JP3340342B2 - Television channel selection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver, and more particularly to a television channel selecting apparatus for selecting and presenting a program according to a viewer's preference from a large number of channels.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Television programs centering on satellite broadcasting and CATV are multi-channeled by digitization, and it is difficult for a viewer to select one channel from a huge number of hundreds of channels. Came to face.

As a conventional technique for assisting the viewer in selecting a channel, the techniques described in JP-A-5-227494 and JP-A-8-180504 are known. All of these prior arts are broadcast receiving apparatuses that support a high-frequency viewing program, and store previously viewed channels and time zones in the receiving apparatus as a channel selection history. The program is to select a channel in the order of reception frequency, or to select and present a channel with a high selection frequency in the past by referring to a day of the week or a time zone.

[0004]

However, in the above-described channel selection technique in the conventional broadcast receiving apparatus, a program selected only based on the frequency data of the program viewed in the past is selected. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to select a program that matches the viewer's preference although the time zone and the channel are different.

Further, the conventional technology cannot express only a one-dimensional evaluation value based only on the reception frequency in the past, but uses various multi-dimensional program evaluation values depending on viewer's preference, program genre, and the like. There was a problem that a program could not be selected.

In addition, the conventional technique has a problem that it is difficult to select a program because program information sent simultaneously with program broadcasting and supplementary information such as a program guide are not used.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the object of the present invention is not limited to the past reception frequency, and a television channel selection device capable of selecting and presenting a program according to the taste of the viewer. It is to provide.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a television channel selecting apparatus capable of selecting a program based on various multidimensional program evaluations such as viewer preference and program genre.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a television channel selection apparatus that can easily select a program by using supplementary information such as program information transmitted simultaneously with program broadcasting.

[0010] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a television channel selecting apparatus which improves the selectivity of a viewer by presenting a multidimensional program evaluation value on a three-dimensional screen.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television channel selecting apparatus for transmitting a television broadcast in which program information explaining program contents is broadcast together with a program. In a television channel selection device of a receiving receiver, a personal recognition means for personally recognizing a viewer, a parameter storage means for storing for each viewer a filtering parameter expressing a preference for each viewer, and a pre-stored filtering. Preset setting means for selecting an initial value of a filtering parameter based on the gender, age, and preference of the viewer from the preset values of the parameters and setting the initial value in the parameter storage means; and a filtering parameter corresponding to the individual recognized viewer. Is read from the parameter storage means, and the filtering parameter and the program Program evaluation means for calculating an evaluation value for evaluating a program from the viewpoint of the viewer's preference based on the calculation with the program, program presentation means for presenting the program to the viewer according to the evaluation value, and viewing for each program. Timer means for measuring time, and filtering for increasing or decreasing the filtering parameter based on a ratio of a time from a time when a certain program starts to be viewed to an end time of the program and a viewing time measured by the time means. Parameter updating means.

[0012] According to the first aspect of the present invention, by providing the viewer recognizing means for recognizing the viewer, it is possible to select a filtering parameter according to the viewer who is actually watching the television. Therefore, the accuracy of program selection is improved. Further, in the program presenting method by the program presenting means, the title of each program and its contents may be displayed as character information in the order of the program having the higher evaluation value, or the display screen may be divided and the screen of the selected program may be displayed. More than one may be displayed.

If the viewing time of the program measured by the clock means is within one minute, for example, it is determined that the channel is just moving, and the filtering parameter is not changed. Assuming that the channel did not match the viewer's preference, the weight of the filtering parameter was reduced, and if it was 5 minutes or more, the weight of the filtering parameter was increased using the ratio of the actual viewing time to the remaining time of the program. By doing so, it is possible to learn the preferences of the viewer and optimize the filtering parameters.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the television channel selecting apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the program evaluation means is provided when the number of viewers is one. Using a filtering parameter corresponding to the individual as the filtering parameter, and, when there are a plurality of viewers, using a composite value of the filtering parameters corresponding to the plurality of viewers as the filtering parameter. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when there are a plurality of viewers, the combined value of the filtering parameters corresponding to each viewer is used as the filtering parameter, so that all the viewers on the spot can be used. Can be selected with a high degree of satisfaction.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television tuning apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the viewing time storage stores a total viewing time for each viewer. Means for combining the filtering parameters of the plurality of viewers, wherein the total viewing time for each viewer read from the viewing time storage means is used for weighting the filtering parameters. And

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when synthesizing the filtering parameters of the plurality of viewers,
The total viewing time of each viewer can be used for weighting.

