JP2009152719A - Recommendable program information provision device using camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that recommendable program information cannot be provided by which all users or most users imaged by a camera can enjoy when multiple users are imaged by the camera, and that no means has been provided for modification when the recommendable program information having been provided is not liked. <P>SOLUTION: A recommendable program information provision device includes a camera for imaging the user; a decision element DB for retaining information to identify each person, personal information, recommendable pattern information; a content DB for retaining program data and program information data related thereto; a decision means for identifying each imaged person based on the decision element DB and for selecting recommendable type information from a recommendable pattern generated in advance after grasping the overall characteristic of the imaged person from the personal information of the identified person; a search means for extracting and outputting the recommendable program by searching the content DB, using the recommendable type information selected by the decision means as a search keyword; and an input I/F for receiving a search command of the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / playback device such as a digital television (hereinafter abbreviated as DTV), a DVD recorder incorporating a hard disk drive (hereinafter abbreviated as HDD), and a device such as a DTV integrated with the recording / playback device. The present invention relates to a recommended program information providing device using a camera that is used in a built-in or optional form, and relates to a device that provides program information that can be enjoyed by all of the people reflected on the camera, that is, recommended program information. .

  In recent years, digital broadcasting is gradually spreading, and the feature of digital broadcasting is that it has multiple channels. In this age of multi-channeling, it is becoming difficult for program users to search for programs they want to watch from the program information column of newspapers and magazines. Therefore, user preferences are registered in advance, and a program is automatically recorded using an electronic program guide (EPG for short) which is one of digital broadcasting services.

  Patent Document 1 relates to an electronic program guide receiving apparatus that determines a user's preference from viewing history information and generates and displays a recommended recording program list for playback from a program group of EPG information based on the determination result. Is disclosed. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when a plurality of users such as family members use this electronic program guide receiving apparatus, the favorite programs differ depending on each person. It is necessary to register with. It is possible to record all programs according to the preferences of the whole family at the present time when the recording capacity of the HDD exceeds several hundreds of gigabytes, but for example, according to individual preferences from hundreds of recorded programs In addition, it is not easy to search for an optimal program, and when there are a plurality of users, it is necessary to register and input a user ID (IDentification), which is troublesome.

In order to solve such a problem, Patent Literature 2 automatically recognizes a user using an imaging device and automatically presents program information according to the recognized user's preference. The prior art that can be done is disclosed.
JP 2002-112186 A JP 2006-1000088 A1

  However, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, when a large number of users are captured (photographed) at once by a camera (imaging device), individual usage among the large number of users is performed. Not only is it difficult for the user to recognize, but even if individual users can be recognized, the recommended program information of each user is displayed separately for the number of people and is displayed on the camera. All users or most of the users who are photographed on the camera have a problem that recommended program information that can be enjoyed together cannot be presented.

