JP2010068330A - Program reservation apparatus and program reservation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform program reservation even when a user does not exactly grasp broadcast starting time of a program. <P>SOLUTION: This program reservation apparatus displays a simple recording reservation picture for displaying program conditions including a prescribed channel, prescribed date and time by being overlapped with a video image under viewing, retrieves a program (program in a time period including the prescribed date and time of the prescribed channel) matched to the program conditions from EPG information, and displays retrieved program information as a reservation program candidate. When the retrieved program information is not program information desired to be recorded, if the program conditions are changed, the program information is changed to the one matched to the program condition after change. When the desired program is retrieved, the user operates a determination key. Thus, the reservation program candidate is fixed as a reservation program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program reservation apparatus such as a television receiver and a program recording apparatus, and a program reservation method.

An example of a timer timer recording of a conventional television broadcast program is described in Patent Document 1. Here, the user operates the timer reservation recording setting screen to make a recording reservation. It is assumed that the user memorizes that the program to be reserved for recording is a program “zzz” scheduled to be broadcast from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm tomorrow at the yy broadcast station of channel number xx. The timer reservation recording setting screen allows the user to specify the channel first, and then specifies the date and recording start time. When information on the broadcast station, broadcast date, and broadcast start time is obtained, the control unit reads EPG information (electronic program information guide) that is periodically acquired / updated from the memory, and information specified by the user, EPG information, Thus, it is possible to estimate a program that the user desires to record.
JP-A-2005-51325 (paragraph 0030, paragraph 0036 to paragraph 0043, FIG. 4)

  In the scheduled recording operation described in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that the user has to memorize the program start time accurately. In recent years, the start time is not just hourly, and there is a tendency for programs to start several minutes earlier, and if the program start time is incorrect, the desired program cannot be estimated from the EPG information.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a program reservation apparatus and a program reservation method capable of reserving a program even if the user does not accurately grasp the broadcast start time of the program.

  A program reservation apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a reservation information display means for displaying reservation information including a predetermined channel and a predetermined date and time, and a program in a time zone including the predetermined date and time of the predetermined channel from program guide data. The program information display means for searching for information and displaying the program information, the reservation means for reserving the program information displayed by the program information display means, and the reservation information displayed by the reservation information display means are changed. Thus, a change means for changing the program information displayed by the program information display means is provided.

  A program reservation method according to an aspect of the present invention includes a reservation information display step for displaying reservation information including a predetermined channel and a predetermined date and time, and a program in a time zone including the predetermined date and time of the predetermined channel from program guide data. The program information display step for searching for information and displaying the program information, the reservation step for reserving a program of the program information displayed by the program information display step, and the reservation information displayed by the reservation information display step are changed. Thus, a change step for changing the program information displayed in the program information display step is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when the date and channel are set, the program guide data is searched according to the setting information, and the program information of the program in the time zone including the date and time of the channel is displayed. In this state, by changing the date and time and the channel, the program table data is searched again, and a desired program can be found. Thus, the user can reserve a desired program without accurately recognizing the broadcast start time and broadcast end time of the program.

  Embodiments of a program reservation apparatus and a program reservation method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The program reservation apparatus can be applied to an arbitrary television receiver, recording apparatus, radio receiver, etc. Here, a recording apparatus having a hard disk drive and a DVD disk drive will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The video recording / reproducing device 12 and the video display device 14 are connected. A remote controller 14 is attached to the video recording / reproducing apparatus 12. Infrared light obtained by modulating the operation signal from the remote controller 14 is received by the remote control light receiving unit 24, and the operation signal is input to the CPU unit 26. The main body of the apparatus 12 is also provided with a user operation input unit 22 that can input the same signal as the operation signal from the remote controller 14 to the CPU unit 26. Only one of the remote controller 14 and the user operation input unit 22 may be used.

  An example of the remote controller 14 is shown in FIG. In addition to the normal keys such as the power key, channel key, volume key, etc., the reservation key 72, the end key 74, the determination key 76, and the determination key 76 are arranged on the outside of the reservation key 72 as the keys related to the reservation. A selection key 78 capable of selecting either of the above is provided. The selection key 76 instructs selection of an item by an operation in the left-right direction and change of an item value by an operation in the up-down direction.