Further, the television channel selecting apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is any one of the first to third aspects.
The television channel selection apparatus according to claim, wherein the program presenting means is a moving image corresponding to the selected plurality of programs,
A plurality of windows each containing a still image or text information are displayed as a multi-window in a three-dimensional space, and further, an evaluation value of each program is displayed in a depth direction of the three-dimensional space. , And the program currently being broadcast and the program scheduled to be broadcast in the future are displayed with frames of different colors added thereto.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the program presenting means includes a plurality of windows each containing a moving image, a still image, or text information corresponding to the selected plurality of programs in a three-dimensional space. Can be displayed as a multi-window.

Further, each program is textured and pasted in the three-dimensional space, and the evaluation value of each selected program is displayed in the depth direction, so that the program currently being broadcasted and the program to be broadcasted in the future can be distinguished. Since different color frames are added and displayed, it is possible for the viewer to search for the program as if the viewer flies through the three-dimensional space.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television channel selecting apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.
7. The television channel selecting apparatus according to item 1, wherein the program information includes link information indicating another program related to the program, and a plurality of programs are viewed simultaneously by referring to the link information. And a control device for performing such control.

According to the invention described in claim 5, on the broadcast side, link information to another program related to the program is added to the program information, and the television station selecting device of the present invention refers to this link information. It is also possible to watch a plurality of related programs at the same time.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a system to which a television tuning apparatus according to the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, the broadcasting side that sends out a program
A broadcasting station 11 comprising a program server 13 for supplying a program, a program information server 15 for supplying program information for explaining the contents of the program, a multiplexing device 17 and a transmitter 19;
And 1.

The program information server 15 of the broadcast station 11 stores, for example, program information as shown in FIG. 7 as a text format or a still image.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the broadcasting station 11 is configured to execute the program supplied from the program server 13 and the program information server 1.
5 is digitally multiplexed with the program information supplied from the multiplexing device 17, and the transmitter 19 and the satellite 21
Broadcast through.

On the other hand, the receiving side is a television receiver 31.
And a remote control device 61 for remotely controlling the television receiver 31.

The television receiver 31 includes a tuner 33 for selecting a receiving channel, a demodulation / separation unit 35 for separating program information multiplexed into a program, and a parameter storage / update unit 37 for storing and updating filtering parameters.
A program evaluation unit 39 that calculates an evaluation value for each program based on the viewer's preference from the program information and the filtering parameters; a program presentation unit 43 that presents the program with a high evaluation value to the viewer; and a display device. It includes a CRT 51 and a remote control light receiving unit 41.

The synchronizing signal separating section, the horizontal / vertical scanning section, the audio section, the power supply section and the like constituting the television receiver 31 are the same as those of the conventional television apparatus, and are not shown in FIG. .

The remote control device 61 for remotely controlling the television receiver 31 includes a personal recognition sensor 67, a personal recognition logic unit 65, and a remote control light emitting unit 63.

The viewer recognition means comprising the personal recognition sensor 67 and the personal recognition logic unit 65 is, for example, a finger shape recognition device provided in a television remote controller described in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-10526 filed by the present applicant. There may be.

The remote controller 61 is provided with various switches for controlling the television and a modulator for optically modulating a signal from the switch in accordance with a remote controller protocol, but is similar to a conventional remote controller. So Figure 1
Is omitted.

The individual recognition sensor 67 is, for example, a sensor for measuring the distribution of the contact resistance value of the finger, and is a sensor composed of a plurality of electrodes arranged in parallel with each other, and converts the contact pressure distribution of the finger into a resistance value. Sensors or the like using pressure-sensitive sheets can be used. For example, these sensors are provided on the back surface of the remote control device 61, and the characteristics of the finger shape of the individual holding the remote control device 61 are input. Can be sent.

