JP2007181067A - Program table server, image display device and program information transmitting/receiving system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program table server which presents program information in which a user who receives a program table is likely to also show his/her interest, an image display device and a program information transmitting/receiving system. <P>SOLUTION: When the user who uses the image display device obtains the program table from the program table server, the program table server displays not only the program information displayed in the program table but a program relevant to the program and a program matched to user's tastes as recommended information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program guide server, an image display device, and a program information transmission / reception system, and more particularly to a program guide server, an image display device, and a program that can also present program information that a user who has received the program guide is likely to be interested in. The present invention relates to an information transmission / reception system.

  Conventionally, it was impossible to know the broadcast contents of a television program or a radio program without using a program column of a newspaper or an article of a specialized magazine. However, in recent years when the Internet has become widespread, it has become possible to easily acquire such information via the Internet.

  Also, with the development of an electronic program guide (EPG), it has become possible to display the program guide directly on a television screen or the like.

  When an electronic program guide is received on a TV or the like, information about the program described therein can be received together. Therefore, when the program is recorded, the information on the program is also recorded. It is possible.

Since it is possible to record information on recorded programs, it is possible to accumulate data on the programs viewed and recorded by the user, and accordingly notify the user of program information that matches the user's preferences. Is also possible (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-167628

  However, although acquisition of the electronic program guide has become easier, each user does not always look through the entire electronic program guide and may not be aware of the presence of the program due to omission of confirmation. Cannot watch or schedule recordings.

  In the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is possible to predict the user's preference according to the user's viewing history and recommend a program corresponding to the user's preference. Therefore, it is possible to prevent omission of confirmation for the recommended program. Since the recommended program determination method analyzes a tendency of a plurality of users, it cannot be said that the preferences of individual users are necessarily reflected.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a program guide server, an image display device, and a program information transmission / reception system that can also present program information that a user who has received a program guide is likely to be interested in.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a program information storage unit for storing program information, a transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving information to / from an external communication terminal, and the program information stored in the program information storage unit When one program included in the list is designated by the external communication terminal that has transmitted the list comprising the above-described transmission / reception unit, the one program or another program related to the external communication terminal A program information detection unit that detects information stored in the program information storage unit, and transmits the program information detected by the program information detection unit to the external communication terminal. Provides a table server.

  The program information is acquired from each broadcast station that broadcasts the program related to the program information, or acquired from each broadcast station that broadcasts the program related to the program information, and acquired from a program information provider that manages the program information It may be a thing.

  The other program information may be program information related to the one program, and may include program information including at least one of the items included in the information stored in the program information storage unit.

  The program information detection unit may select an item type included in the program information related to the one program when the other program information is detected.

  The program guide server includes a terminal-specific information storage unit that stores program information related to a program reserved for recording in the past in the external communication terminal, and the other program information is stored in the terminal-specific information storage unit. In addition, the external communication terminal may be program information including the same items as the items included in the program information related to the program reserved for recording in the past.

  In addition, the present invention provides a transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data to / from a program guide server that stores program information, and a list and content images including program information received from the program guide server via the transmission / reception unit. An image display unit to be displayed, and an operation unit for designating one program included in the list displayed on the image display unit, and the user can operate the operation unit by operating the operation unit. When one program included in is specified, other program information related to the one program is acquired from the program guide server via the transmission / reception unit and displayed on the image display unit. An image display device is also provided.

  Furthermore, the present invention comprises a program guide server comprising a program information storage unit for storing program information, and an image display device comprising an image display unit for displaying a list of the program information and a content image, and the program The table server includes: a first transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives information to / from the image display device; and the one program corresponding to one program in the program information or another related to the image display device A program information detection unit that detects information stored in the program information storage unit, and the image display device transmits and receives data to and from the program guide server. A transmission / reception unit; and an operation unit that selects one program included in the program guide displayed on the image display unit, and is displayed on the image display unit by an operation of the operation unit by a user. In the list When one included program is selected, the one program detected by the program information detection unit or other program information related to the image display device is stored in the program information storage unit It is another object of the present invention to provide a program information transmission / reception system characterized in that information is transmitted to the image display device and displayed on the image display unit.

  According to the present invention, when the user obtains the program guide from the program guide server, not only the program information displayed on the program guide server but also the recommended information about the program related to the program and the program that suits the user's preference. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user from being reluctant to make a recording reservation for a program that the user is interested in.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(System configuration)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a program guide transmission / reception system including a program guide server according to the present invention.

  In the program guide transmission / reception system shown in FIG. 1, a program guide server 1 and a client 2 are connected by a network 3. Further, the program guide server 1 is connected to a plurality of broadcasting stations 4 that transmit the original data of the program guide. On the other hand, an antenna 5 for receiving a program is connected to the client 2.

