JP2007142492A - Program information processing apparatus, program information processing method, program information processing program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To create a more detailed program information group which cannot be obtained by one program information group by integrating a plurality of program information groups. <P>SOLUTION: A video recorder 21 used as a program information processing apparatus is provided with: program information group receiving units 11A, 11B for acquiring a plurality of program information groups A, B which include a plurality of kinds of program information having a plurality of items including program schedule information and information about the contents of the program, and may include the program information about the same program; and a program information group integrating unit 15 for integrating the program information groups A, B acquired by program information group receiving units 11A, 11B into a single integrated program information group including the plurality of kinds of program information. The program information group integrating unit 15 acquires a plurality of kinds of program information about the same program from different program information groups A, B, and creates one of program information constituting the integrated program information group, based on the plurality of kinds of acquired program information about the same program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention acquires a program information group such as an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as EPG) from a plurality of distribution sources, and integrates the program information group into one program information group, and an information processing method , An information processing program, and a recording medium, and in particular, a program having a function of extracting program information according to user preference information from program information including program schedule information and information related to program contents The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program information processing method, a program information processing program, and a recording medium.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an EPG that displays a program guide related to a program such as a television broadcast on a television screen has been widely used. The EPG acquisition method uses a method of receiving electronic program guide information (EPG data) transmitted from a broadcasting station using a gap in a broadcast signal by wireless broadcasting or cable broadcasting, and an Internet terminal connected to a television or the like. There is a method for receiving EPG data via the Internet. In addition, devices (such as televisions, recording devices, and satellite tuners) that have a function of making a recording reservation using EPG and a function of selecting a program to be received using EPG are widely used.

  In addition, a program search device that searches for a program that matches a search condition input by a user using EPG data is also widely used. This search result can be used for program recording reservation and reception.

  Further, a program recommendation apparatus that selects a program that matches a user's preference from a group of programs included in the EPG data based on the user's preference information, presents the selected program to the user, and recommends the program to the user is known. It has been. As a method for recommending a program to the user, a plurality of methods in which the user's preference information is acquired are different. For example, the user is pre-registered with information related to the user's interest, and the program is based on the registered information regarding interest. There are interest registration methods for recommending programs, and viewing history using methods for recommending programs using the history of programs that the user has viewed in the past.

  In the interest registration method, prior to use, the genre of a favorite program (for example, a large genre / small genre of a favorite program such as drama / suspense drama or sports / soccer), a favorite program performer, and a favorite sport Should be recommended to the user by searching for programs including the search keyword from the program information group included in the EPG data using the registered information as a search keyword by previously registering the team name and the like as preference information There is a method of acquiring a program name of a program (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the viewing history utilization method, each time a user views a program, the EPG data is analyzed and information on the program viewed by the user, for example, the program genre, performer, sports team name, etc. is stored as the viewing history. . Then, information such as genres, performers, and sports team names with high appearance frequency is extracted as keywords from the accumulated information, and the extracted keywords are used to search from the program information group included in the EPG data. There is a method of acquiring a program name of a program to be recommended to a user by searching for a program including a keyword (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

An apparatus that collects EPG data and synthesizes the collected data into a single EPG is used (see, for example, Patent Document 3).
JP 2002-300483 A (published on October 11, 2002) JP 7-135621 A (published May 23, 1995) Special Table 2004-538725 (published on December 24, 2004)

  In a conventional program recommendation device or program search device, a program is recommended or searched on the assumption that EPG data having substantial program information is distributed. However, in practice, the degree of program content information and title information in EPG data varies depending on the service that distributes the EPG data. Further, the degree of fulfillment of information such as performer information and genre information varies depending on the service for distributing EPG data. Therefore, program recommendation or search results differ greatly depending on which distribution service is used. Therefore, there is a problem that sufficient program recommendation or search cannot be performed due to the low level of information such as program content information, title information, performer information, and genre information in EPG data.

  A specific example will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is an example of an EPG created using two different types of EPG data. In this EPG, program titles of a plurality of programs are displayed in time order and for each broadcasting station based on EPG data. As shown in FIG. 13, even program title information of the same program may be greatly different as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b).

  For example, the program title information of the program whose official program title is “TV special” is the official program title (“TV special”) in the EPG data of FIG. 13A, while the EPG of FIG. 13B. The data is a simplified program title (“T-Sp”). Therefore, when a user likes a program whose official program title is “TV special” and inputs the official program title “TV special” as preference information or a search title to the program recommendation device or the program search device. From the EPG data of FIG. 13 (a), the user's favorite programs (programs whose official program title is “TV special”) are extracted as recommended programs or search results, whereas FIG. The program that the user likes is not extracted from the EPG data of b) as a recommended program or a search result.

  The EPG data in FIG. 13 (a) has program information for each program, whereas in the EPG data in FIG. 13 (b), information related to a plurality of programs is combined into one. In this program information, a part of the information for each program such as the start time information of “Conscious Japanese Course” is omitted. Therefore, when the user inputs the program title “Conscious Japanese Course” as preference information or a search title to the program recommendation device or the program search device, when the EPG data of FIG. While the program information including the start time information can be acquired, when the EPG data shown in FIG. 13B is used, only the program information in which the information related to a plurality of programs is integrated into one can be acquired. Some information such as program start time information cannot be obtained. For this reason, when the EPG data of FIG. 13B is used, it is not possible to present to the user start time information relating to a recommended program or a searched program.

  Note that the program information obtained by simplifying the program title as described above and the program information obtained by combining information related to a plurality of programs are often seen in early morning and late night program information.

  As described above, the conventional program recommendation device and program search device perform program recommendation or program search using one piece of EPG data. Therefore, there is a problem that sufficient program recommendation or search cannot be performed depending on the EPG data to be used. Occurs.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to integrate a plurality of program information groups to search for programs (recommendations) based on the program information groups, and to record program information groups and history information. Program information processing apparatus, program information processing method, and program information that can create a more detailed program information group that cannot be obtained by a single program information group in order to more accurately estimate (learn) preference information based on It is to provide a processing program and a recording medium.

  In order to solve the above problems, the program information processing apparatus of the present invention is a program information for processing a program information group including a plurality of program information having a plurality of items including program schedule information and information related to program contents. An integrated processing unit that acquires a plurality of program information groups that may include program information relating to the same program, and a plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit, including a plurality of program information And integrating means for integrating into the program information group, wherein the integrating means acquires a plurality of program information related to the same program from different program information groups, and integrates based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program One of the program information constituting the program information group is created.

  According to the above configuration, the integration unit acquires a plurality of program information related to the same program from different program information groups, and the programs constituting the integrated program information group based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program One piece of information (hereinafter referred to as “integrated program information”) is created. Thereby, when different information about the same program is included in the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquiring means, the program information group (integrated program information) that is more enriched than each program information group Group), in particular, a program information group (integrated program information group) enriched with information (items) related to the contents of the program, such as program titles, genre information, program contents, keywords, and performers.

  Therefore, when searching for a program that matches the user's preference information from the program information group, a more accurate search can be performed. That is, program information suitable for the preference information can be extracted, and program information extraction that is easy for the user to use can be realized. Furthermore, if the user's preference learning is performed based on the history information using the integrated program information group in which information related to the contents of the program is enriched, the user's preference information can be estimated with higher accuracy. In addition, if a keyword representing a program characteristic is extracted using an integrated program information group in which information related to the contents of the program is enriched, the keyword representing the program characteristic can be extracted with higher accuracy. Moreover, if program information is presented to the user using an integrated program information group in which information related to the contents of the program is enriched, more enriched program information can be provided to the user.

  As a method of acquiring a plurality of program information related to the same program by the integration means, (1) program information having the same broadcasting station information, start time information, and end time information is used as program information related to the same program. A method of acquiring, (2) a method of acquiring program information having the same program identification information as program information relating to the same program, and (3) a method of acquiring program information having the same title information as program information relating to the same program. Etc.

  The method (1) can be applied when the program information includes broadcast station information, start time information for each program, and end time information for each program as the plurality of items. In the method (1), even when a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program have different title information, the program information related to the same program can be correctly acquired.

  In the method (2), the program information includes program identification information as one of the plurality of items. In the method (3), the program information includes program title information as one of the plurality of items. Respectively. In the method (2), a part of program information is a summary of information on three or more programs, and does not have start time information and end time information for each program (for example, start of a plurality of programs as a whole). Program information relating to the same program can be obtained correctly. Even when a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program have different title information, the program information related to the same program can be acquired correctly.

  In the present specification, program schedule information means information indicating when a program is scheduled to be provided. Program schedule information is described by, for example, (1) a combination of start time information and end time information, and (2) a combination of start time information and duration information. Further, in the present specification, the information related to the contents of the program includes the title information, subtitle information, program content information (text information describing the contents of the program), etc. In addition to information indicating the contents, information indicating the contents of the program to the extent that it can be used for program classification, such as performer information, keyword information, genre information, and sub-genre information, is included.

  The program information processing apparatus includes a preference information acquisition unit that acquires preference information indicating a user's preference, and a program that extracts program information corresponding to the preference information from the integrated program information group obtained by the integration unit. The information processing device may further include an information extraction unit.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to extract program information that matches the user's preference using the integrated program information group with rich contents obtained by the integration means. Therefore, a program that matches the user's preference can be recommended to the user with high accuracy.

  The program information processing apparatus may be configured such that the preference information acquisition unit receives preference information input by a user.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to recommend to the user a program that matches the user's preference using the preference information input by the user.

  The program information processing apparatus further includes detection means for detecting operation of program selection and / or recording reservation by a user, and the preference information acquisition means is included in the integrated program information group obtained by the integration means. Of the program information, the preference information may be acquired based on the program information of the program in which it has been detected that the channel selection and / or recording reservation operation has been performed in the past by the detection means.

