JP2008011365A - Method for supporting program selection - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program matched with respective favorite degrees of a plurality of viewers without requiring complicated setting operation or a plurality of remote controllers. <P>SOLUTION: When program viewing is started, feature information such as keywords or a category of the viewing program and broadcast-related information such as a broadcasting day of the week and broadcasting time are acquired from EPG information (step 401), the ratio of user's viewing time to the broadcasting time of the viewing program is calculated as a viewing time ratio (step 402), the program feature information of the viewing program is analyzed by using a long-time ratio and past favorite degrees in a favorite degree list to find out a new favorite degree of the viewing program, and the favorite information (composed of program feature information, broadcast-related information and the favorite degree) of the viewing program is updated (step 403). Then, the favorite information is grouped on the basis of day-of-week information in the broadcast-related information and the broadcasting time information and a favorite degree list is prepared in each group. The program is presented on the basis of the favorite degree list. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for supporting a viewer to select a favorite program from an enormous number of broadcast programs, and is particularly suitable for supporting selection and recording of a program by grasping a viewer's preference tendency. The present invention relates to a program selection support method.

  In recent years, multi-channel broadcasting has become widespread due to the digitization of broadcasting, so far from the method of selecting and viewing programs from a TV program guide such as newspapers, from the EPG (Electric Program Guide) information multiplexed on the TV screen A program table is displayed on the screen by OSD (On Screen Display) display, and a method of selecting here is recognized. As a result, it becomes possible to select a program only on the TV screen or to perform reserved recording registration without using other media such as newspapers. However, on the contrary, because of the multi-channel, it is difficult to find a favorite program. As a method for solving this problem, an apparatus that analyzes a viewer's viewing tendency based on EPG information of a program that has been viewed, and finds and presents a type of program determined to have a high viewing tendency from EPG information scheduled to be broadcast. Many methods have been proposed.

  On the other hand, in the home, for example, the whole family usually watches the program on a television set installed in the living room, for example, but the preference of the program by the individual family members such as father, mother, and child, for example, The viewing tendency is different, and it is desired to provide a program corresponding to the viewing tendency.

  As one method for this, when a television receiver is operated by a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller), a remote controller is assigned to each individual (operator) who operates the remote controller, and this is assigned to each remote controller. There has been proposed a method for analyzing a viewing tendency of a program of an operator, extracting preference information indicating a preference tendency of the program, and presenting the program of the operator's preference (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, as another method, preference information is uniformly extracted without distinguishing operators, but such preference information is distributed to each operator, and a favorite program is assigned to each operator based on the distributed preference information. A method of presentation has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2001-36832 A JP 2003-204565 A

  However, since the method described in Patent Document 1 must be operated by a remote controller dedicated to each individual, it is necessary to prepare remote controllers for the number of family members.

  In addition, the method described in Patent Document 2 requires time-consuming procedures such as having to perform the sorting process by judging the preference of the family by looking at the extracted preference information. .

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a program selection support method that can solve such problems and can present a program that matches the preferences of each of a plurality of viewers without requiring complicated setting operations and a plurality of remote controls. There is.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention obtains preference information indicating a program preferred by the user by analyzing the program feature information and broadcast related information of the program viewed by the user's viewing operation instruction by the preference analysis processing means. And a program selection support method for extracting a program having program information that matches the preference information by the recommended program extraction means from the EPG (Electric Program Guide) information as a recommended program. Each time it is obtained, the preference information of each program is grouped into a predetermined number of groups, and a recommended program is extracted for each group of preference information.

  In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the preference information of the viewing program is at least one of a program genre, a performer name, and a keyword of the program information extracted from the acquired EPG information.

  In the present invention, the preference analysis processing means holds the preference information in association with the broadcast day of the week and the broadcast time, and the preference information is any one of the broadcast day of the week, the broadcast time, or the genre, or a combination of two or more. Based on the above, it is characterized by grouping.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the preference analysis processing means performs grouping of preference information with the set number of extractions as a maximum number.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the preference analysis processing means holds the program organization pattern in association with the preference information, and uses the program organization pattern for either the preference analysis, the grouping, or both. .

