JP2009124379A - Multichannel program processor and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify preparatory operations before program signals are displayed at a display device when a selected program is in real time broadcast, and to immediately view a desired program buy only selecting a program. <P>SOLUTION: This multichannel program processor includes: a tuner device for simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels; a recorder for recording and reproducing received program signals; a recording and reproducing control part for selecting and outputting either of the received program signal or a reproducing program signal reproduced from the recorder; a signal output part for outputting the selected program signal from the recording and reproducing control part to a display part; and an output program signal selection part for determining whether or not the selected program is broadcasted in real time when the selection signal of the program is input and executing control so as to guide the received program signal of the channel received in the tuner device to the signal output part when it is broadcasted in real time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a multi-channel program processing apparatus and a control method therefor, and devise program signal selection processing / reproduction processing means for convenience of user's operability.

Conventionally, a recording / reproducing apparatus having a plurality of tuners has been developed, and this apparatus includes a function for managing the tuning state of each tuner, past user operation history, and the like (for example, Patent Document 1). The technology of this apparatus stores a tuner, a channel selection channel, and a resume point, and effectively uses the resume point.
JP 2007-36453

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-channel program processing apparatus and a control method therefor, in particular, by devising broadcast program signal selection processing / playback processing means for the convenience of users.

  In order to solve the above problems, a tuner device that simultaneously receives a plurality of channels, a recording device that records and reproduces a received program signal of a channel received by the tuner device, and a received program signal of a channel received by the tuner device, or A recording / playback control unit that selects and outputs one of the reproduced program signals reproduced from the recording device, a signal output unit that outputs a selected program signal from the recording / playback control unit to a display unit, and a program selection signal A program status determination unit that determines whether the selected program is broadcast in real time when input, and a received program signal of a channel received by the tuner device when the determination result of the program status determination unit indicates real-time broadcasting An output program signal selection unit for controlling the recording / playback control unit so as to lead to the signal output unit is provided.

  According to the above means, if the selected program is being broadcast in real time, the preliminary operation until the program signal is displayed on the display device is simplified, and the desired program can be viewed immediately after selecting the program. This is suitable when the user wants to immediately see the latest information such as sporting events and election bulletins when viewing a program that is currently being broadcast.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a multi-channel receiving apparatus to which the invention is applied. This apparatus has a plurality of tuner sections, for example, four tuner sections 101, 102, 103, and 104 as the tuner apparatus 100, and can simultaneously receive a plurality of channels. The transport channels, for example, CH1-CH4 transport streams output from the tuner units 101, 102, 103, 104 are sent to the recording / playback control unit 200.

  The recording / playback control unit 200 performs signal processing related to the program signal, and executes recording / playback processing for the recording device 210. The received channel program signal or the playback signal from the recording device 210 is selected and output to the MPEG decoder 211. In this case, the recording / playback control unit 200 determines a program signal to be output based on the control signal from the output program signal selection unit 401.

  The program signal to be output may be a real-time broadcast program signal from the tuner device 100 or a reproduced program signal reproduced by the recording device 210.

  The display signal decoded by the MPEG decoder 211 is output as a television signal via the on-screen display processing unit 212 and supplied to the display unit (monitor).

An electronic program guide information (EPG) processing unit 301 is connected to an EPG memory 302. The EPG memory 301 stores electronic program guide information for each channel, for example, for one week. The example of FIG. 1 shows an example in which EPG information of each channel is extracted from each transport stream of CH1-CH4 as in Japanese terrestrial digital broadcasting, but each channel is extracted as in BS digital broadcasting. In some cases, EPG information of all BS channels is multiplexed. In any case, the electronic program guide information (EPG) processing unit 301 and the EPG memory 302 receive, extract, and store EPG information for the number of channels (four channels in the example of FIG. 1) that can be received by the multi-channel receiver. It shall be.

The EPG processing unit 301 reads the EPG information in the EPG memory 302 according to the operation input and supplies it to the on-screen display processing unit 212. At this time, for example, a program guide for one week can be displayed on the screen of the display unit. Of course, the EPG processing unit 301 has a function of extracting EPG information from the CH1-CH4 transport stream and updating and storing it in the EPG memory 302 so that the electronic program guide information is constantly updated to new contents.

  A system control unit 511 receives an operation input from the remote control receiving unit 512, for example, and controls channel selection, program selection, playback of a recorded program, and the like. Reference numeral 513 denotes a remote controller. The system control unit 511 includes an output program signal selection unit 401, a program state determination unit 402, a resume information processing unit 403, and the like. Note that the output program signal selection unit 401, the program state determination unit 402, the resume information processing unit 403, and the like may be provided independently from the system control unit 511.