  According to the above configuration, preference information can be obtained from the history of operations such as user viewing and recording operations, and programs that match the user preference can be recommended using the preference information.

  The program information processing apparatus may include a program information display unit that causes the display device to display program information extracted by the program information extraction unit.

  According to the above configuration, since the program information extracted from the integrated program information group by the program information extraction means can be displayed on the display device and presented to the user, it is possible to accurately present the recommended program that matches the user's preference. It can be carried out.

  In the program information processing apparatus having the above configuration, the integration unit acquires all of a plurality of pairs of program information related to the same program from the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit, and each of all the acquired pairs Preferably, one piece of program information constituting the integrated program information group is created based on a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program. Thereby, the integrated program information, which is composed of the same number of program information as the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition means and has more contents than the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition means. Groups can be created.

  In the program information processing apparatus, each of the items includes item content information indicating the information content of the item, and the integration unit uses one of a plurality of program information related to the same program as reference program information, and the rest If there is an item that is not included in the reference program information among a plurality of preset items, an item that is not included in the reference program information is added to the reference program information. When the reference program information has a plurality of preset items while the information is created, the reference program information is used as the basic program information as it is, and the item content information is missing in the plurality of items of the basic program information. And if the corresponding item exists in other program information, and if it is determined that the item exists, the item in the basic program information corresponds to the other program information. Completing with items Therefore, it may be configured to create one of program information that make up the integrated program information group.

  According to the above configuration, the information of the item lacking the reference program information is complemented by the corresponding item of the other program information, so the program information constituting the integrated program information group has only the reference program information. The item also includes an item having information only for other information. Therefore, the integrated program information group can have more items than each of the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit. Therefore, using this program information group (integrated program information group), more accurate program search using more items as search conditions, presentation of program information including more items to the user, and the like are possible. Become.

  Moreover, according to the said structure, since the program information which comprises an integrated program information group does not have two or more same items, storage capacity, such as a memory | storage device for managing an integrated program information group, can be reduced.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the integration unit uses one of a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program as reference program information, and a corresponding item is another program among the plurality of items of the reference program information. It is determined whether there is an item that is present in the information and has a smaller amount of information than the corresponding item of the other program information. If it is determined that there is an item, the item in the reference program information is It may be configured to create one piece of program information constituting the integrated program information group by replacing with a corresponding item of program information.

  According to the above configuration, since the item in the reference program information is replaced with an item having a larger amount of information corresponding to the other program information, one of the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquiring unit is obtained for a certain item. Then, even if the information is scarce (when the title information is simplified information or when the number of characters in the program content information is small), the program information group (integrated program information group) having substantial information about the item Can provide. Therefore, using this program information group (integrated program information group), it is possible to search for a program with higher accuracy using the item as a search condition, and to present program information including more information to the user.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the program information group includes program information relating to a plurality of broadcast stations, and the integrating unit is within a predetermined period for each broadcast station among the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit. The program information belonging to the program information group having a larger number of program information may be determined as the reference program information.

  According to each of the above configurations, the program information belonging to the program information group having a larger number of program information within a predetermined period (for example, one day) for each broadcasting station among the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquiring means is used as the reference program. Since the reference program information is determined based on the number of program information determined as information, the program information estimated to have more detailed information can be used as the reference program information. Therefore, it is possible to minimize the process of complementation or replacement by the corresponding item of other program information. Therefore, an integrated program information group can be created with simpler processing.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the integration unit performs processing for creating one of program information constituting an integrated program information group based on a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program, regarding the programs of a plurality of broadcasting stations. In this case, the reference program information may be determined for each broadcasting station.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the integration means performs processing for creating one of program information constituting an integrated program information group based on a plurality of program information related to the same program for a program having a plurality of dates. In addition, the reference program information may be determined for each date.

  According to each of the above configurations, when the process of creating one of the program information constituting the integrated program information group based on a plurality of program information related to the same program is performed for a program of a plurality of dates, the reference program information is Since the determination is made for each date, the determination of the reference program information is easier and more accurate than the case of determining the reference program information for the entire program information group, compared to the case of determining the reference program information for each program information. Can do.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the integration unit uses program information having a larger amount of information for each program among a plurality of program information related to the same program as one piece of program information constituting the integrated program information group. It may be.

  According to the above configuration, since the program information having a larger amount of information for each program among a plurality of program information related to the same program is set as one of the program information constituting the integrated program information group, it is acquired by the acquisition unit. Even if information is scarce on one side of a plurality of program information groups, a program information group (integrated program information group) having substantial information can be provided. In addition, since the entire program information is processed collectively instead of performing processing such as comparison for each item, an integrated program information group can be created with simpler processing.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the integration unit removes items of the same content from a plurality of program information related to the same program, and combines all the remaining items, thereby combining the program information constituting the integrated program information group. The structure which creates one may be sufficient.

  According to the above configuration, the items of the same content are excluded from a plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program, and all the remaining items are combined. Therefore, the program information constituting the integrated program information group has only the reference program information. There will be items that do not exist and items that only have other information. Therefore, the integrated program information group can have more items than each of the plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit. Therefore, it is possible to perform a search using more items as search conditions, and present program information including more items to the user.

  Further, according to the above configuration, since the items of the same content are excluded from the plurality of pieces of program information related to the same program, all the remaining items are combined. On the other hand, even when the information is scarce (when the title information is simplified information or when the number of characters in the program content information is small), a program information group (integrated program information group) having substantial information about the item ) Can be provided.

  Further, according to the above configuration, since the program information constituting the integrated program information group can include a plurality of items, the search can be performed by combining a plurality of types of information related to the items, or a plurality of types of information related to the items can be searched. Information can be arranged and presented to the user. Therefore, compared with the case where a program information group composed of program information having only one type of information for each item is used, it is possible to search with higher accuracy and present more complete program information. Become.

  The program information processing apparatus may include a program information group display unit that causes a display device to display program information constituting the integrated program information group obtained by the integration unit.

  According to the said structure, the program information which comprises the integrated program information group obtained by the said integration means can be displayed on a display apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to provide the user with more detailed program information.

  The program information processing apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives a program signal and a program output unit that outputs the program signal received by the receiving unit to the output device as video and / or audio. May be.

  According to the above configuration, the video and / or audio of the program can be output from the output device and presented to the user.

  In the program information processing apparatus, the program information includes schedule information, based on receiving means for receiving a program signal, and schedule information of the program included in the integrated program information group obtained by the integrating means. The recording apparatus may be configured to record the program signal received by the receiving means.

  According to the above configuration, the recording apparatus can record the schedule information included in the integrated program information group. Therefore, a so-called recording reservation function can be realized.

  In order to solve the above problems, the program information processing method of the present invention is a program information for processing a program information group including a plurality of program information having a plurality of items including program schedule information and information related to program contents. An acquisition step of acquiring a plurality of program information groups that may include program information relating to the same program, and a plurality of program information groups acquired in the acquisition step as one integration including a plurality of program information An integration step of integrating into a program information group, wherein the integration step acquires a plurality of program information related to the same program from different program information groups, and integrates based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program One of the program information constituting the program information group is created.

  According to the above method, a program information group (integrated program information group) having a richer content than each program information group can be provided from a plurality of program information as in the case of the program information processing apparatus.

  The program information processing program of the present invention is for causing a computer to function as each means of the program information processing apparatus having any one of the above-described configurations. The recording medium of the present invention records the program information processing program of the present invention.

  When the program is executed by a computer, the computer functions as the program information processing apparatus. Accordingly, similarly to the above-described program information processing apparatus, a program information group (integrated program information group) having a richer content than each program information group can be provided from a plurality of program information.

  According to the present invention, as described above, by integrating a plurality of program information groups, a more detailed program information group (integrated program information group) that cannot be obtained by one program information group can be created. . Therefore, it becomes possible to perform a program search (recommendation) based on the program information group and a preference information estimation (learning) based on the program information group and the history information with higher accuracy. In addition, a more detailed program information group can be presented to the user.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The program information processing apparatus according to the present invention is a system capable of receiving and estimating / learning program information preferred by a user, and is particularly suitable for a system for receiving a television broadcast program, a radio broadcast program, or the like. Can be used. The processing target of the program information processing apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to information related to a program broadcast from a broadcast station as long as it is a program information group related to a program, and may be related to an arbitrary program.

  Further, in the program information processing apparatus of the present invention, any program can be processed as long as it is a configuration capable of realizing processing of the program itself such as viewing and recording based on program information indicating the content of the broadcast program. can do.

  Hereinafter, a broadcast program recording system for recording a television broadcast program will be described as an embodiment of the program information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the broadcast program recording system 2 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the broadcast program recording system 2 includes a plurality of program information group transmission devices 31, at least one program broadcast station 41 that broadcasts a television broadcast program, and a plurality of program information group transmission devices 31. A recording apparatus (program information processing apparatus) 21 that receives each program information group and receives program signals (video signal and audio signal) transmitted from at least one program broadcasting station 41, and video received by the recording apparatus 21 The display device 61 for displaying the integrated program information group generated by the signal and the integrated program information group in the recording device 21, and the user's operation are received, and the display device 61 and the recording device 21 are operated according to the received operation. And a remote controller 51 that can be controlled.

  The program broadcasting station 41 transmits the video signal of the program to the recording device 21 by wireless broadcasting (such as terrestrial broadcasting or satellite broadcasting) or wired broadcasting (such as broadcasting using a cable television network). Although at least one program broadcasting station 41 is sufficient, in the following description, an example in which a plurality of program broadcasting stations 41 exist will be described. In the following description, a case will be described in which the plurality of program broadcasting stations 41 broadcast different programs on different channels.

