JP2014045363A - Program information display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program information display device that, if there is a program with a short broadcast time in an electronic program guide, can improve the visibility of program information about the program.SOLUTION: The program information display device divides an EPG display screen into a plurality of blocks. For example, twelve blocks in three rows and four columns corresponding to a one-hour slot are a "large block," four blocks in one row and four columns are a "middle block," and one block in one row and one column is a "small block." A display start position of each program is temporarily decided in the unit of the middle block on the basis of a broadcast start time thereof. If the time period of the program covers more than one middle block, the coverage time period is divided into a front time and a back time on the basis of a threshold time between the two middle blocks covered first, and the middle block position of display is decided on a predetermined condition. As for middle blocks with no programs assigned by temporary decision, middle block positions of display are decided on additional conditions.

Description

  The present invention relates to a program information display device that displays program information of a program broadcast by digital broadcasting or the like, and particularly has a function of outputting an image signal for displaying a broadcast program title, broadcast date and time, and the like. The present invention relates to a program information display device.

  In recent years, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorders, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorders, and the like having a function as a program information display device have become widespread due to multi-functionalization and diversification of digital technology. These program information display devices, for example, by analyzing EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data included in the broadcast wave, output an image indicating the title of the broadcast program and the broadcast date and time to a television device or a monitor.

  A conventional program information display device generates an image signal for displaying a latte column (radio-TV column) as shown in FIG. 17 and outputs the image signal to a display device such as a display. In the latitudinal column of FIG. 17, a heading column indicating a channel number on the horizontal axis and a broadcast time on the vertical axis is provided, and the vertical width of each program column is displayed so as to be almost directly proportional to the length of the broadcast time.

  However, in the above display mode, a program with a short broadcast time (for example, a 5-minute program) has a problem that the program content cannot be displayed in the program column because the vertical width becomes extremely short. For example, in the example of FIG. 17, the program next to “News” displayed in “PM1” of “Terrestrial digital 021ch” is not displayed because the broadcast time is short (indicated by diagonal lines). Area).

  In relation to the above problem, a single frame represents a plurality of programs, and when that frame is selected, the program information of all programs belonging to the frame is displayed, or the program information of all the belonging programs is periodically displayed one by one. Has been disclosed and proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-219297 A

  However, even if the above technique is used, if the user wants to visually recognize information on a program having a short broadcast time, the user must perform a program selection operation such as moving the cursor to the position of the program, which is troublesome. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when there is a program with a short broadcast time in an electronic program guide (EPG) including a latte column, the program is not required without user operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program information display device capable of improving the visibility of program information.

  In order to achieve the above object, a program information display device of the present invention includes a program information acquisition unit that acquires program information that is information related to a broadcast program, and the program information based on the broadcast date and time and the broadcast channel of the broadcast program. A program information display device comprising: a program information display unit that generates and outputs an image signal for matrix display, wherein the program display unit sets a display area for the program information to a broadcast time of a predetermined length. And dividing the display area into a plurality of columns according to broadcast channels, and generating an image signal for displaying the program information using the divided display area. .

  According to this configuration, even if there is a program whose broadcast time is extremely short on the program information display screen, a display area for the program information of the program can be secured.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit further divides the display area divided into a plurality of columns according to a broadcast channel into a plurality of columns according to a broadcast time of a predetermined length. It is characterized by.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to improve the visibility of the program information of a program having a short broadcast time as compared with a case where all program information is displayed in units of lines.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit compares the broadcast time zone of the broadcast program in units of lines of the display area divided into a plurality of lines, and based on the comparison result, the program The display area where information display is started is provisionally determined.

  According to this configuration, the display area of the program information can be dynamically changed according to the broadcast time zone of the broadcast program.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit determines that the provisionally determined display area is a display start position when the broadcast time zone is within a single line as a result of the comparison. Features.

  According to this configuration, the program information of the program can be displayed in the display area corresponding to the broadcast time for a set in which the broadcast time zone fits in a single line.

  Further, in order to achieve the above object, the program display unit, as a result of the comparison, sets the line break at the earliest time among the line breaks of the plurality of lines as a determination break when the broadcast time zone extends over a plurality of lines. The forward time zone that is the broadcast time zone that exists in front of the determination interval is compared with the rear time zone that is the broadcast time zone that exists behind the determination interval, and the forward time zone is the backward time zone. When it is longer than the band, or when the forward time zone is the same as the backward time zone, the provisionally determined display area is determined as a display start position.