  The multi-channel receiving apparatus described above can record all programs output from the tuner units 101 to 104 on, for example, a hard disk of the recording apparatus 210. As the storage period, for example, all programs for one week can be stored and sequentially updated to new programs. The number of tuners and the storage period are merely examples, and the number of tuner units may be larger and the storage period may be longer. In the EPG memory 302, a program guide table corresponding to the stored program is constructed. The program guide table will be described later.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of any one of the tuner units 101 to 104, for example, the tuner unit 101. The antenna input is selected by the channel selection unit 121, and the stream signal of the selected channel is input to the separation unit 122 and the descrambler 123. The separation unit 122 separates the control signal (ECM) and the control signal (EMM) from the descrambler 123. The control signal (ECM) separated by the separation unit 122 is input to the IC card 130. Further, the control signal (EMM) is separated into only the EMM of the card ID by using the card ID in the separation unit 124 and inputted to the IC card.

In the IC card 130, the scramble key is decrypted using the control signals ECM and EMM. Using this scramble key, the descrambler 123 descrambles and outputs a scrambled transport stream packet of video, audio, and data in the transport stream. In the above example, the IC card 130 is used for each tuner unit. However, a plurality of tuner units may be used for one IC card.

  FIG. 3 shows an example in which a single IC card is also used by a plurality of tuner units. The outputs of the tuner units 101 and 102 are input to the time division processing unit 131. Here, the ECM multiplexed in the transport stream of each tuner output in a time division manner is taken out and input to the IC card 130 in a time division manner for use. Also, the EMM multiplexed in the transport stream of each tuner output is taken out, and only the EMM of the card ID is separated by the separation unit 124 using the card ID, and is input to the IC card 130 in a time division manner and used.

  4 and 5 respectively show examples of program guide information stored in the EPG memory 302 of the apparatus of the present invention, and show an image when the program guide information is displayed on the display unit.

  In the example of FIG. 4A, the thick frame portion indicates that the cursor designates the program 13 for program selection. It also indicates that the current time is between 1:00 and 2:00 on July 11. Note that the current time display may be shown on the program guide information as in the example of FIG. 4, or the current time may be displayed at any position on the screen although not illustrated in FIG. good.

Here, when the enter key of the remote controller is pressed, the program 13 can be viewed. In FIG. 4A, the hatched program is a future program. Even if these programs are selected with the cursor and the enter key is pressed, the program is not broadcast and playback is not started. Therefore, the date and time may be displayed on the screen as described above, and the program name may be colored so that the user can easily recognize the selected program. The example of FIG. 4B is an example in which the user can easily recognize the selected program from the program currently being broadcast. The difference from FIG. 4A is that the display portion of the program 13 is colored or patterned, for example.

In the example of FIG. 5, the deletion of the recorded program and the cancellation of the recording reservation can be displayed, and the program 41 with a vertical line indicates that it is a program deleted from the recording device 210. Yes. When this “delete” button is pressed, if it is a past (recorded) program, it is deleted as shown in the example of the program 41, and if it is broadcast, the recording up to the point where recording is stopped and already stored is deleted. If the future is like the program 35, the recording reservation is deleted (not recorded). That is, the program 35 is a program whose reservation has been canceled, and the multi-channel receiving apparatus stores all the programs output from the tuner units 101-104, for example, all the programs for one week, and sequentially updates them to new programs. However, the storage capacity of the recording apparatus 210 can be saved in advance by canceling before recording. Further, the program 31, the program 43, and the program 44 to which dots are attached indicate that protection is concerned or that protection is concerned. Unless the user cancels the protection, the program related to the protection is not automatically deleted even after the storage period of one week, for example. This program management can be performed by adding a protect flag or the like to management information added to a program stored in the recording apparatus 210.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the apparatus of the present invention. A user operates a remote controller, for example, operates a program guide key. Then, a program guide table as shown in FIG. 4 or 5 is displayed on the display unit.

  While viewing the program guide table, the user operates the cursor key of the remote controller, moves the cursor, and moves the cursor to the display position of the desired program name. In the example of FIG. 4, the cursor is moved to the program 13 of channel 1.

  Here, when the user operates (presses) the enter key, the state of the program is determined. That is, the program state is to determine whether or not the selected program is broadcast in real time when a program selection signal is input, and the program state determination unit 402 shown in FIG. 1 makes this determination. In the determination, the current time is compared with the information of the program broadcast time zone existing as EPG information. If the current time is present in the program broadcast time zone of the program 13, the selected program 13 is broadcast in real time. It is determined that The processing so far corresponds to steps SA1 to SA3 in FIG. As shown in the example of FIG. 4, since the program 13 is being broadcast, it shifts to a real-time viewing start state. This state is to control the recording / playback control unit 200 to guide the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device 100 to the MPEG decoder 211 when the determination result of the program state determination unit 402 indicates real-time broadcasting. This control is based on the control of the output program signal selection unit 401.