  The recording device 21 receives the video signal and audio signal of the program transmitted from the program broadcasting station 41, and records (records) the received video signal and audio signal of the program, or records (records) or the received program. The video signal and the audio signal can be displayed as video on the display device 61 and output as audio to allow the user to view. Furthermore, the recording device 21 can receive a plurality of program information groups transmitted by a plurality of program information group transmission devices 31, and can integrate and hold the received plurality of program information groups as an integrated program information group.

  Further, the recording device 21 determines that it matches the user's preference based on preference information (for example, item information such as a keyword or a genre) input by the user in advance or information on viewing / operation history so far by the user. Extract programs. The recording device 21 can estimate the user's preference based on the above information, and can extract a program that matches the user's preference from the integrated program information group. Note that the user's preference information is input by, for example, inputting a character string representing the user's preference.

  Each of the program information group transmission devices 31 transmits a program information group including information related to the contents of the program and information indicating the broadcast schedule of the program for each program broadcast by the plurality of program broadcast stations 41. The program information includes information (content information) regarding the contents of the program and information (schedule information) indicating the broadcast schedule of the program regarding each of the programs broadcast on the program broadcasting station 41. The program information group transmission device 31 may insert the program information group into a gap between broadcast signals transmitted from the program broadcast station 41 and transmit the program information group to the recording device 21. The program information group transmission device 31 may perform data communication such as the Internet. It may be distributed to the recording device 21 via a network.

  The following example demonstrates the case where the apparatus which can transmit EPG data is employ | adopted for the program information group transmission apparatus 31 as a program information group. An example of the program information included in the EPG data transmitted by the program information group transmitting device 31 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the program information in this example includes, as content information, a program genre (genre information), a program title (title information), a program performer (performer information), and a program content. Is included (program content information). The program information in the example of FIG. 3 further includes broadcast start time information (start time information) and broadcast end time information (end time information) as the schedule information. The information included in the content information and the schedule information may differ depending on the program information group transmitting device 31 that provides the program information group.

  The program information in the example of FIG. 3 further includes broadcast station information for specifying a broadcast station. When a plurality of program broadcast stations 41 are broadcasting the same program on different channels, or when there is only one program broadcast station 41 and only one program, the broadcast station information is obtained from the program information. Can be omitted. Conversely, when one program broadcast station 41 broadcasts different programs on a plurality of channels, further channel information is required.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the remote controller 51 used in the broadcast program recording system 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the remote controller 51 includes a number input button (“1” to “12” button) 51 a for receiving channel number input, a cursor button 51 b for receiving cursor movement instructions, and a currently selected option. A determination button 51c for receiving an instruction to perform an operation corresponding to the channel number, a channel selection button 51d for receiving a channel number increase / decrease instruction, a volume button 51e for receiving a volume increase / decrease instruction, a power button 51f for receiving a power on / off instruction , Buttons for receiving various instructions are provided.

  In the remote controller 51, like the mobile phone, the number input button 51a is also used for inputting characters. The number input button 51a is a number input mode that accepts a user input as an input of a channel number in a situation where, for example, a program video is displayed without displaying an EPG, while the user inputs preference information, for example. When the screen is displayed, the mode can be switched to a mode (character input mode) in which user input is accepted as character input. For this reason, the user can input a hiragana or a symbol by pressing the number input button 51a a number of times according to the character to be input in the state (for example) switched to the character input mode. The remote controller 51 can also accept input of Chinese characters by converting hiragana and symbols input by operating the number input button 51a in accordance with operations on the cursor button 51b and the enter button 51c.

  The display device 61 is an external display device for outputting program information and / or video signals of the program output from the program display unit 25 (not shown) of the recording device 21. Specifically, the display device 61 is a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), an organic EL (Electro Luminescent) display, or the like. In FIG. 2, the recording device 21 is shown separately from the display device 61, but the recording device 21 and the display device 61 may be combined into one device.

  Next, the recording device 21 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 to 12. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a main configuration of a recording device (program information processing device) 21 used in the broadcast program recording system 2 of the present embodiment.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 21 according to the present embodiment includes an operation reception unit (detection unit) 23, a program acquisition unit (reception unit) 59 that receives a program signal, and a program display. (Program output means, program information display means, program information group display means) 25, recording processing section (recording means) 27, program information group reception sections (acquisition means) 11A and 11B, and program information group integration section ( (Integrating means) 15, program information management section 17, program search section (program information extraction means) 19, history information management section (preference information acquisition means) 29, key input reception section (preference information acquisition means) 57, , A user preference learning unit (preference information acquisition means) 53 and a user profile management unit 55 are provided.

  Note that each member included in the recording device 21, that is, the program information group receiving units 11A and 11B, the program information group integrating unit 15, the program information managing unit 17, the program searching unit 19, the operation receiving unit 23, the program displaying unit 25, and a recording process. The unit 27, the history information management unit 29, the key input reception unit 57, the user preference learning unit 53, and the user profile management unit 55 execute a program stored in a storage device by a calculation means (computer) such as a CPU or MPU. These are functional blocks realized by controlling peripheral circuits such as an input / output circuit (not shown).

  The operation reception unit 23 receives an operation by a user. The operation accepting unit 23 accepts not only an operation by a key (button) (not shown) provided in the recording device 21 but also an operation input to the remote controller 51. Further, examples of the operation include an operation for instructing program recording of a certain channel (recording reservation operation) and an operation for instructing viewing of a program of a certain channel (viewing operation) in a certain period. Therefore, upon request, the operation accepting unit 23 functions as a detecting unit that detects a program channel selection operation (viewing operation or the like) or a recording reservation operation (recording reservation operation) by the user.

  When the operation accepting unit 23 accepts a recording reservation operation or a viewing operation, the program obtaining unit 59 receives (acquires) a video signal and an audio signal of a program of a channel designated by the recording reservation operation or the viewing operation. Here, in the present embodiment, the television broadcast recording device 21 is described as an example, and therefore the program acquisition unit 59 is a tuner capable of receiving a television broadcast signal. In the present embodiment, as described above, the program is broadcast on a plurality of channels, and the program acquisition unit 59 has a video signal and an audio signal of a program broadcast on a desired channel among the plurality of channels. Can be received.

  The program display unit 25 displays the video signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 as an image on the external display device 61 in accordance with the viewing operation received by the operation receiving unit 23. At a certain point in time, the operation accepting unit 23 accepts the viewing operation (viewing instruction), and the video signal and audio signal of the channel program designated by the viewing operation (the video signal and audio signal of the channel program designated by the viewing operation). ) Is received by the program acquisition unit 59, the program display unit 25 displays the video signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 on the external display device 61. Thereby, the program display part 25 can make a user view the program of the said channel.

  The program display unit 25 can cause the video signal and audio signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 to be output as video and audio to the display device 61 and an audio output device (not shown). When the signal received by the program acquisition unit 59 is a data signal, the program display unit 25 may cause the display device 61 to output the data signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 as a video. When the signal received by the program acquisition unit 59 is an audio signal, an audio signal output for causing the audio output device to output the audio signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 as audio instead of the program display unit 25. Part.

  The program display unit 25 has a function of causing the display device 61 to display the program information extracted by the program search unit 19 and a function of causing the display device 61 to display the integrated program information group created by the program information group integration unit 15. It also has.

  The recording processing unit 27 records (records) the video signal and the audio signal of the television broadcast program acquired by the program acquisition unit 59 in accordance with the recording reservation operation received by the operation receiving unit 23. Further, in the recording processing unit 27, the operation receiving unit 23 receives the recording reservation operation (recording reservation instruction), and the program acquisition unit 59 receives the video signal and audio signal of the program of the channel designated by the recording reservation operation. When received, the program display unit 25 receives the video signal and audio signal of the program received by the program acquisition unit 59 during the period instructed by the recording reservation operation (video signal and audio signal of the program of the channel instructed by the recording reservation operation). Is recorded on a recording medium.

  At this time, the recording processing unit 27 receives the program signal received by the program acquisition unit 59 based on the schedule information of the designated program included in the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17. Recording is performed on a recording medium by a built-in or external recording device.

  The recording medium may be any recording medium as long as it can record (record) the video signal and audio signal of the program. As the recording medium, for example, a tape-shaped recording medium such as a video tape; a disk-shaped recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Video Disc) or a hard disk; a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory is preferably used.

  The recording processing unit 27 may be configured to record the video signal and audio signal of the program on a built-in recording medium as long as the video signal and audio signal of the program can be recorded on the recording medium. The video signal and the audio signal may be transferred to an external device via a communication path (for example, a network) and recorded on a recording medium provided in the external device.

  The program information group receivers 11A and 11B receive EPG data (electronic program guide information) from two different program information group transmitters 31 (shown in FIG. 2) via communication paths such as broadcast waves and the Internet. The program information groups A and B can be received. Program information groups A and B include program information relating to the same program. In FIG. 1, two program information group receivers are provided, but three or more program information group receivers may be provided.

  The program information group integration unit 15 integrates a plurality of program information groups A and B received (acquired) by the program information group reception units 11A and 11B to create an integrated program information group. The program information group integration unit 15 acquires a plurality of program information related to the same program from different program information groups A and B, and configures an integrated program information group based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program. Create one piece of program information.

  The program information management unit 17 manages (stores) the integrated program information group created by the program information group integration unit 15, and responds to access from the program search unit 19, history information management unit 29, or user preference learning unit 53. Thus, the integrated program information group is transmitted to the program search unit 19, the history information management unit 29, or the user preference learning unit 53.

  Based on the preference information managed by the user profile management unit 55, the program search unit 19 searches for a program that matches the user's preference from among a plurality of programs indicated by the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17. To do. That is, the program search unit 19 extracts program information corresponding to the preference information from the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17. Then, the program search unit 19 outputs information (for example, program information) specifying a program that matches the user's preference to the recording processing unit 27 and the program display unit 25.