The individual recognition logic unit 65 includes the individual recognition sensor 6
A / D conversion is performed on a plurality of resistance values detected through the A / D converter 7, and a feature indicated by the plurality of digital resistance value patterns after the A / D conversion is selected. The comparison is made with the characteristics of each user, and the viewer operating the remote control device 61 is recognized based on the comparison result. This individual recognition logic unit 65
Is transmitted to the program evaluation unit 39 via the remote control light emitting unit 63 and the remote control light receiving unit 41.

Whether the number of viewers is one or more can be determined depending on whether the result recognized by the remote controller 61 within a certain period of time is only the same person or a plurality of different individuals.

The filtering parameter storage / update unit 37, program evaluation unit 39, and program presentation unit 43 of the television receiver 31 have a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 2, and their functions are realized by the CPU 101. This is performed by executing a program stored in the program ROM 109.

Referring to FIG. 2, the hardware includes a CPU 101 which is a microprocessor, a timer 103 for measuring a viewing time for each program and a viewing time for each viewer,
An interface (hereinafter abbreviated as I / F) circuit 105 for inputting moving image and program information from the demodulation / separation unit 35 of FIG. 1, and a program ROM 10 for storing a program
9 and a preset filtering parameter ROM 111 for storing preset filtering parameters.
, A flash RAM (hereinafter abbreviated as FRAM) 113 which is a nonvolatile RAM for storing filtering parameters and total viewing time for each individual, and 2 for storing images.
Port video RAM (hereinafter abbreviated as VRAM) 115
And a read control circuit 117 for reading an image from the VRAM 115 and sending the read image to the CRT 51, and a RAM 121 serving as a work space for the CPU 101.

FIG. 3 is a detailed functional block diagram showing the mutual connection between each component of the television tuning apparatus according to the present invention and each functional block realized by the program of the CPU.

Filtering parameter storage / update unit 3
Reference numeral 7 stores filtering parameters reflecting viewer preferences for each viewer, and updates the filtering parameters based on channel selection results.

For this reason, the filtering parameter storing / updating unit 37 includes a preset filtering parameter ROM 111 and a filtering parameter FRAM.
113, a preset setting unit 201, a timer 103
A viewing time calculation unit 207, a viewing time weighting change unit 205, a filtering parameter update unit 203,
It is provided with.

The program evaluation section 39 evaluates, for each program, how much the program matches the viewer's preference based on the filtering parameters and the program information, and calculates the evaluation value.

For this reason, the program evaluation section 39
A keyword extraction unit 209, an evaluation value calculation unit 211, a total viewing time weight change unit 213, a total viewing time memory that is a partial area of the FRAM 113, and a total viewing time update unit 215 are provided. ing.

The program presentation section 43 textures each program based on the evaluation value of the program evaluation section 39 and displays it in a three-dimensional space.

For this reason, the program presenting section 43
The coordinate conversion unit 217, the coordinate assignment unit 219, the image texture unit 45, the 3D model creation unit 47, the texture pasting and rendering unit 49, and the VRAM 115 are provided.

Next, the operation of the preset setting unit 201 and the preset values of the filtering parameters will be described with reference to FIG. 8 showing examples of the preset filtering parameters.

In the present invention, it is premised that the individual recognition of the viewer is performed by the remote control device. First, the personal registration for the individual recognition will be described. A viewer who intends to perform personal registration presses a personal registration button (not shown) of the remote controller 61, for example. Thereby, the remote control device 6
A signal indicating that the personal registration button has been pressed is sent from 1 to the television receiver 31, and a guide screen for personal registration appears on the screen of the CRT 51.

In this state, in accordance with the instruction on the guide screen, a specific button instructed by the viewer holding the standard remote controller 61 is pressed. At this time, the remote control device 61
For example, an individual recognition sensor 67 provided on the back side reads a specific resistance value pattern for the viewer, and the individual recognition logic unit 65 extracts a characteristic of the resistance value pattern. This feature is stored in the personal recognition logic 65.