  According to this configuration, when the broadcast time zone of a broadcast program extends over a plurality of lines, the display area for program information can be dynamically changed according to the ratio between the front time zone and the rear time zone of the delimiter for determination. .

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit sets the display area corresponding to a predetermined length of time as one group, and as a result of the comparison, as a result of the comparison, the broadcast time zone extends over a plurality of lines, and The forward time zone is shorter than the backward time zone, and the provisionally determined display area is a line other than the last line in the group, and another provisionally decided on the same line as the provisionally determined display area When there is no display area, the temporarily determined display area is determined as a display start position.

  According to this configuration, for example, a one-hour broadcast time zone is set as one group, and the display area of program information can be dynamically changed according to the broadcast start position and length of the program in this group.

  In order to achieve the above object, as a result of the comparison, the program display unit has the display area in which the broadcast time zone extends over a plurality of lines, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and is provisionally determined. Is the last line in the group, the last line is determined as the display start position.

  According to this structure, the display area of program information can be dynamically changed according to the broadcast start position and length of the relevant group in the group.

  In order to achieve the above object, as a result of the comparison, the program display unit has the display area in which the broadcast time zone extends over a plurality of lines, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and is provisionally determined. Is the last row in the group, and if there is another temporarily determined display area in the same row as the temporarily determined display area, the other temporarily determined display area is moved up by one line. Then, the last line is determined as the display start position.

  According to this configuration, the display area of program information other than the program can be dynamically changed according to the relationship between the broadcast start position and length of the group in the group and the broadcast time zone of the other program. it can.

  In order to achieve the above object, as a result of the comparison, the program display unit has the display area in which the broadcast time zone extends over a plurality of lines, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and is provisionally determined. Starts displaying the next line of the tentatively determined display area when is a line other than the last line in the group and there is another tentatively determined display area in the same line as the tentatively determined display area The position is determined.

  According to this configuration, the program information display area of the program can be dynamically changed according to the relationship between the broadcast start position and length of the group in the group and the broadcast time zone of the other program. .

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit divides the display area in the row by a plurality of columns when there are a plurality of the determined display start positions in a row.

  According to this configuration, the program information display area of the program and the program information other than the program are displayed according to the relationship between the broadcast start position and length of the group in the line and the broadcast time zone of the other program. The display area can be changed dynamically.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit includes a blank line that is a line for which the display start position temporarily determined by the comparison does not exist, and the display area exists in a line preceding the blank line. In this case, the blank line is used as a display area for displaying the same program information as the display area.

  According to this configuration, when a blank line is generated as a result of provisional determination of the display area, the blank line can be used as a display area for predetermined program information.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the program display unit, when the blank line exists and a plurality of the display areas exist in the previous line of the blank line, The display area is moved to the blank line.

  According to this configuration, when a blank line is generated as a result of provisional determination of the display area, program information that is provisionally determined to be displayed on a line different from this blank line is displayed using this blank line. Can do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program display unit displays a time image indicating a broadcast time of a broadcast program corresponding to program information displayed in the display area in a part of the display area. And

  According to this configuration, even when there is a difference between the broadcast time zone of the program and the display position of the program information by dynamically changing the display area, an accurate broadcast start time or broadcast time zone can be set to the user. Can be presented.

  In order to achieve the above object, the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information from digital data included in a digital broadcast wave or digital data acquired via a wide area communication network.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to acquire program information and display program information using digital data distributed via digital broadcasting, the Internet, or the like.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording unit for recording reproduction information including an image or sound and a reproduction control unit for reproducing the reproduction information are provided, and the program information display unit is recorded in the recording unit. When displaying the program information related to the reproduced information, the display area is divided into a plurality of lines according to a predetermined length of broadcast time, and the display area is divided into a plurality of columns according to a broadcast channel. The display area is divided, and the display area is further divided into a plurality of columns according to a predetermined length of broadcast time, and the program information is displayed using the divided display area.

  According to this configuration, when displaying reproduction information recorded in the recording unit, that is, program information such as a recorded program, even if there is a program whose recording time is extremely short on the recorded program display screen. It is possible to secure a display area for program information of the program and improve its visibility.

