JP2008252433A - Program reservation information acquisition system, communication unit therefor, and server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program reservation information acquisition system, a communication unit therefor, and a server, enabling a group member to easily acquire a group reservation state. <P>SOLUTION: The program reservation information acquisition system includes a plurality of communication units and the server. Each communication unit includes an input means for inputting a video recording request, requesting video recording of a desired program by a user of the communication unit, and a set means for setting whether or not the video recording reservation information with regard to the program to which the video recording request is input is to be open to the public, and a transmission means for transmitting the above video recording reservation information to the server in case of setting to be open to the public. Further, the server includes a memory means for storing identification information of the above plurality of communication units by relating to one group, a communication means for transmitting/receiving information to/from any one of the above plurality of communication units, and a generation means for generating group reservation information in regard to the video recording reservation state in the plurality of communication units included in the above group, using the above video recording reservation information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program reservation information acquisition system that acquires information related to a program recording reservation, and a communication apparatus and server used therefor.

A system for remotely controlling an AV device using e-mail, a system for reserving a program remotely from a mobile phone, and the like have been released. These systems help one user to work individually.
On the other hand, in Patent Document 1, in order to share information among a plurality of users and strengthen the community, a plurality of users are created as members of a group, program reservation information is notified within the group, and the same program A system for reserving is disclosed.

JP 2005-184503 A

  However, in the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order for a user to view reservation information of other members of the group, it is necessary to receive program information from each member one by one.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a program reservation information acquisition system in which group members can easily acquire a group reservation state, and a communication device and server used therefor.

  The program reservation information acquisition system according to the present invention includes a plurality of communication devices and a server. The communication apparatus is configured to input a recording request for requesting recording reservation of a desired program by a user of the communication apparatus, and whether to release recording reservation information regarding the program for which the recording request is input by the input means. Setting means for setting, and transmission means for transmitting the recording reservation information to the server when it is set to be disclosed by the setting means. In addition, the server includes a storage unit that stores the identification information of the plurality of communication devices in association with each other, a communication unit that transmits and receives information to and from the plurality of communication devices, and the communication unit that includes the plurality of communication devices. And creating means for creating group reservation information related to a recording reservation state in the plurality of communication devices included in the group using the recording reservation information when the recording reservation information is received from any one of Features.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the program reservation information acquisition system which a group member can acquire a group reservation state easily, the communication apparatus used for this, and a server can be provided.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program reservation information acquisition system. User A transmits the reservation information from the broadcast receiver 1100 or the portable terminal 1200 to the server 3000 via the communication infrastructure 4000, and the user B uses the broadcast receiver 2100 and the portable terminal 2200 to transmit the user A from the server 3000. A group reservation status table indicating the program reservation status of the members of the included group is acquired. In this example, the group members are composed of two users, user A and user B. However, the number of group members is not limited to this, and may be three or more.

  As shown in FIG. 1, by installing the server 3000 independently of the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100, the mobile terminals 1200 and 2200, etc., there is an advantage that the software scale of the user's broadcast receiver or mobile terminal is reduced. However, the server 3000 may be built in the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100 of the group members, the portable terminals 1200 and 2200, and the like. In this case, a provider that provides the server 3000 is not necessary, and a program reservation information acquisition system can be realized by installing software on the user's broadcast receiver and mobile terminal, thereby improving user convenience. Can do.

  The broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100 are devices that receive and record a program guide broadcast from a television station or the like, and send information to the server 3000, the mobile terminals 1200 and 2200, and other devices in the group via the communication infrastructure 4000. It has a communication function to send and receive. The portable terminals 1200 and 2200 have a function of controlling the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100.

  In the following, a program reservation information acquisition system will be described by taking as an example a case where a program reservation or group reservation state table is acquired mainly by broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100 among communication devices possessed by a user. In this example, the case where the user uses both a broadcast receiver and a portable terminal as communication terminals is shown, but only the broadcast receiver may be used.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast receiver 1100 possessed by user A and a broadcast receiver 2100 possessed by user B. Hereinafter, the broadcast receiver 1100 will be described as an example.

  The broadcast receiver 1100 controls the entire apparatus, executes a reservation information notification process to the server 3000, an acquisition process of a group reservation state table from the server 3000, an information storage unit 1190, a tuner, and the like A broadcast receiving unit 1120, a display unit 1110 for displaying broadcast programs and recorded programs, a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) button, and the like An operation unit 1130, a recording unit 1150 that records a selected broadcast program, and the like, another device (for example, a portable terminal 1200) owned by the user, and a communication unit 1160 that communicates with the server 3000 through the communication infrastructure 4000 are provided. .

  The information storage unit 1190 includes an internal memory, a hard disk, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores programs executed by the control unit 1140, communication control data, program recording reservation information, and the like. In addition, information such as a portable terminal ID 1191, reservation information 1170, and group management information 1180 of the portable terminal used by the user (if the user A is the portable terminal 1200) is also stored in the information storage unit 1190.

  The mobile terminal ID 1191 is specific information for specifying a mobile terminal or connecting to a mobile terminal, and is, for example, a telephone number or an e-mail address. The reservation information 1170 includes a public reservation list DB 1171 that holds reserved programs whose “public reservation” setting, which will be described later, is set to “release” when recording a program is reserved, and a “reservation mode” that is described later when recording a program is reserved. ”Is configured from an absolute reservation list DB 1172 that holds programs whose setting is“ absolute reservation ”.

  Here, “reservation mode” is information for determining a mode for program recording reservation, and the user selects “absolute reservation” or “normal reservation”. An “absolute reservation” program is an absolute reservation that does not delete the program reservation even if there is an overlap by the popular program reservation function or the automatic reservation function. The “ordinary reservation” program is to delete these programs when there is an overlap by a popular program reservation function or an automatic reservation function.

  “Publication reservation” is information for determining whether or not to release a program to be reserved for recording to other users, and the user selects “public” or “not public”. Even within a group, there may be reservation information that the user does not want to notify other members, so the user's privacy can be protected by allowing the user to select whether or not to make it public in this way .

  The public reservation list DB 1171 stores a program ID, a program name, a channel, a broadcast date, and a broadcast time. The program ID is an ID of a program that is uniquely assigned to identify the program. The program name is a program name corresponding to the program ID, and is used for the user to identify the program. The channel is a channel number on which the program is broadcast. The broadcast date is the date on which the program is broadcast. The broadcast time is a start time and an end time when the program is broadcast. The absolute reservation list DB 1172 has items such as a program ID, like the public reservation list DB 1171.

  The group management information 1180 includes a group information DB 1181 and a user information DB 1182.

  The group information DB 1181 of the broadcast receiver 1100 is a database in which information on each group to which the user A belongs is stored, and an example is shown in FIG. An example of the group information DB 1181 stored in the broadcast receiver 2100 information storage unit 1190 of the user B is shown in FIG. The group information DB 1181 has a group ID, a group name, a creator, and a group member name as items. The group ID is a group ID uniquely assigned to identify the group. The group name is a group name corresponding to the group ID, and is used by the user to identify the group. The creator is information for identifying the person who created the group, and stores the user name of the group creator. The group member name stores the user names of members participating in the group.

  The user information DB 1182 is a database that stores user information of members included in each group, and an example is shown in FIG. The user information DB 1182 has items such as a user ID, a user name, and a broadcast receiver ID. The user ID is an ID uniquely assigned in the user information DB in order to identify the user. The user name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID, and is used by the user who uses the user information DB 1182 to identify the user described in the user information DB 1182. The broadcast receiver ID is information for specifying a communication destination of the broadcast receiver used by each user described in the user information DB, and an IP address, a mail address, or the like can be used. FIG. 7 shows an example in which a mail address is used as the broadcast receiver ID.