Next, a guide screen for asking the age, gender, occupation, hobbies, school attendance, etc. of the viewer appears on the screen of the CRT 51. The viewer follows the instructions of this guide and presses a numeric button (not shown) of the remote controller 61. Use to answer these questions.

Preset filtering parameter R
The OM 111 stores in advance a viewer divided into a plurality of groups and a collection of parameters corresponding to typical viewer preferences for each group.

The group division method includes age, gender, occupation, hobby, school distinction (kindergarten, elementary and junior high school, high school, university, graduate school, various schools), unmarried, married, divorced, residence area, and the like.

The preset setting unit automatically determines the group to which the viewer belongs based on the answer to the above-mentioned questions such as age, gender, etc., selects a preset filtering parameter corresponding to the group, and sets the preset filtering parameter from the ROM 111 to F
It is set in the RAM 113.

If there are a plurality of viewers, questions on the personal recognition sensor input and personal profile described above are given one by one.
It is assumed that the response is repeated, the group to which the viewer belongs is determined, and the preset filtering parameters of the group are selected and set from the ROM 111 to the FRAM 113.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the filtering parameters. A keyword that can be extracted from the program information and a degree to which the program having this keyword has a match with the viewer's preference are determined from 0.1. The degree of conformity indicated by a numerical value of 1.0 is stored as a pair. It should be noted that keywords having a matching degree of 0.0 are excluded from storage.

In the example of FIG. 8, the degree of conformity is set in increments of 0.1, but the precision of the numerical value indicating the degree of conformity can be arbitrarily selected.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are general flowcharts for explaining the operation of the television channel selecting apparatus according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the television channel selecting apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the personal recognition result is taken in from the remote control device, and it is determined whether or not the personal recognition result within a certain time (for example, one hour) up to the present is a large number (step S1).
01). If the number is large, the total viewing time of each person recognized within a certain time is read from the FRAM 113 and stored in the working RAM 121 (step S103). Next, the filtering parameters of each person are stored in
To the work RAM 121, and weights the filtering parameters according to the total viewing time of each person to create a combined filtering parameter (step S10).
5).

On the other hand, in the determination in step S101,
If it is not a large number (in the case of one person), the filtering parameters of the recognized individual are loaded from the FRAM 113 to the working RAM 121 (step S107).

Next, each keyword portion of the filtering parameter loaded or synthesized in the RAM 121 is:
A keyword extracted from the program information of a certain channel is compared, and the degree of matching of the matching keyword is accumulated to obtain an evaluation value of the program. The evaluation value calculation of the program is performed by sequentially switching the tuning of the tuner for all viewable channels, and the number of each channel and the evaluation value are stored as a pair in the RAM 121 (step S109). At this time, the programs may be ranked in descending order of the evaluation value. Programs with a certain evaluation value or less may be discarded at this stage.

Next, category information is extracted from each program information, and the category information is converted into X and Y coordinates (step S111). FIG. 11 shows a category coordinate conversion unit 217.
Shows an example of an XY conversion table referred to by
FIG. 11A shows that the category information is represented by X-
FIG. 11B shows an example in which category information is converted into XY coordinates according to mood. FIG. 12 is an example of the XY axis expression corresponding to FIG.

Next, a value obtained by converting the evaluation value for each program into a Z-axis coordinate value and an X-value converted from the category information of each program.
Using the Y coordinate value and the evaluation value for each program, the coordinates for displaying each program in a three-dimensional space are calculated. At this time,
The evaluation value for each program is converted into a Z-axis coordinate value, and the Z-axis is set to be a large value before (step S113).

Next, the rendering color of the outline of the texture is changed according to the coordinate position of each program (step S115). This change in color is performed to facilitate viewer selection together with the coordinates of the program. For example, blueness is increased according to the degree of the mood axis, and redness is increased according to the degree of happiness. Such control is performed.

Next, a moving image is taken out from each program and textured, and the texture is pasted and rendered at the coordinate position calculated for each program (step S11).
7).