  According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to extract a preference tendency up to a set number simply by setting the number of family members. Or, it is not necessary to perform a troublesome procedure such as a complicated operation such as operation with an individual remote controller or the use of a plurality of operation devices.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a program selection support method according to the present invention and an apparatus for implementing the method, wherein 1 is a user operation acquisition unit, 2 is an EPG information acquisition unit, and 3 is a viewing history processing unit. 4 is a group extraction number setting unit, 5 is a preference analysis processing unit, 6 is a recommended program extraction unit, 7 is a system control unit, and 8 is a remote controller. The apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is provided in a television receiver, but may be a separate apparatus from the television receiver.

  In the figure, the remote control 8 is used for operations such as channel selection of a program desired to be viewed by the user. When such operations are performed, the operation information (hereinafter referred to as user operation information) A is displayed. It is received by a remote control receiving unit (not shown) of the television receiver and sent to the user operation acquiring unit 1. That is, when the user performs an operation (channel selection operation) for selecting a channel of a desired program with the remote controller 8, the television receiver receives this operation and selects and displays this program. In addition, the number of types of preference information to be set can be specified by screen operation of the television receiver using the remote controller 8, and such instruction information is also received as user operation information A by the remote control receiving unit, and the user operation acquiring unit 1 Sent to.

  The user operation information A transmitted from the remote controller 8 is received by the remote control receiver (not shown) of the television receiver and supplied to the user operation acquisition unit 1 as described above. In order to simplify the explanation, it is assumed that the user operation information A is transmitted from the remote controller 8 to the user operation acquisition unit 1, and this is also illustrated in FIG.

  The user operation acquisition unit 1 receives user operation information A from the remote controller 8. When the user operation information A is based on a channel selection operation, program viewing operation information B is created and sent to the viewing history processing unit 3. Supplied. Further, when setting the number of preference information, it is set on the setting menu screen or the like, but the number setting information C set by the setting operation is supplied to the group extraction number setting unit 4. As a result, the group extraction number setting unit 4 sets the number of preference information groups to be described later (maximum number of groups).

  The EPG information acquisition unit 2, for example, from the EPG information for one week multiplexed and sent to the broadcast program, such as in digital broadcasting, for each program, its channel name, broadcast day, broadcast start time, Program information such as broadcast time, program name, program description, genre (type of program such as drama, variety program, sports program), performer name, etc. is acquired and stored.

  When the viewing history processing unit 3 acquires the program viewing operation information B by the user's channel selection operation from the user operation acquisition unit 1, the viewing history processing unit 3 selects a channel from the program viewing operation information B and is viewed by the user (hereinafter, referred to as the program viewing operation information B The program name, channel name, genre, performer name, keyword and other information representing the characteristics of the viewed program are extracted from the program information stored in the EPG information acquisition unit 2 as program feature information. At the same time, the broadcast date and time of this viewing program (information relating to broadcast such as broadcast day of the week, broadcast start time, broadcast time, etc., hereinafter referred to as broadcast related information) is extracted. Also, the viewing history processing unit 3 detects the actual viewing time of the user for the viewing program (hereinafter simply referred to as viewing time). This viewing time refers to the time from the supply of the program viewing operation information B by the user's channel selection operation to the end of viewing of the viewing program after the viewing of the viewing program is started. The viewing end time of the program can be switched to another program by operating the remote controller 8 during viewing of the viewing program, or the program can be switched to the next program at the broadcast end time of the program. This is the time when the machine was turned off. Further, in this way, when the channel selection operation of the remote controller 8 is not performed and the viewing shifts to the next program on the same channel, this program becomes the next viewing program.

  When the power is turned on / off by the operation of the remote controller 8, user operation information A by the operation is sent from the remote controller 8 to the user operation acquisition unit 1, whereby the user operation acquisition unit 1 is turned on / off. Is sent to the viewing history processing unit 3. Thereby, the viewing history processing unit 3 can recognize whether the power is on or off.

  Further, even if this channel is selected when the broadcast of the program ends and the commercial broadcast time is reached, the viewing history processing unit 3 assumes that the broadcast of the program has ended, and the program is selected. After that, when the broadcast start time of the next program comes, this program is set as a viewing program.