  The recording unit 1150 can record a plurality of programs at the same time. In the future, the ability to simultaneously record n programs will be referred to as “having n resources”. Furthermore, when the recording unit has n resources, if the number of simultaneous recording reservation programs is less than n, it is called “there are resources that can be recorded”, and the number of simultaneous recording reservation programs is just n. For example, it is referred to as “no recordable resource”.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of the mobile terminal 1200 owned by the user A and the mobile terminal 2200 owned by the user B. Hereinafter, the portable terminal 1200 will be described as an example.

  The portable terminal 1200 controls the entire apparatus and executes a group reservation state table acquisition process, which will be described later, an information storage unit 1290, and a display unit that displays broadcast program information, a group reservation state table, and the like. 1210, a user operation unit 1230 including a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) button, and other devices (for example, broadcast receiver 1100) owned by the user, a server 3000 and a communication unit 1260 that performs communication through the communication infrastructure 4000.

  The information storage unit 1290 includes an internal memory, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores programs used by the control unit 1240, communication control data, program recording reservation information, and the like. Also, the broadcast receiver ID 1291, reservation information 1270, and group management information 1280 of the broadcast receiver used by the user (broadcast receiver 1100 if user A) are stored in the information storage unit 1290.

  The broadcast receiver ID 1291 is communication destination specifying information for communicating with the broadcast receiver, and the IP address or mail address of the broadcast receiver can be used. The reservation information 1270 includes program information such as EPG (for example, program name, program ID, channel, broadcast date, broadcast start time and end time, etc.) and group reservation, which will be described later, acquired from the server 3000 via the communication unit 1260. Consists of a state table. The user can make a program recording reservation by using the reservation information 1270 and the user operation unit 1230.

  The group management information 1280 is information on a group to which the user belongs, and is composed of a group information DB 1281.

An example of the group information DB 1281 of the user A is the same as that shown in FIG. An example of user B's group information DB 1281 is the same as that shown in FIG.
The items of the group information DB 1281 are the same as those of the group information DB 1181 described above.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the server 3000.
The server 3000 controls the entire apparatus, and executes a reservation information acquisition process from the user's broadcast receiver 1100 and the like, a group reservation state table transmission process to the broadcast receiver 2100 and the like, and a control unit 3020 and information storage Unit 3070, a display unit 3030 for displaying an operation screen, an operation unit 3010 including a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, and a communication unit for communicating with the broadcast receiver 1100 and the like through the communication infrastructure 4000 3040.

  The information storage unit 3070 includes an internal memory, a hard disk, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores programs used by the control unit 3020 and communication control data. Group management information 3050 and group reservation information 3060 are also stored in the information storage unit 3070.

  The group management information 3050 includes a group information DB 3051 and a user information DB 3052.

  An example of the group information DB 3051 is shown in FIG. The group information DB 3051 has a group ID, a group name, a creator, a group member name, and automatic reservation as items. The group ID, group name, creator, and group member name have the same configuration as the group information DB 1181 described above.

  Automatic reservation is information for automatically notifying the user's broadcast receiver when the group reservation status table is updated, and for determining whether the broadcast receiver automatically reserves recording of popular programs. The user selects “ON” or “OFF” when replying to the group participation. When “ON” is set, when the group reservation status table is updated, the server automatically notifies the user's broadcast receiver of the group reservation status table, and the popular program is received according to the group reservation status table received by the broadcast receiver. Is automatically reserved for recording. When “OFF” is set, even if the group reservation status table is updated, the server does not notify the user's broadcast receiver.

  An example of the user information DB 3052 is shown in FIG. The user information DB 3052 is a database having, as items, a user ID, a user name, a broadcast receiver ID, and a mobile terminal ID. The user ID is an ID uniquely assigned in the user information DB in order to identify the user. The user name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID, and is used by the user who uses the user information DB to identify the user described in the user information DB. The broadcast receiver ID is information for specifying the communication destination of the broadcast receiver used by each user described in the user information DB, and is an IP address, a mail address, or the like. The mobile terminal ID is information for specifying the communication destination of the mobile terminal used by each user described in the user information DB, and uses a telephone number, a mail address, or the like. In the example of FIG. 9, a mail address is used as the broadcast receiver ID and the mobile terminal ID.

  The group reservation information 3060 includes a member public list DB 3061 and a group reservation table DB 3062.

  The member public list DB 3061 is a database that holds a public reservation list DB for each user. Items include a user ID, a user name, and a public reservation list DB. The user ID is an ID uniquely assigned in the user information DB in order to identify the user. The user name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID, and is used by the user who uses the user information DB to identify the user described in the user information DB. The public reservation list DB is a public reservation list DB for each user, and has the same configuration as the public reservation list DB 1171 described above.

  The group reservation table DB 3062 is a database that holds a group reservation state table for each group, and items include a group ID, a group name, a reservation table existence state, a creation date and time, and a group reservation state table. The group ID is a group ID uniquely assigned to identify the group. The group name is the name of the group corresponding to the group ID, and is used for the user to identify the group. The reservation table existence state indicates whether or not the reservation state table of each group exists, and stores “Yes” if it exists, “None” if it does not exist. The creation date / time is the date / time when the group reservation status table was created. The group reservation status table is a group reservation status table for each group.

  An example of the group reservation status table is shown in FIG. The group reservation status table includes items such as the number of reservations, date, channel, time, program details, and reservation status for each user. The reserved number is information representing the number of members of the group who have reserved a program specified by date, channel, and time. The date, channel, and time are information used to specify a program. The program details are detailed information of the program specified by date, channel, and time, and store the title and genre of the program. The reservation status for each user is information indicating whether or not the user has reserved a program specified by the date, channel, and time. If the reservation is made, “done”, if not, “None” is stored.

  FIG. 11 is a control sequence showing a group information DB creation process, which is executed by the control unit 1140 and the control unit 3020. This flow is a flow for grouping users, and is executed first prior to other processing. Hereinafter, a case where user A creates a new group will be described as an example.

  First, the user A creates a group member list, which will be described later, using the user name and broadcast receiver ID stored in the user information DB 1182 by the broadcast receiver 1100, and transmits the group member list to the server 3000 (step S1).

  FIG. 12 shows an example of a group member list. In this example, the group member list includes items of group name, creator, automatic reservation, member name, member broadcast receiver ID, and member portable terminal ID. The group name is the name of the group to be created, and the creator is the name of the user who creates the group. In the example of FIG. 12, “high school friend” and user A are “A”, respectively. The automatic reservation is information for selecting whether or not the group creator sets an automatic reservation for this group, and is set to “ON” when automatic reservation is desired. The member name is the name of a member who joins the group. In this example, the user name “A” of user A and the user name “B” of user B are registered. The member's broadcast receiver ID is the broadcast receiver ID of each member, and the member's mobile terminal ID is the ID of each member's mobile terminal. In the example of FIG. 12, user A does not know user B's mobile terminal ID, and is blank.

  The server 3000 receives and stores the group member list, and sends a group participation request to broadcast receivers of members other than the creator included in the group member list (step S2).

  The receiving side broadcast receiver 2100 receives the group participation request, fills in its own mobile terminal ID as additional information, and sends it back to the server 3000 (step S3). Since user B has the portable terminal 2200 in addition to the broadcast receiver 2100, the mail address of the portable terminal 2200 is entered as additional information as shown in FIG. Furthermore, user B enters automatic reservation for this group as “ON” or “OFF” as additional information.

  The server 3000 counts replies from each member, and when time-out occurs, deletes information on users who have not participated or responded from the group member list, and fills in the group member list with additional information on users who have declared participation, as will be described later. A fixed list is created (step S4). At this time, the user information DB 3062 is updated using the received additional information. An example of the server user information DB 3062 is as shown in FIG.

  Next, a group ID is set in step S5, and a fixed list is registered in the group information DB 3051 together with the group ID. The group information DB 3051 is installed in the group management information 3050 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 14 shows a group ID and a confirmation list of the group created this time. An example of the group information DB 3051 of the server 3000 after the group ID and the fixed list in FIG. 14 are registered is the above-described FIG.

