time axis representing program information representing program information such as the start time and title of a program scheduled to be broadcast. A program information storage unit 101, a controller unit 102, a control information management unit 103, a display information creation unit 104, a drawing unit 105, and a display 106.

  The program information storage unit 101 stores program information related to programs such as television and radio. The program information includes data including supplementary information such as broadcast start time, broadcast time, broadcast station name, program title, genre, and detailed contents of each program for each date. FIG. 2 shows a table displaying an example of program information.

  The controller unit 102 is an input key group for obtaining input from the user, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the controller unit. Reference numerals 301, 302, 303, and 304 denote up / down / left / right direction focus control buttons, respectively, which send up / down / left / right direction focus control information to the control information management unit 103.

  The controller unit 102 may be a remote controller that directly presses an input key as shown in FIG. 3, or an input key (joystick) that tilts a stick-like input button up, down, left, or right. In addition, touch and input virtual buttons displayed on the touch panel display, input / recognize the top / bottom / left / right by dragging and hold, and recognize the movement of human hands and eyes with the camera. Then, focus control information in the vertical and horizontal directions may be sent. Further, the controller unit 102 may send focus control information in an arbitrary direction including not only up, down, left, and right but also an inclination having inclination information. Further, a combination of these may be used.

  The control information management unit 103 is a scroll mode management unit 103a that manages the moving direction Dir and the number of scrolls per unit time Trans as the scroll mode, and the current focus target program (selected program) Ptarget (channel Ctarget, reference) as the focus information A focus information management unit 103b that manages time Ttarget) and a drawing target region management unit 103c that manages neighboring cell regions (Ctotal, Ttotal) and neighboring cell reference positions (Cbase, Tbase) as drawing target regions.

  Here, the scroll mode management unit 103a performs “scroll mode update processing” in which focus control information input from the controller unit is converted into a scroll mode and update management is performed. The focus control information may include a long press state and tilt information in an arbitrary direction in addition to the vertical and horizontal directions. The scroll mode is information having a movement direction Dir and a scroll number Trans per unit time, such as movement of +1 program in the time direction or movement of -1 channel in the channel direction. When there is no input, Trans is zero. The number of scrolls per unit time in the scroll mode may be changed according to the presence or absence of the long press state in the input information from the controller unit. For example, Trans may be decreased when not in the long press state, and Trans may be increased as the high speed mode when in the long press state.

  The focus information management unit 103b performs update management by switching the focus target program (the program being selected) Ptarget to the broadcast channel direction or the time axis direction based on the program information extracted from the scroll mode and the program information storage unit 101. “Focus target program update processing” is performed.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the “scroll mode update process” and the “focus target program update process”. Explaining in accordance with this flowchart, first, if there is focus control information input from the controller unit 102, the scroll mode management unit 103a converts the focus control information into a scroll mode (S401). Next, it is determined whether or not the moving direction Dir in the scroll mode is time (S402). When the moving direction Dir in the scroll mode is time, the focus scheduled program Pnext (channel: Ctarget, time: Ttarget + Ttrans) is determined (S403). The unit of movement in the time direction may be the number of programs instead of the time. Similarly, when the moving direction Dir in the scroll mode is a channel, the scheduled program Pnext (channel: Target + Ctrans, time: Ttarget) is determined (S404). Finally, in either case, it is determined whether or not the focus scheduled program Pnext exists in the program information storage unit 101 (S405). If the focus scheduled program Pnext exists, the focus scheduled program Pnext is output as the program update information ( S406). If not, the program update information is output as no update information (the scroll numbers Ttrans and Ctrans are 0) (S407).

  Note that the focus program update information may have two movement directions, that is, +1 program movement in the time direction and -1 channel movement in the channel direction. In this case, the focus target program is indicated in the channel direction and the program direction. The focus scheduled program Pnext (channel: Ctarget + Ctrans, time: Ttarget + Ttrans) is determined by changing both.