  When the viewing of the viewing program by the user is finished, the viewing history processing unit 3 prefers the program feature information of the viewing program, the broadcast related information (such as the broadcast day of the week, the broadcast start time, the broadcast time, etc.) and the viewing time information. The analysis processing unit 5 is supplied. That is, every time the user finishes viewing the viewing program, the viewing history processing unit 3 sends the program characteristic information of the viewing program, the broadcast related information, and the viewing time information to the preference analysis processing unit 5. Become.

  Upon receiving the program feature information of the viewing program, its broadcast-related information, and its viewing time information from the viewing history processing unit 3, the preference analysis processing unit 5 analyzes it and obtains the degree of preference of this program feature information. For this viewing program, preference information in which program feature information, broadcast-related information, and preference level are associated is created.

Such preference information is created for each viewing program each time the program is viewed by the user. The preference information created in this way is grouped according to the broadcast tendency of the program, as will be described later. And a preference list is created for each group. When a new program is viewed and the program feature information and broadcast related information of this program are supplied from the viewing history processing unit 3, the preference level of the program is obtained, and the preference information is formed. A new preference level list including the preference information is created, that is, the preference level list is updated. The number of preference level lists to be created is set in the group extraction number setting unit 4 as described above. Using the set number of group extractions as the maximum number, a preference list of different preference trends up to the maximum number is created. For example, if the operator of the television receiver using the remote controller 8 is a family father, mother, and two children, the viewing tendency of the program differs for each operator, and the group extraction number setting unit 4 performs group extraction. Assuming that the number “4” is set, the viewing analysis processing unit 5 analyzes the obtained preference information under a predetermined condition, thereby detecting a maximum of four different preference trends, respectively. A preference list is created every time.

  Further, in each preference level list, preference information is ranked in the order of programs having a high preference tendency to watch frequently, that is, a preference level is high.

  The analysis process is performed using the viewing time, the program feature information, and the preference list information each time the viewing time and the program feature information are received from the viewing history processing unit 3 to create new preference information. Then, the preference list is updated.

  The preference analysis processing unit 5 recommends program feature information having a high preference level in each preference level list, regardless of whether the preference level list is updated or not, every time the above analysis processing result is obtained. The program is supplied to the program extraction unit 6. Therefore, the recommended program extracting unit 6 sets, for each supplied program feature information, a program having program information matching the recommended program information, and acquires the program information of the recommended program from the EPG information acquiring unit 2. The program information of the recommended program is used for EPG creation, viewing / recording reservation, and the like by means not shown.

  The system control unit 7 controls the operation of each unit including other digital broadcast reception processing (not shown).

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the first embodiment.

  In the figure, the number of group extractions corresponding to the number of family members is set in the group extraction number setting unit 4 in advance as described above. When the power is turned on and the viewing of the program is started, the user operation acquisition unit 1 sends the program viewing operation information B to the viewing history processing unit 3 as described above. Upon receiving this program viewing operation information B, the viewing history processing unit 3 sets the program viewing end flag n to n = 0 (step 201), and determines that viewing of the program being viewed has not ended (step 201). 202) and the determination that the program viewing end flag n is not 1 (step 205) is repeated.

  Thereafter, when viewing of this program ends (“Yes” in step 202), the viewing history processing unit 3 sets the program viewing end flag n to n = 1 (step 203), and program information of the program being viewed Is acquired from the EPG information acquisition unit 2 (step 204). Then, after confirming that the program viewing end flag n is n = 1 (“Yes” in step 205), information such as a genre or a keyword that is characteristic of the program that has been viewed is obtained from the acquired program information (program (Characteristic information), broadcast start time, and broadcast time information are extracted and sent to the preference analysis processing unit 5, and the actual viewing time (that is, the above viewing time) by the user of the program that has been viewed is detected. To the preference analysis processing unit 5 (step 206).

