JP2010239374A - Video recording device, and method for recording video - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video recording device, a method for recording video and a program, which allow to flexibly select and record a broadcast program to be recorded out of a plurality of broadcast program recording reservations programmed for recording on a same time slot in response to a state change of the video recording device and a change of situation associated with the broadcast program to be recorded when executing the recording. <P>SOLUTION: The video recording device has a video recording reservation accepting means to accept video recording reservations more than broadcast programs available for recording in the same time slot, a state monitoring means to monitor state change of the video recording device or situation changes associated with the broadcast program recording reservations after accepting the reservations, and a broadcast program recording determination means to select the broadcast program to be recorded out of the broadcast program recording reservations according to the change of situation detected with the state monitoring means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique of a recording apparatus having a broadcast program recording reservation function.

  Conventional recording apparatuses can basically make recording reservations for the same time period only for the number of programs that can be received simultaneously by the tuner. In other words, the conventional recording apparatus cannot make a reservation for overlapping programs of the same time period exceeding the number of tuners. As a result, in response to a change in the status of the recording device at the time of recording execution or a change in the status related to the program that was about to be recorded, a recorded program to be recorded is recorded from a plurality of scheduled recording programs reserved for recording in the same time period. I could not select and record flexibly.

  For example, a conventional recording device broadcasts at the same time when there is no problem in the reception status if the reception status of the program reserved for recording deteriorates and the recording of the program results in poor quality recording. The user's need to record another program to be recorded could not be met. Also, if the recording device is a battery-powered device, the recording will be interrupted due to the battery being exhausted when the remaining battery level is low at the timing of recording a long-time program that has been scheduled for recording. If this is the case, we could not respond to the user needs to reliably record short-term programs broadcast during the same time period.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique that allows program reservations to be input redundantly during the same time period. The technique described in Patent Document 1 selects a program to be executed for reservation from a duplicate reservation according to a priority setting condition predetermined by the viewer in order to solve the problem caused by the accepted duplicate reservation once. It is a technology that makes it possible.

JP 2001-197382 A

  However, Patent Document 1 describes recording from a plurality of scheduled recording programs reserved for recording in the same time period in response to a change in the status of the recording device or a status change related to the program to be recorded at the time of recording execution. There is no description or suggestion about the point to record and select the program to be executed flexibly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and at the time of recording execution, in response to a change in the state of the recording apparatus and a situation change related to a program that was about to be recorded, a plurality of recording reservations made during the same time period are made. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus, a recording method, and a program capable of flexibly selecting a recorded program to be recorded from scheduled recording programs and recording the program.

  The first recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus capable of reserving a broadcast program, and a recording reservation accepting means capable of accepting a recording reservation of a larger number of programs than the number of programs that can be recorded in the same time period. , A status monitoring unit that monitors a status change of the recording apparatus or a status change related to a program reserved for recording after accepting a reservation, and a recording reserved program according to the status change detected by the status monitoring unit And a recorded program determining means for selecting a program to be recorded from among.

  According to a second recording apparatus of the present invention, a recording priority order setting by which a user can set a recording priority order for each recording reservation program reserved for recording by the recording reservation receiving unit with respect to the first recording apparatus. It further has a means.

  According to a third recording apparatus of the present invention, for the first recording apparatus or the second recording apparatus, the status monitoring unit is a unit that detects a remaining battery level of the recording apparatus, and based on a detection result, The recorded program determining means selects a program to be recorded.

  According to the present invention, at the time of recording execution, recording is executed from among a plurality of scheduled recording programs reserved for recording in the same time period in response to a change in the state of the recording apparatus or a change in the situation related to the program to be recorded. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus, a recording method, and a program capable of flexibly selecting and recording a recorded program.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the video recording apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 1 includes a tuner unit 14 that receives a broadcast, a control unit 13 that performs various controls for recording reservation and recording, and a storage unit 12 that records recording reservation information and a recorded program. It is a device.

  The control unit 13 has an EPG acquisition unit 2 for acquiring an EPG necessary for making a recording reservation, a recording program selection unit 3 for allowing a user to select a recording reservation program, and a priority for the selected recording reservation program. Recording priority setting unit 4 to be set, reserved recording determination unit 5 for determining a program to be actually recorded from programs reserved for recording, recording unit 6 to perform recording, and remaining battery as a power source used for recording It is comprised by the battery residual amount monitoring part 7 which monitors quantity.

  The storage unit 12 is a program information DB 9 for recording the EPG information acquired by the EPG acquisition unit 2, the recording reservation information selected by the recording program selection unit 3, and the priority for the recording reservation program set by the recording priority setting unit 4. The program reservation DB 10 for recording the degree information and the program storage unit for recording the recorded program.

  The recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment can be configured as a TV tuner built-in personal computer. Specifically, FIG. 5 shows a recording / viewing application (not shown), a CPU, and a hard disk drive for recording a recorded program. , A ROM for storing a recording / viewing application, and a RAM for developing the application. In this case, the control unit 13 is realized by a recording / viewing application executed by the CPU.

The recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is obtained by the remaining battery level information obtained by the remaining battery level monitoring unit 7, the broadcast wave reception level obtained by the reception status monitoring unit 8, and the program information DB 9 and the reserved recording determination unit 5. This is an apparatus capable of selecting a program to be recorded from a plurality of programs reserved for recording so as to overlap in the same time period depending on the overlap status of the scheduled recording program.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the recording apparatus 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a processing flow of the recording apparatus 1 that selects a recorded program to be recorded depending on the remaining battery level.

  The EPG acquisition unit 2 acquires EPG data from the broadcast wave received by the tuner unit 14, and records data constituting the electronic program information in the program information DB 9 as program information (step S1). Each time the EPG data is updated, the EPG acquisition unit 2 acquires new EPG data and updates the program information recorded in the program information DB 9. When the start or end time of the scheduled recording program recorded in the scheduled recording DB 10 is changed due to the update of the program information DB 9, the recorded program selection unit 3 sets the scheduled recording program information to correspond to the change. Update. The EPG data may be acquired from an EPG providing site through the Internet.

  The recorded program selection unit 3 presents a recording reservation selection screen to the user and accepts an input for selecting a recording reservation program (step S2). The user input is executed by a mouse, a keyboard, a remote controller, or the like (not shown).

  The recording priority setting unit 4 accepts input of recording priority information by the user for a program reserved for recording by the user, and also includes recording priority information corresponding to the recording reservation program information selected in step S2. Recording in the recording reservation DB (step S3). Specifically, the recording priority order setting unit 4 presents a priority level setting screen to the user and accepts input of priority levels. For example, two modes of “always recording” and “recording” may be selected, or priority order input may be accepted for each overlapping program in the same time period.

  In the former case, the scheduled recording programs for which the “always record” mode can be selected are limited to the number of programs that the tuner can record in the same time period. The scheduled recording program in which the “recording” mode is selected may be controlled so that the order in which the recording selection is made automatically has a higher priority. In the latter case, prioritization and “always recording” may be selected independently of the priority. Since the user explicitly inputs the priority order, the recorded program determination is controlled by the priority order.

  Note that the overlapping reservation described in the present invention means that the tuner has reserved recording exceeding the number of programs that can be recorded in the same time period. Therefore, in the case of a recording apparatus with a large number of installed tuners, the ratio of overlapping reservations decreases accordingly.

  The scheduled recording determination unit 5 refers to the scheduled recording program information, and when the broadcast start time of the program to be recorded approaches, it enters the recording execution preparation and detects the scheduled recording program that is reserved twice in the same time zone (step) S4).

  The battery remaining amount monitoring unit 7 detects the battery remaining amount of the recording device when the recording reservation program that has been reserved twice in step S4 is detected, and if the remaining amount is less than a predetermined remaining amount, The data is sent to the reserved recording determination unit 5 (step S5).

  The scheduled recording determination unit 5 detects a scheduled recording program having a recording time during which recording can be performed with a predetermined remaining amount. For example, the recordable time is determined with reference to table information (not shown) indicating the recording time that can be recorded according to the remaining amount value, and it is detected whether there is a scheduled recording program within the recordable time (step S6). If there are a plurality of detected programs, the scheduled recording determination unit 5 determines a program to be recorded according to the recording priority order. Note that the processing in steps S5 and S6 is efficient if the determination is made according to the order of priority.

  In step S6, when there is a detected program and a program to be recorded is determined, the reserved recording determination unit 5 notifies the recording unit 6 of the program to be recorded, and the recording unit 6 executes the recording (step). S7). In this case, there is a possibility that the scheduled recording program that has been prepared for recording execution and the program that is actually recorded are changed.

  If a duplicate program is not detected in step S4, if the remaining battery level is greater than or equal to a predetermined value in step S5, or if a scheduled recording program within a predetermined recordable time is not detected in step S6, a scheduled recording is performed. The determination unit 5 notifies the recording unit 6 to execute the recording reservation program that has been prepared for recording execution, and the recording unit 6 executes the recording (step S8). The recording unit 6 records the recorded data in the program storage unit 11.

  With the above processing, the recording device 1 can change the recorded program depending on the remaining battery level at the time of recording execution. Therefore, the recording is forcibly terminated when the battery runs out, and the program designated for recording reservation cannot be played back. It is possible to avoid the problem that the program cannot be replayed to the end due to the stop. In addition, if it is a scheduled recording program in which the “always record” mode is set, control is performed so that the remaining battery level is ignored and the recording is executed. The user can select each reserved program.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a processing flow of the recording apparatus 1 that selects a recorded program to be recorded according to the reception status will be described.

  Basically, since there are many parts similar to the flow described in FIG. 2, the characteristic parts will be described in detail. The reception status monitoring unit 8 detects the reception level of the broadcast wave corresponding to the scheduled recording program with the highest priority of the recording priority set by the recording priority setting unit 4, and exceeds a predetermined level determined in advance. It is confirmed whether it exists (step S25).

  When the reception level of the recording reservation program with the highest priority is less than a predetermined value, the reception status monitoring unit 8 searches for a recording reservation program whose reception level is equal to or higher than the predetermined level while lowering the priority (step S26). ).