The result of this rendering is written from one port of the VRAM 115 via the system bus 107, and is read from the other port of the VRAM 115 by the read control circuit 117 in synchronization with the timing of the horizontal / vertical synchronization signal. Is issued and displayed on the CRT 51 (step S119).

FIG. 9A shows an example of a screen displayed on the CRT 51 at this time, where A, B, C, D, and E are displayed.
The five programs with high evaluation values, that is, recommended programs, are textured and displayed. FIG. 9B shows an arrangement of textures on the XZ plane.
The display screen of (a) shows the viewpoint 90 at the initial position in FIG.
3 shows the image viewed from FIG. At this time, the cursor 90
1 is set around the program A closest to the viewpoint 903. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the cursor is automatically set to a program having a texture center at a position closest to the viewpoint position.

Next, the user operates the key for moving the viewpoint provided on the remote controller to freely move the viewpoint to an arbitrary position in the three-dimensional space and fly through the three-dimensional space. You can search for a program. For this reason, the remote control device is provided with keys for moving the viewpoint position up, down, left, right, front and back.

At this time, the image displayed on the screen is updated in real time as if a textured recommended program was viewed from the viewpoint position operated by the remote controller. For example, in the image displayed as a view from the viewpoint position 905, as shown in FIG. 10, the program C is displayed in a large size, and since the program C is the program closest to the viewpoint, the cursor 1001 C is set and displayed.

If there is a favorite program, the viewpoint can be shifted to a position where the cursor matches the program, and the program can be switched to a broadcasting channel by pressing, for example, a select button of a remote controller (step S12).
1).

When the user selects a program, the timer 103 starts measuring the viewing time (step S12).
3).

The viewing time calculator 207 measures the ratio of the viewing time to the viewing time and the program remaining time (step S125).

If the user switches the channel within one minute after starting to watch the program or requests the display of the recommended program again, it is determined whether the viewing time is within one minute ( Step S127) becomes Yes,
This is determined to be a pass channel in the process of simple channel selection, and the process branches to step S109 without changing the filtering parameter (step S129).

If the user switches the channel within 1 minute to 5 minutes after the user starts watching the program, or requests the display of the recommended program again, this program is not desired to be viewed. Since it does not match the user's preference, an update is performed to reduce the degree of matching of each keyword of the filtering parameter used for this program selection (step S133), and the process branches to step S109.

If the user continues to watch the program for 5 minutes or more (No in step S131),
The actual viewing time ratio with respect to the remaining broadcast time of the program is calculated, and the matching degree corresponding to the keyword of the filtering parameter used for evaluating the program is updated so as to increase in accordance with the viewing time ratio (step S13).
5) Branch to step S109.

As described above, it is determined whether or not the program conforms to the viewer's preference according to the length of time from when the viewer selects one program to when the next channel is switched, and the filtering parameter is updated. By doing so, it is possible to learn the tastes of the viewer. As a result of this learning, the television tuning apparatus automatically adapts better to the tastes of the viewer, and the accuracy of the program evaluation increases.

FIG. 6 shows a category / keyword extracting unit 209 for extracting a category and a keyword from program information.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed operation of an evaluation value calculation unit 211 that calculates an evaluation value for each program.

The format analysis unit 301 and the morphological analysis unit 303 shown in FIG.
09, and the keyword comparison unit 305 and the matching degree totalization unit 307 in FIG. 6 correspond to the evaluation value calculation unit 211 in FIG.

First, the demodulation / separation unit 3 of the television receiver
From 5, the program information is taken in via the interface circuit 105. The program information is analyzed as a character string by the format analysis unit 301, and format information is created, and category information indicating a category of each program is cut out from the program information. The cut-out category information is passed to the category coordinate conversion unit 217, and is used to obtain XY coordinates from the category.

The format information created by the format analysis unit 301 and the program information are
Is input to Based on the format information, the morphological analysis unit 303 decomposes the program information into morphemes, that is, the smallest linguistic units having meaning (bases, affixes, adjectives), and further edits the words into words to determine the contents of the program. Is output as a keyword string.