  In addition, when all the users who have been photographed on the camera or most of the users who have been photographed on the camera are presented with recommended program information that they do not like, they should not like the recommended program information that has been presented. There has been a problem that there is no means for intention display and requesting presentation of recommended program information again.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and can provide recommended program information that can be enjoyed or liked by all users who have been photographed on the camera or by most of the users who have been photographed on the camera. In addition, when all the users who have been photographed on the camera or most of the users who have been photographed on the camera are provided with recommended program information that they do not like, the user can be provided with recommended program information again. An object of the present invention is to provide a recommended program information providing apparatus using a camera that can provide new recommended program information acquired by changing search conditions in response to a request.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the first invention of the present application is a recording / reproducing apparatus such as a digital television (hereinafter abbreviated as DTV), a DVD recorder, and the recording / reproducing apparatus. And a recommended program information providing apparatus using a device such as a DTV integrated with the camera (hereinafter referred to as “device A”) and a built-in or optional camera used in combination. Means, a determination element database (hereinafter abbreviated as DB), a recommended search means, a content DB, and an input interface (hereinafter abbreviated as I / F), and the camera is located in the vicinity of the device A or the device A. In response to receiving the search command for the recommended program of the user that is attached and the input I / F is transmitted using a remote controller or the like, the device A The people who are in the vicinity and who are watching or trying to watch the program stored in the device A are imaged and the captured images are transmitted to the determination means. The determination element DB Facial feature information to identify, personal information such as age, gender and favorite program or genre about each person who has registered the facial feature information to identify the individual person and recommended recommendations created in advance Assuming the pattern list information, that is, the number of people, age, gender composition, etc., the recommended genre information and title information and the personal information of which person is given priority for each estimated group estimated from the combination of each assumed element Information including a list of recommended patterns in which recommended type information including a priority order indicating whether or not to create is stored in advance, and the content B shows program data of a DTV broadcast program received and recorded by the device A, program data recorded and stored from other package media, and program information data related to these programs, that is, program names and programs Is stored in the determination element DB for all persons included in the image by analyzing the image received from the camera. Number of persons included in the image by identifying individual persons by individually comparing with facial feature information for identifying individuals, acquiring the personal information regarding the identified individual persons from the determination element DB The recommended pattern created in advance and stored in the determination element DB based on the characteristics of the entire person In addition to selecting the recommended type information that is presumed to suit the preferences of the whole person included in the image received from the camera, the genre and title for each individual of the specified person Information is acquired from the determination element DB, and the selected or acquired information is transmitted to the recommended search means. The recommended search means is included in the recommended type information selected by the determination means. Using the genre information or title information as a search keyword (A), the program information stored in the content DB is searched for and extracted as a search result (A), and the determination received from the determination means Search keyword for information on favorite genres and titles of all the specified persons acquired by means (B), the program information searched and extracted from the program information stored in the content DB is acquired as a search result (b), and both the search result (b) and the search result (b) The obtained programs arranged in the order of the favorite programs of the persons who are prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information are output as recommended programs. Signals such as a recommended program search command and a recommended program re-search command transmitted by using the received signal are received, and the received signal is transmitted to the recommended search means or the like.

  The recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the second invention is the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the first invention of the present application, wherein the input I / F is the first recommended program. When the re-search command signal is received, the recommended search means obtains information on a favorite genre, title, etc. of the person (person α) determined in a predetermined order among the persons imaged by the camera, The keyword deleted from the search keyword (b) is used as the search keyword (c), the program information stored in the content DB is searched and the extracted program is acquired as the search result (c), and the search result (c) The programs acquired in both the search results (c) and the search results (c) are selected according to the favorite program order of the person excluding the person α given priority according to the priority order included in the recommended type information. When the input I / F receives a recommended program re-search command signal in the second time, the third time, and when the input signal is received as a recommended program, A keyword obtained by sequentially deleting information on a favorite genre, title, etc. of the person (person x) determined in the predetermined order from the search keyword (c) is set as a search keyword (n) and is stored in the content DB. The program information obtained by searching and extracting the program information is acquired as a search result (n), and the program acquired in both the search result (b) and the search result (n) is used as the recommended type information. The programs arranged in the order of the favorite programs of the persons excluding the persons from the person α to the person x that are prioritized according to the included priority order are output as recommended programs. It is intended.

  The recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the third invention is related to the priority order included in the recommended type information in the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the first invention of the present application. If a specific person to be given the highest priority is determined in advance, and the determination means confirms that the specific person is present among the persons captured by the camera, the priority included in the recommended type information It is characterized by being treated as a person who has the highest priority regardless of the order.

  The recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the fourth invention is related to the priority order included in the recommended type information in the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the second invention of the present application. If the input I / F receives a first recommended program re-search command signal, the recommended search means detects the person who is imaged by the camera. Regardless of the predetermined order, the information about the favorite genre or title of the specific person is stored in the content DB with the keyword deleted from the search keyword (b) as the search keyword (c). The program information obtained by searching for and extracting the program information is acquired as a search result (c), and the program acquired together in both the search result (b) and the search result (c) Is characterized in that for outputting an ordered the program order of preference of the person other than the particular person that is preferentially according to the priority included in the recommended type information as recommended programs.