  According to the present invention, even when there is a program with a short broadcast time on the program information display screen, the program information of the program can be displayed without requiring user operation, and the visibility thereof can be improved. Can do.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the function part with which the program information display apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the program information display apparatus of this invention. It is a screen figure which shows the program information display screen of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone and the display area temporarily determined. It is a schematic diagram which shows the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows a broadcast time slot | zone, the provisionally determined display area, and the determined display area. It is a screen figure which shows the conventional program information display screen.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, embodiment shown here is an example and this invention is not limited to embodiment shown here.
<1. Internal configuration>

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the DVD recorder 1 (= program information display device) according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2 indicate the flow of image / audio data. Moreover, the straight line without an arrow has shown the communication bus for the control part 11 to transmit / receive the control signal etc. with respect to each apparatus.

  The DVD recorder 1 includes at least a control unit 11, a memory 12, an operation unit 13, a flash memory 14, an HDD 15 (= recording unit), an optical disc drive 16, a broadcast receiving unit 17, a signal processing unit 18, and an OSD (On-Screen Display) process. A unit 19 (= program information display unit), a communication I / F (Interface) 20, and an external connection terminal 21 are included.

  In FIG. 2, the display 2 is illustrated as a display device connected by the external connection terminal 21. Moreover, the broadband router 3 is illustrated as a communication apparatus connected by communication I / F20.

  The control unit 11 controls the driving of each unit of the DVD recorder 1 so as to perform overall control of image / audio reproduction processing, recording processing, output processing, and the like. For example, the control unit 11 includes a plurality of microprocessors. In addition, the control unit 11 includes recording / playback units 11a to EPG display unit 11c (see FIG. 1), which will be described later, as functional units realized by executing a program on the arithmetic processing device included in the control unit 11.

  The memory 12 is a medium for temporarily recording various data held by the DVD recorder 1, and is composed of, for example, a writable RAM (Random Access Memory). The memory 12 has a role as a buffer memory for temporarily recording, for example, processing data when various kinds of information processing are performed by the control unit 11 and instruction commands received from the user.

  The operation unit 13 is used by the user to instruct the DVD recorder 1 to reproduce images / audio. The operation unit 13 includes, for example, operation keys provided on the housing of the DVD recorder 1, a remote controller (not shown), and the like. The operation unit 13 receives user operations using these devices. When a user operation is accepted, the control unit 11 performs a reproduction process, a recording process, and the like based on the operation content.

  The flash memory 14 is a kind of EEPROM, and is a ROM that can be written / erased by a user of the device. Since the flash memory 14 can be written and erased while mounted on the circuit board, it is used for storing applications that require rewriting when used, for example, operation setting data of the apparatus, user-specific information, and the like.

  The HDD 15 is a magnetic recording medium that records digital data. In the present embodiment, it is mainly used for recording recording data generated from image / audio data (= reproduction information) included in broadcast waves and compressed recording data generated by compression processing.

  The optical disk drive 16 is an optical device for optically reading / writing various data with respect to an optical disk such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) medium or a BD medium. The optical disk drive 16 controls an optical pickup (not shown) to irradiate the optical disk with a light beam and read various information such as audio information and image information recorded on the optical disk. At this time, various controls such as drive control, focus control, and tilt control of the optical pickup are performed.

  The broadcast receiving unit 17 is connected to an external antenna (not shown) and performs digital / analog broadcast tuning, reception, frequency conversion, amplification, demodulation, and the like. The broadcast receiver 17 is configured to include an analog tuner, an image intermediate frequency amplifier circuit, a demodulator circuit, an amplifier circuit, and the like in the case of an analog system. In the case of a digital system, a digital tuner, an error correction unit, and the like are included.

  For example, when receiving a digital broadcast, a digital tuner included in the broadcast receiving unit 17 performs amplification and detection of the intermediate frequency signal. Thereby, TS (= Transport Stream) which is a digital signal of the MPEG2 system is acquired.

  Note that a TS is obtained by dividing a plurality of content (= broadcast programs) audio PES (Packetized Elementary Stream), an image PES, and additional information into fixed-length TS packets and connecting them. The signal is supplied to the signal processing unit 18 and converted into an image / audio signal. It is also possible to record the TS in the HDD 15 without converting it. In this case, the signal processing unit 18 only performs TS through.