  Based on the focus target program Ptarget and the focus scheduled program Pnext, the drawing target area management unit 103c performs a neighboring cell determination process for extracting program information from the program information storage unit 101, and performs update management of the drawing target area. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the neighboring cell area, neighboring cell reference position and focus method in the neighboring cell determination process, where 501 is a program table showing the entire program information, 502 is a neighboring cell area, and 503 is a neighboring cell reference. A position 504 is a program cell of the focus target program. The size of the neighboring cell region 502 is determined from a predetermined number of channels and time, and is given by a size such as 3 channels for 4 hours. In addition, the neighboring cell reference position 503 (reference time, reference channel) may be determined by the center focus method so that the scheduled program Pnext is always displayed at a predetermined position (for example, near the center of the neighboring cell region 502). In addition, if the planned focus program Pnext is in the current neighboring cell area, it is not changed, and only when the planned focus program Pnext is outside the neighboring cell area, the neighboring cell reaches the position where the planned focus program Pnext enters the neighboring cell area. The reference position 503 may be determined by a scroll focus method for scrolling.

  In the case of the center focus method, if Ptarget and Pnext are different, the drawing target area is always updated. On the other hand, in the case of the scroll focus method, if Pnext is in the drawing target area before update, the drawing target area is not updated, and is updated only when it is not in the drawing target area. Note that the initial value of the current selection target program Ptarget may be a program that is currently viewed, or may be determined from the current time and predetermined initial channel information.

  The display information creation unit 104 includes a program cell display information creation unit 104a, a time axis display information creation unit 104b, and a broadcast channel axis display information creation unit 104c. The program cell display information creation unit 104a obtains a display position and a display attribute from the channel and time included in the drawing target area for each program cell P (channel C, reference time T, broadcast time T ′) included in the drawing target area. decide.

  Before showing a specific example with reference to FIG. 6, the coordinate system handled in the first embodiment is defined as (X, Y) = (position coordinate in the channel direction, position coordinate in the time direction), and the origin Is assumed to be in the upper left. When program cells are arranged side by side on a rectangle, the drawing reference position of the program cell P can be expressed as ((C-Cmin) * Wchannel, ΣHtimek) (where k = Tmin to T) (Cmin is the drawing target area). The reference channel, Wchannel is the width per channel, Htimek is the height of the program cell at the reference time k, and Tmin is the reference time for the drawing target area). Therefore, the rectangles constituting the program cell P are four points ((C-Cmin) * Wchannel, ΣHtimek), ((C-Cmin + 1) * Wchannel, ΣHtimek), ((C-Cmin + 1) * Wchannel, ΣHtimek ′), (( C−Cmin) * Wchannel, ΣHtimek ′) (where k ′ = Tmin to T + T ′). The position of each program cell is uniquely determined by the channel and time, and the program cells are arranged as shown in FIG. This is one of the program cell position determination methods, and various methods are conceivable. Consider the width of the bar (timeline) indicating the time axis, reset the width of the program cell adjacent to the focused program, or start the contents such as the character string displayed in the program cell adjacent to the focused program Set the position, set the display size of the contents such as the character string to be displayed in the program cell adjacent to the program to be focused, and set the interval for the display width of the time axis between the program cells to determine the display reference position You may do it. Of course, other program cell arrangement methods may be used.

  Further, in order to make the focus stand out, the display attribute of the selected program cell can have a display attribute different from that of the other program cells. Alternatively, in order to make the broadcast channel to which the program to be focused belongs stand out, the display attribute of the selected broadcast channel column may have a display attribute different from the other broadcast channel columns. The display attribute may be changed by inverting the color, changing the transparency, or increasing the size of the character string to be displayed. Not.

  The time axis display information creation unit 104b displays the display position and display attributes of the bar (timeline) indicating the time axis in conjunction with the broadcast channel column C to which the focus target program Ptarget belongs, the program time T, the input from the controller unit, and the like. decide. Here, “linked” means, for example, that the position of the bar indicating the time axis is a position adjacent to the position of the broadcast channel row to which the focus target program belongs, and the color and transparency of the time axis are the broadcast channels of the focus target program. This means that the setting is made corresponding to the column, but is not limited thereto.