  Thereby, the user records (records) the video signal and the audio signal in the recording processing unit 27, or instructs the program display unit 25 to view the extracted program or to view the program information of the extracted program. can do. As a result, the recording device 21 records (records) the video signal and audio signal of the user's favorite program based on the preference information input by the user or the user's past viewing / operation history. It can be displayed on the display device 61 and viewed by the user.

  The key input accepting unit 57 accepts preference information input by a user through key operations, for example, through communication from the remote controller 51.

  The user profile management unit 55 manages the preference information received by the key input reception unit 57 as a user profile. Further, the user profile management unit 55 acquires the preference information estimated based on the history information from the user preference learning unit 53 and manages it as a user profile.

  The recording device 21 manages the user preference based on the guess / learned user preference information managed by the user profile management unit 55 and the user preference information input by the user via the key input reception unit 57. Can be recorded or displayed on the display device 61 to allow the user to view the program.

  The history information management unit 29 and the user preference learning unit 53 will be described later.

  Next, the integration process of a plurality of program information groups will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of program information group integration processing in the recording device 21. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of program information used in the recording device 21 and an example of integration of program information. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of program information group integration processing in the recording device 21. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of program information group integration processing in the recording device 21.

  The integration process of a plurality of program information groups will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S201, the program information group receiving units 11A and 11B shown in FIG. 1 receive the program information groups A and B from the two program information group transmitting devices 31 shown in FIG. Each of the received program information groups A and B usually includes a plurality of broadcast stations and a plurality of program information corresponding to a plurality of days.

  Each of the program information has a plurality of items including program schedule information and information related to the contents of the program. Each of these items includes item identification information (identifier such as an identification number, item name, etc.) for identifying the item, and information content of the item (item value, typically associated with the item identification information). Item content information indicating a character string variable).

  The program information group integration unit 15 receives the program information groups A and B from the program information group reception units 11A and 11B and stores them in a program information storage unit (not shown) in a predetermined data structure. Thereafter, the program information group integration unit 15 reads out necessary information from the program information storage unit and performs processing.

  Next, in step S202, the program information group integration unit 15 determines whether the processing of the program information for the number of days acquired by the program information group reception units 11A and 11B has been completed. If processing of the acquired program information for the number of days has been completed (YES in step S202), the integration processing is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the processing of the acquired program information for the number of days has not ended (in the case of NO in step S202), the program information group integration unit 15 selects one day of the program information on the unprocessed days. After performing the processes of steps S203 to S208 for the information, the process returns to step S202. Therefore, the program information group integration unit 15 performs steps S203 to S208 until there is no program information for an unprocessed day in the program information for the number of days received in step S201 (until YES in step S202). Repeat the process.

  Next, when program information on an unprocessed day is found in step S202 (in the case of NO in step S202), the program information group integration unit 15 determines the program information for one day of unprocessed program information in step S203. It is determined whether or not the processing of the program information for the number of broadcasting stations acquired by the information group receiving units 11A and 11B has been completed.

  If the processing of the acquired program information for the number of broadcast stations has been completed (YES in step S203), the process returns to step S202. On the other hand, if the processing of the program information for the number of acquired broadcast stations has not been completed (NO in step S203), the program information group integration unit 15 performs step S204 to step S204 for program information of unprocessed broadcast stations. After performing the process of S208, the process returns to step S203.

  Therefore, the program information group integration unit 15 performs the processing in steps S204 to S208 until there is no program information of an unprocessed broadcast station included in the program information on the day to be processed (until YES in step S203). repeat.

  When program information of an unprocessed broadcast station is found in step S203 (in the case of NO in step S203), the program information group integration unit 15 obtains from each of the plurality of received program information groups A and B in step S204. The currently processed date and broadcast station program information group (hereinafter referred to as “partial information group A ′” and “partial information group B ′” respectively) are acquired and included in partial information groups A ′ and B ′. Find the number of program information to be played.

  Then, in step S204, the program information group integration unit 15 sets the program information group (A ′ or B ′) with the larger number of program information among the acquired partial information groups A ′ and B ′ as the reference program information group. decide.

  A specific example will be described based on the EPG of FIG. The EPG of FIG. 6 shows one program information in one cell. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the number of program information (cells) of the A broadcast station is 24 in the program information group A received by the program information group receiving unit 11A and 22 in the program information group B. The program information of the A broadcast station in the program information group A is set as the reference program information group of the A broadcast station.

  When the number of program information of C TV is 20 in the program information group A received by the program information group receiving unit 11A and 23 in the program information group B received by the program information group receiving unit 11B, the program information group B The program information of the C television station in is a reference program information group of C television. When three or more program information groups are acquired, the program information group having the largest number of program information among them may be determined as the reference program information group.

  The program information group integration unit 15 may be configured to determine the reference program information group collectively for the entire program information group, or may be configured to determine the reference program information group for each program information. (1) Same program A configuration in which the reference program information is determined for each broadcasting station when processing for creating one of the program information constituting the integrated program information group based on the plurality of program information regarding the programs of a plurality of broadcasting stations, or (2) When processing for creating one of program information constituting an integrated program information group based on a plurality of program information related to the same program is performed for a program of a plurality of dates, the reference program information is set for each date. It is more preferable that the configuration is determined.

  In step S204, the program information group integration unit 15 stores the reference program information group in a reference program information group storage unit (not shown) with a predetermined data structure.

  Next, in step S205, the program information group integration unit 15 performs the reference program information on the reference program information group (the date currently being processed and the reference program information group of the broadcasting station) stored in the reference program information group storage unit. It is determined whether or not processing of a plurality of pieces of program information (hereinafter referred to as “reference program information”) constituting the group is finished.

  If processing of all the reference program information constituting the reference program information group has been completed (YES in step S205), the process returns to step S203. On the other hand, if the processing of all the reference program information constituting the reference program information group has not been completed (NO in step S205), the program information group integration unit 15 performs steps S206 to S206 on the unprocessed reference program information. After performing the process of S208, the process returns to step S205.

  Therefore, the program information group integration unit 15 performs steps S206 to 208 until there is no unprocessed reference program information in the reference program information group created in step S204 (until YES in step S205). Repeat the process.

  When unprocessed reference program information is found in step S205 (NO in step S205), the program information group integration unit 15 determines the broadcast station name, start date and time, end date and time, etc., for the program of the reference program information in step S206. Is used to acquire program information related to the same program from the program information groups other than the reference program information group among the received program information groups A and B.

Based on the specific example corresponding to FIG. 13, the program information group integration unit 15 acquires program information related to the same program as the program of the reference program information using information on the broadcast station name, start date and time, and end date and time. I will explain. For example, the reference program information is the following program information α and β
[Program information α]
Broadcasting station name: Educational broadcasting Broadcasting start time: 200X X XX day 23:00
Broadcast end time: 200X X XX 23:10
Genre: Liberal Title: [S] English conversation of 100 words Program content:-(none)
[Program information β]
Broadcasting station name: Educational broadcasting Broadcasting start time: 200X X month XX day 23:10
Broadcast end time: 200X X XX day 23:30
Genre: Liberal Arts Title: Convincing Japanese Course [Many] Words that Train the Mind (4)
Program contents:-(none)
Suppose that In addition, program information corresponding to the reference program information included in another program information group (program information group other than the reference program information group) includes program information γ including information on the following two programs:
[Program information γ]
Broadcasting station name: Educational broadcasting Broadcasting start time: 200X X XX day 23:00
Broadcast end time: 200X X XX day 23:30
Genre: Liberal Title: [S] English Conversation ◇ [Many] Convincing Japanese Course Program Content:-(None)
Suppose that

  In program information including information relating to a plurality of programs, generally, titles and program contents (explanatory texts) have information for each program as in program information γ, while other information does not have information for each program. Hereinafter, items having information for each program are referred to as “program-specific items”.

  Moreover, in program information including information on a plurality of programs, information (information contents) for each program item, particularly title information, is generally described by arranging information for each program in time order like program information γ, It is a format in which a delimiter (“◇” is often used) is inserted between information for each program.

  In this example, program information relating to the same program as the program of the reference program information can be acquired by the following method. That is, program information whose broadcast station name is the same as the reference program information and at least one of the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time is the same as the reference program information is selected from the program information groups other than the reference program information group. Search for.

  Thereby, the program information γ related to the same program as the program of the reference program information can be acquired. Further, when the broadcast end time of the acquired program information γ is different from the reference program information (when the reference program information is the program information α), a delimiter (“◇”) in the program-specific item (title) of the program information γ ) Is associated with the reference program information (program information α).

  When the broadcast start time of the acquired program information γ is different from the reference program information (when the reference program information is the program information β), a separator (“◇”) in the program-specific item (title) of the acquired program information γ ) Is associated with the reference program information (program information β). As a result, information on program-specific items (titles) related to the same program as the reference program information can be acquired from the program information γ including information related to a plurality of programs.

  Conversely, consider an example in which the reference program information is program information γ. Also in this example, the program information whose broadcast station name is the same as the reference program information and at least one of the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time is the same as the reference program information is assigned to the program information group other than the reference program information group. Search from within. Thereby, the program information α and β related to the same program as the program of the reference program information can be acquired.

  Further, when two pieces of program information are acquired, the program-specific item (title) of the program information α having the earlier broadcast time among the two program information is replaced with the program-specific item (title) of the program information γ. ) In the program information item (title) of the program information β of the program information γ, which is associated with the information of the part before the delimiter character (“◇”) in the program information γ. Correspond to the information in the part before ("◇").

  As a result, information on program-specific items (titles) related to the same program as the reference program information can be acquired from the program information γ including information related to a plurality of programs.