  The signal processing unit 18 receives the TS generated by the broadcast receiving unit 17 and the digital data read from the optical disc by the optical disc drive 16 and separates it into an audio digital signal containing audio information and an image digital signal containing image information. A demultiplexing unit. Specifically, for example, the TS generated by the broadcast receiving unit 17 is divided into TS packets. Then, by recombining the TS packets, an audio / image PES is generated.

  Then, the ES (Elementary Stream = encoded audio / image data) is generated by combining the PES. Further, the signal processing unit 18 decodes the ES and converts it into various digital signals. The digital signal obtained by the decoding is given to the HDD 15 when recording. Further, when outputting to the display 2, it is given to the external output terminal 21.

  The OSD processing unit 19 generates an image signal. The OSD processing unit 19 converts information (for example, program information) to be output by the DVD recorder 1 into image data that can be visually recognized by the user, and generates an image signal for displaying the converted image data on a display. The generated image signal is output from the external output terminal 21.

  The communication I / F 20 is a physical interface for connecting the DVD recorder 1 to a communication network. The communication I / F 20 includes, for example, a LAN cable connector for connecting to a wired LAN compliant with the IEEE 802.3 standard, a wireless antenna for connecting to a wireless LAN compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, and the like. Yes. In addition, the form provided with the analog connection terminal for connecting to a telephone communication network, or the ISDN connection terminal for connecting to an ISDN communication network may be sufficient.

  The external connection terminal 21 is an interface composed of a plurality of input / output terminals including, for example, a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) terminal and a component terminal. The external connection terminal 21 uses these input / output terminals to connect the HDD recorder 1 and an external device such as the display 2 to input / output digital signals or analog signals.

  The display 2 is a display device including a display unit, an operation unit, a control unit, and a connection unit (not shown). For example, the display 2 receives a digital signal including an image / sound via an HDMI cable connected to an HDMI terminal included in the connection unit. Then, the digital signal is combined and the image / sound is output.

The broadband router 3 is a network relay device for interconnecting a plurality of IP networks. Specifically, the network layer (third layer) or transport layer (fourth layer) protocol in the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) reference model is analyzed and transferred. Thereby, for example, it has a role of connecting two IP networks of a wired LAN and the Internet.
<2. About the configuration of the function section>

  Here, the relationship of each functional unit for the DVD recorder 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention to execute the program information display processing of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. In addition, the broken-line arrow line in FIG. 1 has shown the flow of the control signal.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the acquisition / reproduction processing of the present invention includes a recording / reproduction unit 11a (= reproduction processing unit), an EPG acquisition unit 11b (= program information acquisition unit), and an EPG display unit 11c (= program) provided in the control unit 11. Information display unit).

  The recording / reproducing unit 11 a performs image / audio data acquisition using the broadcast receiving unit 17 and image / audio data recording / reproducing processing using the HDD 15. Further, the recording / playback unit 11 a performs a reserved recording process based on a user operation received by the operation unit 13.

  When performing the scheduled recording process, for example, the recording / playback unit 11a controls the broadcast receiving unit 17 to receive a broadcast program instructed to be recorded when the recording start time received from the user by the operation unit 13 has come. Then, recording data to which management information including a title and recording date / time is added is generated from the image / sound data included in the broadcast wave and recorded in the HDD 15.

  The EPG acquisition unit 11b acquires EPG data (= program information) for displaying an EPG (= electronic program guide) by analyzing the PSI / SI acquired by the signal processing unit 18 from the TS. The acquired EPG data is recorded in the memory 12 or the like. More specifically, the program name, broadcast date and time, broadcast content, etc. included in an EIT (Event Information Table) which is a kind of PSI / SI are acquired as EPG data. Further, as EPG data, additional information such as genre information indicating the genre (sports, drama, animation, etc.) of each program may be acquired.

  Note that the EPG acquisition unit 11b may acquire EPG data from an information processing apparatus (for example, a content server) connected to the wide area communication network using the external connection terminal 20. Alternatively, the EPG acquisition unit 11b may acquire EPG data using a program information distribution service provided by a predetermined communication provider, such as G-GUIDE.

  The EPG display unit 11c displays an EPG display screen including a latte column using the EPG data acquired by the EPG acquisition unit 11b. More specifically, the OSD processing unit 19 is controlled to generate and output an image signal for displaying an EPG display screen.