  Next, in step S6, the server 3000 uses the user information DB 3062 as shown in FIG. 9 to display all the terminals of the user of the participation declaration (in this example, the broadcast receiver 1100 and the portable terminal 1200 of the user A, the broadcast receiver of the user B). 2100 and portable terminal 2200) are notified of the confirmed list and the group ID. The group ID is used for a group reservation status table acquisition function to be described later.

  Next, in steps S7 and S8, user A's broadcast receiver 1100 and portable terminal 1200 receive the confirmed list and group ID. Here, the group confirmation list and the group ID are registered in the group information DB 1181 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the group information DB 1281 of the mobile terminal 1200. An example of the group information DB 1181 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 1200 after the confirmation list and the group ID are registered is the above-described FIG.

  In steps S9 and S10, user B's broadcast receiver 2100 and portable terminal 2200 receive the fixed list and group ID. Here, the fixed list and the group ID are registered in the group information DB 1181 of the broadcast receiver 2100 and the group information DB 1281 of the mobile terminal 2200. The group information DB 1181 of the broadcast receiver 2100 and the group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 2200 after the confirmation list and group ID are registered are the same as those in FIG.

  FIG. 15 is an example of a recording reservation screen of the broadcast receiver 1100 of user A.

  In FIG. 15A, after the user reserves the program displayed in the program guide 711, the user performs reservation mode setting and public reservation setting. First, a pop-up screen 712 is displayed. Here, as described above, the user selects whether the reservation mode of this program is “normal reservation” or “absolute reservation”.

  Next, in FIG. 15B, after selecting the reservation mode, a pop-up screen 715 is displayed. Here, the user makes a public reservation setting. When the “Publish” button 716 is pressed, the program information is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171, transmitted to the server 3000 via the communication unit 1160, and released to other users. When the “not open” button 717 is pressed, this program information is not registered in the public reservation list DB 1171 and is not transmitted to the server 3000, so other group members cannot know this reservation information. When the publication reservation setting is completed, a pop-up screen 718 is displayed. When an “end” button 719 is pressed, the process ends.

  FIG. 15D shows a display example when there is no recordable resource when reserving a program displayed in the program guide 711, a pop-up screen 720 is displayed, and a duplicate reserved program is displayed. At this time, if a “no reservation” button 722 is pressed, there is an overlap and no reservation is made, and a pop-up screen 723 is displayed as shown in FIG. On the contrary, when the duplicate reserved program 721 is deleted on the screen 720 and a new program is reserved, the screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 15A, and the process proceeds to the reservation mode setting and release reservation setting of the new program.

  FIG. 16 is a control sequence showing a public reserved program notification and a group reservation state table update at the time of program reservation, and is executed by the control unit 1140 and the control unit 3020. In the following, a control sequence at the time of program reservation by user A's broadcast receiver 1100 will be described as an example, but the same applies to a control sequence at the time of program reservation by user B's broadcast receiver 2100.

  In FIG. 16, first, in step S11, the program reservation mode setting and the public reservation setting are performed. When the program is to be released, the program information is notified to the server 3000.

  In step S12, the server 3000 receives the program information and adds it to the public reservation list DB of the user A in the member public list DB 3061. In step S13, the control unit 3020 of the server 3000 updates the group reservation status table of the group to which the user A belongs based on the information in the member public list DB 3061, and stores the result in the group reservation table DB 3062. The group reservation status table creation flowchart will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for creating the group reservation status table DB 3062, which is executed by the control unit 3020 of the server 3000. The group reservation status table is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 17, it is confirmed from member public list DB3061 whether there exists a reserved program of a group member by step S21. If there is no reserved program, “None” is stored in the reservation table existence state item of the group reservation table DB 3062 and the current date and time are stored in the creation date and time item in step S22. If there is a reserved program, the public reserved list DB of each member of the group stored in the member public list DB 3061 is confirmed one by one in step S23.

  If the public reservation list DB exists in step S23, the reserved programs are confirmed one by one in each public reservation list DB in step S24. If the program has been registered in the group reservation status table in step S25, the number of reservations for the program is increased by one in step S26, and the reservation status column for this user is changed from none to finished. If the program is not registered in the group reservation table DB 3062 in step S25, it is added to the group reservation state table as a new one in step S27, one person is reserved in the reservation number column, the reservation state column of this user is completed, and other users' Enter None in the reservation status column.

  When all the public reservation list DBs in the group are confirmed in step S23, the process proceeds to step S28. In step S28, the group reservation state table is sorted in order from the program with the largest number of reservations. This is because the most popular program of the group is displayed at the top. For example, FIG. 10A is a group reservation state table before sorting, and FIG. 10B is a group reservation state table after sorting.

  In step S29, the group reservation status table and the creation date and time after sorting in FIG. 10B are stored in the group reservation table DB 3062.

  FIG. 18 is an example of a group reservation status table displayed on the user's broadcast receiver or portable terminal. FIG. 18A shows a menu screen. When the “group reservation status table” button is pressed, the screen moves to FIG. 18B and a list of registered groups is displayed. When the group “high school friend” is selected in the screen FIG. 18B, a group reservation status table including the reservation status of the user is displayed. FIG. 18C is an example of a group reservation state table displayed on the display units 1110 and 1210 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the mobile terminal 1200 that are the user A terminals. FIG. 18D is an example of a group reservation state table displayed on the broadcast receiver 2100 and the mobile terminal 2200 that are the user B terminals.

  FIG. 19 is a control sequence for browsing the group reservation status table by the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100 and the mobile terminals 1200 and 2200 that are user terminals. The control units 1140 and 1240 of the user terminal and the control unit 3020 of the server 3000 are illustrated. Is executed. An example of browsing the group reservation status table with the broadcast receiver 1100 will be described below with reference to FIG.

  19, in step S31, the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 transmits to the server 3000 using the group ID of the group that the broadcast receiver 1100 wants to browse and the user ID of the user. Since the group ID and the user ID are stored in the group information DB 1181 and the user information DB 1182, the control unit 1140 can acquire them.

  Next, in step S32, the control unit 3020 of the server 3000 receives the group ID and user ID, confirms the group ID and user ID from the group management information 3050, extracts the group reservation status table from the group reservation table DB 3062, and receives the received user ID. The reservation state which is not designated is extracted and transmitted to the broadcast receiver 1100.

  Next, in step S33, the group reservation status table is displayed on the broadcast receiver 1100 and can be viewed by the user. An example of the group reservation status table displayed on the broadcast receiver 1100 and the mobile terminal 1200 that are the user A's terminal is the above-described FIG. An example of the group reservation table displayed on the broadcast receiver 2100 and the portable terminal 2200 which are the user B terminals is the above-described FIG. 18B.

  FIG. 20 is a screen display example of user A's broadcast receiver 1100 and portable terminal 1200 when making a manual reservation based on the group reservation status table. Manual reservation means that the user browses the group reservation status table and reserves recording of program information on the group reservation status table one by one.

  First, FIG. 20A is a group reservation state table displayed on the broadcast receiver 1100 and the portable terminal 1200 of the user A. For example, when user A reserves a program on the fourth line, the program moves to that program and presses the OK button.

  Next, if there is a recordable resource, this program reservation is performed, and the program reservation mode setting is entered as shown in FIG. The user selects “absolute reservation” or “normal reservation” on the screen of FIG.

  Next, the public reservation setting is performed on the screen of FIG. Ask the user to choose whether to make this program reservation “open” or “not open”. When the setting is completed, the process proceeds to the program reservation end screen in FIG. When the user presses a “return to reservation table” button 1305 on the screen of FIG. 20D, the group reservation state table acquisition function is executed, and the group reservation state table is displayed. When the user presses the end button 1306, this application ends.