The keyword comparison unit 305 compares each keyword constituting the keyword sequence indicating the content of the program obtained from the morphological analysis unit 303 with the keyword expressing the preference of each viewer stored as a filtering parameter. When a matching keyword is found, the matching degree stored in the filtering parameter is read out as a pair with the keyword. If there are no matching keywords,
Referring to the thesaurus, one keyword is converted to a synonym or a synonym to search for a match, and the similarity is read out similarly.

The sum of the fitness values read by the keyword comparison unit 305 is calculated by the fitness totaling unit 307, and the total fitness value corresponding to the keyword extracted from certain program information is calculated as the evaluation value of the program. Becomes

If the number of viewers is large, the evaluation value of the program is calculated by weighting each conformity with reference to the filtering parameters of each person and the total viewing time of each person.

Next, a description will be given of an embodiment of a television channel selecting apparatus in which link information to other related programs is provided in the program information and this link information is used.

FIG. 13 shows an example in which link information to another program is provided in the program information. A link is provided from the program information of the program A to the programs B and C. For example, the link information to the B program is the channel on which the B program is broadcast and the broadcast time (broadcast start time and broadcast end time).

When such program information is received,
In the television channel selection apparatus according to the present invention, the related programs (B program and C program) linked to the main program are simultaneously displayed while viewing the main program (A program) by screen division or parent-child screen display. Can be viewed.

As an example of linking to a related program by the current link information, the present invention can be applied to a multi-angle broadcast in which images and sounds taken by different camera angles in programs such as sports, drama and music are broadcast on a plurality of channels. By linking from a first program broadcasting an image at a certain camera angle to second and third programs broadcasting an image at a different camera angle, a second program is referred to by referring to this link. , And the third program can be viewed simultaneously.

As an example of linking, a multi-story program configuration can be considered. The viewer can select the content of the story and switch the program using the link according to the selected content, so that the viewer can provide a favorite story.

FIG. 14 shows an example in which graphic data 1401 and graphic control data 1403 for controlling the graphic data are transmitted in addition to normal program information for explaining the contents of the program.

In this case, the television apparatus which has received the program information including the graphic data 1401 and the graphic data control data 1403, converts the graphic data 1401 into the graphic control data 1403.
To create a graphic image that is a simple animation image, and this graphic image can be displayed simultaneously with the moving image. The graphic control data 1403 can include a graphic control language for processing the graphic data 1401 and a character code to be displayed graphically.

Here, the graphic image is generated in the 3D model creating section 47 and the moving image texturing section 45
The output image is combined with the output image by the texture pasting rendering unit 49 and displayed. . In such a program, a graphic image is synthesized with a normal TV program, and an interactive program can be formed by operating the graphic image in response to an input from a user.

FIG. 15 shows an example of a screen on which a graphic image created by the graphic data and graphic control data of FIG. 14 is displayed simultaneously with a moving image. The screen shown in FIG. 15 includes a moving image relaying the automobile race on the right side of the screen, a graphic image displaying on the course map which position each car is currently driving, and a current driver ranking table. The example displayed on the left side of the screen is shown.

For a program group having link information to other programs in the program information, the number of links indicating how many links each program has to other programs is counted. Can be used as a measure of how relevant a program you are watching is to other programs.

For example, as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to set any one of the XY axes in the dimensional space as the number of links indicating the relevance to other programs, and to arrange the programs in descending order of the number of links. Therefore, it can be used as one of the recommended axes as an element for determining preferences.

In recent years, TV programs include an image having a normal 4: 3 aspect and a landscape image represented by a 16: 9 aspect. For such moving images having different aspects, when the moving image texturing unit 45 converts the image into a texture, the image size can be changed based on the aspect information described in the program information.

For example, it is clear that the screen size information as described in the program content of the B program in FIG. 13 can be extracted and used as a parameter when changing the texture size. The program B in FIG.
Is displayed in the aspect ratio of 16: 9, and the programs A, C, D, and E are all displayed with the normal aspect ratio of 4: 3.

