JP2012054641A - Electronic program table display device and electronic program table display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic program table display device and an electronic program table display method capable of markedly reducing the number of operating times of the keys of a remote controller until a desired program is selected, in an electronic program table.SOLUTION: The electronic program table display device comprises: a remote control signal reception unit which receives input with number keys from a remote controller; a program information storage unit which stores program information; an electronic program table creation unit which creates the electronic program table from the program information and divides the electronic program table into display areas corresponding to the number keys of the remote controller; and an electronic program table display unit which displays the created electronic program table and a display area. When the remote control signal reception unit receives the input of a predetermined number key, the electronic program table creation unit expands the area corresponding to the predetermined number key to newly create a electronic program table and newly divides the display area according to the number of pieces of program information contained in the newly created electronic program table and time information.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic program guide display device and an electronic program guide display method, and more particularly to an electronic device capable of easily selecting a program on the electronic program guide in an apparatus capable of displaying the electronic program guide such as a digital television. The present invention relates to a program guide display device and an electronic program guide display method.

  In recent years, digital televisions have been increased in screen size and definition, and even in the display of electronic program guides, it has become possible to display even very fine characters, and the area that can be displayed on a full screen has been expanding year by year. Furthermore, an increase in the number of channels has spurred an increase in the amount of information in the electronic program guide, making it difficult to search for a desired program in the electronic program guide.

  On the other hand, as a conventional technique for improving operability, there is a technique in which an electronic program guide is displayed in a 3 × 3 arrangement, and a program selection operation in the electronic program guide is simplified using numeric keys 1 to 9 of the remote controller (for example, , See Patent Document 1). In the program selection operation in the electronic program guide, one program on the electronic program guide is focused, and the focus is moved by the 1 to 9 numeric keys.

International Publication No. 2005/022944

  However, in the program selection operation in the electronic program guide according to Patent Document 1, even if the remote control operation can be simplified by using the numeric keys 1 to 9, an operation for selecting a desired program from a huge program. From the standpoint of sex, there is a problem that it is the same as the case of using a general cross cursor key and is difficult.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an electronic program guide display device and electronic program display method capable of greatly reducing the number of remote control key operations until a desired program is selected in the electronic program guide. The purpose is to provide.

  An electronic program guide display device according to claim 1 of the present invention creates a remote control signal receiving unit for receiving numeric key inputs from a remote controller, a program information storage unit for storing program information, and an electronic program guide from program information. And an electronic program guide creation unit that divides the electronic program guide into display areas corresponding to the numeric keys of the remote control, and an electronic program guide display unit that displays the created electronic program guide and the display area. When the remote control signal receiving unit receives a predetermined numeric key input, the creating unit creates a new electronic program guide by expanding the display area corresponding to the predetermined numeric key, and the newly created electronic program guide The display area is newly divided according to the number of pieces of program information and time information included.

  An electronic program guide display device according to claim 2 of the present invention is the electronic program guide display device according to claim 1 of the present invention. When the number of program information included is less than a predetermined number, a display area is allocated to each program information. When the number of program information included in the newly created electronic program guide is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, Program information of a predetermined broadcast time or less is collectively assigned to one display area.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic program guide display method comprising: a remote control signal receiving step for receiving numeric key inputs from a remote controller; a program information storage step for storing program information; and an electronic program guide from program information. An electronic program guide creation step for creating and dividing the electronic program guide into display areas corresponding to the numeric keys of the remote control, and an electronic program guide display step for displaying the created electronic program guide and the display area, When the remote control signal receiving step receives a predetermined numeric key input, the electronic program guide creation step creates a new electronic program guide by expanding the display area corresponding to the predetermined numeric key and newly created The display area is newly divided according to the number of pieces of program information included in the electronic program guide and time information.

  The electronic program guide display method according to claim 4 of the present invention is the electronic program guide display method according to claim 3 of the present invention, wherein the electronic program guide creation step includes the step of creating a newly created electronic program guide. When the number of program information included is less than a predetermined number, a display area is allocated to each program information. When the number of program information included in the newly created electronic program guide is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, Program information of a predetermined broadcast time or less is collectively assigned to one display area.

  According to the electronic program guide display device and the electronic program guide display method of the present invention, the number of key operations required to select a desired program from a huge program in the electronic program guide is greatly reduced. User operability is improved.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic program guide display apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down The flowchart which shows the display area allocation process in the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the example of the image of the electronic program guide in Embodiment 1 of this invention, and display area narrowing down

  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 the configuration of the electronic program guide display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The electronic program guide display device includes a remote control signal receiver 102, a program information receiver 103, a program information storage unit 104, a program information analyzer 105, an electronic program guide generator 106, and an electronic program guide display unit 107. The electronic program guide is operated by a remote control signal from the remote control 101.

  In FIG. 1, a program information receiving unit 103 receives program information via broadcast or communication, and the received program information is stored in the program information storage unit 104. When receiving an electronic program guide display request as a remote control signal from the remote controller 101, the remote control signal receiving unit 102 outputs the electronic program guide display request to the electronic program guide creating unit 106. When an electronic program guide display request is input, the electronic program guide creation unit 106 outputs a program information acquisition request to the program information analysis unit 105.