  Returning to FIG. 20A, if there is no recordable resource, a reserved program that overlaps with the time of this program is displayed as shown in FIG. The user decides whether or not to reserve the selected program by canceling the duplicate reserved program on the screen of FIG. For example, when the user cancels the program 1307 and reserves the program selected on the screen of FIG. 20A, the program shifts to the program 1307 and presses the OK button. Then, the recording reservation information of the program 1307 is deleted. Next, it is confirmed whether or not the deleted recording reservation information has been made public. If it has been made public, it is deleted from the public reservation list DB 1170, and this recording reservation information is stored in the server 3000 via the communication unit 1160. Notify that it has been deleted from the list database. A control sequence with the server 3000 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 20E, conversely, when the user does not reserve the program to be reserved next time, the “do not reserve” button 1308 is pressed. Then, the screen proceeds to the screen of FIG. When the user presses a “return to reservation table” button 1309 on the screen of FIG. 20F, the group reservation state table acquisition function is executed, and the group reservation state table is displayed. When the user presses the end button 1310, the application ends.

  FIG. 21 is a control sequence of a function for making a manual reservation based on the group reservation status table displayed on the broadcast receiver screen, and is executed by the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 2100. The following describes a case where the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the control.

  First, in step S410, the control unit 1140 acquires information on a program reserved by the user A. In step S411, the control unit 1140 confirms whether there is a recordable resource. If there is, the process proceeds to S412. In step S412, the control unit 1140 makes a recording reservation for the program, sets a reservation mode and a public reservation, and displays on the screen that the program reservation has been completed. On the other hand, if there is no recordable resource in step S411, the process proceeds to step S413. In step S413, the information of the reserved program is confirmed from the information storage unit 1190, and the reserved program that overlaps with the information of the program to be reserved next time is displayed.

  Next, in step S414, the overlapping reserved program is canceled, the user is inquired whether to reserve the program to be reserved next time, and the user's reply is acquired. When canceling a duplicate reserved program and reserving a program to be reserved next time, the reservation information of the reserved program selected in step S416 is deleted from the information storage unit 1190.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the reservation information deleted in step S417 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 1172. If registered, it is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 1172 in step S418. After checking the absolute reservation list DB 1172, the process proceeds to step S419. It is confirmed whether or not the reservation information deleted in step S419 is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171. If registered, it is deleted from the public reservation list DB 1171 in step S420, and this reservation information is stored in the server 3000 via the communication unit 1160. Is deleted from user A's public reservation list DB. A control sequence with the server 3000 will be described later with reference to FIG. After confirming the public list, the process proceeds to step S412 described above.

  On the other hand, if the user does not reserve the program to be reserved next time in step S414, the screen displays that the program is not reserved in step S415.

  FIG. 22 is a flowchart for manually making a reservation based on the group reservation status table displayed on the mobile terminal 1200 of user A or the mobile terminal 2200 of user B. The control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 or the control unit of the broadcast receiver 2100 This is executed at 1140. The following describes a case where it is executed by the mobile terminal 1200 of the user A and the broadcast receiver 1100.

  First, in step S510, the control unit 1140 acquires program information that the user wants to reserve from the control unit 1240 of the portable terminal 1200 via the communication infrastructure 4000. Next, in step S511, the control unit 1140 checks whether there is a recordable resource at the time of the acquired program. If there is, the program reservation mode and release reservation are set in step S512, and the control unit 1240 of the portable terminal 1200 is notified via the communication unit 1160 that the program reservation has been completed. On the other hand, if there is no recordable resource in step S511, in step S513, an inquiry is made to the control unit 1240 of the portable terminal 1200 as to whether or not a reserved program is reserved, and in step S514, the portable terminal is inquired. A reply is received from 1200.

  In step S515, the reply from the portable terminal 1200 is confirmed. If the reply is “no reservation”, the portable terminal 1200 is notified in step S516 that the program reservation is not performed. On the other hand, if the reply from the portable terminal 1200 is “reserve” in step S515, the reserved program selected in step S517 is deleted from the information storage unit 1190.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the program deleted in step S518 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 1172. If registered, this program information is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 1172. After checking the absolute reservation list DB 1172, the process proceeds to step S520.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the program deleted in step S520 is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171. If not released, the program is reserved in step S522, the reservation mode and the public reservation are set by exchanging with the portable terminal 1200, and the portable terminal 1200 is notified of the completion of the program reservation via the communication unit 1160. . If it has been made public, it is deleted from the public reservation list DB 1171 in step S521, and the server 3000 is notified that this reservation information has been deleted from the public reservation list DB of user A. Next, the process proceeds to step S522 described above.

  FIG. 23 is an example of a screen display of user A's broadcast receiver 1100 or mobile terminal 1200 at the time of manual cancellation according to the group reservation status table.

  First, FIG. 23A is a group reservation state table displayed on the display unit 1110 of the broadcast receiver 1100 of the user A or the display unit 1210 of the mobile terminal 1200. For example, when the user A cancels the program reservation on the third line, the user A shifts to the program and presses the OK button. Then, the reservation information of this program is deleted. Next, after the program reservation information is deleted, the user is notified of the cancellation of the program reservation on the screen of FIG.

  FIG. 24 is a flowchart for manually canceling the group reservation status table using the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100, and is executed by the control unit 1140. The following describes a case where the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the control.

  First, in step S61, the control unit 1140 obtains information on a reserved program to be canceled from the display unit 1110. In step S62, the reservation information of this program is deleted from the information storage unit 1190. It is confirmed whether or not the program information deleted in step S63 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 1172. If registered, it is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 1172 in step S64. After confirming the absolute reservation list DB, the process proceeds to step S65. It is confirmed whether or not the program information deleted in step S65 is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171. If there is no registration, in step S67, the display unit 1110 displays that the cancellation of the program reservation has been completed. If there is registration, in step S66, this program information is deleted from the public reservation list DB 1171, and the server 3000 is notified via the communication unit 1160 that this reservation information has been deleted from the public reservation list DB of the user A. The process proceeds to step S67 described above. The control sequence with the server 3000 executed in step S66 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 25 is a flowchart for manual cancellation using the group reservation status table using the mobile terminals 1200 and 2200, and is executed by the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 2100. The following describes a case where the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the control.

  First, information on the program to be canceled in step S71 is received from the portable terminal 1200 via the communication unit 1160. Next, in step S72, the control unit 1140 deletes the program reservation information from the information storage unit 1190. It is confirmed whether or not the program information deleted in step S73 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 1172. If registered, it is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 1172 in step S74. After confirming the absolute reservation list DB, the process proceeds to step S75.

  It is checked whether the program information deleted in step S75 is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171. If not registered, the mobile terminal 1200 is notified via the communication unit 1160 that the program reservation cancellation has been completed in step S77. If registered, in step S76, the program information is deleted from the public reservation list DB 1171, and the server 3000 is notified via the communication unit 1160 that the reservation information has been deleted from the public reservation list of the user A. The process proceeds to step S77.

  FIG. 26 is a control sequence for updating the member public list DB 3061 of the server 3000 when the program reservation information registered in the public reservation list DB 1171 is deleted. The control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the broadcast receiver 2100 It is executed by the control unit 1140 and the control unit 3020 of the server 3000. The following describes a case where the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 3020 of the server 3000 execute.

  In step S81, the broadcast receiver 1100 transmits a deletion request from the member public list DB 3061 to the server 3000 via the communication unit 1160, including its own user ID and information of the deleted program. In step S82, the acquired user ID and program information are received, and this program information is deleted from the public reservation list DB of this user stored in the member public list DB 3061. In step S83, the group reservation status table of the group to which this user belongs is updated, and the result is stored in the group reservation table DB 3062.

  FIG. 27 shows an example of a screen display of the terminal of user A when making a reservation for a popular program based on the group reservation status table, which is executed by the display unit 1110 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the display unit 1210 of the mobile terminal 1200.

  First, the screen of FIG. 27A is a group reservation status table of the user A. When the “popular program reservation” button 2000 is pressed, the screen moves to FIG. On the screen of FIG. 27 (b), the user can enter the number of a popular program that the user wants to reserve. For example, if the user wants to reserve popular programs 1 to 10, enter 1 in the column 2001 and 10 in the column 2002. Next, when a confirmation button 2003 is pressed, a recording reservation is made from the popular program with the entered start number to the popular program with the end number.