  The CPU unit 26 includes a reservation key press accepting unit 52, a current information setting reservation screen display unit 54, an “EPG information and setting information comparison unit” 56, a program information display unit 58, a “reserved or duplicate reservation determination unit” 60, and setting information. A change receiving unit 62, a “current time and designated time comparing unit” 64, and a message generation / display unit 66 are included. The reservation key press accepting unit 52 detects an operation of the reservation key 72 of the remote controller 14. The current information setting reservation screen display unit 54 displays a recording reservation screen according to the operation of the reservation key 72. Current information (program conditions) changed by a user operation is displayed on the recording reservation screen. The “EPG information and setting information comparison unit” 56 compares the current information displayed on the reservation screen with the already obtained EPG information to obtain a reserved program candidate.

  The program information display unit 58 displays program information of reserved program candidates on the reservation screen for confirmation. The “reserved or duplicate reservation determination unit” 60 detects that a reserved program candidate has already been reserved, or that another program has been reserved in the same time zone. The setting information change accepting unit 62 inputs current information changed by a user operation. The “current time and designated time comparison unit” 64 compares the current time with the designated time included in the program conditions, and determines that reservation is impossible if the designated time is earlier than the current time. The message generation / display unit 66 creates and displays various warning messages.

  The CPU unit 26 is connected to a tuner unit 28, a memory unit 30, a timer unit 32, a recording / playback signal processing unit 34, a disk drive unit 36, and a hard disk drive unit 38. The tuner unit 28 receives the video signal from the antenna and supplies the output signal to the recording / reproducing signal processing unit 34. When the EPG information is superimposed on the broadcast program, the recording / playback signal processing unit 34 extracts the EPG information from the broadcast program and writes it in the memory unit 30. The EPG information may be acquired separately (for example, via the Internet although not shown) and written in the memory unit 30. The timer unit 32 stores information on the reserved program, and when the start time comes, the power is turned on to the tuner unit 28, the recording / playback signal processing unit 34, the hard disk drive unit 38, etc. via the CPU unit 26, and the recording operation is started. . The recording / reproducing signal processing unit 34 is also connected to the CPU unit 26, the disk drive unit 36, and the hard disk drive unit 38. The disk drive unit 36 records (reproduces) programs on a recordable storage medium such as a DVD-R, and the hard disk drive unit 38 records (reproduces) programs on the hard disk 42. The output of the recording / playback signal processing unit 34 is displayed on the video display device 16.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the reservation operation of this embodiment. In the video recording / reproducing apparatus 12, a program can be reserved by operating a program navigation key of the remote controller 14, displaying a program guide, and selecting a desired program, but this is not directly related to the present invention. The details of the reservation will be omitted. The method of displaying a program guide and selecting a desired program has a problem that it takes time to display and scroll the program guide and the key operation is complicated. FIG. 3 shows the flow of a simple reservation operation.

  The program reservation starts by pressing the reservation key 72 while watching the TV program on the video display device 16. When the reservation key press accepting unit 52 detects the operation of the reservation key 72 in block 102, the current information setting reservation screen display unit 54 displays “Easy” in a part of the TV program image displayed on the video display device 16 in block 104. “Recording reservation screen” is displayed. An example of the “easy recording reservation screen” is shown in FIG. The “Easy recording reservation screen” displays the current time (including day of the week and date) and program conditions. The program condition is a condition of a program to be recorded, and includes a day / date, a channel, and a specified time. As the initial values of the program conditions, the current day / date, the channel currently being viewed, and the current time are displayed. The designated time is a condition for recording a program in a time zone including this time.

  In block 106, the “EPG information and setting information comparison unit” 56 compares the program conditions with the EPG information stored in the memory unit 30, and matches the program conditions (broadcast on the channel on the date and at the designated time). (Program broadcasted in a time zone including), and the program information as a search result is displayed as a reserved program candidate in the corresponding program column in the “easy recording reservation screen”. FIG. 4 displays information on programs broadcast from 20:00 to 20:54 including 20:02 which is the designated time of the program conditions, that is, information on programs currently being viewed as reserved program candidates. Since the initial candidate for the reserved program is the program currently being viewed, it is often not a desired program.