  When a program information acquisition request is input, the program information analysis unit 105 extracts program information from the program information storage unit 104 and analyzes program information in a range to be displayed. The analyzed result is output to the electronic program guide creation unit 106. The electronic program guide creation unit 106 creates an electronic program guide based on the analyzed program information input from the program information analysis unit 105 and outputs the electronic program guide to the electronic program guide display unit 107. The electronic program guide display unit 107 displays the electronic program guide input from the electronic program guide creation unit 106 on a screen such as a display.

  Here, the electronic program guide is created by dividing the electronic program guide creation unit 106 into 3 × 3 display areas corresponding to the numeric keys 1 to 9, and the remote controller 101 has a 3 × 3 display area. 1 to 9 numeric keys arranged in a 3x3 for selecting one or more programs displayed on the screen. When the user selects one display area with a corresponding numeric key, remote control signal receiving unit 102 receives a specific display area selection request as a remote control signal. When a specific display area selection request is input from the remote control signal receiving unit 102, the electronic program guide creation unit 106 creates a new electronic program guide in which the specified display area indicated by the specific display area selection request is enlarged. It is displayed on the table display unit 107.

  Next, an image of the electronic program guide divided into 3 × 3 display areas and an example of how to narrow down the display area will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The processing shown in FIGS. 2 to 6 is executed by the electronic program guide creation unit 106.

  In FIG. 2, the vertical axis indicates the date, and the horizontal axis indicates the broadcast type (type of terrestrial broadcast, satellite broadcast, or cable broadcast) divided into 3 × 3 display areas. For example, in the case of “terrestrial broadcasting” of “Tomorrow”, the number key “1” is selected, and in the case of “cable broadcasting” of “3/19”, the number key “6” is selected. In FIG. 2, the display area is displayed semi-transparently to make it easy to understand the correspondence with the numeric keys 1 to 9 arranged in 3 × 3. Here, if the user selects the numeric key 5, the 3 × 3 middle display area indicating “satellite broadcast” from “3/17 to 3/19” is enlarged and displayed as shown in FIG. The

In FIG. 3, the vertical axis indicates the time range of the selected date range (3/17, 3/18, 3/19 “Asa”, “Hiru”, “Follow”), and the horizontal axis indicates the data type ( Among satellite broadcasts, the types of television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, and data broadcasts) are displayed divided into 3 × 3 display areas. If the user selects the numeric key “1”, the 3 × 3 upper left display area indicating “3/17” television broadcasting (satellite television) is enlarged and displayed as shown in FIG. Is done.
In the example of FIG. 4, the vertical axis indicates the time zone of the selected date (3/17 “Asa”, “Hiru”, “Yoru”), the horizontal axis indicates the channel range (satellite broadcast channel range, “ "1 to 9 channels", "10 to 18 channels", or "19 to 27 channels") are displayed in a 3 × 3 display area. Here, if the user selects the numeric key “7”, the 3 × 3 lower left area indicating “channel 1 to 9” of “according” of “3/17” is enlarged, and FIG. Is displayed.
In FIG. 5, the vertical axis indicates the time zone of the selected date (3/17 19:00 to 3 o'clock), and the horizontal axis indicates the selected channel range (9 channels from A broadcast to I broadcast). Are divided into 3 × 3 display areas. Thus, the transition from FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 can be made by simply pressing the numeric key three times, and the user can narrow down the display area to be selected easily.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram of an electronic program guide that is transitioned when the user selects the numeric key “3” in FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, a time zone corresponding to 3 hours of the date selected on the vertical axis (time from 19:00 to 22:00 on 3/17) is represented by 3 channels (G broadcast, H broadcast, I Broadcast). First, from the G broadcast in the leftmost column, there are three programs from 19:00 to 22:00. If the number of programs is three or less, a display area is assigned to each program. In this case, the news program “News 19” from 19:00 to 19:30 is assigned to the display area of the numeric key “1”, and the special program “19:30 to 20:00” is assigned to the display area of the numeric key “4”. “Special Feature” is assigned, and the drama program “Drama Special” from 20:00 to 22:00 is assigned to the display area of the numeric key “7”. Thereby, the size of each area is determined by the broadcast time of the program, and the desired program can be selected by the next numeric key selection, and the recording reservation can be set.

  Next, looking at the H broadcast in the middle row, there are six programs from 19:00 to 22:00. Since the number of programs is not within three, a display area cannot be assigned to each program. In FIG. 6, the program “quiz” from 19:00 to 20:00 is assigned to the display area of the numeric key “2”, and the program “special conversation” from 20:00 to 21:00 is displayed in the display area of the numeric key “5”. 4 programs from 21:00 to 22:00 “English course”, “Chinese course”, “French course” and “German course” are assigned to the display area of the numeric key “8”. How to allocate the display area is automatically determined using an allocation algorithm according to the broadcast time of each program and the number of programs.