  According to the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera of the present invention, it is recommended that the user can enjoy or like all of the users copied to the camera or most of the users copied to the camera together. Users can receive program information, and if all of the users on the camera or most of the users on the camera receive recommended program information that they do not like, By requesting presentation of recommended program information again, it is possible to receive presentation of new recommended program information acquired by changing the search condition.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a recommended program information providing apparatus using a camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Note that the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is a recording / playback device such as a DTV or a DVD recorder with a built-in HDD, and a device such as a DTV integrated with the recording / playback device ( Hereinafter, the device A) is used in combination with a built-in or optional form. The same applies to the second embodiment of the present invention described later.

  In FIG. 1, a camera (imaging means) 101 is attached to the device A or in the vicinity of the device A, and an input I / F to be described later is transmitted by a user using a remote controller or the like. In response to receiving the search command, people who are in the vicinity of the device A and who are watching or are watching the program are imaged, and the captured images are transmitted to the determination means 102. Note that the imaging range of the camera 101 can be fixed or variable by the user and / or automatically.

  The determination unit 102 analyzes an image received from the camera 101 using an image processing technique, and stores all persons included in the image in a determination element database (hereinafter referred to as DB) 103. Each individual is identified by collating it with the facial feature information for identifying the information, and information about the identified individual, for example, information such as age, gender, preference, favorite program and genre is stored in the determination element DB 103 From the list of recommended patterns that are obtained from information about the individual being obtained, grasp the characteristics of the entire person including the number of persons included in the image, and created and stored in advance based on the characteristics of the grasped entire person Select recommended type information.

  The determination element DB 103 holds facial feature information for identifying an individual, a list of recommended patterns, information on individual persons in which facial feature information for identifying an individual is registered, and the like. Note that the information related to the individual held in the determination element DB 103 is information input and held in advance by the user, but the information related to the personal favorite program is based on the history of programs that the individual has viewed in the past. You can use the information.

  The recommended search means 104 searches for program information held in the content DB 105 based on the personal information and recommended patterns acquired and determined by the determination means 102, and displays the search results on a display (display means) 109. To do.

  The content DB 105 stores recorded program (content) data and program information data. The program information includes program start / end times, broadcast channels (hereinafter referred to as CH), and programs acquired from the program table during recording. There are names, genres, etc. In addition, as a genre, for example, there are five major genres and two to five small genres in each major genre. The content DB 105 may be provided independently by the recommended program information providing apparatus of the present invention, or may be used as the content DB provided in the device A used in combination with the recommended program information providing apparatus. Absent.

  The input I / F 106 receives a signal such as a recommended re-search command transmitted by the user using the remote control 108 or the like, and transmits the received signal to the recommended search unit 104 or the control unit 107. Note that signals transmitted from the remote control 108 are assumed to be short-range wireless communication, and an infrared remote control is used here.

  The control means 107 controls the entire recommended program information providing apparatus and is generally composed of a microcomputer. The role played by the control means 107 may be assigned to the control means provided in the device A used in combination with the recommended program information providing apparatus.

  The display (display means) 109 may be provided by the recommended program information providing device itself, but in general, the device A used in combination with the recommended program information providing device is provided or used as an option. For example, CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), and the like are used.

  Next, a specific operation of the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described.

  First, in the content DB 105, data related to program information (program information data) such as program start / end times, broadcast CH and program data included in the program guide is stored together with the program content at the time of recording the program. Program content data and program information data are stored.

  In such a situation, when the user presses the “recommended program” key on the remote control 108 because he / she wants to know the recommended program, the camera 101 starts imaging people in front of or around the device A, The captured image is transmitted to the determination unit 102.

  The determination unit 102 first analyzes an image received from the camera 101 by using an image processing technique, and recognizes and specifies an individual held in the determination element DB 103 for all persons included in the image. Each person is identified by comparing it individually with the facial feature information. Specifically, an individual person is specified by using a face recognition technique for recognizing and specifying an individual based on generally known shapes of eyes, mouth and nose. As shown in FIG. 2, the order of recognizing individual persons from an image including a plurality of persons starts with the person whose image position is located on the leftmost side toward the imaging screen, and then moves to the person located on the right side. If the left and right are located at the same position, that is, at the same position in the vertical direction, the persons are recognized and identified in the order of priority given to the person located on the upper side of the imaging screen. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the order of recognizing and specifying a person photographed on the camera according to Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention.