  The program guide server 1 is located on the network, and creates and stores a program guide and other databases based on the program information acquired from each broadcasting station 4. In FIG. 1, the program guide server 1 and the broadcast station 4 are described as being connected by a route different from the network 3, but program information is acquired via the network 3. May be.

  In FIG. 1, the program guide server 1 is configured to directly acquire program information from each broadcasting station 4, but via a program information provider or the like that acquires program information from each broadcasting station 4. The program information may be acquired collectively.

  The client 2 is a device having a broadcast receiving function, and includes a tuner for receiving a broadcast, and a monitor unit and a speaker unit for using the received broadcast. In FIG. 1, as an example, a personal computer (PC) type client 2a and a digital TV type client 2b are described. The client 2 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1 as long as it has the above functions.

  The user displays the program guide acquired from the program guide server 1 on the monitor unit of the client 2 and selects a program to be recorded based on the program guide. When the broadcast time of the selected program is reached, the program is received by the tuner unit via the antenna 5 and recorded according to the reservation content.

  The network 3 is, for example, the Internet, a LAN, or the like, and wired connection is made in FIG.

(Internal structure of program guide server)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the program guide server 1 according to the present invention.

  2, the program guide server 1 includes a control unit 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a program guide data storage unit 14, a personal information storage unit 15, a recommended information storage unit 16, and a communication interface (I / F). ) 17 and the main internal bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores programs executed by the control unit 11 to drive the program guide server 1, and the RAM 13 stores parameters and the like required by the control unit 11 when driving the program guide server 1. Temporary storage.

  The program guide data storage unit 14 stores program information acquired from the broadcasting station 4 and a program guide created from the program information. The program information is a summary of information such as broadcasting station, broadcasting time, title, genre, performer, keyword, and comment for each program. The program table is a list in which program titles to be broadcast for each broadcasting station are arranged in order of broadcasting time.

  The personal information storage unit 15 stores a program reservation history and the like of a registered person among users who access the program guide server 1.

  HDDs are mainly used for the program guide data storage unit 14 and the personal information storage unit 15. However, as long as it has a large-capacity data storage function and is built in the program guide server 1, it is not limited to the HDD, and may be a semiconductor memory or the like.

  The recommendation information creation unit 16 analyzes the user's preferences based on the user-specific reservation history stored in the personal information storage unit 15 and reads program information corresponding to the user's preference from the program guide data storage unit 14. Create recommended information to be provided to the user.

  The communication I / F 17 is connected to the network 3 or the broadcast station 4 to transmit / receive various data. The broadcast station 4 mainly receives program information, and the client 2 via the network 3 receives a transmission request signal such as a program guide and transmits the corresponding program guide and the like.

  The main internal bus 18 electrically connects each component of the program guide server 1 and is used for the control unit 11 to access other components and for data movement between the components. Specifically, PCI, PCI express, or the like.

  When the program guide server 1 acquires the program information from the broadcast station 4 via the communication I / F 17, the program guide server 1 stores the program information and the program guide data created from the program information in the program guide data storage unit 14.

  When a transmission request for program guide data is received from the client 2 via the network 3, program guide data corresponding to the requested content is transmitted to the client 2 via the network 3.

  If the user selects one program from the program guide displayed on the client 2, the program guide server 1 receives a recommendation information transmission request related to the program from the client 2. At this time, the recommendation information creation unit 16 creates recommendation information with reference to each program information stored in the program guide data storage unit 14, and transmits the information to the client 2. In that case, the user information stored in the personal information storage unit 15 may be referred to.

(Example of basic display of program guide)
Next, the program guide displayed on the client machine by accessing the program guide server according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example serving as a basis of the program guide transmitted from the program guide server 1.

  When the program guide data is transmitted from the program guide server 1 to the client 2, the program guide 30 is displayed on the monitor unit 21 provided in the client 2.

  In the upper part of the program guide 30, time zone displays 31 (31a to 31e) are continuously arranged in the horizontal direction, and in the left part, channel (CH) -specific displays 32 (32a to 32e) are arranged in the vertical direction. Overlaid. Then, the title of the program broadcast on the channel displayed on the CH display 32 at the time displayed on the time slot display 31 is positioned below the time slot display 31 and to the right of the CH display 32. Is displayed.

  A cursor 33 is positioned at one of the program titles. By operating a remote controller, a mouse, or the like used for the operation of the client 2, the cursor 33 moves to the upper, lower, left, and right program titles.