  If viewing of the real-time broadcast is completed (based on the determination in step SA5), the end point of the program 13 is managed as resume information (step SA6). This process is performed by the resume information processing unit 403 in FIG. The management of this end point as resume information is, for example, a one-hour program broadcast from 1:00 to 2:00, such as the program 13 in FIG. 4A or FIG. 4B. : 20, When the end of real-time broadcast viewing is 1:40, the end point is managed to be 40 minutes from the beginning of the program. Alternatively, 1:40 may be managed as the end point of the program 13 in accordance with the program guide information of FIG. 4A or 4B, that is, in accordance with the information stored in the EPG memory 302.

  As described above, when the selected program is being broadcast in real time, the apparatus of the present invention starts displaying the program immediately after selecting the program. For this reason, it is easy to use without causing the user to perform troublesome intermediate operations.

  In step SA3, when a past program is selected, for example, when a program 12 of channel 1 is selected, the following operation is performed. That is, when the program 12 is selected for the first time, the program 12 is reproduced from the beginning, and when the program 12 is reproduced for the second time or later, the resume reproduction is started from the previous end point. The operation flow at this time is steps SA7, SA8, and SA9. The resume information processing unit 403 also manages information related to resume playback of the program 12.

  Further, in step SA3, for example, when the program 14 of the channel Ch1 is selected, it is a future program. This program is not currently being broadcast and is not recorded on the recording device 210. In such a case, an error message indicating that recording is not being performed is displayed as a message (step SA10), and the process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing still another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from FIG. 6 is that step SA11 is added between steps SA3 and SA4. Since the other parts are the same as those in FIG. 6, the parts corresponding to the processes in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 7, when it is determined that the selected program is a real-time broadcast, it is determined whether or not the viewing end point of the program is stored as resume information. This is based on the assumption that, for example, while viewing the program 13 in the previous example, the user may end the viewing operation, leave the seat, and then return to view the program 13 again. ing. In such a case, it is possible to view a part of the program for the time in which the user has left his / her seat. In such a case, the process proceeds to step SA7 and resume playback is executed. In step SA11, when the viewing end point is not stored as resume information, the process proceeds to step SA4 and the viewing start state is entered in real time.

  8 and 9 show another embodiment of the present invention. The operation in FIGS. 6 and 7 is an example in which one of the determination keys is used as the key indicating the selection decision in the operation input. On the other hand, FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are examples in which there are two types of keys indicating selection selection in the operation input, that is, a determination key and a reproduction key, and priority is given to resume reproduction in addition to the embodiment of FIG. 6 and FIG. It realizes the function that can do. That is, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show examples suitable for viewing the latest information such as sports events and preliminary announcements immediately when watching a program that is currently being broadcast. In a program in which real-time property is not so important, there is a case where even a program that is currently being broadcast is desired to be viewed from the beginning, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are suitable for such a case.

In this embodiment, after the program selection is performed in step SA1, it is determined whether or not a button for determining the selection has been pressed (step SB11). If the button has been pressed, it is determined which button (for example, the enter key or the reproduction key) has been pressed (step SB12).

  Here, when the determination key is pressed, the process proceeds to step SA3, and the subsequent processing is the same as the example of FIG. If it is determined in step SB12 that the reproduction key has been pressed, the process proceeds to step SB13 shown in FIG. In step SB13, the state of the program (whether it is a past broadcast program, a real-time broadcast program, or a future broadcast program) is determined.

  When it is determined that the program is a real-time broadcast program and a past broadcast program, the process proceeds to step SB14 to execute resume reproduction. When an end operation is performed during playback of this program (step SB15), the resume information processing unit 403 manages the end point as resume information. In the above steps SB14 to SB16, when the selected program is reproduced for the first time, the program is reproduced from the beginning, and when the program is reproduced for the second time or later, resume reproduction is started from the previous end point. Information about resume reproduction of the program at this time is also managed by the resume information processing unit 403.