  Next, the determination unit 102 grasps the number of persons photographed by the camera 101, acquires the age and gender information of all persons identified by the camera 101 from the determination element DB 103, and acquires the acquired age, Estimate what kind of group (group) from combination information such as gender and gender and the number of people, etc., and collate it with the recommended pattern created in advance and stored in the judgment element DB 103, and seems to be suitable for the estimated group Determine recommended type information.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a recommended pattern in the case of a group (group) having the same age, school, workplace, and the like. As shown in FIG. 7, the recommended pattern is composed of age, gender composition, an estimated group that estimates what kind of group is based on age and gender composition, and recommended type information created for each combination condition. Has been. It should be noted that the recommended type information indicates the genre information of the program, which is a search keyword when searching the content DB 105, the title information of the program, and personal information (for example, personal information such as preference) of a person. Contains information such as priorities.

  The determination unit 102 transmits to the recommended search unit 104 the recommended type information determined as described above and information regarding the favorite small genre and title of each person who has been recognized and identified.

  Next, referring to FIG. 3, the recommended search means 104 searches and presents recommended programs that all users who have been photographed on the camera or most of the users who have been photographed on the camera can enjoy together. The procedure to do is demonstrated. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure when the recommended search unit 104 searches for a recommended program in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The recommended search unit 104 searches the content DB 105 using the genre information of the program included in the recommended type information received from the determination unit 102 as a search keyword (S301), and extracts the program included in the genre information used as the search keyword. (S302), and the content DB 105 is searched (S303) using the personalized small genre of all the recognized and identified persons received together with the recommended type information from the determination means 102 as search keywords and used as the search keywords. The programs included in the small genre are extracted (S304), and the programs extracted by both are acquired as search results (S305). Further, the recommended search unit 104 arranges the programs acquired as the search results in the order of the favorite program of the person who is prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information, as shown in FIG. The program is presented on the display 109 (S306). FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of recommended program display according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In the recommended program presented on the display 109, when there is a program that all or most of the group likes, the user (here, a member of the group) selects and plays the favorite program. However, the procedure for finding a favorite program when there is no favorite program for all or most of the group among the recommended programs presented on the screen of the display 109 will be described below with reference to FIG. To do. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure in the case where the recommended search means 104 in the first embodiment of the present invention re-searches a recommended program.

  For example, the user presses a “recommended program re-search” button provided on the remote controller 108 to instruct the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera to start re-search for the recommended program. The recommended search means 104 that has received the recommended program re-search command from the remote control 108 via the input I / F 106 or via the input I / F 106 and the control means 107 (S401) is a group member. After the person (person a) recognized and identified first is confirmed (S402), the processing from step S403 to step S408 corresponding to the respective steps from step S301 to step S306 shown in FIG. 3 is executed. However, the procedure shown in FIG. 3 for searching for a recommended program is different in the following two points. One of them is a small genre obtained by deleting the favorite small genre of the person a determined in step 402 from the small favorite genre of each person recognized and specified in step S405 (corresponding to step S303 in FIG. 3). The content DB is searched for using as a search keyword. The other one is the recommended program obtained by rearranging the program acquired as the search result in step S407 in the order of the favorite program of the person excluding the person a prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information. It is a point to present (S408). The recommended program presented in step S408 is displayed on the display 109 as recommended program information as shown in FIG.

  In addition, when the information about the favorite small genre of the person a identified and identified first is deleted, and there is no favorite program among the recommended programs presented as a result of the search again, the second is further added. The third person c and the fourth person are sequentially searched until information about a favorite small genre of the recognized and identified person (person b) is deleted and a search is performed and a favorite program can be found in the recommended programs. The information about the favorite small genre of the person d is deleted and the search is repeated.