  FIG. 3 is a screen view showing an example of an EPG display screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. The EPG display screen shown in FIG. 3 is composed of 36 blocks (= display area) of 9 rows and 4 columns.

  In the present embodiment, a group of 12 blocks of 3 rows and 4 columns corresponding to one time frame is defined as a “large block” (= 1 group). A group of four blocks of one row and four columns is defined as “medium block” (= 1 row). One block composed of one row and one column is defined as a “small block”. Therefore, one middle block corresponds to a 20-minute frame and one small block corresponds to a 5-minute frame.

The above example is an embodiment in which one time frame is divided into a display area of 3 rows and 4 columns, but the number of rows and columns for dividing the one time frame is limited to the above numerical values. is not. In the embodiment in which the above numerical value is increased or decreased, the length of time corresponding to each block changes according to the increase or decrease.
<3. About EPG display control>

  Here, a display control method for displaying the EPG by the DVD recorder 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to schematic diagrams and screen views of FIGS. The EPG display unit 11c determines the position of the display area of each program information by the following steps 1 to 3.

[Step 1]
The display start position is provisionally determined for each medium block with reference to the broadcast start time of each program. Further, it is determined whether or not the program time zone extends over the middle block. If the program time zone does not cross the middle block, the temporarily determined middle block is determined as the display start position (pattern A). When straddling, based on the threshold time (= delimiter for determination) between the first straddling intermediate blocks, the straddling time zone is divided into forward time and backward time, and the middle block position to be displayed is determined under the following conditions (Pattern B).

  Pattern B-1: When the forward time is longer or the forward time and the backward time are the same. The temporarily determined middle block is determined as the display start position (FIG. 4). In FIG. 4, the part that is shaded in gray in FIG. 4A is the official broadcast time of program A. That is, PM1: 40 to PM2: 05 are regular broadcast times of program A. In FIG. 4B, a portion indicated by a thick frame and indicated as “A ′” is a medium block that is provisionally determined for the program A. Similarly, in the following description, it is assumed that a portion painted in gray indicates a normal broadcasting time, and a portion indicated by a thick frame indicates a medium block that is provisionally determined.

  Pattern B-2: When the backward time is longer. Further, the display start position is provisionally determined for each medium block under the following conditions.

  Pattern B-2-1: The temporarily determined display position starts before the middle time of the middle block other than the last middle block of the large block, and there is only one program. Among the blocks, the display start position is determined (FIG. 5).

  Pattern B-2-2: When the temporarily determined display position is the last middle block in the large block. The final middle block is determined as the display start position (FIG. 6).

  Pattern B-2-3: The temporarily determined display position is the last middle block in the large block, and there is another program temporarily determined in the same last middle block. After the temporary decision positions of all other programs are moved to the middle block one level above, the final middle block is decided as the display start position (FIG. 7).

  Pattern B-2-4: When none of the above conditions is met: The intermediate block next to the temporarily determined intermediate block is determined as the display start position (FIG. 8).

[Step 2]
Next, the display position is determined in units of small blocks under the following conditions. In the following description, as shown in the third line of “PM1” in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the block filled with sand is the determined display position.

  Pattern C-1: When there are five or more programs in the middle block. Up to the third small block displays program information in the order of broadcast start, and the fourth small block displays a plurality of program information together (FIG. 9).

  Pattern C-2: When there are four programs in the middle block. Program information is displayed in each small block.

  Pattern C-3: When there are three programs in the middle block. It is divided into 1 · 1 · 2 small blocks and displayed (FIG. 10).

  Pattern C-4: When there are two programs in the middle block. The program information is displayed by dividing the small block into two.

  Pattern C-5: When there is one program in the middle block. Program information is displayed using one middle block (four small blocks) (FIG. 11).

[Step 3]
Next, a display program is determined under the following conditions for a medium block (hereinafter referred to as “empty block”) to which a program is not allocated in the provisional determination of the medium block position.

  Pattern D-1: When there is only one program in the upper middle block of the empty block. It is used as a display block for that one program, including subsequent free blocks.

  For example, when two 30-minute programs continue in succession (FIG. 12A), the middle block of the middle block in the middle block position provisional determination becomes an empty block (FIG. 12B). In this case, program A, which is the first 30 minute program, uses two middle blocks (FIG. 12C).