  Further, in the acquisition method using the information on the broadcast station name, the start date and time, and the end date and time, a broadcast station identifier that identifies the broadcast station may be used instead of the broadcast station name. When only the program information groups A and B related to one broadcasting station are processed, the broadcasting station name (or broadcasting station identifier) may not be used.

  In addition, when the program information included in the program information groups A and B has a program identifier for each program, instead of the acquisition method using the broadcast station name, start date and time, and end date and time information, A method of acquiring program information related to the same program as the program of the reference program information using the program identifier can be adopted.

  Further, when the program information included in the program information groups A and B has title information for each program, and the description of the title information matches between the program information group A and the program information group B Can adopt a method of acquiring program information related to the same program as the program of the reference program information using title information, instead of the acquisition method using the information on the broadcast station name, start date and time, and end date and time.

  If there is program information including information on three or more programs in the program information group, the above acquisition method using information on the broadcast station name, start date and time, and end date and time cannot be used. Need to use other methods.

  Thereafter, in step S207, content information that is lacking in the reference program information or content information that is more detailed than the reference program information is specified from the program information acquired in step S206.

  More specifically, in step S207, first, information of each item of the reference program information is copied to the data structure of the integrated program information. That is, the program information group integration unit 15 includes an item that is not included in the reference program information when there is an item that is not included in the reference program information among a plurality of items preset as the data structure of the integrated program information. Is added to the reference program information to create basic program information.

  On the other hand, the program information group integration unit 15 has the same data structure as the data structure of the integrated program information set in advance (when the reference program information has a plurality of items set in advance). The reference program information is used as basic program information as it is.

  Next, the program information group integration unit 15 acquires program information (hereinafter referred to as “other program information”) related to the same program as the program of the reference program information acquired from the program information group different from the reference program information group in step S208. It is determined whether the deficient portion of the basic program information can be supplemented.

  That is, the program information group integration unit 15 is an item in which item content information is missing among a plurality of items of basic program information and the corresponding item is present in other program information (hereinafter, “information missing” It is determined whether there is an item. In addition, the program information group integration unit 15 includes an item in which the corresponding item exists in the other program information among the plurality of items of the reference program information, and the information amount is smaller than the corresponding item of the other program information. (Hereinafter referred to as “small information amount item”) is determined.

  The amount of information is compared when the item information is character information such as a program title or program content, and an evaluation criterion that can capture the user's preference, for example, the number of keywords or the number of characters included in the character information. Compare as follows. As a keyword extraction method, for example, a word that can be a keyword is stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown), and it is determined whether the word is included in the character information of the program information by matching a character string. In such a case, a method of using the word as a keyword can be mentioned. Another extraction method includes a method in which content information is analyzed by text to extract nouns and proper nouns, and the extracted words are used as keywords. Further, when the program information group transmitting device 31 preliminarily designates a program keyword based on tag information or meta information included in the program information, the program information is transmitted to the program information based on the tag information or meta information of the program information. You may extract the keyword of a corresponding program. Note that items whose information amount differs depending on program information are generally some items such as program titles and program contents. Therefore, whether there is a small information amount item is determined based on some items such as program titles and program contents. It only needs to be done for items, not all items.

  Further, the program information group integration unit 15 creates integrated program information by writing the content information of the other program information specified in step S207 in the content information column of the basic program information. At this time, with respect to the program title and program content, more detailed information (information with a large amount of information) based on an evaluation criterion that can capture the user's preference, for example, information with the largest number of keywords or characters included in character information May be held.

  Furthermore, when a keyword is extracted from a program title or program content, the extracted keyword is stored as a new keyword or related information of the integrated program information as a preference keyword, and the preference keyword is used for preference extraction. be able to. Furthermore, if information such as how much the keyword is included in the reference program information and other program information is held, it can be used for weighting when extracting preferences.

  That is, when the program information group integration unit 15 determines that there is an information missing item in the plurality of items of the basic program information, the program information group integration unit 15 supplements the information missing item in the basic program information with the corresponding item of the other program information. Further, when the program information group integration unit 15 determines that there is a small information amount item among the plurality of items of the basic program information, the small information amount item in the basic program information is replaced with an item corresponding to other program information. Replace.

  Thus, integrated program information in which the information amount of some items is larger than the basic program information can be created. An integrated program information group can be configured by collecting a plurality of created integrated program information.

  A specific example of steps S207 and S208 will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, program information in program information group A (hereinafter referred to as “program information A”) is reference program information, and program information in program information group B (hereinafter referred to as “program information B”). Other program information.

  In this example, the program information group integration unit 15, as shown in FIG. 7, each item of the standard program information (broadcast station, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, genre, subgenre, title, program content, performer) Is copied to the data structure of the integrated program information (data structure with broadcast station, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, genre, subgenre, title, subtitle, program content, keyword, and performer as items) Create basic program information.

  Then, the basic program information lacks subtitle, keyword, and performer item data (item content information). Therefore, if these items exist in the other program information, the program information group integration unit 15 creates the integrated program information by copying the information of the item in the other program information to the item of the basic program information. To do.

  In this case, since the performer item exists in the other program information, the program information group integration unit 15 copies the performer item information in the other program information to the performer item in the basic program information. To create integrated program information.

  In the above description, the information missing item and the small information amount item in the plurality of items of the basic program information are complemented with the corresponding items of the other program information. However, only one of the information missing item and the small information amount item in the plurality of items of the basic program information may be supplemented with the corresponding item of the other program information.

  Further, the program information group integration unit 15 may create integrated program information so as to retain all items that do not overlap from the items of the program information A and the program information B regarding the same program. That is, the program information group integration unit 15 removes items of the same content from a plurality of program information A and B related to the same program, and combines all the remaining items, thereby forming integrated program information (integrated program information group). One piece of program information) to be created.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the program information group integration unit 15 includes the items “broadcast station”, “broadcast start time”, “broadcast end time”, and “broadcast end time” from the plurality of program information A and B related to the same program. The integrated program information is created by combining all the remaining items “sub-genre”, “title”, “program content”, and “performer” except for “genre”.

  In this case, if the same item having different information (item content information) exists in the program information A and B, the integrated program information has a plurality of the same items. For example, when the program content information of the program information A and B is different, the integrated program information has two different program content information.

  In this way, when the integrated program information has a plurality of the same items, the program information group integration unit 15 sets one of the program information A and B as the reference program information and the other as the other program information, and sets the reference program information item (for example, Program content) is an item of integrated program information, and other program information items are stored in supplemental items (for example, supplemental items of program content). The reference program information may be selected by the method described above.

  As described above, the program information group integration unit 15 can create, for example, the integrated program information shown in FIG. 7, the integrated program information shown in FIG.

  When the user inputs the preference information of the performer “Nishida △△”, the recording device that can receive only the conventional program information group B can extract the program “Detective Scoops” in FIG. In the recording apparatus that can receive only the program information group A, the program information of the program “Detective's Scoop” in the program information group A does not include performer information, so the program “Detective's Scoop” Can not be extracted.

  As for other programs X, contrary to the above example, performer information of program X may be included only in program information group A and not included in program information group B. In this case, in the recording apparatus that can receive only the conventional program information group A, the program X can be extracted. However, in the recording apparatus that can receive only the conventional program information group B, the program X can be extracted. I can't.

  On the other hand, in the recording apparatus 21 having the function of creating the integrated program information group from the program information groups A and B according to the present embodiment, both the program “Detective Scoops” and the program X are extracted. Is possible.

  In addition, when the user inputs preference information called the program title “discussion discussion”, the recording device that can receive only the conventional program information group A can extract “discussion discussion” in FIG. In a recording apparatus that can receive only the information group B, the title information of the program “discussion discussion” in the program information group B is a simplified title, and therefore, the “discussion discussion” is extracted. I can't.

  As for other programs Y, contrary to the above example, the title information of the program Y in the program information group A is simplified, and the title information of the program Y in the program information group B is not simplified. is there. In this case, in the recording apparatus that can receive only the conventional program information group B, the program Y can be extracted. However, in the recording apparatus that can receive only the conventional program information group A, the program Y can be extracted. I can't.

  On the other hand, in the recording apparatus 21 having the function of creating the integrated program information group from the program information groups A and B according to the present embodiment, both the program Y and the program “discussion discussion” can be extracted. It becomes possible.

  Thus, by integrating a plurality of program information groups (A and B) into an integrated program information group, information such as program title, genre information, program content, keywords, performers, etc. can be enhanced. It becomes easier to search for a program that matches the user's preference information.

  Furthermore, when content information enriched by integration of program information groups is used, it is easy to extract keywords representing program characteristics, and it is easy to extract user preference information in user preference learning based on history information described later.

  As described above, according to the recording apparatus 21 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of pieces of program information are used to internally create more detailed program information, and the user's preference can be met from one piece of program information. Compared with the case of recommending program information, a program information extracting device with less leakage of recommended programs can be realized, and therefore, the present invention can be widely used in various systems such as a program viewing system and a program recording system.

  In the above description, the program information group integration unit 15 selects a program information group having a larger number of program information for each day and for each broadcasting station among the plurality of program information groups (A and B). The configuration in which the program information to which the program belongs belongs to the reference program information has been described.

  However, the present invention is not limited to this. The program information group integration unit 15 includes the total number of program information, the number of program information for each broadcasting station, and the unit time (every day, 1 day) among the plurality of program information groups acquired by the program information group reception units 11A and 11B. Program information belonging to a program information group having a larger (most) program information number (such as every week) may be determined as reference program information.

  Further, for example, the program information group integration unit 15 obtains a broadcast time (program duration) from the start time and end time of each program from each program information group, and sets the program information group having a shorter broadcast time as a reference program as a whole. It may be information.