  Also, in response to the user's instruction to start re-searching for recommended programs, information on the favorite small genre of the person a who was first recognized and identified among the group members was deleted and re-searched. For example, the information about the favorite small genre of the person identified and identified last among the group members may be deleted and searched again. The order of deletion is arbitrary.

  In the above description, for all persons (users) photographed by the camera 101, it is assumed that facial feature information for identifying an individual, information about the individual, and the like are registered and held in the determination element DB 103. However, among the persons (users) photographed by the camera 101, a person whose facial feature information for identifying an individual or information about the individual is not registered in the determination element DB 103 (hereinafter referred to as person α). ) Will be described below.

  Here, only differences from the above description will be described. First, a method for determining recommended type information, which is one of the differences from the above description, will be described.

  The determination unit 102 analyzes an image received from the camera 101 using an image processing technique, and for all persons included in the image, a face for specifying an individual registered and held in the determination element DB 103 As a result of individual comparison with the feature information of the person, if it is identified that there is a person α in which information related to the individual is registered and not held in the determination element DB 103, the feature of the person α in the image received from the camera 101 is imaged. The analysis is performed using a processing technique, and the gender and age of the person α are estimated by comparing the analysis data with the gender and age estimation reference data stored in the determination element DB 103.

  On the other hand, for a person other than the person α, that is, a person whose personal information is registered and held in the determination element DB 103, the determination means 102 is the individual registered and held in the determination element DB 103 as described above. Each person is identified based on the information on the information, and information on the identified individual, for example, information on age, sex, preference, favorite program and genre, etc. is acquired.

  Based on the information acquired or estimated as described above, the determination unit 102 grasps the number of persons photographed by the camera 101, and determines the age, sex, and gender composition of the group photographed by the camera 101. By grasping and estimating from the combination information such as the number of people of the group, age composition and gender composition, this group is estimated by comparing with a recommended pattern created in advance and stored in the judgment element DB 103. Determine recommended type information that may be appropriate for the selected group.

  Next, how the recommended search means 104 searches the content DB 105 using a favorite small genre for each individual as a search keyword, which is another difference from the above description, will be described.

  The recommended search unit 104 searches the content DB 105 by using each of the recognized small genres of each recognized and specified person included in the recommended type information received from the determination unit 102 as a search keyword, and uses it as a search keyword. When a program included in a small genre is extracted, it goes without saying that the person α is not included in all the recognized and specified persons. Therefore, in this case, the content DB 105 is searched by using the small genre of each person who is recognized and specified excluding the person α as a search keyword, and a program included in the small genre used as the search keyword is extracted. It will be.

  Further, the recommended search unit 104 arranges the programs acquired as the search results in the order of the favorite program of the person who is prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information, as shown in FIG. Although it is presented on the display 109 as a program, of course, the person α indicating the priority order included in the recommended type information does not include the person α, so that the priority is given according to the priority order excluding the person α. Those arranged in the order of the favorite program of the person will be presented on the display 109 as a recommended program.

  Here, although the person α has been described as one person, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is obvious that the same processing can be performed even when there are a plurality of persons α.