  Pattern D-2: When there are a plurality of programs in the upper middle block of the empty block. The display start position of the last program among a plurality of programs is moved to an empty block, the empty block is redetermined as the display start position, and used as a display block. For the middle block of the movement source, the small block position is determined again in step 2.

  For example, when three 10-minute, 20-minute, and 30-minute programs continue in succession (FIG. 13A), the middle block in the middle of the large block becomes an empty block (FIG. 13B). In this case, the last program (program B) in the upper middle block is moved to the middle middle block and displayed (FIG. 13C). Note that the program A is displayed for the middle block of the movement source because the small block position is determined again in step 2.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 12C and 13C, a time icon (= time image) indicating the actual broadcast start time is displayed at the upper left of the determined display position. Thereby, even when there is a slight difference between the actual broadcast start time and the display position of each program on the EPG display screen, the user can visually recognize the actual broadcast start time. It is not always necessary to display the time icon. Or the form which can switch display / non-display of a time icon by a user setting may be sufficient.

  Next, a more detailed specific example will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 to 16, the time icon is not displayed. In the example of FIG. 14, the program A is displayed at PM1: 00 to PM1: 20 by the pattern B-1. Program B is displayed from PM 1:20 to PM 1:30 by pattern A and pattern C-4. Program C is displayed from PM 1:30 to PM 1:40 by pattern A, pattern B-2-3, and pattern C-4.

  Program D is displayed at PM1: 40 to PM2: 40 by pattern B-2-3 and pattern D-1. Program E is displayed from PM 2:40 to PM 3:00 by pattern B-2-4.

  In the example of FIG. 15, the program A is displayed at PM1: 00 to PM1: 40 by the pattern B-1. Program B is displayed from PM 1:40 to PM 2:00 by pattern B-2-4. The display area of the program C is determined by the same pattern as the program B for the program C and the program B for the program D.

  In the example of FIG. 16, program A and program B are displayed at PM 1:00 to PM 1:10 and PM 1:10 to PM 1:20 by pattern A, pattern C-4, and pattern D-2. . Program C is displayed from PM1: 20 to PM1: 40 by pattern D-2. Programs D, E, and F are displayed in increments of 5 minutes from PM1: 40 to PM1: 55 by pattern C-2.

  Program G is displayed at PM 1:55 to PM 2:00 by pattern B-2-2 and pattern C-2. Program H is displayed at PM2: 00 to PM2: 20 by pattern B-2-1. Program I is displayed at PM 2:20 to PM 2:40 by pattern B-1. Program J is displayed from PM 2:40 to PM 3:00 by pattern B-2-2.

According to the embodiment described above, the display area of the program is divided into displayable display lines, time is allocated to the divided lines, the start time of each program is allocated to the corresponding line, and finally An area for displaying the program name of each program is determined at the position assigned to. Thereby, it is possible to improve the visibility of the program guide.
[Other embodiments]

  The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and examples. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea. be able to.

  Therefore, the present invention can also be applied to the following embodiments.

  (A) In the above embodiment, the DVD recorder 1 is taken as an example of the program information display device of the present invention. However, if the program information display device has a function of generating and outputting an image signal, the DVD recorder 1 may be used. An embodiment in which the present invention is implemented in an apparatus other than the above may be employed. For example, an HDD recorder, an STB (Set Top Box), a television device, or the like may be used.

  (B) In the above embodiment, each functional unit related to the program information display processing of the present invention is realized by executing a program on an arithmetic processing unit such as a microprocessor, but each functional unit includes a plurality of circuits. It may be a form realized by.

  (C) In the above embodiment, an EPG display screen including a latte column is described as an example of the program information display screen. However, the display control method of the present invention is used in other program information display screens. Form may be sufficient. For example, in a program information display device having a function of displaying recorded data titles in chronological order according to channels and recording date and time, the display control method of the present invention is implemented on a program information display screen of recorded data. But you can.