  Here, as described above, this viewing time is continuously viewed from the start of viewing the program until it switches to another program, or continued until the display of this program is terminated after the power is turned off. If this is the case, it will be the time until the viewing of this program ends. However, when switching to another program on the way and then viewing this program again, the time spent viewing this program was added. It will be a thing. For example, an A program broadcast at 7: 00-7: 30 and a B program broadcast at 7: 00-7: 54 are viewed alternately, and the B program continues to be viewed from 7:28, past 7:30. At this time, it is determined that the viewing of the A program is finished, and the total viewing time of the A program so far is set as the viewing time of the user of the A program. Of course, for the B program, the viewing time of the user is calculated from the first switching time. Therefore, even if the viewing program is switched to a program of another channel during the broadcasting time, the viewing program user does not start until the viewing end time of the viewing program (determined from the broadcasting start time and the broadcasting time). Viewing time is required.

  In the preference analysis processing unit 5, the preference level list of the preference information of the program feature information of the program viewed in the past and the preference level indicating the viewing tendency is used as the setting value (group extraction number) in the group extraction number setting unit 4. The maximum number is retained, and analysis processing is performed based on the preference list, the program feature information of the program viewed from the viewing history processing unit 3, the broadcast related information of this program, and the viewing time. The preference level of the program feature information is obtained, and the preference level list is updated accordingly (step 207). When the analysis process is completed, the program viewing end flag n is set to n = 0 (step 208).

  Next, when a new program is viewed (“No” in step 209), the process returns to step 202, and the determination operations in steps 202 and 205 in the viewing history processing unit 3 are repeated until the viewing ends. , Wait until viewing ends.

  Thereafter, as long as a series of programs are viewed, the above processing operation is performed. When the power is turned off and the program is no longer viewed (“Yes” in step 209), the above processing operations are terminated (step 209). 210).

  As described above, the time during which a program is viewed from when the power is turned on until the power is turned off (that is, the time during which the TV receiver displays the program), and the preference analysis is performed every time viewing of the viewed program ends. Analysis processing is performed for each program feature information of the viewed program in the processing unit 5 to update the preference information (particularly, the degree of preference) (the update of the preference information is hereinafter referred to as update by viewing the program). While the preference list is updated based on the preference information, preference information (preference degree) is also updated for program feature information that is not updated by viewing the program for a certain period of time. This update is for solving the problem that the preference information is kept in a high preference state even though the program for which the preference information has been obtained has not been viewed for a certain period or longer. When the program is not updated by viewing the program, the preference level is lowered. Such updating of preference information is hereinafter referred to as updating by preference degree evaluation.

  For this reason, evaluation of the degree of preference of each program feature information is periodically performed. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the processing operation of such periodic preference degree evaluation. The periodic preference evaluation is performed every predetermined period (hereinafter referred to as a periodic preference evaluation cycle) in accordance with a broadcast program operation period unit. Here, for example, for each broadcast program operation unit, Paying attention to the fact that the broadcast program is operated on a weekly basis and the program is broadcast every week, the above-mentioned fixed period in which the preference information is not updated by viewing the program subject to the update by the preference evaluation One week is set, and the periodic preference degree evaluation cycle is shorter than this (for example, once a day, once every two to three days, etc.).

  In FIG. 3, each preference information is set in order, for example, in the order in which it is created or in descending order of preference. When starting regular preference evaluation, first, preference information number m is set to m = 0 in order to evaluate preference information in order (step 301). Then, m = 1 (step 302), and the first (m = 1) preference information is selected as an evaluation target (step 303). If the preference information to be evaluated has been updated by viewing the program from the time of the previous periodic preference evaluation (“Yes” in step 304), the preference information number m is set to m + 1 (step 302), and the next Is the evaluation target (step 303).

  When the preference information to be evaluated has not been updated by viewing the program since the time of the previous periodic preference evaluation (“No” in step 304), the period during which the preference information to be evaluated is not updated by viewing the program Is not exceeded (“No” in step 305), the update of the preference information is suspended, and the process returns to step 302 to move to the evaluation of the preference level of the next preference information. If the period during which the evaluation target preference information is not updated by viewing the program exceeds one week (“Yes” in step 305), one program including the program feature information is included in the evaluation target preference information. Decrease the preference as it is not watched for more than a week and is no longer attracting attention.