  By configuring as described above, it is possible to provide a recommended program that can be enjoyed by or enjoyed by all the users copied to the camera 101 or most of the users copied to the camera. In addition, when all the users copied to the camera 101 or most of the users copied to the camera 101 are presented with recommended programs that they do not like, the user should not like the displayed recommended programs. The intention can be displayed, and the search conditions can be changed and the recommendation program can be presented again. That is, when the recommended program is presented to the user photographed on the camera 101, the recommended program presented by the apparatus is too safe, and all the users photographed on the camera 101 or most of the users. If you don't like it, you can narrow the target area of the recommended program a little, so that all users or most of the users can enjoy and present a slightly unique recommended program.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, the case where a recommended program is searched for and presented from the programs recorded and stored in the content DB 105 has been described as an example. However, the EPG (Electric Program) is stored in the content DB 105. The program information such as Guide) is recorded, and instead of searching for the recorded and stored program, the program information such as EPG is searched, so that all the users copied to the camera 101 or the camera 101 can be copied. It is also possible to search and present recommended programs that are currently being broadcast (broadcast) that most of the users who have enjoyed can enjoy together.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a recommended program information providing apparatus using a camera according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Since the basic configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same blocks, and description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 6, as in the determination element DB 103 in FIG. 1, a facial feature information for specifying an individual, a list of recommended patterns, and facial feature information for specifying an individual are registered in the determination element DB 203. In addition to this, a person designated as a specific person, for example, the device (recommended program information providing device using a camera) and / or the owner of the device A (hereinafter, referred to as a person) Information such as facial feature information for identifying the owner) and preferences regarding the owner is always held, and the determination means 202 has an owner among persons photographed by the camera 101. If it is recognized, information indicating that the owner is present in the person imaged by the camera 101 is transmitted to the recommended search means 204 together with other information. When the recommendation search unit 204 receives information from the determination unit 202 that the owner is present in the person captured by the camera 101, the recommendation search unit 204 includes the program acquired as the search result in the priority type information. When ordering in order of preference of the person who is prioritized according to the order, regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information, process the owner's favorite program to be ordered first with the owner as the highest priority, If there is no favorite program among the recommended programs presented as a result of the search and the search is performed again, information on the preferred small genre of the owner first regardless of the order of the identified and identified person, etc. After deleting, search again.

  Next, a specific operation of the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.

  First, in the content DB 105, data related to program information (program information data) such as program start / end times, broadcast CH and program data included in the program guide is stored together with the program content at the time of recording the program. Program content data and program information data are stored.

  In such a situation, when the user presses the “recommended program” key on the remote control 108 because he / she wants to know the recommended program, the camera 101 starts imaging people in front of or around the device A, The captured image is transmitted to the determination unit 202.

  First, the determination unit 202 analyzes an image received from the camera 101 using an image processing technique, and recognizes and identifies individuals held in the determination element DB 203 for all persons included in the image. Individuals are identified by comparing them with individual facial feature information. Specifically, an individual person is specified by using a face recognition technique for recognizing and specifying an individual based on generally known shapes of eyes, mouth and nose. As shown in FIG. 2, the order of recognizing individual persons from an image in which a plurality of persons are photographed is the order in which the image position starts from the person located on the leftmost side toward the imaging screen and sequentially moves to the person located on the right side. In addition, when the left and right are at the same position, that is, at the same position in the vertical direction, the person is recognized and specified in the order of priority given to the person located on the upper side of the imaging screen.

  Next, the determination unit 202 grasps the number of persons photographed by the camera 101, acquires the age and gender information of all persons identified by the camera 101 from the determination element DB 203, and acquires the acquired age, Estimate what kind of group (group) from combination information such as the number of persons including gender and gender composition, and collate it with the recommended pattern created in advance and stored in the judgment element DB 203, and seems to be suitable for the estimated group Determine recommended type information.

  When the determination unit 202 recognizes that the owner is present in the image received from the camera 101, the owner is present among the persons captured by the camera 101 with respect to the recommended search unit 204. Information, that is, the information that the owner is the highest priority person regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information, the personal preference of all persons including the recommended type information and the identified and identified owner It is transmitted with information about the small genre and title of

  The recommendation search means 204 is recommended type information from the determination means 202, information on a favorite small genre or title of each person including the owner identified and identified, and information that the owner is a top priority person. And the like, the content DB 105 is searched using the genre information of the program included in the received recommended type information as a search keyword, and the program included in the genre information used as the search keyword is extracted and received from the determination unit 102. The content DB 105 is searched using the favorite small genre of each person including the identified and identified owner included in the recommended type information as a search keyword, and programs included in the small genre used as the search keyword are extracted. And the program extracted by both is acquired as a search result.Further, the recommended search means 204 gives priority to the program acquired as a search result in accordance with the priority order included in the recommendation type information, but according to the priority order in which the owner has the highest priority regardless of the priority order. Those arranged in the order of their favorite programs are presented on the display 109 as recommended programs as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is also a diagram showing an example of a recommended program display in the second embodiment of the present invention.