  In the first embodiment, a two-dimensional matrix-like program guide is assumed, and the time axis is placed adjacent to the left side of the channel column to which the focus target program belongs, and will be described using the previous coordinate system. If the X coordinate of the broadcast channel column C is Cx, for example, a position indicating the time axis is adjacent to the broadcast channel column C (Cx-Wtimebar, β) (Wtimebar is the width in the X direction of the bar indicating the time axis, β is (Indeterminate value at this point). When scrolling in the channel direction occurs and the broadcast channel moves to C ′, the position of the time axis is (C′x−Wtimebar, β). Next, an indefinite value β is obtained. The display range of the time axis in the Y direction is the same as the time range of the neighboring cell area. If the neighboring cell region is from 12:00 to 16:00, the display reference position on the time axis is (Cx-Wtimebar, 0), and the display range Y direction is from 0 to (16-12 + 1) * Htimebar (Htimebar is the time per hour) Shaft height). Therefore, the display position on the time axis is a line segment connecting (Cx-Wtimebar, 0) and (Cx-Wtimebar, (16-12 + 1) * Htimebar), or a rectangular position based on the line segment. Here, the length (Htimebar) for one hour is assumed to be constant, but it may be different depending on the time zone such as morning, daytime, and evening.

  Furthermore, the display reference position and the display attribute of the time axis may be determined according to the presence or absence of the long press state in the input information from the controller unit. When the input information from the controller unit is in the long-pressed state in the broadcast channel direction, it is recognized as the high-speed scroll mode, and the drawing target area in the channel direction of the program guide control information is updated and the time axis display information creation unit sets the time axis You may control so that a display position is not changed. In addition, when the input information from the controller unit is in a long press state, the display attribute may be changed so as to emphasize the display attribute of the bar indicating the time axis and the focus target program, or the display attribute of the time axis may be long pressed. The display attribute may be changed so as to have higher transparency as the state lasts longer. When the drawing target range is at the start or end of the program guide in the long press state, the drawing target area in the channel axis direction of the program guide control information is not updated, and the time axis display information creation unit performs focus information. A special control may be inserted so as to determine the display reference position of the bar indicating the time axis so as to be adjacent to the broadcast channel row to which.

  The time axis display information creation unit 104b determines a display reference position of a bar indicating a time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel sequence so as to be adjacent to each of the plurality of broadcast channel sequences included in the drawing target area. Also good. In this case, a bar indicating the time axis is assigned and displayed for each broadcast channel column to be displayed. When creating a plurality of bar display information indicating the time axis, the display attribute of the time axis may be changed depending on whether the program included in the drawing target area is a focus target. For example, the display reference position of the bar indicating the time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel column is determined so as to be adjacent to each of the plurality of broadcast channel columns included in the drawing target area, and the time adjacent to the focus target broadcast channel column is determined. For the display attribute of the bar indicating the axis, a display attribute different from that of the bar indicating the time axis adjacent to the other broadcast channel column may be set.

  Further, the control may be divided depending on whether or not the long press state is present. That is, in the case of a long press state in the input information from the controller unit, the display reference position of the time axis is determined so as to be adjacent to the broadcast channel sequence to be focused included in the drawing target area, and when it is not the long press state The display reference position of the bar indicating the time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel column may be determined so as to be adjacent to each of the plurality of broadcast channel columns included in the drawing target area.

  Also, when there is an input from the controller unit, instead of changing the display position of the bar indicating the time axis to the updated position after changing at once, it should be changed gradually over a certain period of time. It is also possible to animate the movement of the bar representing the time axis on the screen. By displaying the animation in this way, the viewer can recognize the movement of the bar representing the time axis, and can easily recognize that the screen display has been changed, thereby improving the operability of the electronic program guide.