  In the above processing, when a program being broadcast in real time is being resumed, for example, if catch-up playback is performed, fast-forward playback is executed, and the real-time playback state can be entered.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the multi-channel receiver to which this invention was applied. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a tuner part. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of a tuner apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the program guide information stored in the EPG memory 302 of the apparatus of this invention, and its display form. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the program guide information stored in the EPG memory 302 of the apparatus of this invention, and its display form. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the program guide information stored in the EPG memory 302 of the apparatus of this invention, and its display form. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the other operation example of the apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the other operation example of the apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the continuation of the flowchart of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Tuner apparatus, 101-104 ... Tuner part, 200 ... Recording / playback control part, 210 ... Recording apparatus, 211 ... MPEG coder, 212 ... On-screen display signal output part , 301... EPG processing unit, 302... EPG memory, 401... Output program signal selection unit, 402... Program state determination unit, 403. 512: Remote control receiving unit, 513: Remote controller.

Claims (10)

A tuner device that receives multiple channels simultaneously;
A recording device for recording and reproducing the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device;
A recording / playback control unit that selects and outputs either the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device or the playback program signal played back from the recording device;
A signal output unit for outputting a selected program signal from the recording / playback control unit to a display unit;
A program state determination unit for determining whether or not the selected program is broadcast in real time when a program selection signal is input;
An output program signal selection unit for controlling the recording / playback control unit so as to guide the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device to the signal output unit when the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that it is being broadcast in real time; A multi-channel program processing apparatus comprising:   The multi-channel according to claim 1, further comprising: a resume information processing unit that generates and stores resume information of an end point of a selected program of the program when an operation signal indicating the end of viewing of the selected program is input. Program processing apparatus.   When the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that the program is a past broadcast program and is not being broadcast in real time, the output program signal selection unit controls the recording device and the recording / reproduction control unit so that resume reproduction is executed. The multi-channel program processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   When the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that the program status determination unit is in real-time broadcasting, the output program signal selection unit uses the tuner device on the condition that there is no resume information of the viewing end point as resume information of the selected program 3. The multi-channel program processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording / playback control unit is controlled to guide the received program signal of the received channel to the signal output unit. The output program signal selection unit receives the channel received by the tuner device when the selection signal of the first program for the selected program is input and the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress. Control the recording / playback control unit to guide the program signal to the signal output unit,
When the selection signal of the program after the second time is input, even if the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress, playback from the viewing end point is obtained with reference to the resume information of the selected program The multi-channel program processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording apparatus and the recording / playback control unit are controlled. A tuner device that receives multiple channels simultaneously;
A recording device for recording and reproducing the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device;
A recording / playback control unit that selects and outputs either the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device or the playback program signal played back from the recording device;
A signal output unit for outputting a selected program signal from the recording / playback control unit to a display unit;
A second operation key different from the first operation key and the first operation key;
A program state determination unit for determining whether or not the selected program is broadcast in real time when a selection signal of a program based on the first operation key or the second operation key is input;
When the program selection signal is input based on the operation of the first operation key, the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device is displayed when the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress. Controlling the recording / playback control unit to lead to the signal output unit,
When the selection signal of the program is input based on the operation of the second operation key, even if the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that real-time broadcasting is being performed, the resume information of the selected program exists. A multi-channel program processing device comprising: an output program signal selection unit that controls the recording device and the recording / playback control unit so as to obtain playback from a viewing end point with reference to the resume information.   Even if there is an operation input of the first operation key, when the determination result of the program state determination unit indicates that the program is a past broadcast program, the output program signal selection unit has resume information of the selected program. 7. The multi-channel program processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the recording apparatus and the recording / reproducing control unit are controlled so as to obtain reproduction from the viewing end point with reference to the resume information. A tuner device that simultaneously receives a plurality of channels, a recording device that records and reproduces a received program signal of a channel received by the tuner device, a received program signal of a channel that is received by the tuner device, or a reproduced program signal that is reproduced from the recording device In a control method of an apparatus having a recording / playback control unit that selects and outputs any one of the above and a signal output unit that outputs a selected program signal from the recording / playback control unit to a display unit,
When the program selection signal is input, determine whether the selected program is broadcast in real time,
A multi-channel program processing device that controls the recording / playback control unit to guide a received program signal of a channel received by the tuner device to the signal output unit when the determination result indicates that the broadcast is in real time. Control method.   When the determination result indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress, the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device is sent to the signal output unit on condition that there is no resume information of the viewing end point as the resume information of the selected program. 9. The control method of a multi-channel program processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording / playback control unit is controlled to guide the program. When the selection signal of the first program is input and the determination result indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress, the recording / playback control unit is configured to guide the received program signal of the channel received by the tuner device to the signal output unit. Control
When the selection signal of the program after the second time is input, the recording apparatus and the recording unit are configured to obtain reproduction from the viewing end point with reference to the resume information of the selected program even if the determination result indicates that real-time broadcasting is in progress The method of controlling a multi-channel program processing device according to claim 8, wherein the playback control unit is controlled.

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