When the reception status monitoring unit 8 can search for a scheduled recording program having a reception level equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the reception status monitoring unit 8 notifies the reserved recording determination unit 5 of the information. The reserved recording determination unit 5 notifies the recording unit 6 of the searched recording reservation program as a program to be recorded, and the recording unit 6 executes the recording (step S27).
If the reception level of the broadcast wave corresponding to the recording priority program with the highest priority is higher than a predetermined level in step S25, the recording reservation program whose reception level is higher than the predetermined level even if the priority is lowered in step S26. If the video recording cannot be retrieved, the timer recording determination unit 5 notifies the video recording unit 6 to execute the video recording reservation program with the highest priority, and the video recording unit 6 executes video recording (step S28). .

  Finally, with reference to FIG. 4, the processing flow of the recording apparatus 1 for selecting a recording program to be recorded so that the recording is completed until the program end of the scheduled recording program will be described.

  Due to the change in the program schedule, the broadcast time of the scheduled recording program that was initially scheduled is often lowered or raised. In such a case, if the EPG is updated, the recording device can follow the recording time of the scheduled recording program. However, this may cause a problem that other scheduled recording programs and a part of the time zone are overlapped.

  The processing flow of FIG. 4 is a processing flow for solving such a problem. Since there are many cases similar to the processing flow described above, the characteristic portions will be described in detail. The reserved recording determination unit 5 searches the recording reservation DB 10 to determine whether there is another scheduled recording program that starts recording within the recording time of the scheduled recording program that has been prepared for recording (step S35).

  The reserved recording determination unit 5 compares the priorities of the searched program with the highest priority and the scheduled recording program ready to be recorded (step S36).

  If the retrieved program has a higher priority, the scheduled recording determination unit 5 notifies the recording unit 6 to stop recording execution of the scheduled recording program that has been prepared for recording. The recording unit 6 stops recording (step S37).

  In step S35, if there is no other program to be recorded within the recording time of the scheduled recording program that has been prepared for recording, in step S36, the priority order of the scheduled recording program that has been prepared for recording is determined. If it is higher, the scheduled recording determination unit 5 notifies the recording unit 6 to execute the recording so that the scheduled recording program ready to be recorded is executed, and the recording unit 6 executes the recording ( Step S38).

  As described above, the recording apparatus 1 assigns priorities to scheduled recording programs on the premise of overlapping recording reservations in the same time period, so that changes in the status of the recording apparatus during recording and status changes related to the recorded programs can be realized. Correspondingly, a program appropriate for the user can be selected and recorded from at least two or more programs reserved for recording.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording device 2 EPG acquisition part 3 Recorded program selection part 4 Recording priority order setting part 5 Reserved recording determination part 6 Recording part 7 Battery residual quantity monitoring part 8 Reception condition monitoring part 9 Program information DB
10 Recording reservation DB
11 Program storage unit 12 Storage unit 13 Control unit 14 Tuner unit

Claims (7)

A recording device capable of recording a broadcast program,
Recording reservation accepting means capable of accepting a recording reservation of a larger number of programs than the number of programs that can be recorded in the same time period;
Status monitoring means for monitoring status changes of the recording device or status changes related to the program reserved for recording after accepting the reservation;
In response to a situation change detected by the situation monitoring means, a recorded program determining means for selecting a program to be recorded from among the reserved recording programs;
A recording apparatus characterized by having   2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording priority setting unit capable of setting a recording priority by a user for each recording reservation program reserved for recording by the recording reservation receiving unit. .   The said condition monitoring means is a means to detect the battery remaining amount of the said recording device, Based on a detection result, the said recording program determination means selects the program which performs recording, The recording method of Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. Recording device.   The status monitoring means is means for detecting a reception sensitivity of the broadcast wave corresponding to the program reserved for recording by the recording apparatus, and the recorded program determination means selects a program to be recorded based on a detection result. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is a recording apparatus. The status monitoring means is means for detecting another program that is scheduled to start recording within the time until the recording end time of the program that starts recording earlier in the program reserved for recording. ,
The recorded program determining means compares the priority set by the recording priority setting means with each of the detected another program and the program to be recorded in advance, and the preceding recording reservation is made. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein it is determined whether or not to record a certain program. A method for determining a recorded program performed by a recording device,
A recording reservation step capable of accepting a recording reservation for a larger number of programs than the number of programs that can be recorded in the same time period;
Monitoring a change in status of the recording device or a status change related to a program reserved for recording after accepting a reservation;
Selecting a program to be recorded from among programs reserved for recording in accordance with the status change detected by the status monitoring step;
And a recorded program determination method. A program to be executed by a computer of a recording device,
Recording reservation processing that can accept recording reservations for a larger number of programs than the number of programs that can be recorded in the same time period,
A process of monitoring a change in status of the recording device or a status change relating to a program reserved for recording after accepting a reservation;
A process of selecting a program to be recorded from among the programs reserved for recording in response to the situation change detected by the situation monitoring process;
Is executed by the computer.

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