  When the above processing is completed, it is determined whether or not the evaluation of all preference information has been completed. If it has not been completed (“No” in step 307), the process returns to step 302 to evaluate the preference level of the next preference information. When the evaluation of all preference information is completed (“Yes” in step 307), the periodic preference level evaluation process is terminated (step 308).

  In this way, the preference level is evaluated for all the preference information, and the preference level is lowered as it is no longer noticed for the preference information that is not updated by viewing the program even after one week.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the flow of processing for extracting / updating preference information and creating a preference level list by viewing a program according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the flow of this process will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the same figure, when the channel viewing operation information B of the channel selected from the user operation acquisition unit 1 is supplied by the channel selection operation of the remote controller 8, the viewing history processing unit 3 displays the program of the channel selected. That is, EPG shows program feature information such as the genre, performer, and keyword (noun such as place name) of the program (viewed program) that has been viewed, broadcast related information of the viewed program such as broadcast day, broadcast start time, broadcast time, etc. When it is acquired from the EPG information held in the information acquisition unit 2 and the viewing of this viewing program is completed, it is supplied to the preference analysis processing unit 5 together with the viewing time of the user for this viewing program (step 401).

  In the preference analysis processing unit 5, when such program feature information, broadcast related information, and viewing time of the program viewed from the viewing history processing unit 3 are sent, the broadcast related information broadcast time (program length) and viewing time are used. Then, the user's viewing time rate (= viewing time / broadcasting time) for the viewed program is obtained (step 402), and this program feature information preference used for this viewing time rate and preference list for each program feature information. A new preference level is created using the degree, and preference information is created by updating the previous preference level (step 403). Then, based on the broadcast day information and broadcast time information of the broadcast related information, the characteristic trends such as the day of the week and the time zone of viewing are analyzed for all preference information, and the preference information according to the analysis result is analyzed. Grouping is performed and the preference list is updated (step 404).

  Here, the number of groups by grouping (that is, the number of preference lists) is the maximum number of group extractions set in the group extraction number setting unit 4 (FIG. 1). As described above, when “4” is set, a maximum of four groups of preference information are obtained. A preference list is created for each group. As described above, when a new preference information group is created, a preference list for the group is created. The list is updated.

  In addition, even when updating by preference evaluation is performed in the periodic preference evaluation described with reference to FIG. 3, each preference list is updated based on the result (for example, according to the degree of preference in the list). The order of preference information is updated).

  Thus, when each preference level list is updated, the recommended program extracting unit 6 extracts preference information from each preference level list in the preference analysis processing unit 5, for example, a predetermined number in descending order of preference level, For each preference information, a program that matches the preference information is set as a recommended program (step 405). Such recommended programs are used for EPG creation, viewing reservation, recording reservation, and the like.

  FIG. 5 is a table schematically showing two-dimensional mapping of a program broadcast in one week. In this table, the horizontal axis indicates the day of the week from Sunday to Saturday, and the vertical axis indicates 24 hours divided into three hours, and the broadcast is broadcast for each program for which the program characteristic information is acquired by the preference analysis processing unit 5. The day of the week and the broadcast time are shown.

  In the figure, a program 11 is, for example, a continuous drama from 8:15 in the morning for 15 minutes, and is broadcast at a specific time every morning from Monday to Saturday. The preference information created for the program 11 (the program feature information is “Drama” in the genre and the program name is “A”, but hereinafter referred to as “Drama: A”) includes day information and broadcast time information. Based on the above, it has additional information related to the broadcast form of “specific time in the morning from Monday to Saturday”. Further, the program 12 is, for example, a continuous drama of noon for 30 minutes from 14:00, which is broadcast every day from Monday to Friday, and is created for this program 12 when viewed daily. The preference information (similar to the program 11, the program feature information is “drama: B”), has additional information related to the broadcast form of “specific time of day from Monday to Friday” based on the day of the week information and the broadcast time information. It will be.

  As described above, even if the genre of the program feature information is “drama”, the viewing programs 11 and 12 are broadcast on the basis of the additional information that the broadcast days of the week are continuous and broadcast at a specific time. The tendency of form is common. Thereby, the preference information of the program having the tendency of the broadcasting form can be grouped into the same group, and the preference degree list including only the preference information of the group can be created.