  After the reservation is completed, the screen shifts to the screen of FIG. In FIG. 27C, when the user presses a “return to reservation table” button 2004, the group reservation state table can be acquired from the server 3000 again, and is displayed as shown in FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 27C, when the user presses an “end” button 2005, this application is terminated and the normal screen display of the broadcast receiver is restored.

  FIG. 28 is a control sequence for reserving a popular program on the screens of the broadcast receivers 1100 and 2100, and is executed by the control unit 1140. The following describes a case where the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the control.

  First, in step S910, the broadcast receiver 1100 acquires a group reservation status table from the server 3000. Next, in step S911, the start number and end number of the popular program that the user wants to reserve are acquired.

  In step S912, a recording reservation is made from the program with the start number. In step S913, it is confirmed whether the reservation status of the popular program is “none” or “done”. If it is “completed”, it moves to the next popular program in step S914, and returns to step S913. If it is “none”, the process proceeds to step S915.

  In step S915, it is confirmed whether there is a recordable resource at the time of this program. If there is, the program reserves recording of this program in step S916, sets a public reservation, and stores information on this program in the public reservation TEMP list. The public reservation TEMP list is a list that is temporarily created to reserve popular programs, and has the same items as the public reservation list DB.

  Next, in step S921, it is confirmed whether or not this program is a program having an end number. If so, the process proceeds to step S922 described later. Otherwise, it moves to the next popular program in step S914 and returns to step S913 described above.

  If there is no recordable resource at the time of the popular program to be reserved in step S915, the process proceeds to step S917. In step S917, it is confirmed whether there is an ordinary reserved program among the duplicate reserved programs. If there is not, all the duplicated programs are the reservation information of the absolute reservation and cannot be deleted. Therefore, in step S914, the process moves to the next popular program without doing anything. The normally reserved program is a program registered in the information storage unit 1190 but not registered in the absolute reservation list 1172.

  In step S917, if there is a normally reserved program among duplicate reserved programs, the popularity of the normally reserved program and the currently reserved program is confirmed in step S918. In detail, check whether the number of reserved programs is the smallest compared to the number of reserved programs for all regular programs, and if so, the popularity of the program reserved this time is the lowest. The process proceeds to step S914 without making a recording reservation. Otherwise, in step S919, the program with the smallest number of reservations is deleted from the information storage unit 1190, and if it is registered in the public reservation list DB 1171, it is deleted, and then the recording reservation for the program reserved this time is performed.

  Next, information on the program reserved in step S920 is entered in the public reservation TEMP list, and the process proceeds to step S921. In step S921, it is confirmed whether this program is a program having an end number. If so, the process proceeds to step S922. After the above-described steps S912 to S921 are executed, the program information registered in the public reservation TEMP list in step S920 is added to the public reservation list DB 1171 in step S922, and the additional program information is added to the server 3000 via the communication unit 1160. Notify that it will be released, and delete the temporary publishing reservation TEMP list.

  FIG. 29 is a control sequence for reserving a popular program based on the group reservation status table on the screen of the mobile terminal. The control unit 1240 of the mobile terminal 1200 or the control unit 1240 of the mobile terminal 2200, the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100, or broadcast This is executed by the control unit 1140 of the receiver 2100. The following describes a case where the control unit 1240 of the mobile terminal 1200 and the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 execute.

  First, in step S101, the user A acquires a group reservation state table using the portable terminal 1200. Next, in step S102, the start number and end number of the popular program that the user wants to reserve are entered, and a popular program reservation request is transmitted to the broadcast receiver 1100 via the communication unit 1260.

  Next, in step S <b> 103, the broadcast receiver 1100 receives a popular program reservation request, and acquires a group reservation state table from the server 3000. The processing of the broadcast receiver 1100 at this time is as shown in FIG.

  Next, in step S104, the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the same as steps S912 to S922 described above with reference to FIG. In step S105, the portable terminal 1200 is notified via the communication unit 1160 that the popular program reservation has been completed. In step S106, the display unit 1210 of the portable terminal 1200 displays that the popular program reservation has been completed.

  FIG. 30 is a control sequence of the automatic reservation function based on the group reservation state table, and is executed by the control unit 3020 of the server 3000, the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100, or the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 2100. The following describes a case where the control unit 3020 of the server 3000 and the control unit 1140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 execute.

In FIG. 30, after the server 3000 updates the group reservation table DB 3062 in step S111, the members who set the automatic reservation are confirmed, and a new reservation state table and reservation state table update notification are sent to the broadcast receivers of those members.
In step S112, for example, when user A has previously set an automatic reservation, steps S912 to S922 of FIG. 28 described above are executed based on the group reservation state table acquired by the broadcast receiver 1100. However, the start number in step S912 is set to 1, and the end number is set to the number of reserved programs.

  A second embodiment of the program reservation information acquisition system will be described. In the first embodiment, the broadcast reservation 1100 and the like are provided with the public reservation list DB, the absolute reservation list DB, and the user information DB, and the program reservation and the group reservation state table are acquired mainly by the broadcast receiver 1100 and the like. However, in the second embodiment, the public reservation list DB or the like is made to wait on the mobile terminal instead of the broadcast receiver.

  FIG. 31 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast receiver 1100 possessed by user A and a broadcast receiver 2100 possessed by user B.

  In FIG. 31, a broadcast receiver 1100 controls the entire apparatus and performs a reservation information notification process to the mobile terminal 1200 and a program reservation request reception process from the mobile terminal 1200, an information storage unit 11170, It includes a broadcast receiving unit 1120 including a tuner, a display unit 1110 for displaying broadcast programs and recorded programs, a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) button, and the like. A user operation unit 1130, a recording unit 1150 that records the selected broadcast program, and the like, and a communication unit 1160 that communicates with other devices (here, the mobile terminal 1200) owned by the user through the communication infrastructure 4000. Composed.

  The information storage unit 11170 includes an internal memory, a hard disk, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores programs used by the control unit 11140, communication control data, program recording reservation information, and the like. Also, the portable terminal ID 11171 of the portable terminal used by the user (if the user A is the portable terminal 1200) is also stored in the information storage unit 11170.

  The mobile terminal ID 11171 is communication destination specifying information for performing communication with the mobile terminal, and the telephone number or mail address of the mobile terminal can be used.

  FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile terminal 1200 possessed by user A and a mobile terminal 2200 possessed by user B. The mobile terminal 1200 controls the entire apparatus and also executes a reservation information notification process to the server 3000, a group reservation state table acquisition process from the server 3000, an information storage unit 11290, broadcast program information and group A display unit 1210 for displaying a reservation status table, a user operation unit 1230 including a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) button, and other devices ( Here, a broadcast receiver 1100), a server 3000, and a communication unit 1260 that performs communication through the communication infrastructure 4000 are configured.

  The information storage unit 11290 includes an internal memory, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores a program used by the control unit 11240, communication control data, default setting information, program recording reservation information, and the like. Also, the broadcast receiver ID 11291, reservation information 11270, and group management information 11280 of the broadcast receiver used by the user (broadcast receiver 1100 if user A) are also stored in the information storage unit 11290.

  The broadcast receiver ID 11291 is communication destination specifying information for communicating with the broadcast receiver, and the IP address or mail address of the broadcast receiver can be used. In this explanation, an email address is used.

  The reservation information 11270 includes a public reservation list DB 11271 that holds a reserved program whose “public reservation” setting is set to “public” at the time of recording recording of the program, and a “reservation mode” setting of “reservation mode” at the time of recording reservation of the program. It is composed of an absolute reservation list DB 11272 that holds programs as “absolute reservation”.

  The public reservation list DB 11271 has the same configuration as the public reservation list DB 1171 of the first embodiment. The absolute reservation list DB 11272 has the same configuration as the absolute reservation list DB 1172 of the first embodiment.

  The group management information 11280 includes a group information DB 1281 and a user information DB 11282.