  By configuring in this way, the owner is given the highest priority, so that the preference of the owner can be reflected deeply.

  Here, when the user's preference is not reflected strongly, but the preference of other people except the owner is reflected, the user presses the recommended program re-search button provided on the remote control 108, for example. Then, it instructs the recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera to start the search for the recommended program again. The recommended search means 204 that has received the recommended program re-search command from the remote control 108 via the input I / F 106 is the owner's favorite small number based on the information about the favorite small genre of each person including the owner. After deleting the information about the genre, the content DB 105 is searched again by the above procedure, the programs extracted by both are acquired as the search results, and the programs acquired as the search results are included in the recommended type information The programs arranged in the order of the favorite program of the person who is prioritized according to the priority order from which the person has been deleted are presented on the display 109 as recommended program information as shown in FIG.

  By configuring as described above, compared with the case of the first embodiment of the present invention, the recommended type information reflecting the taste of the people other than the owner, for example, the customer by deleting the influence of the taste of the owner In order to obtain the recommended type information, it is not necessary to repeat the recommended program search again and again to identify the owner and delete the influence, and easily obtain the recommended type information reflecting the customer's preference can do.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the specific person who gives the highest priority regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information is the owner. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the camera of the present invention The recommended program information providing apparatus and / or the family of the owner of the device A (father, mother, brother / sister, child, etc.) may be used. In addition, a plurality of specific persons may be given the highest priority. However, when there are a plurality of specific persons to be given the highest priority, it is desirable to set priorities among the specific persons.

  In the above description, for all persons (users) including the owner copied to the camera 101, facial feature information for identifying an individual, information about the individual, and the like are registered and stored in the determination element DB 203. As described above, facial feature information for identifying an individual, information about the individual, and the like are registered in the determination element DB 203 among persons (users) including the owner copied to the camera 101. Although there may be a person who is not present (person α), the processing method in this case is the same as that in the first embodiment of the present invention, so the description thereof is omitted here.

  The recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera according to the present invention can search and present a recommended program that is satisfied by all or most of the persons photographed on the camera. If not, the recommended program searched under different conditions can be easily presented, so an image recording / playback device such as a DVD recorder that stores a large amount of recorded programs, or an image that holds a large amount of program guides This is useful when used in combination with a DTV or the like incorporating a recording / reproducing device.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the recommended program information provision apparatus using the camera in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the order which recognizes and specifies the person imaged on the camera in Embodiment 1 and 2 of this invention The flowchart which shows the procedure in case the recommended search means in Embodiment 1 of this invention searches for a recommended program. The flowchart which shows the procedure in the case of the recommended search means in Embodiment 1 of this invention re-searching a recommended program. The figure which shows an example of the display of the recommended program in Embodiment 1 of this invention The block diagram which shows the structure of the recommended program information provision apparatus using the camera in Embodiment 2 of this invention. Diagram showing an example of recommended patterns for groups with the same age, school, workplace, etc.

Explanation of symbols

101 Camera (imaging means)
102 determination means 103 determination element DB
104 Recommended search means 105 Content DB
106 Input I / F
107 control means 108 remote control 109 display (display means)
202 determination means 203 determination element DB
204 Recommended Search Method

Claims (4)