  To change the reserved program candidate, the program conditions may be changed. Even if the viewer does not know the exact broadcast time of the program he wants to record, he or she knows how many channels on what day or what day of the week what time it is broadcasting. Therefore, the value of each item of the program condition is changed, and the program information of the desired program is waited for being displayed as a reserved program candidate. The cursor displayed on the program conditions is moved by operating the selection key 78 to the left and right, and is positioned on any item of the day of the week / date and time, the channel, and the specified time. In this state, the day / date / time, channel, and designated time values can be changed (increased / decreased) by operating the selection key 78 up and down. Since the program to be recorded is reserved, it cannot be changed to a value indicating the past day / date. However, if it is that day, the designated time can be set up to midnight.

  When the setting information change accepting unit 62 detects the change of the program condition in block 108, the current information setting reservation screen display unit 54 in step 110 displays the program information of the reserved program candidate searched from the changed program condition as “easy recording reservation”. Displayed in the corresponding program column of “Screen”. FIG. 5 shows a screen when the day of the week / date and time is changed to the next day in the “simple recording reservation screen” of FIG. FIG. 6 shows a screen when the designated time is changed to 22:07 two hours later in the “simple recording reservation screen” of FIG.

  In block 112, the “current time and designated time comparison unit” 64 compares the current time with the designated time included in the program condition, and determines whether or not the designated time is earlier than the current time. In the case of the past, it is determined in block 114 whether or not the specified time is included in the time zone of the currently viewed program, that is, whether or not it is current from the start time of the currently viewed program. If the specified time is not included in the time zone of the currently viewed program, that is, if it is determined that it is past the start time of the currently viewed program, the past program cannot be recorded even if it is reserved. A past program reservation impossible message is displayed at 116, and the process proceeds to block 126. A display example of a past program reservation impossible message is shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, since the current time is September 1 (Monday) 20:07, a program including the past September 1 (Monday) 18:07 (the end time is assumed to be 20:00). This indicates that the reservation is not possible and prompts the user to change to a date and time after the present.

  If it is determined in block 112 that the specified time is not past the current time, or if it is determined in block 114 that the specified time is included in the time zone of the currently viewed program, the process proceeds to block 118. In block 118, the “reserved or duplicate reservation determination unit” 60 determines whether or not the same program as the reservation candidate program is already reserved. If the reservation candidate program is already reserved, the message generation display unit 66 displays the reserved message in block 120. FIG. 7 is a display example of a reserved message. Normally, as shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, a message “Reserve by pressing the enter key” is displayed at the bottom of the program information display of the reservation candidate program. A message “This is a reserved program. Please change the program information” is displayed at the bottom of the program information display of the candidate program. Thereafter, if no key operation is performed within a certain time, the process returns to block 104 and returns to the “easy recording reservation screen” display.

  If the reservation key for confirming the reservation is pressed within a predetermined time despite the display of the reserved message shown in FIG. 7 (Yes in block 122), a reserved warning as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed in block 128. To do. If no key operation is performed after the message display shown in FIG. 7 (block 120) or the warning display shown in FIG. 8 (block 124), the process returns to block 104 to display the “easy recording reservation screen”. Return.

  If it is determined in block 118 that the reservation candidate program is not already reserved, the “reserved or duplicate reservation determination unit” 60 determines in block 128 that another program has already been reserved in the same time slot as the reservation candidate program. Judge whether or not. If another program is already reserved in the same time zone, the message generation / display unit 66 displays the program information of the duplicate program in block 130. FIG. 9A shows an example in which program information of a program overlapping with a reservation candidate program is displayed. In this example, “Monday Drama” (zz TV, which is a program in a time zone including 22:07, which is a specified time, among programs broadcast on zz TV on Monday, September 1, which is a program condition. 21:00 to 23:15) is a reserved program candidate, it indicates a situation in which other programs “** special issue” and “news **” of other channels in the same time period are already reserved. . Looking at the program information display of the duplicate program, it can be seen that it is necessary to change the reservation candidate program or change the reservation of the already reserved program. In addition, if the recording device has two tuners and can record two programs at the same time, the duplication of two programs in the same time zone is allowed, and if three programs are duplicated, the determination of block 128 is “Yes”. Just do it.