  When the cursor 33 is positioned at the program title desired by the user, the operation proceeds to setting operation such as program recording reservation by pressing the enter key on the remote controller or by left clicking the mouse.

(Program information list)
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which program information stored in the program guide data storage unit 14 of the program guide server 1 is displayed as a list. The program table shown in FIG. 3 is created based on the list of the program information.

  In the program list 50, individual program information is displayed in a row in the vertical direction, and each program information includes channel number 51, start time 52, title 53, genre 54, keyword 55, performer 56, and comment 57. It is divided into items.

  In FIG. 4, program information about programs broadcast on two channels of CH3 and CH4 among the programs displayed in the program guide 30 of FIG. 3 is displayed.

  The information displayed in the program guide 30 shown in FIG. 3 is only the broadcast channel, start time, and title of each program, and these pieces of information are extracted from the program list 50. Further, the remaining information is not displayed in the program guide 30, but becomes important information when performing a program search.

(Recommended information display)
Next, the recommendation information display which is a function peculiar to the program guide server 1 according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide and recommendation information displayed on the client 2 that has acquired information from the program guide server 1 according to the present invention.

  The recommended information discloses the existence of other programs that can be recommended to a user who has specified one program in the program guide 30, and is a program of the same genre as the selected program and a program having the same performer. , Such as a program having the same keyword, is displayed with a high possibility that the user is interested.

  If the user presses the information display key on the remote controller or right-clicks the mouse when the cursor 33 is positioned on the desired program title, the client 2 sends the recommended information to the program guide server 1. Request transmission. Then, the client 2 that has received the corresponding recommendation information from the program guide server 1 displays the recommendation information 34 so as to overlap the program guide 30.

  FIG. 5A is an example in which other programs of the same genre as the selected program are displayed as recommendation information. In FIG. 5A, the cursor 33 is located in a certain animation program, and if the user performs a recommended information display operation in this state, the cursor 33 is an animation program of the same genre and is scheduled to be broadcast most recently. The program is displayed as recommended information 34. In FIG. 5A, the recommended information 34 displays information on the broadcast channel, start time, and title of another anime program.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5B is an example in which other programs having the same keyword as the selected program are displayed as recommendation information. In FIG. 5B, the cursor 33 is located in a certain history program. When the user performs a recommended information display operation in this state, the program includes “history” as a keyword and is scheduled to be broadcast most recently. A certain program is displayed as recommended information 34. In FIG. 5B, the recommended information 34 displays information on broadcast channels, start times, and titles of other programs such as historical plays and documentaries that use “history” as a keyword.

  By displaying such recommended information, it is possible to provide the user with the presence of programs that the user is likely to be interested in.

(Setting recommended information)
In FIG. 5 described above, two examples have been described, an example in which programs of the same genre are displayed as recommended information and an example in which programs having the same keyword are displayed. As described above, there are a plurality of patterns for the type of information displayed as recommended information. It is desirable that which pattern to use can be determined by the user's judgment.

  Therefore, the program guide server 1 according to the present invention can set the type of information displayed as recommended information by a user operation. Hereinafter, a method for setting the type of information displayed in the recommendation information 34 will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a display example of a screen for setting the content displayed in the recommendation information. A recommended information setting screen 40 is displayed on the monitor unit 21.

  On the recommended information setting screen 40, the title of the screen is displayed at the upper part, and an option 41 made up of the content that serves as a selection criterion for recommended information is displayed in the approximate center, and each option 41 is on the left side of each option 41. A selection display section 42 indicating which one of them has been selected is displayed.

  In FIG. 6, “Genre”, “Performer”, “Keyword”, and “Reservation history by user” are displayed as the options 41. However, other selection criteria may be provided as options, and the number of options is not limited to four.

  When “genre” is selected from the choices 41, the recommended information 34 displays the program scheduled to be broadcast most recently from programs of the same genre as the selected program, as shown in FIG. become. When “performer” is selected, programs with the same performer appear, and when “keyword” is selected, programs having the same keyword are displayed as shown in FIG.

  Furthermore, when “user-specific reservation history” is selected, a display corresponding to the user's reservation history is displayed, which will be described later.

  The same number of selection displays 42 as the number of options 41 are provided corresponding to each option 41. The plurality of selection display portions 42 have a white circle shape, and only one of them has a shape in which a black circle is drawn in a white circle. When the user selects any one of the selection display sections 42 by operating the mouse or the remote controller, only the selection display section 42 has a shape in which a black circle is drawn in a white circle. Thereby, which option of the corresponding options 41 is selected by the user is displayed.