1 DVD recorder (program information display device)
2 Display 3 Broadband router 11 Control unit 11a Recording / playback unit (playback processing unit)
11b EPG acquisition unit (program information acquisition unit)
11c EPG display part (program information display part)
12 memory 13 operation unit 14 flash memory 15 HDD (recording unit)
16 Optical disk drive 17 Broadcast receiving section 18 Signal processing section 19 OSD processing section (program information display section)
20 Communication I / F
21 External connection terminal

Claims (15)

A program information acquisition unit for acquiring program information which is information related to a broadcast program;
A program information display device comprising: a program information display unit that generates and outputs an image signal for matrix display of the program information based on a broadcast date and time and a broadcast channel of a broadcast program,
The program display unit divides the display area of the program information into a plurality of lines according to a predetermined length of broadcast time, and divides the display area into a plurality of columns according to broadcast channels. An image signal for displaying the program information is generated using the display area. The said program display part divides | segments the said display area divided | segmented into several rows according to the broadcast channel further into several rows according to the broadcast time of predetermined length. Program information display device. The program display unit compares the broadcast time zone of the broadcast program for each line of the display area divided into a plurality of lines, and displays the display area for starting display of the program information based on the comparison result. The program information display device according to claim 2, wherein the program information display device is provisionally determined. The said program display part determines the said display area tentatively determined as a display start position, when the said broadcast time slot | zone is within the range of a single line as a result of the said comparison, The display start position is characterized by the above-mentioned. Program information display device. The program display unit, as a result of the comparison, when the broadcast time zone spans a plurality of lines, the line break of the earliest time among the line breaks of the plurality of lines as a determination break,
Compare the forward time zone that is the broadcast time zone that exists in front of the judgment interval with the backward time zone that is the broadcast time zone that exists behind the judgment interval,
The tentatively determined display area is determined as a display start position when the forward time zone is longer than the backward time zone, or when the forward time zone is the same as the backward time zone. 4. The program information display device according to 4. The program display unit sets the display area corresponding to a predetermined length of time as one group,
As a result of the comparison, the broadcast time zone covers a plurality of rows, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and the provisionally determined display area is a row other than the last row in the group, and is provisionally determined. 6. The program information display according to claim 5, wherein when there is no other provisionally determined display area on the same line as the displayed area, the provisionally determined display area is determined as a display start position. apparatus. The program display unit, as a result of the comparison, when the broadcast time zone spans a plurality of lines, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and the provisionally determined display area is the last row in the group The program information display device according to claim 6, wherein the last line is determined as a display start position. As a result of the comparison, the program display unit has a plurality of lines of the broadcast time period, the front time period is shorter than the rear time period, and the provisionally determined display area is the last line in the group, When there is another temporarily determined display area on the same line as the temporarily determined display area, the final line is displayed after the other temporarily determined display area is moved up by one line. The program information display device according to claim 7, wherein the program information display device is determined as a start position. In the program display unit, as a result of the comparison, the broadcast time zone covers a plurality of rows, the front time zone is shorter than the rear time zone, and the provisionally determined display area is a row other than the last row in the group. And when there is another provisionally determined display area on the same line as the provisionally determined display area, the next line of the provisionally determined display area is determined as a display start position. The program information display device according to claim 8. 10. The program information display device according to claim 9, wherein, when a plurality of the determined display start positions exist in one line, the program display unit divides the display area in the line by a plurality of columns. . The program display unit, when there is a blank line that is a line where the display start position temporarily determined by the comparison does not exist, and when the display area exists in the previous line of the blank line, the blank line, The program information display apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the program information display apparatus is used as a display area for displaying the same program information as the display area. When the blank line exists and a plurality of the display areas exist in the previous line of the blank line, the program display unit sets the rearmost display area among the plurality of display areas as the blank line. The program information display device according to claim 11, wherein the program information display device is moved. The program according to claim 12, wherein the program display unit displays a time image indicating a broadcast time of a broadcast program corresponding to program information displayed in the display area in a part of the display area. Information display device. The program information display device according to claim 13, wherein the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information from digital data included in a digital broadcast wave or digital data acquired via a wide area communication network. . A recording unit for recording reproduction information including an image or sound;
A playback control unit for playing back the playback information,
The program information display unit, when displaying program information related to the reproduction information recorded in the recording unit, divides the display area into a plurality of lines according to a predetermined broadcast time, The display area is divided into a plurality of columns according to broadcast channels, the display area is further divided into a plurality of columns according to a predetermined length of broadcast time, and the program information is divided using the divided display areas. The program information display device according to claim 14, wherein:

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