  In the case of displaying an animation in this way, when the input information is in a direction along the broadcast channel axis, the broadcast channel sequence belonging to the focus information to be changed from the display position (start point) of the bar indicating the currently displayed time axis The display position of the bar indicating the time axis may be determined so as to interpolate between the positions corresponding to the positions (end points). This interpolation method may be a line segment interpolation that interpolates at equal intervals, or an interpolation that gives acceleration by reducing the resolution of interpolation near the start point and the end point and roughening the resolution near the center. However, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of processing of the time axis display information creation unit 104b when there is an input from the controller unit 102 (during scroll mode). Here, N is the number of frames when animation display is performed. According to the flowchart, it is first determined whether or not the scroll direction Dir is the channel direction (S701). If it is the channel direction, the information of the start point and end point necessary for determining the position in the channel axis (X axis) direction is calculated. (S702). The position adjacent to the channel column C of the focus target program is the start point, and the position adjacent to the channel column C ′ of the focus target program is the end point. If the reference X coordinates of the broadcast channel sequences C and C ′ are Cx and C′x, and the width of the time axis to be displayed is Wtimebar, the start point X coordinate is Cx−Wtimebar and the end point X coordinate is C′x−Wtimebar. Next, the position X coordinate of the bar indicating the time axis at the time of frame k from the number N of frames is calculated (S703). If the interpolation method is line segment interpolation, the position X coordinate C ″ x of the time axis is Cx−Wtimebar + k × (C′x−Cx) / N (FIGS. 8 and 9).

  On the other hand, if the scroll direction Dir is the time direction, the information of the start point and the end point necessary for determining the position in the time axis (Y axis) direction is calculated (S704). Next, the position Y coordinate of the bar indicating the time axis at the time of frame k from the number N of frames is calculated (S705). The interpolation process may be performed in the same manner with the minimum value of the drawing target area including the reference time of the focus target program as the start point and the minimum value of the drawing target area including the reference time of the focus target scheduled program as the end point. In this way, by placing the bar indicating the time axis adjacent to the currently selected broadcast channel column, the currently selected broadcast channel column C and the time axis can be grasped instantly, and the electronic program guide can be viewed. The operability for the person is improved. That is, since the number of broadcast channels that can be displayed on one screen is increased, the conventional problem that the currently selected broadcast channel row is separated from the time axis and the visibility on the screen is deteriorated can be solved. In addition, by displaying an animation of the movement of the bar indicating the time axis on the display screen during scrolling, the viewer can easily recognize the change of the focus target program.

  In the first embodiment, the bar indicating the time axis is displayed at a position adjacent to the broadcast channel column C to which the selected program cell belongs. You may display by transparency. If the display method is such that the display of the program cell of the focus target program and the display of the bar indicating the time axis are linked, these two displays may not be adjacent to each other.

  In the first embodiment, the method for displaying only the movement of the bar indicating the time axis on the screen during scrolling has been described. However, the input information is in the direction along the broadcast channel axis, and the broadcast channel string of the focus information. When the program cell belonging to is in the edge direction of the screen with respect to the input direction of the drawing target area (see FIG. 10), the display position of the bar indicating the time axis is not changed, and the channel direction of the program guide control information The movement of the drawing target area on the screen may be displayed as an animation. That is, only the drawing target region may be moved without moving the display position of the bar indicating the time axis. Further, when the input information is in the direction along the broadcast channel axis and the program cell belonging to the broadcast channel of the focus information is not in the end direction of the screen with respect to the input direction of the drawing target area, the time axis display resolution is set to 1. (In other words, it is displayed without performing animation display), and when it is at the end with respect to the input direction of the drawing target area, it may be updated so that the drawing target area is animated without moving the bar indicating the time axis.