  Furthermore, a yes button 43 and a no button 44 are displayed below the recommended information setting screen 40. When the user selects the yes button 43, the selection content of the option 41 displayed on the recommendation information setting screen 40 at that time is set as a recommendation information selection criterion. On the other hand, when the No button 44 is selected, the recommendation information selection criteria are not changed.

  In the above description, only one recommendation information selection criterion can be selected, but a plurality of options may be set as selection criteria.

  By enabling the setting of the content to be displayed as recommended information using such a setting screen, the content of the recommended information to be displayed is not uniform but more according to the user's preference. be able to.

(Reservation history information by user)
In the recommended information setting screen 40 described above, “reservation history by user” has been cited as a selection criterion for recommended information, but the program guide server 1 according to the present invention stores history information of recording reservations of registered users. can do. As a result, each user's preference for the viewing program can be grasped, and appropriate recommendation information can be displayed accordingly.

  FIG. 7 is a display example of a list of user-specific reservation histories stored in the personal information storage unit 15 of the program guide server 1.

  In the user-specific reservation history 60, program information for each program for which one user has made a recording reservation before is described. When many common items are found from the program information described in this list, it becomes possible to read the user's preference from there.

  For example, in FIG. 7, a number of dramas having the same title are included in the list, and it can be seen from this that the user reserves recording of the drama every week. Therefore, it can be determined that the drama should be taken up as recommended information for the user.

  In FIG. 7, two music programs with different titles are included in the list, and the same performer is listed in each of them, and the user records the music program in which the performer appears. You can see that you are making a reservation. Therefore, it can be determined that the program including the performer should be taken up as recommended information for the user.

  As described above, by analyzing the data included in the user-specific reservation history 60, it is possible to provide recommendation information reflecting the user's preference.

  FIG. 8 is a display example of recommended information based on the reservation history for each user. The recommended information 34 in FIG. 8 displays music programs and dramas that the user is likely to be interested in based on the user-specific reservation history 60 described in FIG.

  By performing such a display, the user can see a recommended display for a program that he / she will make a recording reservation for, so that he / she does not fail to make a reservation for recording the program.

(Data transmission / reception in the program guide server)
Next, operations of the program guide server according to the present invention and the client machine that performs transmission / reception with the program guide server will be described with reference to flowcharts.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation for transmission / reception of information performed in the program guide server 1 and the client 2. Note that the operations in the following description are performed by the control unit 11 in the program guide server 1 unless otherwise specified.

  First, based on the user's operation, a request signal for program guide transmission is transmitted from the client 2 to the program guide server 1 (step S201). The control unit 11 that has received the request signal via the communication I / F 17 searches the program guide stored in the program guide data storage unit 14 for a partial search of the program guide including the date and time according to the user's request ( In step S101), the obtained program guide data is transmitted to the client 2 via the communication I / F 17 and the network 3 (step S102).

  Subsequently, the client 2 displays the program guide on the monitor unit 21 based on the transmitted program guide data (step S202). When the user selects one program from the programs displayed in the program guide, the program guide server 1 is notified that the program has been designated (step S203).

  When the program guide server 1 receives the program designation notification, it searches for recommended information related to the program or the user (step S103). Details of this processing will be described later. The recommended information obtained is transmitted to the client 2.

  In the client 2 that has received the recommendation information, the recommendation information is displayed (step S205). Then, when the user refers to the program guide and the recommended information and designates one program and performs a program recording reservation operation, the program recording reservation is set in the client 2 (step S205).

  When the recording reservation is completed, the client 2 transmits information indicating that the recording reservation has been made for the program to the program guide server 1 (step S206). The program guide server 1 that has received the information updates the recording reservation history data of the user stored in the personal information storage unit (step S105).

  For users who are not registered in the program guide server 1, there is no recording reservation history, so data is not updated.

(Recommended information search process)
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the recommendation information search process performed in step S103. The following flowchart is an example in the case where one of four types of “genre”, “performer”, “keyword”, and “reservation history by user” is selected as a recommendation information selection criterion according to the example of FIG. It is.

  First, it is determined whether or not “genre” is designated as a recommendation information selection criterion (step S111). If it is determined that “genre” is designated (S111: Yes), a search for a program of the same genre as the designated program is executed as recommended information (step S112).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that “genre” is not designated (S111: No), it is subsequently determined whether or not “performer” is designated as a criterion for selecting recommended information (step S113). ). If it is determined that “performer” is designated (S113: Yes), a search for a program in which the same performer as the designated program appears as recommended information is executed (step S114).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that “performer” is not designated (S113: No), it is subsequently determined whether or not “keyword” is designated as a criterion for selecting recommended information (step S115). ). When it is determined that “keyword” is designated (S115: Yes), a search for a program having the same keyword as the designated program as recommended information is executed (step S116).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the “keyword” is not designated (S115: No), the recommendation information selection criterion is “reservation history by user”, but the user is registered in the program guide server 1 as a user. It is determined whether or not (step S117). If it is determined that the user has been registered (S117: Yes), since the user's reservation history is stored in the personal information storage unit 15, the program that matches the user's preference based on the reservation history is stored. A search is executed (step S118).