Used in combination with a built-in or optional device such as a digital television (hereinafter abbreviated as DTV), a recording / reproducing device such as a DVD recorder, and a device such as a DTV integrated with the recording / reproducing device (hereinafter referred to as device A). A recommended program information providing device using a camera,
It consists of a camera as an imaging means, a determination means, a determination element database (hereinafter abbreviated as DB), a recommended search means, a content DB, and an input interface (hereinafter abbreviated as I / F).
The camera is attached to the device A or in the vicinity of the device A, and in response to the input I / F receiving a user's recommended program search command transmitted using a remote controller or the like, the device Image people who are in the vicinity of A who are watching or trying to watch a program stored in the device A, and send the captured image to the determination means;
The determination element DB includes face feature information for specifying individual persons, age, sex, and favorite programs and genres relating to individual persons in which face feature information for specifying individual persons is registered. Recommended genre information and titles for each estimated group estimated from the combination of each element, assuming personal information such as information and list information of recommended patterns created in advance, that is, the number of people, age, gender composition, etc. Information such as list information of recommended patterns created in advance with recommended type information including information and priority order indicating which person's personal information is prioritized,
The content DB includes program data of DTV broadcast programs received and recorded by the device A, program data recorded and accumulated from other package media, and program information data related to these programs, that is, program names, Stores data related to information such as the genre to which the program belongs,
The determination unit analyzes an image received from the camera, and individually illuminates face feature information for identifying an individual held in the determination element DB for all persons included in the image. Individuals are identified by combining them, the personal information about the identified individual is acquired from the determination element DB, and the characteristics of the whole person including the number of persons included in the image are grasped and grasped. Based on the characteristics of the whole, it is estimated from the list of recommended patterns created in advance and stored in the determination element DB that the user is estimated to meet the preferences of the whole person included in the image received from the camera. In addition to selecting recommended type information, information on a favorite genre, title, etc. of each identified person for each individual is acquired from the determination element DB, and these selections or The resulting information was transmitted to the recommended search means,
The recommended search means searches the program information held in the content DB by using the genre information or title information included in the recommended type information selected by the determination means as a search keyword (A). The extracted program is acquired as a search result (b), and information related to a favorite genre, title, etc. of each specified person acquired by the determination unit received from the determination unit is used as a search keyword (b). Then, a program obtained by searching and extracting the program information held in the content DB is acquired as a search result (b), and the program acquired in both the search result (b) and the search result (b) Are arranged in the order of preference of the person who is prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information. And output as a pair,
The input I / F receives a signal such as a recommended program search command or a recommended program re-search command transmitted by the user using a remote controller or the like, and transmits the received signal to the recommended search means or the like. A recommended program information providing device using a camera characterized by the above. When the input I / F receives the first recommended program re-search command signal, the recommended search means selects a person (person α) determined in a predetermined order among persons photographed by the camera. ), Search for the program extracted by searching the program information stored in the content DB, using the keyword deleted from the search keyword (b) as the search keyword (c). The person α that is acquired as a result (c) and prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information is the program acquired in both the search result (b) and the search result (c). When a program arranged in the order of the favorite program of the person other than the person is output as a recommended program, and the second and third times and the input I / F receives a signal for a re-search command for the recommended program A keyword obtained by sequentially deleting information related to a favorite genre, title, etc. of a person (person x) determined in the predetermined order among persons photographed by the camera from the search keyword (c) is a search keyword (n ), And the program information searched and extracted from the program information stored in the content DB is acquired as a search result (n), and is acquired in both the search result (b) and the search result (n). A program arranged in the order of the favorite program of the person excluding the person from the person α to the person x, which is prioritized according to the priority order included in the recommended type information, is output as a recommended program. A recommended program information providing apparatus using the camera according to claim 1. A specific person to be given the highest priority is determined in advance regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information, and the determination means confirms that the specific person exists among the persons imaged by the camera. 2. The recommended program information providing apparatus using a camera according to claim 1, wherein the person is treated as a person having the highest priority regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information. A specific person to be given the highest priority regardless of the priority order included in the recommended type information is determined in advance, and when the input I / F receives a signal of a first recommended program re-search command, the recommended person is selected. The search means uses a keyword obtained by deleting, from the search keyword (b), information related to a favorite genre, title, etc. of the specific person, regardless of a predetermined order among persons photographed by the camera. In (c), the program information obtained by searching and extracting the program information stored in the content DB is acquired as a search result (c), and both the search result (b) and the search result (c) A program obtained by arranging the acquired programs in the order of programs preferred by a person excluding the specific person prioritized in accordance with the priority order included in the recommended type information. Recommended program information providing apparatus using a camera according to claim 2, wherein the output.

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