  Details of already reserved programs can be viewed by selecting "List" or "Details" on the duplicate program information display screen. FIG. 9B is a screen display example at the time of list operation, and a list of already reserved programs is displayed. You can cancel the reservation by unchecking the execution column. FIG. 9C is a diagram showing a screen display example during the detailed operation, and displays details of the reservation candidate program. In this detail display, the reservation operation can be canceled. If no key operation is performed after the cancellation, the process returns to block 104 and returns to the “easy recording reservation screen” display.

  If there is no other program already reserved in the same time zone (No in block 128), if the reservation key for confirming the reservation is pressed within a certain time in block 132 (Yes in block 122), block 134 is displayed. Confirm your reservation with. Although not shown, a message “A reservation has been confirmed” may be displayed. Thereafter, if the end key is operated within a certain time, the simple reservation process is ended. The end key can be operated at any time, and the simple reservation process can be ended at an arbitrary timing.

  Note that if the specified time is past the current time, but the current time is more than the start time of the currently viewed program, the process proceeds to block 118, so that the reservation is confirmed if it is reserved or not duplicated. it can. In this case, since the start time of the program is in the past, the program recording is started from the time when the reservation is confirmed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the program information in the time zone including the designated time of the designated channel of the designated date and time is displayed as the reservation candidate program, and if it is good, the reservation is confirmed by operating the decision key. If the same program as the reservation candidate program is already reserved, a warning is displayed, and further, a warning is displayed when an attempt is made to confirm the reservation. A warning is also displayed when another program is already reserved in the same time slot as the reservation candidate program. Therefore, it is possible to make a reservation for recording a desired program by a simple operation without knowing information (start time, end time, etc.) of the program that the user wants to record.

  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.

The block diagram which shows an example of the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The top view which shows an example of the remote controller of the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows an example of reservation operation of the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows another example of the "simple recording reservation screen" in the program reservation apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Video recording / reproducing apparatus, 14 ... Remote controller, 16 ... Video display apparatus, 22 ... User operation input part, 26 ... CPU part, 28 ... Tuner part, 30 ... Memory part, 32 ... Timer part, 34 ... Recording / playback signal Processing unit, 36... Disk drive unit, 38... Hard disk drive unit.

Claims (13)

Reservation information display means for displaying reservation information including a predetermined channel and a predetermined date and time;
Program information display means for searching program information in a time zone including the predetermined date and time of the predetermined channel from program guide data, and displaying the program information;
Reservation means for reserving a program of program information displayed by the program information display means;
Changing means for changing the program information displayed by the program information display means by changing the reservation information displayed by the reservation information display means;
A program reservation apparatus comprising:   2. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reservation information display means displays reservation information including a channel of a currently viewed program and the current date and time in accordance with a predetermined operation.   2. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information display means displays program information including a program name, a start time, and an end time of the searched program.   2. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying a warning message when the reservation information changed by the changing means includes a past date and time.   2. The program according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying a warning message when the reservation information changed by the changing means includes a time past the start time of the program currently being viewed. Reservation device.   And a means for displaying a warning message when the time zone of the program searched based on the reservation information changed by the changing means overlaps the time zone of the program reserved by the reservation means. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   When the time slot of the program searched based on the reservation information changed by the changing means overlaps with the time slot of the program reserved by the reservation means, the overlapped reserved program information is displayed. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means.   2. The program reservation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reservation means reserves a program having program information displayed by the program information display means in accordance with a predetermined operation. Reservation information display step for displaying reservation information including a predetermined channel and a predetermined date and time;
A program information display step of searching program information in a time zone including the predetermined date and time of the predetermined channel from program guide data, and displaying the program information;
A reservation step of reserving a program of program information displayed by the program information display step;
A change step of changing the program information displayed by the program information display step by changing the reservation information displayed by the reservation information display step;
A program reservation method comprising:   10. The program reservation method according to claim 9, further comprising a step of displaying a warning message when the reservation information changed in the changing step includes a past date and time.   10. The program according to claim 9, further comprising a step of displaying a warning message when the reservation information changed in the changing step includes a past time from the start time of the program currently being viewed. Reservation method.   And a step of displaying a warning message when the time zone of the program searched based on the reservation information changed in the changing step overlaps the time zone of the program reserved in the reservation step. 10. A program reservation method according to claim 9, wherein   When the time zone of the program searched based on the reservation information changed in the change step overlaps with the time zone of the program reserved in the reservation step, the overlapped reserved program information is displayed. The program reservation method according to claim 9, further comprising a step.

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