  In the above description, the program information group integration unit 15 that integrates a plurality of program information groups to create an integrated program information group is configured to supplement information lacking in the reference program information with other program information. The configuration has been described in which the same information is removed from each program information and all the remaining information is retained. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, the program information group integration unit 15 may be configured as an integrated program information group by collecting the most detailed program information for each program from a plurality of program information groups (A and B). That is, the program information group integration unit 15 converts the program information having a larger amount of information (the largest amount) for each program among the plurality of program information (A and B) related to the same program into the integrated program information (integrated program information group). (One of the program information that constitutes).

  Next, the history information management unit 29 and the user preference learning unit 53 related to the acquisition of preference information using history information will be described.

  The history information management unit 29 and the user preference learning unit 53 in the recording apparatus 21 according to the present embodiment are previously operated by the operation reception unit 23 in the program information included in the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17. It functions as a preference information acquisition unit that acquires preference information based on program information of a program in which a channel selection operation (such as a viewing operation) and / or a recording reservation operation (such as a recording reservation operation) has been detected.

  The history information management unit 29 manages history information indicating the recording reservation operation and viewing operation of the program received by the operation receiving unit 23. The user preference learning unit 53 grasps the content of the operated program based on the history information and the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17, and extracts the characteristics of the content by extracting the feature of the user. Guess / learn preferences.

  More specifically, the history information management unit 29 acquires the program period and channel for which recording is instructed based on the recording reservation operation, and indicates that the program period, channel and recording reservation operation are to be recorded. The history information can be created in combination with the information shown. Further, the history information management unit 29 acquires the start time and channel of the program instructed to be viewed based on the user's channel selection operation and the current time, for example, and the period, channel, and viewing of the program to be viewed The history information can be created as a combination with information indicating an operation. The history information management unit 29 can specify the end point of viewing by, for example, an operation for instructing the end of viewing (such as an operation for turning off the power) or a switching operation for another channel.

  The user preference learning unit 53 extracts the feature of the program contents by extracting keywords. The user preference learning unit 53 determines how much each keyword is in line with the user's preference (the preference degree of the keyword) based on the appearance frequency (number of appearances) and the number of broadcasts of each keyword.

  In addition, the user profile management unit 55 according to the present embodiment stores the keyword and information indicating the degree of preference (for example, the appearance frequency, the number of broadcasts, the degree of preference itself, and the like described later) in association with each other, thereby storing the preference information Is remembered.

  As the keyword, for example, a program title, a performer, a word included in a program description, or the like is preferably used. Moreover, as a keyword in the user preference learning part 53, when the preference keyword is extracted beforehand at the time of this issue program information creation, it is good to use these as a keyword. As a keyword extraction method when not extracted in advance, a word that can be a keyword is stored in a storage unit (not shown) in advance, and whether the word is included in the content information of the program information by matching character strings If the word is included in the content information of the program information, there is a method of using the word as a keyword. Another keyword extraction method in the user preference learning unit 53 includes a method in which content information is analyzed by text, nouns and proper nouns are extracted, and the extracted words are used as keywords. Further, when the program information group transmitted by the program information group transmitting device 31 preliminarily designates a program keyword by tag information or meta information included in the program information, the user preference learning unit 53 You may extract the keyword of the program corresponding to program information based on the tag information or meta information of information.

  Regardless of the keyword extraction method in the user preference learning unit 53, the user profile management unit 55 stores the appearance frequency in association with each keyword as shown in FIG. After extracting the keyword, the user preference learning unit 53 updates the appearance frequency of the keyword managed by the user profile management unit 55 when the extracted keyword is stored in the user profile management unit 55. .

  On the other hand, when the extracted keyword is not stored in the user profile management unit 55, the user preference learning unit 53 registers the extracted keyword in the user profile management unit 55 as a new keyword.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the ratio of the appearance frequency to the number of broadcasts is adopted as the preference level, and the user preference learning unit 53 performs, for example, the program information management unit 17 by an inquiry to the program information management unit 17. It is determined whether or not each keyword is included in the content information of the integrated program information group managed by the user. If the keyword is included, the number of broadcasts stored in association with the keyword is updated.

  The preference level may be calculated from the appearance frequency and the number of broadcasts whenever necessary, but in the example of FIG. 9, the user profile management unit 55 stores the preference level in association with each keyword, When the keyword appearance frequency or the number of broadcasts is updated, the user preference learning unit 53 also updates the preference degree of the keyword.

  In addition, the user preference learning unit 53 according to the present embodiment estimates / learns user preferences for each program genre in order to improve the accuracy of estimation / learning. Specifically, the user profile management unit 55 according to the present embodiment manages the appearance frequency and the number of broadcasts of the keyword for each genre as shown in FIG. In addition, the user preference learning unit 53 identifies the genre of the program indicated by the program information based on the genre information included in the content information of the program information, and the user preference management unit 55 selects the genre of the genre. The preference data is updated. In addition, when employ | adopting the extraction method which memorize | stores the word which can become a keyword beforehand in the memory | storage part which is not illustrated among the said extraction methods, the user preference learning part 53 memorize | stores the word group which can be a keyword for every genre. deep.

  Note that the user profile management unit 55 according to the present embodiment stores the preference information whose contents are input by the user as well as the estimated / learned preference information.

  In the above configuration, the processing when learning the user's preference will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the time at which the processing is performed may be various times such as the time when the operation receiving unit 23 receives an operation. In the present embodiment, as an example, the time is determined in advance from the time when the previous learning process is performed. A case where the user's preference is learned at the time when the given period has elapsed (that is, the learning process is performed at a predetermined cycle) will be described.

  That is, when the user preference learning unit 53 detects that it is time to perform the learning process, in step S301, the user preference learning unit 53 reads the history information from the history information management unit 29, and there is no unlearned history information. Until the above (until YES in step S302), the following steps S303 to S306 are performed.

  Specifically, when unlearned history information is found in step S302 (in the case of NO in step S302), the user preference learning unit 53 is included in one of the unlearned history information in step S303. The integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17 is referred to based on the information on the program period and channel, and the program information of the program broadcast on the channel during the period is included in the integrated program information group. Get from.

  Furthermore, the user preference learning unit 53 acquires genre information included in the program information in step S304, and extracts keyword information from the program information in step S305, or a program included in the program information. Keywords are extracted from the content information by text analysis or the like. In step S306, for each keyword acquired or extracted, the appearance frequency of the keyword is updated.

  The processes in steps S303 to S306 are repeated while there is unlearned history information. When there is no unlearned history information (YES in step S302), the user preference learning unit 53 In S311, all program information broadcast after the previous learning process is acquired from the integrated program information group managed by the program information management unit 17, and the user profile is acquired based on the program information. The number of broadcasts of each keyword stored in the management unit 55 is updated. Further, in step S312, the user preference learning unit 53 determines the preference level of the keyword (the ratio of the appearance frequency to the broadcast frequency) based on the appearance frequency and the broadcast frequency stored in association with each keyword in the user profile management unit 55. ).

  Thus, for example, a program that matches the keyword “SF” and belongs to the “movie” category from the previous learning time point to the current learning time point is broadcast six times. If one is viewed, the user profile management unit 55 stores the user profile group (preference information) shown in FIG. 11 from the state where the user profile group (preference information) shown in FIG. 9 is stored. Transition to the state. That is, in the state shown in FIG. 11, the appearance frequency of the user profile with the genre “movie” and the keyword “SF” is increased by 1 and the number of broadcasts is increased by 6 compared to the state shown in FIG. In addition, with the update of the appearance frequency and the number of broadcasts, the preference level of each user profile (the ratio of the appearance frequency to the number of broadcasts) is updated.

  In the above, as an example, the case where the user preference learning unit 53 can operate the user profile at a sufficient speed without being read into the work area is described as an example. 21 performs the update process of the user profile in steps S301 to S312 on the work area, and may write the contents of the work area to the user profile management unit 55 after the process of step S312 ends. .

  The user preference learning process is repeated at predetermined timings (in the above example, at regular intervals), and the user preference is estimated / learned based on a user operation.

  Next, program recommendation processing by the program search unit 19 will be described with reference to FIG. That is, first, in step S401, the program information group receiving units 11A and 11B shown in FIG. 2 receive the program information groups A and B from the two program information group transmitting devices 31 shown in FIG. Further, the program information group integration unit 15 creates an integrated program information group from the plurality of program information groups A and B and stores it in the program information management unit 17.

  When the integrated program information group is stored in the program information management unit 17, the program search unit 19 determines that the preference degree is predetermined from the user profile (preference information) managed by the user profile management unit 55 in step S 402. Read keywords above threshold.

  Further, the program search unit 19 repeats the process of step S404 until there is no unprocessed keyword in the keywords read out in step S402 (NO in step S403). Specifically, in step S404, the program search unit 19 selects one of the keywords read in step S402 from the program information included in the integrated program information stored in the program information management unit 17 as content information. The program information included in (program content information, title information, performer information, keyword information, etc.) is searched, and the search result is stored.

  The process of step S404 is performed for all the read keywords. When there is no keyword read out other than the processed keyword (YES in step S403), program search unit 19 in step S405 all the program information searched so far in order of broadcast period. In step S406, the program indicated by the program information is presented to the user as a recommended program (for example, at least a part of the program information is displayed as recommended program information on the display device 61).

  As described above, the recording processing unit 27 according to the present embodiment can record the program (the recommended program) extracted by the program search unit 19 based on the preference information. In addition, the program display unit 25 according to the present embodiment can display the program extracted by the program search unit 19 based on the preference information on the display device 61 and allow the user to view the program. Thereby, even if the user does not designate the program to be recorded / viewed each time, the recording device 21 can record the program according to the user's preference or allow the user to view the program.

  In the above description, for example, a configuration has been described in which the ratio of the number of appearances to the number of broadcasts is calculated as the preference level, but is not limited thereto. For example, the preference degree may be calculated by another calculation method such as a method of calculating the preference degree based only on the appearance frequency, or a method of calculating the ratio between the appearance frequency and time as the preference degree.