  Hereinafter, the allocation algorithm will be described with reference to the flowchart showing the display area allocation process of FIG. In the display area allocation processing, it is assumed that the display range of the electronic program guide is a time zone for three hours and program information for three channels, and the electronic program guide creation unit 106 performs the following for each channel. Executes display area allocation processing. First, the electronic program guide creation unit 106 determines whether the number of programs is four or more (step S701). When the number of program information is three or less (“No” in step S701), a display area is assigned to each program (step S709). If it is determined that the number of programs is four or more (“Yes” in step S701), N is initialized, program information of the first program is extracted (step S702), and the broadcast time of the extracted program information is set to N. Addition is performed (step S703). If N is 1 hour or longer (“Yes” in step S704), a display area is assigned to the program and N is initialized again (step S705). If there is a next program (“Yes” in step S706), program information of the next program is acquired (step S707), and the processing from step S703 to step S705 is executed.

  On the other hand, if N is not one hour or longer (“No” in step S704), N is not initialized and the display area is not allocated, and the process proceeds to the next program presence / absence determination (step S706). Then, until the next program disappears (“No” in step S706), the above is repeated. When the next program disappears (“No” in step S706), if there is a program group to which no display area is assigned, the program is not assigned. Is allocated (step S708), and the display area allocation process is terminated.

  Looking at the I broadcast in the right column of FIG. 6, there are two programs from 19:00 to 22:00. Since the number of programs is three or less, an area can be allocated to each program. The baseball program “professional baseball” from 19:00 to 21:54 is assigned to the numeric key “3”, and the news program “news” from 21:54 to 22:00 is assigned to the numeric key “6”. In FIG. 6, the numeric key “9” is not assigned, but the numeric keys “3” and “6” may be assigned to the baseball program and the numeric key “9” may be assigned to the news program.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram of an electronic program guide that has transitioned when the user selects the numeric key “8” in FIG. 6. In FIG. 8, there are four programs in the 31:00 H broadcast at 21:00 hours, which are assigned to the numeric keys "1", "2", "3", "4" from the top, and are translucent By shifting the position indicating the display area, the correspondence with the numeric keys is made easier to understand. In FIG. 8, since there are four programs, only four numeric keys are assigned, but the remaining five keys may be assigned to any one program.

  In the present embodiment, the electronic program guide display device and the electronic program display method capable of greatly reducing the number of remote control key operations until a desired program is selected in the electronic program guide have been described. The same configuration not only in the program table, but also in a situation where, for example, a large amount of information is displayed on a web browser, an electronic book, etc., and the desired information is specified from among them by remote control key operation and partially enlarged and browsed Can be realized.

  In the electronic program guide display device and the electronic program guide display method according to the present invention, the number of key operations required to select desired information from a vast amount of information is greatly reduced. This is useful in all AV devices that can operate a web browser, an electronic book, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Remote control 102 Remote control signal receiving part 103 Program information receiving part 104 Program information storage part 105 Program information analysis part 106 Electronic program guide preparation part 107 Electronic program guide display part

Claims (4)

A remote control signal receiver for receiving numeric key inputs from the remote control;
A program information storage unit for storing program information;
An electronic program guide creating unit that creates an electronic program guide from the program information and divides the electronic program guide into display areas corresponding to the numeric keys of the remote control;
An electronic program guide display unit for displaying the created electronic program guide and the display area;
With
The electronic program guide creating unit creates a new electronic program guide by enlarging a display area corresponding to the predetermined numeric key when the remote control signal receiving unit receives a predetermined numeric key input. An electronic program guide display device, wherein the display area is newly divided according to the number of pieces of program information and time information included in the electronic program guide created in the above. The electronic program guide creation unit assigns a display area to each piece of program information when the number of program information included in the newly created electronic program guide is less than a predetermined number, and adds the display area to the newly created electronic program guide. 2. The electronic program according to claim 1, wherein when the number of pieces of program information included is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, program information having a predetermined broadcast time or less is collectively allocated to one display area according to time information. Table display device. A remote control signal receiving step for receiving numeric key input from the remote control;
A program information storage step for storing program information;
Creating an electronic program guide from the program information and dividing the electronic program guide into display areas corresponding to the numeric keys of the remote control; and
An electronic program guide display step for displaying the created electronic program guide and the display area;
Have
In the electronic program guide creating step, when the remote control signal receiving step receives a predetermined numeric key input, a display area corresponding to the predetermined numeric key is enlarged to newly create an electronic program guide and the new program guide A display area is newly divided according to the number of pieces of program information included in the electronic program guide created in the above and time information. In the electronic program guide creation step, when the number of program information contained in the newly created electronic program guide is less than a predetermined number, a display area is assigned to each program information, and the newly created electronic program guide is assigned to the newly created electronic program guide. 4. The electronic program according to claim 3, wherein when the number of program information included is a predetermined number or more, program information having a predetermined broadcast time or less is collectively allocated to one display area according to time information. Table display method.

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