  In FIG. 11, control is performed so that the bar display position indicating the time axis is changed, the drawing target area is changed, or the animation is displayed according to the position of the focus target program being displayed and the moving direction of the input information. It is a figure which shows an example of a flowchart. Here, the display attribute of the program cell during animation display is not particularly limited. That is, the display attribute of the focus target program cell may be different from the display attributes of the other program cells, and the display attribute of the focus target scheduled program cell may be different from the attributes of the other program cells. . The broadcast channel axis display information creation unit 104c determines the display reference position of the broadcast channel axis in conjunction with the drawing target area. The channel axis corresponding to the channel included in the drawing target area is displayed. As described in the time axis display information creation unit 104b so far, the position of the broadcast channel axis does not need to be fixed, for example, a position adjacent to the time zone column of the program to be focused, The display position of the broadcast channel axis may be determined according to the focus position. In addition, when the input direction is the time axis direction, instead of changing the display position of the broadcast channel axis at once, instead of changing the display position gradually over a certain time, on the broadcast channel axis screen The movement may be displayed as an animation.

  The drawing unit 105 creates a program table image based on the program cell display information, the time axis display information, and the broadcast channel axis display information. The drawing order is not defined here and depends on the information creation method of the program cell display information creation unit 104a and the time axis display information creation unit 104b. As described above, when the program cell display information and the time axis display information are created, the program cell is drawn first, and then the broadcast channel axis and the time axis are drawn. The drawing image in the program cell is a drawing in which character information such as a program start time, a program title, and program content is drawn within a range that can be drawn in a predetermined size with a predetermined font. However, not all program cells need to have a drawing image, information about non-important program cells may be omitted, and the drawing attributes can be changed by blurring, translucent, or mask drawing. Also good.

  In addition to drawing a table of program cells on a two-dimensional plane such as the program table exemplified so far, program cells are mapped to a predetermined shape in a three-dimensional space, and perspective projection conversion is performed from a predetermined viewpoint position. Processing can also be performed. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a perspective projection conversion process in the case of performing a three-dimensional arrangement, in which 1201 is a display, 1202 is a mapping form of a program guide, and 1203 is a viewpoint in perspective projection conversion. The mapping shape of the program cell may be a cylinder in addition to a plane. In some cases, drawing is performed by changing the shape or viewpoint. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an example of a shape change drawing and a new hand change drawing. In the shape (thickness) change, the selected cell is deformed so as to be close to the viewpoint with a predetermined thickness. In the viewpoint (bird's-eye view) change drawing, the line-of-sight direction is tilted with respect to the program guide so as to be close to the viewpoint. In the viewpoint & shape change (zoom-out / focus emphasis) drawing, the selected cell is made larger than the normal cell to make it stand out while zooming out the viewpoint position so that the entire program table can be seen. Although the zoom is performed around the focus program display position of the program cell display information, the size of the time axis display information and the broadcast channel axis display information is not changed regardless of the enlargement / reduction of the program cell display information. Thus, it is possible to reduce the display area of the channel axis and the time axis that have minimum information, and to increase the display area of important program cells.

  The displays 1201 and 106 display the output image generated by the drawing unit 105.

  As described above, according to the electronic program guide display device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the bar representing the time axis is displayed adjacent to the channel column to which the program cell selected in the program table belongs, and the channel is changed. In this case, the broadcast time of the program can be easily identified while obtaining operation feedback by displaying the animation indicating the movement of the bar representing the time axis or the display cell on the screen.

  The present invention displays program information of broadcast programs such as video and audio on a home AV system including a TV system, a hard disk, a semiconductor memory and a DVD, an in-vehicle AV system, a mobile phone, etc., and selects a program for playback and recording It is useful as a user interface for performing Furthermore, the present invention is useful as a PC application in which the program selection user interface is realized by a program, and as a recording medium storing the PC application. Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable to PC applications such as spreadsheet software.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic program guide display apparatus by embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the table which shows an example of the program information hold | maintained at the object program information storage part shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the controller part shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the focus object program update process outline | summary performed in the program selection part shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the determination process of a neighboring cell performed by the program selection part shown in FIG. 1, and a focus system The figure explaining the specific example of the program cell display information preparation part shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process outline | summary in case there exists input from a controller part in the time-axis display information preparation part shown in FIG. The figure explaining the animation display in the time-axis display information preparation part shown in FIG. The figure explaining the animation processing method of the time-axis display information preparation part shown in FIG. The figure explaining the animation processing method in case the focus of the time-axis display information preparation part shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process outline | summary which determines a time-axis display position according to the focus position of the time-axis display information preparation part shown in FIG. The figure explaining the perspective projection conversion process in the drawing part shown in FIG. The figure explaining an example of a viewpoint and shape correction drawing and a process in the drawing part shown in FIG. The figure which shows the example of a normal display of the electronic program guide by a prior art