  The group information DB 1281 is a database that stores group information of all groups to which the user A belongs, and has the same configuration as the mobile terminal 1200 group information DB 1281 of the first embodiment. An example of the group information DB 1281 stored in the portable terminal 1200 information storage unit of the user A is shown in FIG. An example of the group information DB 1281 stored in the mobile terminal 2200 information storage unit 11290 of the user B is shown in FIG.

  The user information DB 11282 is a database that stores user information of members included in each group, and an example is shown in FIG. The user information DB 11282 has a user ID, a user name, and a portable terminal ID as items. The user ID is an ID uniquely assigned in the user information DB in order to identify the user. The user name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID, and is used by the user who uses the user information DB to identify the user described in the user information DB. The mobile terminal ID is information for specifying the communication destination of the mobile terminal used by each user described in the user information DB, and a telephone number, a mail address, or the like can be used. In this explanation, an email address is used.

  Since the second embodiment is realized by simply installing the software on the mobile terminal, the user information DB only needs to have information on the mobile terminal (mobile terminal ID) as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 33 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the server 3000. In FIG. 33, the server 3000 controls the entire apparatus and executes a reservation information acquisition process from the user's portable terminal and a group reservation state table transmission process to the portable terminal, an information storage unit 13070, Communication with a display unit 3030 for displaying an operation screen and the like, an operation unit 3010 including a keyboard for inputting data and instructing various functions, and portable terminals (in this case, portable terminals 1200 and 2200) possessed by the user And a communication unit 3040 that performs communication through the infrastructure 4000.

  The information storage unit 13070 includes an internal memory, a hard disk, a removable memory card, and the like, and stores programs and communication control data used by the control unit 13020. Group management information 13050 and group reservation information 3060 are also stored in the information storage unit 13070.

  The group management information 13050 includes a group information DB 3051 and a user information DB 13052.

  The group information DB 3051 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG. However, in the first embodiment, when the group reservation status table is updated, the server transmits an automatic reservation request to the user's broadcast receiver whose automatic reservation is set to “ON”. In the second embodiment, the user's broadcast reception is performed. The automatic reservation request is transmitted to the user's portable terminal instead of the machine.

  The user information DB 13052 is different from the first embodiment, and an example is shown in FIG. The user information DB 13052 has a user ID, a user name, and a portable terminal ID as items. The user ID is an ID uniquely assigned in the user information DB in order to identify the user. The user name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID, and is used by the user who uses the user information DB to identify the user described in the user information DB. The mobile terminal ID is information for specifying a communication destination of the mobile terminal used by each user described in the user information DB, and a telephone number, a mail address, or the like can be used. In this explanation, an email address is used.

  The group reservation information 3060 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, and includes a member public list DB 3061 and a group reservation table DB 3062.

  The member public list DB 3061 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment.

  The group reservation table DB 3062 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, and an example is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 36 is a control sequence showing group creation, which is executed by the control unit 11240 and the control unit 13020. This flow is a flow for grouping users, and is executed first prior to other processing.

  In FIG. 36, a case where user A creates a new group will be described as an example.

  First, user A creates a group member list, which will be described later, using the user name and portable terminal ID stored in the user information DB 11282 in step S121, and transmits it to the server 3000. The members of the group created this time are user A and user B, and user A creates a group member list as shown in FIG. 37 and transmits a group creation request to server 3000.

  In FIG. 37, the group member list has items of group name, creator, automatic reservation, member name, and member portable terminal ID. The group name is the name of the group to be created. This time, the group name is “high school friend”. The creator is the name of the user who creates the group, and this time, “A” is the user name of the user A. The automatic reservation is information for selecting whether or not the group creator sets an automatic reservation for this group, and is set to “ON” this time. The member names are names of members who join the group, and this time, the user name “A” of user A and the user name “B” of user B are used. The member's mobile terminal ID is the ID of each member's mobile terminal, and this time, the mail address of user A's mobile terminal 1200 and the mail address of user B's mobile terminal 2200 are used.

  In step S122, the server 3000 receives and stores the group member list, and sends a group participation request to the mobile terminals of members other than the creator written in the group member list.

  The receiving-side portable terminal 2200 receives the group participation request in step S123, fills in the participation state and the like, and returns it to the server 3000.

  FIG. 38 shows the contents returned from the mobile terminal 2200 of the user B to the server 3000. In FIG. 38, the reply to the group participation request includes items of group name, creator, member name, participation state, and automatic reservation. The group name and creator are the same as the received group member list. The member name is your user name. As the participation state, “participation” or “non-participation” is selected for the received group participation request. The automatic reservation selects whether the automatic reservation is “ON” or “OFF” in response to the received group participation request.

  In step S124, the server 3000 counts the replies, and when time-out occurs, the user information of “Non-participation” or no response is deleted from the group member list, a fixed list described later is created, and the user information DB 13052 is updated.

FIG. 35 shows the contents stored in the user information DB 13052 of the server 3000.
Next, a group ID is determined in step S125, and a fixed list is registered in the group information DB 3051 together with the group ID. The automatic reservation setting of each member of the group is also registered in the group information DB 3051.

  The group ID and the confirmation list are the same as those in the first embodiment and are as shown in FIG.

  The group information DB 3051 of the server 3000 after registration of the group ID, the fixed list, and the automatic reservation setting of each member is the same as that in the first embodiment, and is as shown in FIG.

  Next, in step S126, the server 3000 notifies the user terminal of the participation declaration (in this example, the mobile terminal 1200 of the user A and the mobile terminal 2200 of the user B) using the user information DB 13052 of the group ID and the confirmation list. The group ID is used for a group reservation status table acquisition function to be described later.

  Next, in step S127, the mobile terminal 1200 of user A receives the group ID and the fixed list. Here, the group ID and confirmation list of the group are registered in the group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 1200.

  The group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 1200 after the group ID and the confirmation list are registered is the same as that of the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG.

  In step S128, the mobile terminal 2200 of user B receives the group ID and the fixed list. Here, the group ID and the fixed list are registered in the group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 2200. The group information DB 1281 of the portable terminal 2200 after the group ID and the confirmation list are registered is the same as that in the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG.

  The recording reservation screen of the mobile terminal 1200 of the user A is the same as the recording reservation screen of the mobile terminal 1200 of Example 1, and is as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 39 is a control sequence showing a public reserved program notification and a group reservation state table update at the time of program reservation, and is executed by the control unit 11240 and the control unit 13020. FIG. 39 shows an example of a control sequence at the time of program reservation by the mobile terminal 1200 of the user A, but the same applies to the control sequence at the time of program reservation by the mobile terminal 2200 of the user B.

  In FIG. 39, first, in step S131, a program reservation mode setting and a public reservation setting are performed. When a program is to be released, program information is notified to the server 3000. In step S132, the server 3000 receives the program information and adds it to the public reservation list DB of the user A in the member public list DB 3061. In step S133, the control unit 13020 of the server 3000 updates the group reservation status table of the group to which the user A belongs based on the information in the member public list DB 3061, and stores the result in the group reservation table DB 3062.

  The group reservation state table creation flowchart is the same as that of the first embodiment, and is as shown in FIG. The configuration of the group reservation status table is the same as that of the first embodiment, and is as shown in FIG. The group reservation status table displayed on the user's mobile terminal screen is the same as that in the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG. The control sequence for browsing the group reservation status table on the user's mobile terminals 1200 and 2200 is the same as that in the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG. A screen display example of the portable terminal 1200 of the user A at the time of manual reservation based on the group reservation state table is the same as that of the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 40 is a control sequence for notifying a portable terminal of program information reserved for recording when manually making a reservation using a broadcast receiver. The control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 or the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 2100 It is executed by the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 or the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 2200. The following describes a case where the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 are executed.

  First, in step S141, the control unit 11140 notifies the portable terminal 1200 of information on a program reserved for recording by the user.

  Next, in step S142, the portable terminal 1200 receives the program information, and sets “reservation mode” and “public reservation” with default settings designated by the user. In FIG. 40, the default reservation mode setting is “normal reservation” and the default release reservation setting is “not open”, but “absolute reservation” and “open” may be set as default. However, in the case of setting to “open”, it is necessary to notify the server 3000 of this program information. The control sequence at this time is the same as in FIG.