FIG. 16 shows an example of a program search according to this embodiment. In this example, program information is displayed on a TV screen, a viewer selects and specifies a word or phrase on this screen, and searches for program information having the specified word or phrase or a synonymous keyword. This is an example of searching for a related program.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 16A, it is assumed that the words "animal" and "department store" are selected and designated. This designation is made by moving the cursor on the screen displaying the program information using a remote controller or the like. In addition, extraction of words from sentences is shown in FIG.
Is performed in the same manner as in keyword extraction by the method shown in FIG.

As described above, it is also possible to select another program from the program information by matching the keyword specified by the viewer with the keyword included in the other program information. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 16, another program is selected from the keywords “animal” 1601 and “department store 1603”, and the selection result is displayed on a multi-screen. As shown in FIG. 16B, the selected screen is displayed beside the main screen. Also, by setting the number of searched programs or the number of programs to be displayed at the same time, it is possible to set a preferred screen for the viewer.

In the example shown in FIG. 16B, the number of searched programs is 6, and the number of selected programs to be displayed simultaneously with the main screen is 3. In this case, 1605, 16
Three related programs 07 and 1609 are displayed together with the main screen. When the number of programs selected in this manner is larger than the number of programs to be displayed simultaneously, the programs to be displayed simultaneously may be scrolled by control from a remote controller or the like to display other programs sequentially selected. .

Further, it is needless to say that such a search result can be displayed in a three-dimensional space. When such a search result is displayed, for other programs in the three-dimensional space, the image is stopped, and the brightness level of the image is reduced.
Processing such as making the searched image more visible is also possible.

FIG. 17B shows an example in which the Z axis of the three-dimensional space of the selection screen is allocated in the time direction. For example, as shown in FIG.
When connected to an external recording device 161 such as a TR or a recording / reproducing DVD, or when a recording device is built-in, the Z-axis is set in the time direction, so that the already recorded program 1701 or Since it is possible to easily identify the programs 1703, 1705, and 1707 that are still displayed as a notice, the operability of recording for the viewer can be improved.

For example, the program frames shown in FIG. 9 (a) are divided into those broadcasted in the past (recorded), those currently being broadcasted, and those which are to be broadcasted in the future. , By changing the color of the frames that make up the image,
It can also be presented more clearly.

In the embodiment according to the present invention, a plurality of tuners are required to display a plurality of programs.
For example, by switching the tuner 33 to time division based on channel selection information from the program evaluation unit 39, it is possible to display more programs at once. Here, those with a high degree of recommendation are displayed earlier (larger on the screen) in the three-dimensional space, and those with a lower degree of recommendation are displayed deeper (smaller on the screen) in the three-dimensional space. Therefore, by controlling the switching timing of the tuner,
A program with a smaller screen rarely updates the image, and a program with a larger screen updates the image frequently, so that a good screen can be formed on the CRT 51 even with a small number of tuners.

[0102]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a television channel selection device of a receiver for receiving a television broadcast in which program information explaining a program content is broadcast together with a program, a viewer is individually recognized. Individual recognition means, a parameter storage means for storing filtering parameters expressing preferences for each viewer for each viewer, and a filtering parameter corresponding to the personal recognition viewer read from the parameter storage means. Program evaluation means for calculating an evaluation value for evaluating a program from the viewpoint of viewer preference based on the calculation of the parameters and the program information; program presentation means for presenting a program to a viewer according to the evaluation value; Is provided, it is possible to recognize the individual viewer and select and present a program according to the preference of the viewer. There is a cormorant effect.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that program selection can be facilitated by utilizing program information such as a program guide sent simultaneously with program broadcasting.

Further, according to the present invention, by presenting a multidimensional program evaluation value on a three-dimensional screen, there is an effect that the selectivity of the viewer can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a use environment and a schematic configuration of a television tuning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing a hardware configuration of a main part of the television tuning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of a filtering parameter storage / update unit, a program evaluation unit, and a program presentation unit of the television tuning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a general flowchart (1/2) for explaining the operation of the television tuning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a general flowchart (2/2) illustrating the operation of the television channel selection apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the calculation contents of an evaluation value calculation unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of program information broadcast together with a program to explain the program contents.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a filtering parameter.