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Program information memory | storage part 102 Controller part 103 Control information management part 103a Scroll mode management part 103b Focus information management part 103c Drawing object area management part 104 Display information creation part 104a Program cell display information creation part 104b Time-axis display information creation part 104c Broadcast Channel axis display information creation unit 105 Drawing unit 106 Display 301 Focus control button (upper)
302 Focus control button (down)
303 Focus control button (left)
304 Focus control button (right)
501 Program table 502 Neighbor cell area 503 Neighbor cell reference position 504 Selection target program cell 1201 Display 1202 Mapping shape 1203 View point

Claims (27)

An electronic program guide display device that displays a program table as a table composed of a broadcast channel axis and a time axis for program cells representing program information such as a start time and a title of a program scheduled to be broadcast,
A program information storage unit for storing the program information;
A controller that sends input information such as the operation direction,
Program guide control consisting of the scroll mode such as the direction and speed for moving the program guide, the broadcast channel to be focused on the program guide, the focus information such as the time and program cell, and the drawing target area in the channel direction and time direction of the program guide. A control information management unit that updates and manages information based on input information from the controller unit;
A program cell display information creation unit that determines a display reference position of a program cell from a broadcast channel and time with respect to a program cell in the drawing target region, and the drawing target region, the focus information broadcast channel, and an input from the controller unit A time axis display information creation unit that determines a display reference position and display attribute of a time axis in conjunction with information, and a broadcast channel axis display information creation unit that determines a display reference position of a broadcast channel axis in conjunction with the drawing target area A display information creation unit comprising:
A drawing unit that generates a program guide image based on the program cell display information, the time axis display information, and the broadcast channel axis display information;
A display for displaying the program guide image generated by the drawing unit;
An electronic program guide display device comprising: 2. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein the time axis display information creating unit determines the display reference position of the time axis so as to be adjacent to the broadcast channel sequence to which the focus information belongs. The time axis display information creation unit determines the display reference position of the time axis so as to be superimposed on the broadcast channel sequence to which the focus information belongs, and determines the display attribute so that the time axis is displayed with a transparency different from that of the program cell. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 1. When the input information is in a direction along the broadcast channel axis, the time axis display information creation unit interpolates between the position of the broadcast channel string belonging to the focus information to be changed from the display reference position of the time axis currently being displayed. 4. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 2, wherein the display reference position of the time axis is determined as described above. When the input information is in the direction along the broadcast channel axis and the program cell belonging to the broadcast channel of the focus information is at the end with respect to the input direction of the drawing target area, the drawing target area in the channel direction of the program guide control information is animated. The electronic program guide display device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the time-axis display information creation unit does not change the time-axis display position. The broadcast channel axis display creation unit determines a display reference position of a broadcast channel axis in conjunction with a drawing target area, a program broadcast time zone of focus information, and input information from a controller unit. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 5. 7. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 6, wherein the broadcast channel axis display information creating unit determines a display reference position of the broadcast channel axis so as to be adjacent to a time zone column to which the focus information belongs. The broadcast channel axis display information creation unit determines the display reference position of the broadcast channel axis so as to be superimposed on the focus information, and determines the display attribute so that the broadcast channel axis is displayed with a transparency different from that of the program cell. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 6. Broadcast channel axis display information creation part interpolates between the position of the time zone column belonging to the focus information to be changed from the display reference position of the currently displayed broadcast channel axis when the input information is in the direction along the time axis 9. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the display reference position of the broadcast channel axis is determined as described above. When the input information is in the direction along the time axis and the program cell belonging to the time zone of the focus information is at the end with respect to the input direction of the drawing target area, the drawing target area in the time direction of the program guide control information is animated. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 7, wherein the broadcast channel axis display information creation unit does not change the broadcast channel axis display position. The electronic program guide display according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the control information management unit changes the speed in the scroll mode in accordance with the presence or absence of a long press state in the input information from the controller unit. apparatus. The time axis display information creation unit determines a display reference position and a display attribute of the time axis according to the presence or absence of a long press state in input information from the controller unit. The electronic program guide display device described in 1. When there is a long press state in the input information from the controller unit, the drawing target area in the channel direction of the program guide control information is updated, and the time axis display information creation unit does not change the time axis display position. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 11 or 12. The time axis display information creation unit changes the display attribute so as to emphasize the display attribute of the time axis and the focus information when there is a long press state in the input information from the controller unit. The electronic program guide display device according to any one of 11 to 13. The time axis display information creation unit is characterized in that when there is a long press state in the input information from the controller unit, the display attribute of the time axis is changed to a higher transparency as the long press state continues. The electronic program guide display device according to any one of claims 11 to 13. When the time axis display information creation unit has a long press state in the input information from the controller unit and the drawing target area is at the end of the program guide, the drawing target area in the channel direction of the program guide control information is not updated. The electronic program guide display according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the time axis display information creation unit determines a display reference position of the time axis so as to be adjacent to a broadcast channel sequence to which focus information belongs. apparatus. The drawing unit maps the program cell display information, the time axis display information, and the broadcast channel axis display information as a texture in a predetermined shape in a three-dimensional space, performs a perspective projection conversion process from a predetermined viewpoint position, and performs a program guide image The electronic program guide display device according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein the electronic program guide display device according to any one of claims 1 to 16 is generated. The electronic program guide display device according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the drawing unit enlarges / reduces a focus program display position of the program cell display information. 19. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 18, wherein the drawing unit does not change the size of the time axis display information and the broadcast channel axis display information in accordance with the enlargement / reduction of the program cell display information. When the drawing target area is at the end of the program guide, the drawing unit calculates the center position of enlargement / reduction based on the enlargement / reduction ratio and the focus program display position of the program cell display information, and generates a program guide image 20. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 18, wherein the electronic program guide display device is an electronic program guide display device. The time axis display information creation unit determines a display reference position of a time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel sequence so as to be adjacent to a plurality of broadcast channel sequences included in the drawing target region. The electronic program guide display device according to any one of 20. The time axis display information creation unit determines the display reference position of the time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel sequence so as to be adjacent to a plurality of broadcast channel sequences included in the drawing target area, and is adjacent to the focus target broadcast channel sequence The electronic program guide display device according to claim 21, wherein a display attribute different from the time axis adjacent to the non-focus target broadcast channel sequence is set with respect to the time axis. The time axis display information creation unit determines the display reference position of the time axis so as to be adjacent to the focus target broadcast channel sequence included in the drawing target area in the case of a long press state in the input information from the controller unit. The display reference position on the time axis corresponding to each broadcast channel sequence is determined so as to be adjacent to a plurality of broadcast channel sequences included in the drawing target area when not in the pressed state. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 1. 24. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the program cell display information creation unit resets the width of the program cell adjacent to the focus target program in consideration of the display width of the time axis. Program guide display device. The program cell display information creation unit determines the display reference position by providing an interval corresponding to the display width of the time axis between program cells, and the time axis display information creation unit sets the display position of the time axis above the interval between program cells. The electronic program guide display device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic program guide display device is set. 24. The program cell display information creation unit sets a start position of contents such as a character string to be displayed in a program cell adjacent to a focus target program in consideration of a display width of a time axis. An electronic program guide display device according to claim 1. The program cell display information creation unit sets a display size of contents such as a character string to be displayed in a program cell adjacent to the focus target program in consideration of the display width of the time axis. An electronic program guide display device according to claim 1.