  FIG. 41 is a flowchart for manually making a reservation based on the group reservation state table displayed on the mobile terminal screen, and is executed by the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 or the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 2200. The following will describe a case where the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 executes.

  First, in step S151, the control unit 11240 acquires program information reserved by the user. Next, in step S152, the control unit 11240 transmits program information and a program reservation request to the broadcast receiver 1100 via the communication unit 1260, and receives a reservation result from the broadcast receiver in step S153. A flowchart of the broadcast receiver 1100 corresponding to step S153 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Next, the reservation result received from the broadcast receiver 1100 is confirmed in step S154, and if the reservation result is reservation completion, “reservation mode” and “public reservation” are set in step S155 to confirm that the program reservation is completed. It is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 1200. If the reservation result is not a reservation completion in step S154, this means that there is no resource that can be reserved for recording in the broadcast receiver 1100, and whether or not a reserved program is reserved instead of the reserved program in step S516 is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 1200. Display and inquire the user, and obtain the user's reply in step S157.

  Next, in step S158, the user's reply is confirmed. If the reply is “not reserved”, a message that no program reservation is made is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 1200 in step S159.

  Returning to step S158, if the user's reply is “reserve”, the recording reservation information of the reserved program selected in step S160 is deleted from the information storage unit 11290, and the reserved program selected in step S161 is deleted. The request is transmitted to the broadcast receiver 1100. When the broadcast receiver 1100 receives a reserved program deletion request, the recording reservation information of this program is deleted from the information storage unit 11170.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the recording reservation information of the program deleted in step S162 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 11272. If registered, it is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 11272 in step S163. After checking the absolute reservation list DB, the process proceeds to step S164.

  In step S164, the public reservation list DB 11271 is checked to see if the program deleted has been made public. If not released, steps S153 to S155 described above are executed in step S166. If it has been made public, it is deleted from the public reservation list DB 11271 in step S165, and the server 3000 is notified that it has been deleted from the public reservation list DB of user A. Next, the process proceeds to step S166 described above.

  FIG. 42 is a flowchart of the broadcast receiver when receiving a program reservation request from a mobile terminal, and is executed by the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 2100. The following describes a case where the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 executes the control.

  First, in step S231, program information and a program reservation request are received from the portable terminal 1200. In step S232, it is confirmed whether there is a recordable resource. If there is a recordable resource, the program information received from the portable terminal is reserved for recording in step S233, and the completion of the reservation is notified to the portable terminal 1200 in step S234. If there is no recordable resource, the portable terminal 1200 is notified that reservation is impossible in step S235.

  A display example of the mobile terminal 1200 screen of the user A at the time of manual cancellation based on the group reservation state table is the same as that of the first embodiment and is as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 43A shows a control sequence in which the user manually cancels recording reservation information using a broadcast receiver. The control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 or the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 2100 and the portable terminal 1200 It is executed by the control unit 11240 or the control unit 11240 of the portable terminal 2200. The following describes a case where the control unit 11140 of the broadcast receiver 1100 and the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 are executed.

  First, in step S171, the control unit 11140 deletes the recording reservation information of the program from the information storage unit 11170, and notifies the portable terminal 1200 that the cancellation of the program reservation is completed. Next, in step S172, the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 receives the canceled program information.

  FIG. 43B is a flowchart of the portable terminal after receiving the canceled program information from the broadcast receiver, and is executed by the control unit 11240 of the portable terminal 1200 and the control unit 11240 of the portable terminal 2200. The following will describe a case where the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 executes.

  First, it is confirmed whether or not the program information canceled in step S173 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 11272. If there is no registration, the process proceeds to step S175 described later. If registered, the program information is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 11272 in step S174, and the process proceeds to step S175.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the program information canceled in step S175 is registered in the public reservation list DB 11271. If there is no registration, the process ends in step S177. If registered, the program information is deleted from the public reservation list DB 11271 in step S176, and the server 3000 is notified that it has been deleted from the public reservation list DB of the user A. Next, the process ends in step S177. The control sequence with the server 3000 executed in step S176 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 44 is a flowchart for manually canceling the group reservation status table using the mobile terminal, and is executed by the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 and the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 2200. The following will describe a case where the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 executes.

First, in step S181, information on a program to be canceled is acquired.
Next, in step S182, the control unit 11240 deletes the reservation information from the information storage unit 11290, transmits this reservation information deletion request to the broadcast receiver 1100, and receives a deletion completion notification from the broadcast receiver 1100.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the program information canceled in step S183 is registered in the absolute reservation list DB 11272. If there is no registration, the process proceeds to step S185 described later. If registered, the program information is deleted from the absolute reservation list DB 11272, and the process proceeds to step S185.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the program information canceled in step S185 is registered in the public reservation list DB 11271. If not registered, the display unit 1210 of the portable terminal 1200 displays that the program reservation cancellation has been completed in step S187. If registered, in step S186, the program information is deleted from the public reservation list DB 11271, and the server 3000 is also notified via the communication unit 1260 that the program information has been deleted from the public reservation list DB of the user A. Proceed to

  FIG. 45 is a control sequence for updating the member public list DB 3061 of the server 3000 when the reservation information registered in the public reservation list DB 11271 of the mobile terminal 1200 or the mobile terminal 2200 is deleted. The following describes a case where reservation information registered in the public reservation list DB 11271 of the mobile terminal 1200 is deleted.

  In FIG. 45, the portable terminal 1200 transmits a deletion request from the member public list DB 3061 to the server 3000 via the communication unit 1260 including the user ID and information of the deleted program in step S191.

  Next, in step S192, the user ID and program information are received, and the program information is deleted from this user's public reservation list DB stored in the member public list DB 3061. In step S193, the group reservation status table of the group to which this user belongs is updated, and the result is stored in the group reservation table DB 3062.

  The screen display of the mobile terminal of user A when making a reservation for a popular program based on the group reservation status table is the same as that in the first embodiment, and an example is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 46 is a flowchart for making a popular program reservation based on the group reservation state table on the screen of the mobile terminal, and is executed by the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 and the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 2200. The following will describe a case where the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 executes.

  First, in step S <b> 201, the mobile terminal 1200 acquires a group reservation status table from the server 3000. Next, in step S202, the control unit 11240 acquires the start number and end number of the popular program reserved by the user. Next, in step S203, a recording reservation is made from the program with the start number.

  In step S204, it is confirmed whether the reservation status of the popular program is “none” or “done”. If it is “completed”, it moves to the next popular program in step S205 and returns to step S204. If it is “none”, the process proceeds to step S206.

  In step S206, the portable terminal 1200 transmits program information and a program reservation request to the broadcast receiver 1100, and receives a reservation result from the broadcast receiver in step S207. The flowchart of the broadcast receiver corresponding to steps S206 and S207 is the above-described FIG.

  Next, in step S208, the reservation result is confirmed. If the reservation result is the reservation completion, the process proceeds to step S212 described later. If the reservation result is unreservable, it means that there is no recordable resource in the broadcast receiver 1100, and the process proceeds to step S209.

  In step S209, it is confirmed whether there is a normally reserved program among duplicate reserved programs. If there is not, all the duplicated programs are the reservation information of the absolute reservation and cannot be deleted, so that nothing is done and the process proceeds to the next popular program in step S205.

  An ordinary reserved program is a program that is registered in the information storage unit 11290, but is not registered in the absolute reservation list 11272.

  Returning to step S209, if there is a normally reserved program among the duplicate reserved programs, the popularity of the normally reserved program and the currently reserved program is confirmed in step S210. Specifically, check whether the number of reserved programs is the smallest compared to the number of all regular reserved programs, and if so, the popularity of the program reserved this time is the lowest. The process proceeds to step S205 without making a recording reservation. Otherwise, in step S211, the recording reservation information of the program with the smallest number of reservations is canceled, and the recording reservation of the program reserved this time is performed.