  FIG. 6A shows the preference level list 10a, which is composed of program feature information, broadcast-related information (broadcast day, broadcast start time, broadcast time), and preference level.

  Here, the preference level list 10a includes program preference information such as programs 11, 12,..., And the program feature information is “drama: A”, and the preference information of the program 11 is broadcast. The broadcast day of the related information is “Monday-Saturday (Monday to Saturday)”, the broadcast start time is 8:15 (8:15), and the preference level is “77”. As for the preference information of the program 12, the program feature information is the genre “Drama: B”, the broadcast day is “Mon-Fri”, the broadcast start time is 14:00, and the preference level is “62”. Yes. Here, the preference level is the number of times the program has been viewed.

  Returning to FIG. 5, the programs 13 and 14 are, for example, animation programs broadcast in the early morning of Saturday and Sunday, respectively, and their broadcast times are not particularly specified. Each time the child views this, preference information created for the viewing programs 13 and 14 (the program feature information is the genre “animation” and the program names are “C” and “D”. , “Animation: C”, “animation: D”) has additional information in the form of broadcast “broadcast at an unspecified time on Saturday and Sunday” based on day of the week information and broadcast time information. The program 15 is, for example, an animation program that is broadcast every evening from Monday to Friday, and its broadcast start time is specified as 18:00. Preference information (program feature information is genre “animation” and program name is “E”, but hereinafter referred to as “animation: E”) is based on day of the week information and broadcast time information. Will have additional information such as “Evening evening”.

  By the way, when the genre is “animation” and the preference level is a certain value, it is assumed that the program is often watched by a specific viewer (in this case, a child). It can be grouped into groups, and a preference level list consisting only of preference information of such groups can be created.

  FIG. 6 (b) shows such a preference list 10b. In this preference list 10b, the preference list 10b is made up of preference information of animation programs, and the preference information of the programs 13, 14 is respectively The program feature information is “animation: C”, “anime: D”, and the broadcast day of the week is “Saturday, Sunday”, but since the broadcast start time is not specified, it is indicated by “−”. Yes. As for the preference information of the program 15, the program feature information is “animation: E” and the broadcast day is “Monday-Friday”, but the broadcast start time is specified as 18:00. The preference levels of the preference information of these programs 13, 14, and 15 are “48”, “43”, and “42”, respectively.

  The preference level in the preference level list 10b is smaller than the preference level in the preference level list 10a and other preference level lists shown in FIG. 6, and the animation programs 13, 14, and 15 are watched without any loss. However, if there is a characteristic in the day of the week or time zone to be viewed, it can be listed as a group of programs having one individuality (trend). In the preference level list 10b, it is assumed that an anime program forms one group because an anime program is viewed on various days and times. In this way, for example, preference information of programs of the same genre that are viewed on various days of the week and time zones form one group, and a preference list can be created.

  For example, programs that are viewed every day in the night time, or on a specific day of the week such as Saturday, Sunday, or a national holiday, or a specific time of the day, include additional information that is common to the day of the week or the time of day . For example, a program that is viewed on a weekday, Saturday, or Sunday night is often viewed by the whole family rather than an individual, and such a program can also be made into one group. Thus, it is thought that it is viewed by the family and can be regarded as the preference of the family, and the selection of the program during the time zone being viewed by the family may be supported. A program 16 in FIG. 5 shows one of such viewing programs.

  FIG. 6C shows a preference list 10c of program preference levels that are viewed by a family. The program feature information is “variety: F” program 16, the “information: G” program 17, and the like. It is assumed that it includes preference information such as “Variety: H” program 18,. The program 16 is broadcast every day at night, the broadcast time is not fixed, the preference is very high at “83”, and it is often watched by families. . The program 17 is broadcast from 20:00 on Sunday and has a relatively high preference of “76”, which is also a program that is often watched. Further, the program 18 is not scheduled for broadcast day, but is broadcast from 21:00 at night, and its preference is “57”, which is also relatively watched. .

  Furthermore, some programs have no characteristics in the broadcast day of the week and the broadcast time zone, and their tendency cannot be grasped. With this feature, such programs are grouped to create a preference list.