  However, in this embodiment, when calculating the degree of preference, information that changes according to the frequency of including keywords in the program information of all programs (for example, the number of broadcasts) is used. The preference information can be changed according to the frequency of including the keyword. Therefore, for example, a high-frequency keyword can be estimated in accordance with the frequency, such as estimating a low preference level as a general keyword, and accuracy in estimating the preference level can be improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when calculating the degree of preference, information that changes according to the frequency with which the keyword is included in the program information of the operated program (for example, the number of appearances) is used. The preference level information can be changed according to the frequency with which keywords are included in the program information of the program. Therefore, for example, it is possible to perform estimation according to the number of operations, such as estimating a preference level of a keyword that frequently appears from the program information of the program to be operated, thereby improving accuracy when estimating the preference level. .

  In the above description, the recording apparatus 21 can acquire both the preference information input by the user and the preference information estimated from the history information. However, the recording device 21 may be configured to acquire only one of these preference information.

  In the above description, an example in which user profiles as preference information are managed separately for each genre has been described. However, user profiles may be managed collectively regardless of genres.

  Further, in the above description, in the recording device 21 as the program information processing device, the following members, that is, detection means (operation receiving unit 23 and history information management unit 29) for detecting an operation on the program by the user, Of the integrated program information group obtained by integrating the program information group acquired by the information group receiving units 11A and 11B by the program information group integrating unit 15, the user preference for estimating the user's preference based on the program information of the operated program Based on the learning unit 53 and the user's preference information estimated by the user preference learning unit 53 or the preference information directly input by the user via the key input receiving unit 57, the user's preference information is selected from the program group. There is provided a program search unit 19 for extracting a program determined to match the preference, and the recording device 21 records the extracted program or is viewed by the user. A configuration has been described to or. However, the program information processing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this.

  That is, these detection means (the operation receiving unit 23 and the history information management unit 29), the user preference learning unit 53, and the program search unit 19 are moved from the recording device 21 to a device outside the recording device 21, and the recording device 21 The integrated program information group created by the program information group integration unit 15 may be output to an external device. For example, the display device 61 includes these detection means, the user preference learning unit 53, and the program search unit 19, and the program information group integration unit 15 outputs the integrated program information group to the user preference learning unit 53 in the display device 61. You may make it do. In this case, a combination of the recording device 21 and the display device 61 allows the user's desired program information to be extracted by extracting the program information based on the preference information estimated / learned or the preference information input by the user. A device can be realized.

  Further, components other than the program information group receiving units 11A and 11B and the program information group integrating unit 15 in the recording device 21 are omitted, and the integrated program information group created by the program information group integrating unit 15 is output to an external device. It is good also as an apparatus. Thereby, the external device can perform processing using the integrated program information group created by the program information group integration unit 15. For example, when the external device is a display device capable of displaying the program information group as an EPG, the display device uses the integrated program information group created by the program information group integration unit 15 to use the program information group A and Compared with the case where one of B is used, an EPG with rich contents can be displayed.

  In addition, the above-described recording device 21 was capable of both viewing and recording a program. However, the program information processing device according to the present invention has a configuration capable of only one of them, for example, a recording reservation function. There may be no television etc.

  In the above invention, the case where the program is broadcast by the program broadcasting station has been described, but the program distribution form is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a system (such as an on-demand video distribution system) that distributes a program only to a specific partner through communication. In the present invention, the program is not limited to a combination of video and audio such as a television broadcast program as long as the program is distributed according to the schedule. The present invention can be widely applied to arbitrary programs such as video-only programs, audio-only programs (such as radio broadcasts), and data-only programs (such as data broadcast programs).

  Further, the detection means (the operation receiving unit 23 and the history information management unit 29), the user preference learning unit 53, and the program search unit 19 are different from devices such as the recording device 21 and the display device 61 that receive an operation on the program. It is made independent as a device, and another device can instruct recording or display to a device such as the recording device 21 or the display device 61. Moreover, recording and viewing operations on the recording device 21 and the display device 61 can be performed. It may be possible to detect.

  Note that the program information does not necessarily need to include item identification information associated with item content information. The program information may not include item identification information, and item content information of each item may be described at a fixed position in the program information. For example, as shown in the following example, the program information may be program information in which one item is defined by one line, and the number of lines of each program is indicated in a fixed format.

[Example]
TV XXX
2004.09.09 19:00
2004.09.09 20:54
Sports Professional baseball "Osaka x Tokyo"
Professional baseball ~ △ ○ Baseball field “Osaka × Tokyo” Commentary: Fukuda ○ ×
#
TV XXX
2004.09.09 20:54
2004.09.09 21.00
......
In this example, if a table indicating the correspondence between each row and item of program information is stored in the storage unit in the recording device 21 in advance, the program information group integration unit 15 may select each row of program information based on this table. Can be associated with items. Even in this example, the process of creating basic program information in step S207 can be realized. That is, in this example, in step S207, the program information group integration unit 15 copies the information of each line of the reference program information to the data structure of the integrated program information, and a plurality of lines set in advance as the data structure of the integrated program information. When there is a line (for example, 6th line) that is not included in the reference program information (for example, 6 lines), a blank (NULL) line is added to a line that is not included in the reference program information in the reference program information. Basic program information can be created. Therefore, even if it is the said format, there can exist an effect similar to the above-mentioned embodiment.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Finally, each block of the recording device 21, particularly the program information group integration unit 15, may be configured by hardware logic, or may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  In the above-described embodiment, each member constituting the recording device 21 is “a functional block that is realized when a calculation unit such as a CPU executes a program code stored in a recording medium such as a ROM or a RAM”. The case (that is, the case where it is realized by software using an arithmetic means such as a CPU) has been described as an example, but may be realized by hardware that performs the same processing. Further, it can also be realized by combining hardware that performs a part of the processing and the above arithmetic means that executes the program code that performs control of the hardware and the remaining processing. Further, even among the members described above as hardware, the hardware for performing a part of the processing and the arithmetic means for executing the program code for performing the control of the hardware and the remaining processing It can also be realized by combining them. The arithmetic means may be a single unit, or a plurality of arithmetic means connected via a bus inside the apparatus or various communication paths may execute the program code jointly. The storage unit (the user profile management unit 55 and the program information management unit 17) among the above members may be a storage device itself such as a memory.

  The program code itself that can be directly executed by the computing means, or a program as data that can be generated by a process such as decompression described later, stores the program (program code or the data) in a recording medium, The recording medium is distributed, or the above program is transmitted by a communication means for transmitting via a wired or wireless communication path, and distributed to the recording device 21 or the broadcast program recording system 2. The recording device 21 is realized by the calculation means executing the program stored in the recording medium or the received program.

  When transmitting via a communication path, each transmission medium which comprises a communication path propagates the signal sequence which shows a program, and thereby the said program is transmitted via the said communication path. In this case, the program is fluidly carried in the transmission medium or the apparatus constituting the communication path. Further, when transmitting the signal sequence, the transmission device may superimpose the signal sequence on the carrier by modulating the carrier with the signal sequence indicating the program. In this case, the signal sequence is restored by the receiving apparatus demodulating the carrier wave. On the other hand, when transmitting the signal sequence, the transmission device may divide and transmit the signal sequence as a digital data sequence. In this case, the receiving apparatus concatenates the received packet groups and restores the signal sequence. Further, when the transmission apparatus transmits a signal sequence, the signal sequence may be multiplexed with another signal sequence and transmitted by a method such as time division / frequency division / code division. In this case, the receiving apparatus extracts and restores individual signal sequences from the multiplexed signal sequence. In either case, the same effect can be obtained if the program can be transmitted via the communication path.

  If the computer is equipped with a modem and can be connected to a communication network including the Internet, the download program for downloading from the communication network may be stored in the main device in advance, or from another recording medium May be installed.

  Here, it is preferable that the recording medium for distributing the program is removable, but it does not matter whether the recording medium after distributing the program is removable. In addition, the recording medium can be rewritten (written), volatile, or the recording method and shape as long as a program is stored. As an example of the recording medium, a tape such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magneto-optical disk (MO), a mini disk ( MD) and digital video disc (digital versatile disc). The recording medium is a card such as an IC (integrated circuit) card or an optical card, or a semiconductor memory such as a mask ROM, EPROM (ultraviolet erasable ROM), EEPROM (electrically erasable ROM), or flash ROM. It may be. Or the memory formed in calculating means, such as CPU, may be sufficient. The recording medium may store not only the program but also data accessed by the program and other arbitrary data.

  The program code may be a code for instructing the arithmetic means of all the procedures of the processes, or a basic program capable of executing a part or all of the processes by calling according to a predetermined procedure. If (for example, an operating system or a library) already exists, a part or all of the entire procedure may be replaced with a code or a pointer that instructs the arithmetic means to call the basic program.

  The format for storing the program in the recording medium may be a storage format that can be accessed and executed by the arithmetic means, for example, as in a state where the program is stored in the real memory, or is stored in the real memory. Installed in the local recording medium from the storage format after being installed in a local recording medium (for example, real memory or hard disk) that is always accessible by the computing means, or from a network or a transportable recording medium The previous storage format may be used. Further, the program is not limited to the compiled object code, but may be stored as source code or intermediate code generated during interpretation or compilation. In any case, the above calculation is performed by a process such as decompression of compressed information, decoding of encoded information, interpretation, compilation, linking, allocation to real memory, or a combination of processes. If the means can be converted into an executable format, the same effect can be obtained regardless of the format in which the program is stored in the recording medium.

  As an example, after the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted in the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is based on the instruction of the program code. An arithmetic unit such as a CPU provided in the expansion board or the function expansion unit may perform part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments may be realized by the processing.