  Canceling the recording reservation information in step S211 means that the recording reservation information is deleted from the information storage unit 11290, deleted if there is a registration in the public reservation list DB 11271, and deleted from the public reservation list DB of the user A in the server 3000. And sending a request to delete the recording reservation information to the broadcast receiver 1100.

Making a recording reservation for the program to be reserved this time in step S211 means that the portable terminal 1200 transmits a recording reservation request for this program to the broadcast receiver 1100 and receives a reservation completion notification from the broadcast receiver 1100.
In step S212, program information to be newly reserved for recording is stored in the public reservation TEMP list. The public reservation TEMP list has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment and is temporarily created.

  Next, in step S213, it is confirmed whether or not this program is a program having an end number. If so, the process proceeds to step S214 described later. Otherwise, it moves to the next popular program in step S205, and returns to step S204 described above.

  Next, in step S214, after the above-described steps S204 to S213 are executed, all program information registered in the public reservation TEMP list in step S212 is added to the public reservation list DB 11271. Is notified to the server 3000 via the communication unit 1260, and the temporarily made public reservation TEMP list is deleted.

  FIG. 47 shows a control sequence of the automatic reservation function based on the group reservation state table, which is executed by the control unit 13020 of the server 3000, the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200, or the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 2200. The following describes a case where the control unit 13020 of the server 3000 and the control unit 11240 of the mobile terminal 1200 are executed.

  In FIG. 47, after updating the group reservation status table in step S221, the members whose automatic reservation is set to “ON” are confirmed from the group information DB 3051, and the group reservation status table and the reservation status table update notification are sent to the mobile terminals of those members. send. This time, as shown in FIG. 8, user A sets automatic reservation to “ON” for the group “high school friend”, but user B sets automatic reservation to “OFF”. Therefore, when the group reservation status table of the group “high school friend” is updated, the server 3000 sends the group reservation status table and the reservation status table update notification only to the mobile terminal 1200 of the user A.

  Next, in step S222, the portable terminal 1200 receives the group reservation status table, and executes steps S203 to S213 of FIG. 46 described above based on the group reservation status table. However, the start number in step S203 is set to 1, and the end number is set to the number of reserved programs.

  Since the present invention can be realized simply by installing software in the user's mobile terminal with the configuration of the second embodiment, it is not necessary to install software in the user's broadcast receiver, which further increases convenience for the user. There is a merit that can be.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a program reservation information acquisition system. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a broadcast receiver. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a portable terminal. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a server. It is a figure which shows an example of the group information DB of the broadcast receiver of the user A. It is a figure which shows an example of the group information DB of the broadcast receiver of the user B. It is a figure which shows an example of user information DB of the broadcast receiver of the user A. It is a figure which shows an example of the group information DB of a server. It is a figure which shows an example of the user information DB of a server. It is a figure which shows an example of the group reservation status table which the server produced. It is an example of the control sequence which shows group information DB creation processing. It is a figure which shows an example of a group member list. It is a figure which shows an example of the reply with respect to a group participation request. It is a figure which shows an example of the group ID and fixed list which the server produced. It is a figure which shows an example of the recording reservation screen of a broadcast receiver. It is a control sequence which shows a public reservation program notification at the time of a program reservation, and group reservation state table update. It is an example of the flowchart which produces a group reservation status table. It is a figure which shows an example of the group reservation status table displayed on a broadcast receiver or a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence which browses a group reservation status table. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the broadcast receiver or portable terminal at the time of making a manual reservation by a group reservation status table. It is an example of the control sequence of the function to make a manual reservation by the group reservation state table displayed on the broadcast receiver. It is an example of the flowchart of the function to make a manual reservation by the group reservation status table displayed on a portable terminal. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the broadcast receiver or portable terminal at the time of the manual cancellation by a group reservation status table. It is an example of the flowchart which performs manual cancellation by a group reservation status table using a broadcast receiver. It is an example of the flowchart which performs manual cancellation by a group reservation status table using a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence which updates member public list DB when reservation information is canceled. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the broadcast receiver or portable terminal at the time of making a popular program reservation by a group reservation status table. It is an example of the control sequence which makes a popular program reservation using a broadcast receiver. It is an example of the control sequence which makes a popular program reservation using a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence of the automatic reservation function by a group reservation status table. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a broadcast receiver. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a portable terminal. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a server. It is a block diagram which shows an example of user information DB of a portable terminal. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the user information DB of a server. It is an example of the control sequence which shows group creation. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a group member list. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the reply with respect to a group participation request. It is an example of the control sequence which shows an open reservation program at the time of program reservation, and group reservation state table update. It is an example of the control sequence notified to a portable terminal at the time of manual reservation using a broadcast receiver. It is an example of the flowchart manually reserved by the group reservation status table displayed on a portable terminal. It is an example of the flowchart of the broadcast receiver at the time of receiving a program reservation request from a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence and manual flowchart which perform manual cancellation using a broadcast receiver. It is an example of the flowchart which performs manual cancellation using a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence which updates member public list DB when reservation information is canceled. It is an example of the flowchart which makes a popular program reservation by a group reservation status table using a portable terminal. It is an example of the control sequence of the automatic reservation function by a group reservation status table using a portable terminal.

Explanation of symbols

1000, 11000 ... a terminal owned by user A,
2000, 12000 ... a terminal owned by user B,
1100, 2100 ... broadcast receiver,
1200, 2200 ... mobile terminal,
3000 ... server,
4000 ... communication infrastructure,

Claims (7)

A program reservation information acquisition system comprising a plurality of communication devices and a server,
The communication apparatus is configured to input a recording request for requesting a recording reservation for a desired program by a user of the communication apparatus, and whether or not to disclose recording reservation information regarding the program for which the recording request is input by the input means. A setting unit for setting the recording reservation information, and a transmission unit for transmitting the recording reservation information to the server when it is set to be disclosed by the setting unit,
The server includes storage means for associating and storing identification information of the plurality of communication apparatuses as a group, communication means for transmitting / receiving information to / from the plurality of communication apparatuses, and the communication means for the plurality of communication apparatuses. When the recording reservation information is received from any one of them, the recording reservation information is used to create group reservation information related to the recording reservation state in the plurality of communication devices included in the group. Program reservation information acquisition system.   2. The program reservation information acquisition according to claim 1, wherein the server transmits the created group reservation information to at least the plurality of communication devices other than the communication device that has transmitted the recording reservation information by the communication unit. system. The storage means stores the identification information of the communication device in association with information indicating whether or not the acquisition of the group reservation information is desired;
2. The program reservation information according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit transmits the group reservation information to a communication device in which information indicating that acquisition of the group reservation information is desired is associated and stored. Acquisition system.   4. The program reservation information acquisition according to claim 3, wherein when receiving the group reservation information, the communication apparatus performs a recording reservation using the group reservation information without inputting a recording request by the input unit. system. A communication device capable of transmitting program reservation information to another communication device via a server,
An input means for inputting a recording request for requesting recording reservation of a desired program by a user of the communication device;
Setting means for setting whether or not to release recording reservation information related to a program for which a recording request has been input by the input means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the recording reservation information to the server when the setting means is set to be disclosed;
A communication apparatus comprising: A communication device capable of acquiring program reservation information from another communication device via a server,
An input means for inputting a recording request for requesting recording reservation of a desired program by a user of the communication device;
Transmitting means for transmitting a reservation information acquisition request indicating a recording reservation state in another communication device to the server;
Receiving means for receiving the reservation information from the server;
A communication apparatus for performing recording reservation using the reservation information without inputting a recording request by the input means when receiving the reservation information by the receiving means. A server that transmits and receives information to and from a plurality of communication devices,
Storage means for associating and storing identification information of the plurality of communication devices as one group;
Creation means for creating group reservation information related to a recording reservation state in the plurality of communication devices included in the group using the recording reservation information when the recording reservation information is received from any one of the plurality of communication devices And comprising
A server that transmits group reservation information created to at least the plurality of communication devices other than the communication device that has transmitted the recording reservation information.

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