  FIG. 6D shows such a viewing program preference list 10d. Here, the program feature information is “variety: cooking”, “drama: hot spring”, “movie: western painting”,... It is assumed to consist of program preference information.

  Here, the number of extractions set in the group extraction number setting unit 4 (FIG. 1) is set to 4 or more, and the preference degree list having the maximum number of extractions is created.

  Based on the preference degree list, the encouragement program extraction unit 6 (FIG. 1) can detect a recommended program from the EPG information of the EPG information acquisition unit 2, and can create the EPG, make a viewing reservation, and make a recording reservation. However, it is also possible to present the preference list by OSD display or the like to support program selection. Here, in the case of OSD display, for example, a program corresponding to a program in the preference list in the EPG based on EPG information for one week is marked, or the preference list itself is presented. However, it is not limited to one of them, and it goes without saying that the extracted program may be linked with the receiver function such as reservation registration.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, for example, preference information corresponding to individual preferences can be listed by simply setting the number of family members as the number of preference information extractions. Information can be used to recommend programs. In the first embodiment, the group extraction number is set according to the number of family members. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is only necessary to set the number of preference information to be extracted. Extract and group multiple types of preference information without the need for cumbersome operations such as assigning preference information to individuals or using separate remote controls to obtain preference information for each. be able to. Also, for example, even if there are a plurality of children, if the programs to be viewed by the children are the same, there may be a single preference list to be grouped, and grouping is performed with the maximum number to be extracted.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the flow of processing for extracting / updating preference information and creating a preference level list by viewing a program in the second embodiment of the program selection support method according to the present invention. In the second embodiment as well, the program selection support apparatus using this has the configuration shown in FIG. 1 and is basically the same as the processing flow of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Furthermore, the point of grouping preference information using program organization patterns is different, and the flow of processing of this specific example will be described below with reference to FIG.

  The EPG information for one week that is multiplexed and sent along with the program by digital broadcasting or the like is added with the program information of each program, and information indicating the organization pattern of the program. Program information and organization pattern information are extracted from EPG information and stored. As such a knitting pattern, a knitting pattern of a series descriptor in “program information array ARIB STD-B10: radio wave industry used for digital broadcasting” is known and is broadcast as a part of EPG information.

  In FIG. 7, when the program viewing operation information B of the channel selected from the user operation acquisition unit 1 is supplied by the channel selection operation of the remote controller 8, the viewing history processing unit 3 displays the program of the selected channel. That is, program feature information such as the genre of the viewing program, performers, keywords (nouns such as place names), broadcast related information of the viewing program such as broadcast day (including day of the week), broadcast day, broadcast start time, broadcast time, When the organization pattern information and the like are acquired from the EPG information held in the EPG information acquisition unit 2 and the viewing of the viewing program ends, it is supplied to the preference analysis processing unit 5 together with the viewing time of the user for the viewing program (step) 401 ').

  In the preference analysis processing unit 5, when such program feature information, broadcast related information, organization pattern information, and viewing time of the program viewed from the viewing history processing unit 3 are sent, the broadcast related information is displayed as in FIG. 4. From the broadcast time (program length) and the viewing time, the user's viewing time rate (= viewing time / broadcasting time) for the viewed program is obtained (step 402), and the viewing time rate and the preference level for each program feature information. A new preference level is created using the preference level and organization pattern information of the program feature information used in the list, and preference information with the updated preference level is created (step 403 ′).

  Here, the organization pattern is information indicating the organization of a program such as a band program (the same program broadcast in the same time zone every day from Monday to Friday), a program broadcast about once a week, etc. When analyzing the degree of preference of a program that is determined to be broadcast about once a week according to the organization pattern, if this program is watched without missing every week, it is analyzed that the degree of preference is high. In the analysis of the preference information of the program that forms the band program with the organization pattern, if the preference level is not analyzed every day (that is, not viewed every day), it is analyzed that the preference level is low. That is, in the analysis of the preference level, it is determined whether or not viewing matching the knitting pattern is performed, and this determination result is also one requirement for performing the preference level analysis.

  Then, based on the broadcast day of the week and the broadcast time of the broadcast related information, further analyze the characteristic trends in the viewing day of the week and the time zone of all the preference information with the information of the organization pattern as auxiliary information, The preference information is grouped according to the analysis result, and the preference list is updated (step 404 ′).