FIG. 9 is a screen configuration diagram showing a three-dimensional display example of a recommended program by the television channel selection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen when a virtual viewpoint in a three-dimensional space is moved to 905 in FIG. 9B.

FIG. 11 is an X- chart that converts a category into an X coordinate and a Y coordinate.
It is an example of a Y coordinate conversion table.

FIG. 12 is an example of selection of XY axes in the three-dimensional display of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating program information including link information to another related program.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of program information including graphic information.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a graphic image created from graphic information included in program information is displayed on a screen together with a moving image.

FIG. 16 shows an example (a) of a screen for arbitrarily designating a phrase included in program information as a keyword, and displaying other program information by using the designated keyword as a search key and selecting a related program; It is a screen example (b).

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of an axis of a three-dimensional display space according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment in which an external recording device is connected to a television receiver.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 broadcast station, 21 satellite, 31 television receiver (TV receiver), 33 tuner, 35 demodulation separation unit, 37 filtering parameter storage / update unit, 39
... program evaluation unit, 41 ... remote control light receiving unit, 43 ... program presentation unit, 45 ... image texture unit, 47 ... 3D model creation unit, 49 ... texture paste rendering unit, 51 ... CR
T, 61: remote control device, 63: remote control light emitting unit, 65
... personal recognition logic unit, 67 ... personal recognition sensor.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Seijiro Yasuki 8 Shinsugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Toshiba Multimedia Technology Research Institute (72) Motohiko Takeuchi 8th Shin-Sugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa (72) Inventor Tatsuyuki Mikami 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside the head office of Toshiba Corporation (72) Inventor Masayuki Horikawa 1-chome, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. 1-1 In the head office of Toshiba Corporation (72) Inventor Hisao Shimazaki 3-3-9, Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Toshiba AV EE Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-9-23487 (JP, A) JP-A-2-63438 (JP, A) JP-A-7-284032 (JP, A) JP-A-8-506942 (JP, A) WO 96/21319 (WO, A1) (58) ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/44 H04N ^7/ 16-7/173 H04Q 9/00 A61B 5/117

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A television channel selecting device for receiving a television broadcast in which program information explaining a program content is broadcast together with a program, comprising: a personal identification means for personally recognizing a viewer; Parameter storing means for storing for each viewer a filtering parameter expressing the following: From the preset values of the filtering parameter stored in advance, selecting the initial value of the filtering parameter based on the gender, age, and preference of the viewer, and selecting the parameter Preset setting means to be set in the storage means, and filtering parameters corresponding to the individual recognized viewer are read from the parameter storage means, and from the viewpoint of the viewer's preference based on the calculation of the filtering parameters and the program information. Program evaluation means for calculating an evaluation value of the program; and Program presenting means for presenting a program to a viewer in accordance with the evaluation value; timing means for measuring the viewing time of each program; time from the time when the viewing of a certain program is started to the ending time of the program; And a filtering parameter updating unit that increases or decreases the filtering parameter based on the ratio of the viewing time measured by (1) to (3). 2. The program evaluation means uses a filtering parameter corresponding to an individual as the filtering parameter when the number of viewers is one. The television tuning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a composite value of a corresponding filtering parameter is used as the filtering parameter. 3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a viewing time storage unit configured to store a total viewing time for each of the plurality of viewers. 3. The television tuning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a total viewing time for each viewer is used for weighting a filtering parameter. 4. The program presenting means displays a plurality of windows each containing moving image, still image or text information corresponding to the selected plurality of programs as a multi-window in a three-dimensional space, The evaluation value of each program is displayed in the depth direction of the three-dimensional space.
The selected program is displayed so as to fly through the three-dimensional space, and a program currently being broadcast and a program scheduled to be broadcast in the future are displayed by adding frames of different colors. The television tuning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information includes link information indicating another program related to the program. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein
The television channel selection device according to claim 1.