  The present invention can also be expressed as follows.

  [1] Program information acquisition means for acquiring a plurality of program information including a program schedule and program contents, and program information integration means for integrating the plurality of program information acquired by the program information acquisition means into one program information A program information extraction device comprising preference information acquisition means for acquiring preference information indicating user preferences and program information extraction means for extracting program information corresponding to the preference information.

  According to this configuration, the program information extracting means can extract program information corresponding to preference information from the integrated program information created from the plurality of acquired program information, and a program information extracting device that is easy for the user to use. realizable.

  [2] In the above [1], the program information integration unit creates reference program information from the acquired plurality of program information, and supplements information lacking in the reference program information with other program information, A program information extraction apparatus that integrates program information.

  [3] In the above [2], the program information integration unit uses the program information having the largest number of programs per day for each broadcasting station as reference program information.

  [4] The program information extracting device according to [3], wherein the reference program information can be set for each broadcasting station.

  [5] The program information extraction device according to [3], wherein the reference program information can be set for each day.

  [6] The program information extracting apparatus according to [1], wherein the program information integration unit integrates program information by collecting the most detailed program information for each program from the acquired program information.

  [7] The program information extracting apparatus according to [1], wherein the program information integration unit removes the same information from the acquired program information and retains all the remaining information.

  According to the configurations [6] and [7], more detailed integrated program information can be created by a simple process using a plurality of program information.

  [8] The program information extraction device according to [1], wherein the preference information acquisition unit receives preference information indicating a preference input by a user.

  [9] In the above [1], the information processing device further includes detection means for detecting an operation on the program by the user, and the preference information acquisition means includes the program of the operated program among the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means. A program information extraction device that acquires preference information by estimating a user's preference based on information.

  According to the configurations [8] and [9], it is possible to recommend a program that matches the user's preference using the preference information input by the user, the preference information estimated from the user's viewing and operation history, and the like.

  [10] Program information provided with program information display means for displaying the program information of the program on a display device based on the program schedule included in the program information extracted by the program information extraction means in [1] above Extraction device.

  [11] A program information extraction apparatus comprising: a program display unit configured to display the program on a display device based on a program schedule included in the program information extracted by the program information extraction unit in [1].

  [12] A program information extracting apparatus comprising recording means for recording the program on a recording apparatus based on the program schedule included in the program information extracted by the program information extracting means in [1].

  According to the configurations of [10] to [12], the program information extracted by the program information extraction unit is displayed on the display device and presented to the user, or the program information program is displayed on the display device. Since the user can view the program or the program information program can be recorded by the recording device, a program viewing / recording system that is easier for the user to operate can be constructed.

  [13] A program information acquisition step of acquiring a plurality of program information including a program schedule and program contents, and a program information integration step of integrating the plurality of program information acquired by the program information acquisition step into one program information. A detecting step for detecting an operation on the program by the user, an estimation step for estimating the user's preference based on the program information of the operated program among the program information acquired by the program information acquiring step, and the estimation A program information extracting method including a program information extracting step of extracting program information corresponding to the preference information estimated by the step.

  According to this method, similarly to the program information extraction apparatus, the program information extraction step can extract program information according to preference information from the integrated program information created from the plurality of acquired program information. It is possible to realize a program information extraction method that is easy for the user to use.

  By the way, the program information extraction apparatus may be realized by hardware or may be realized by causing a computer to execute a program.

  [14] A program that causes a computer to operate as each means of the program information extraction device according to any one of [1] to [12].

  [15] A computer-readable recording medium on which the program of [14] is recorded.

  When this program is executed by a computer, the computer operates as the program information extraction device. Therefore, similarly to the program information extraction apparatus, program information corresponding to preference information can be extracted from integrated program information created from a plurality of program information, and a user-friendly program information extraction apparatus can be realized.

  As described above, the program information processing apparatus according to the present invention can integrate a plurality of program information groups and create a (detailed) integrated program information group having a substantial amount of information than these program information groups. Various devices that can use the program information group, for example, receiving devices that can receive program signals such as terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and cable broadcasting; output devices that can output program signals such as televisions and displays It can be suitably used for a recording device that can record a program signal, such as a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) or HDR (Hard Disk Recorder).

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the video recording apparatus as one Embodiment of the program information processing apparatus of this invention. It is the schematic of the broadcast program recording system provided with the said recording device. It is a figure which shows the example of the program information used with the said video recording apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the remote controller used with the said broadcast program recording system. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the integration process in the said video recording apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the program information used with the said video recording apparatus, and the example of integration of program information. It is a figure which shows the example of the program information integration in the said video recording apparatus. It is a figure which shows another example of program information integration in the said video recording apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the keyword management by the user profile management part of the said video recording apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the user preference learning part of the said video recording apparatus. It is a figure which shows another example of the keyword management by the user profile management part of the said video recording apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the program search part of the said video recording apparatus. (A) And (b) is a figure which shows two types of EPG created from different EPG data.

Explanation of symbols

2 Broadcast program recording system 11A Program information group receiver (acquisition means)
11B Program information group receiver (acquisition means)
15 Program information group integration unit (integration means)
17 Program information management part 19 Program search part (program information extraction means)
21 Recording device (recording device)
23 Operation reception part (detection means)
25 Program display section (program output means, program information display means, program information group display means)
27 Recording processing unit (recording means)
29 History information management unit (preference information acquisition means)
31 Program Information Group Transmitting Device 41 Program Broadcasting Station 51 Remote Controller 53 User Preference Learning Unit (Preference Information Acquisition Unit)
55 User profile management unit 57 Key input reception unit (preference information acquisition means)
59 Program acquisition unit (reception means)
61 Display device (output device)

Claims (18)

A program information processing apparatus for processing a program information group including a plurality of program information having a plurality of items including program schedule information and information related to program contents,
An acquisition means for acquiring a plurality of program information groups that may include program information relating to the same program;
Integrating means for integrating a plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquiring means into one integrated program information group including a plurality of program information,
The integration means acquires a plurality of program information related to the same program from different program information groups, and acquires one of the program information constituting the integrated program information group based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program. A program information processing apparatus characterized by being created. Preference information acquisition means for acquiring preference information indicating user preferences;
The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising program information extraction means for extracting program information corresponding to preference information from the integrated program information group obtained by the integration means.   The program information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the preference information acquisition unit receives preference information input by a user. It further comprises detection means for detecting operation of program selection and / or recording reservation by the user,
The preference information acquisition unit is a program in which, in the program information included in the integrated program information group obtained by the integration unit, a channel selection and / or recording reservation operation detected in the past by the detection unit is detected. 3. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the preference information is acquired based on the program information.   3. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising program information display means for displaying the program information extracted by the program information extraction means on a display device. Each of the above items includes item content information indicating the information content of the item,
The integration means uses one of a plurality of program information related to the same program as reference program information and the rest as other program information,
If there is an item that is not included in the reference program information among a plurality of preset items, the basic program information is created by adding an item not included in the reference program information to the reference program information. When the program information has a plurality of preset items, the basic program information is used as it is as the basic program information,
In the plurality of items of the basic program information, determine whether or not the item content information is missing and the corresponding item exists in other program information,
When it is determined that the item is present, one item of program information constituting the integrated program information group is created by complementing the item in the basic program information with a corresponding item of other program information The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The integration means uses one of a plurality of program information related to the same program as reference program information,
In the plurality of items of the reference program information, determine whether the corresponding item is present in the other program information and there is an item having a smaller amount of information than the corresponding item of the other program information,
When it is determined that the item is present, one item of program information constituting the integrated program information group is created by replacing the item in the reference program information with a corresponding item of other program information. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 6. The program information group includes program information regarding a plurality of broadcasting stations,
The integration unit determines, as reference program information, program information belonging to a program information group having a larger number of program information within a predetermined period for each broadcasting station among a plurality of program information groups acquired by the acquisition unit. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 6 or 7.   The integration means broadcasts reference program information when processing for creating one of program information constituting an integrated program information group based on a plurality of program information related to the same program is performed for a program of a plurality of broadcasting stations. 9. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the program information processing apparatus is determined for each station.   In the case where the processing for creating one of the program information constituting the integrated program information group based on a plurality of program information related to the same program is performed for the programs having a plurality of dates, the integration means sets the reference program information for each date. 9. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the program information processing apparatus is determined as follows.   2. The integration unit according to claim 1, wherein program information having a larger amount of information for each program among a plurality of program information related to the same program is set as one piece of program information constituting the integrated program information group. 2. The program information processing apparatus according to 2.   The integration unit creates one piece of program information constituting an integrated program information group by combining all the remaining items except for items of the same content from a plurality of program information related to the same program. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   3. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising program information group display means for displaying program information constituting the integrated program information group obtained by the integration means on a display device. Receiving means for receiving program signals;
3. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising program output means for outputting a program signal received by the receiving means as video and / or audio to an output device. The program information includes schedule information,
Receiving means for receiving program signals;
And a recording unit for recording a program signal received by the receiving unit based on schedule information of the program included in the integrated program information group obtained by the integrating unit. The program information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. A program information processing method for processing a program information group including a plurality of program information having a plurality of items including program schedule information and information related to program contents,
An acquisition step of acquiring a plurality of program information groups that may include program information relating to the same program;
An integration step of integrating the plurality of program information groups acquired in the acquisition step into one integrated program information group including a plurality of program information,
In the integration step, a plurality of program information related to the same program is acquired from different program information groups, and one piece of program information constituting the integrated program information group is obtained based on the acquired plurality of program information related to the same program. A program information processing method characterized by creating.   The program information processing program for functioning a computer as each means of the program information processing apparatus of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 15.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program information processing program according to claim 17 is recorded.

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