  Here, also in the second embodiment, the number of groups obtained by this grouping (that is, the number of preference lists) is the maximum number of group extractions set in the group extraction number setting unit 4 (FIG. 1). Assuming that this is “4” as described above, a maximum of four groups of preference information can be obtained. A preference list is created for each group. As described above, when a new preference information group is created, a preference list for the group is created. The list is updated.

  Even in the second embodiment, even when the periodic preference evaluation described in FIG. 3 is updated by preference evaluation, each preference list is updated based on the result (for example, in the list). And the like, the order of preference information is updated in accordance with the magnitude of the preference level of the user.

  As described above, when each preference level list is updated, the recommended program extraction unit 6 obtains preference information from each preference level list in the preference analysis processing unit 5, for example, the preference level is large as in the case of FIG. A predetermined number is extracted sequentially, and for each piece of preference information, a program matching this is set as a recommended program (step 405). Such recommended programs are used for EPG creation, viewing reservation, recording reservation, and the like.

  In the second embodiment, the preference analysis processing unit 5 (FIG. 1) performs the preference information analysis process shown in FIG. 2 and the periodic preference level evaluation process shown in FIG. By the way, in the periodic preference degree evaluation process, the unevaluated period is set to one week (step 305). However, in this second embodiment, since the preference information has an organization pattern, for example, about once a week. For programs that are broadcast, the unevaluated period is 1 week, and for programs that are broadcast about once a month, the unevaluated period is 1 month. The information unevaluated period may be changed.

  Furthermore, in the second embodiment, the composition pattern information is used for the preference analysis and the group analysis, but it may be used for only one of them.

  As described above, also in the second embodiment, the preference information can be grouped and the degree of preference can be extracted for each group. For example, the number of family members is simply set as the preference information extraction number. Thus, preference information according to individual preferences can be listed, and programs can be recommended using each preference information. In the second embodiment, since the knitting pattern information is further used, a preference degree evaluation method can be set for each preference information.

It is a block diagram which shows the apparatus which implements 1st Embodiment of the program selection assistance method by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of 1st Embodiment shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a specific example of the periodic preference degree evaluation process of 1st Embodiment shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows one specific example of the flow of the process of extraction / update of preference information by the program viewing of 1st Embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and preparation of a preference list. It is a table | surface figure which maps and broadcasts a weekly broadcast program two-dimensionally. It is a figure which shows an example of the preference list | wrist of the preference information of each group. It is a flowchart which shows one specific example of the flow of the process of extraction / update of the preference information by program viewing in 2nd Embodiment of the program selection assistance method by this invention, and preparation of a preference list.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 User operation acquisition part 2 EPG information acquisition part 3 Viewing history process part 4 Group extraction number setting part 5 Preference analysis process part 6 Recommended program extraction part 7 System control part 8 Remote control 10a-10d Program

Claims (5)

The program feature information and broadcast related information of the program viewed by the user's viewing operation instruction are analyzed by the preference analysis processing means to acquire the preference information indicating the user's favorite program, and the recommended program extraction means matches the preference information. A program selection support method for extracting a program having program information as a recommended program from EPG (Electric Program Guide) information,
Each time the preference information of the viewing program is obtained by the preference analysis processing means, the preference information of each program is grouped into a predetermined number of groups, and the recommended program is extracted for each group of the preference information. Program selection support method. In claim 1,
The program selection support method, wherein the preference information of the viewing program is at least one of a program genre, a performer name, and a keyword of program information extracted from the acquired EPG information. In claim 1 or 2,
The preference analysis processing means holds the preference information in association with the broadcast day of the week and the broadcast time, and the preference information is based on one of the broadcast day of the week, the broadcast time, or the genre, or a combination of two or more. And a program selection support method characterized by grouping. In claim 1, 2 or 3,
The preference analysis processing means performs grouping of the preference information by setting the set number of extractions as a maximum number. In claim 1, 2, 3 or 4,
The preference analysis processing means retains a program composition pattern in association with preference information, and uses the program composition pattern for preference analysis, grouping, or both. .

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