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the user registration has not been made (S117: No), the recommended information cannot be searched, so a notification indicating that searching is impossible is created (step S119), and then the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. return.

  In addition, after the search is executed in each of the above steps S112, S114, S116, and S118, recommendation information to be transmitted is created based on the information obtained as a result of the search (step S120). The processing is returned to the flowchart of FIG.

  By performing the above processing, when the user obtains the program guide from the program guide server 1, not only the program information displayed there, but also the program related to the program and the program that matches the user's preference Since it can be displayed as recommended information, it is possible to prevent the user from being reluctant to make a recording reservation for a program of interest.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the program schedule transmission / reception system containing the program schedule server which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the program schedule server 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display used as the basis of the program schedule transmitted from the program schedule server. It is a figure which shows the example which displayed the list about the program information stored in the program schedule data storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the program schedule displayed on the client 2 which acquired information from the program schedule server 1, and recommendation information. It is an example of a display of the screen which sets the contents displayed on recommendation information. It is a display example of a list of reservation history classified by user stored in the personal information storage unit 15 of the program guide server 1. It is an example of a display of recommendation information based on a reservation history classified by user. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement about transmission / reception of the information performed in the program schedule server 1 and the client 2. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the recommendation information search process performed in step S103.

Explanation of symbols

1, program guide server 2, client 3, network 4, broadcast station 5, antenna 11, control unit 12, ROM 13, RAM 14, program guide data storage unit 15, personal information storage unit 16, recommended information creation unit 17, communication I / F
18, main internal bus 21, monitor section 30, program guide 31, time zone display 32, display by CH 33, cursor 34, recommended information 40, recommended information setting screen 41, option 42, selection display section 43, yes button 44, No button 50, program guide list 51, channel number 52, start time 53, title 54, genre 55, keyword 56, performer 57, comment 60, reservation history by user

Claims (8)

A program information storage unit for storing program information;
A transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving information to / from an external communication terminal;
When one program included in the list is designated by the external communication terminal that has transmitted the list including the program information stored in the program information storage unit via the transmission / reception unit, A program information detection unit for detecting information stored in the program information storage unit that is a program or other program information related to the external communication terminal,
The program guide server, wherein the program information detected by the program information detector is transmitted to the external communication terminal.   The program guide server according to claim 1, wherein the program information is acquired from each broadcasting station that broadcasts the program related to the program information.   2. The program guide server according to claim 1, wherein the program information is acquired from a program information providing organization that acquires and manages from each broadcasting station that broadcasts the program related to the program information.   The other program information is program information related to the one program, and is program information including the same item as at least one of items included in the information stored in the program information storage unit. The program guide server according to claim 1.   5. The program guide server according to claim 4, wherein the program information detection unit can select the type of item included in the program information related to the one program when detecting the other program information. A terminal-specific information storage unit that stores program information related to a program that has been reserved for recording in the past in the external communication terminal,
The other program information is program information including the same items as the items included in the program information relating to the program reserved for recording in the past in the external communication terminal stored in the terminal-specific information storage unit. The program guide server according to claim 1. A transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data to / from a program guide server that stores program information;
An image display unit for displaying a list of program information and content images received from the program table server via the transmission / reception unit;
An operation unit for designating one program included in the list displayed on the image display unit,
When one program included in the list is designated by a user operation of the operation unit, other program information related to the one program is transmitted from the program table server via the transmission / reception unit. An image display device characterized in that it is acquired and displayed on the image display unit. A program guide server comprising a program information storage unit for storing program information;
An image display device comprising an image display unit for displaying a list of program information and a content image,
The program guide server is related to a first transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives information to / from the image display device, and the one program corresponding to one program in the program information or the image display device. A program information detection unit that detects other program information and detects information stored in the program information storage unit,
The image display device includes: a second transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data to / from the program guide server; and an operation that selects one program included in the program guide displayed on the image display unit. And comprising
When one program included in the list displayed on the image display unit is selected by the operation of the operation unit by the user, the one program detected by the program information detection unit or the A program information transmission / reception system, wherein other program information related to an image display device and information stored in the program information storage unit is transmitted to the image display device and displayed on the image display unit.

Images