JP3444751B2 - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a receiver for digital broadcasting transmitted via a satellite, a cable or the like,
More specifically, it relates to a digital broadcast receiver that can present useful information to the user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In satellite broadcasting, cable broadcasting and the like, a large number of television and / or radio programs are sent to respective digital broadcasting receivers through a large number of channels. The transmission signal includes the program itself as well as the program data relating to the program currently being broadcast or scheduled to be broadcast, and the program name, broadcast date, broadcast time, channel, etc. can be acquired.

[0003]

The conventional digital broadcast receiver does not have a function of presenting the information of the viewing history of what program the user has watched in the past.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver equipped with a viewing history presentation function.

[0005]

A digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention has the following (a) to (c). (A) Viewing program data acquisition means for acquiring data on a program viewed by a user from a transmission signal of digital broadcasting (b) Viewing program data storage means (c) for storing viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means Viewing history creating means for reading viewing program data from the viewing program data storage means to create viewing history (d) Viewing history displaying means for displaying viewing history when a viewing history display request is made by the user

In the current digital broadcasting, the viewing program data included in the transmission signal includes a program name, broadcasting date, broadcasting time, channel, genre, program content (outline), and pay-per-view program charge. It is possible to increase or change to. The viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means from the transmission signal of the digital broadcast does not exclude viewing program data added in the future, and not only all of the viewing program data included in the transmission signal, It covers the case where only the program data of the department is viewed. The viewing history is displayed when the user requests the viewing history display, but the viewing history creating means creates the viewing history not only when the user requests the viewing history display, but from the user. It may be created in advance in preparation for the viewing history display request.

The viewing program data of the program viewed by the user is stored in the viewing program data storage means and is read from the viewing program data storage means, whereby the viewing history can be appropriately created. In this way, the user can know the viewing history and can obtain information such as viewing habits of himself and his family and when and what kind of program was watched.

Another digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention
Further has the following (e) and (f). (E) A viewing history creating means for creating a viewing history including an additional recording field and adding the additional recording to the viewing history by the user. (F) A viewing program data storage means for re-storing the viewing program data added by the user.

In the additional recording, for example, a video tape number recording the program can be written. This allows the user's own information to be left in the viewing history.

Another digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention
Has the following (g) and (h): (G) Viewing history display means for creating viewing history by deleting corresponding viewing program data from viewing history according to a deletion instruction from the user (h) viewing program data storage means for deleting viewing program data deleted by the user from storage

The user can delete a part of the viewing history that is no longer needed and thereafter view the viewing history excluding it.

Another digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention
Has the following (i): (I) Viewing history creating means for searching the viewing program data with the search key designated by the user and creating the viewing history of the corresponding viewing program data

By searching with a predetermined search key, the user can view not only the past viewing history but only the viewing history of a target range. It should be noted that this search does not exclude not only the case where a word that exactly matches the search key is included, but also the case where a synonym is also searched.

Another digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention
Has the following (j): (J) Viewing history creating means for sorting viewing program data based on the sort key designated by the user and creating viewing history based on the result

By designating a predetermined sort key, the user can view the viewing history in which the viewing history is displayed in ascending or descending order such as broadcast date, channel, program name, genre order, and the like.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 4 shows a digital broadcasting receiver
It is a block diagram of 10 main parts. Digital broadcasters use satellite or cable media to transmit digital broadcasts. In the digital broadcast receiver 10, a transmission signal transmitted via the parabolic antenna 12 or a cable is supplied to the tuner module 14. The tuner module 14 selects the frequency of the received radio wave and outputs it to the channel receiver 16. Channel receiver
In 16, QPSK demodulation, analog / digital conversion (A
DC) and FEC (Forward Error Correction) This is a digital data demodulation circuit that performs error correction, etc. The transport descrambler 18 descrambles the data for conditional reception and generates a data stream in a format called a transport stream. (MPEG transstream will be described later). MPEG2 transport
The demultiplexer 20 converts the input transport stream into an MPEG2 Video data stream,
Audio data stream and PSI (Program S
It is divided into data streams called pecific information) and reconstructed. Programs of 4 to 8 channels are multiplexed in one transport stream,
Broadcasters are sending multiple transport streams from satellites. This realizes multi-channel broadcasting. When selecting the channel, PS
From I, data such as which transport stream an arbitrary channel is transmitted and which packet ID in the transport stream is used for multiplexing is extracted and selected. An MPEG2 decoder & OSD (On Screen Disply) 22 decodes an MPEG2 video stream and an MPEG2 audio stream, respectively, and outputs a video signal and an audio signal to a video encoder 24 and a DAC 26, respectively. The OSD converts EPG character data and the like into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the video encoder 24. A video signal such as an NTSC signal is output from the video encoder 24, and the video is reproduced on a TV or the like.

The CPU 28 is for controlling these constituent devices. User interface 30 is EPG
It is used to select and operate channels on the screen, and is connected to a remote controller or keyboard. Each channel or program can be played back (= output of video and / or audio) by contracting, and such information is data (EMM or E) in the transport stream.
CM) is sent to the IC card interface 32, and if the data output from the IC card interface 32 meets the conditions of the transport descrambler 18, video and audio can be decoded. The modem 34 transfers historical data of usage of pay programs to the broadcaster.

At present, in digital satellite broadcasting, MPEG is used.
Broadcasting of 100 channels or more has been realized by utilizing the data compression technique and the multiplexing technique called 2. Channels and programs have been conventionally selected from the program guides of newspapers and magazines, but it is necessary to find the program to be watched from 100 or more channels. Therefore, data necessary for creating a program guide such as channel and program information is also MPEG so that the program can be selected on the TV screen.
Two transport streams are multiplexed and broadcast. This program guide is called EPG (Electronic Program G
uide).

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show EPGs displayed on the television screen by time, by channel and by genre, respectively. Three square frames (corresponding to time, channel, and genre classifications from the top) arranged vertically on the right side of the EPG indicate which classification of the EPG display the current display is.

The data required to create an EPG is M
It is transmitted in a data structure defined by PEG2_System and is composed of a table and a descriptor. Its data structure is SDT (Service Description Table), EIT (Ev
An EPG is created by processing data of additional information regarding channels and additional information regarding programs called an ent Infomation Table) by a microcomputer or the like. The data structure of SDT and EIT will be described later.

The MPEG transport stream will be described. Digital satellite broadcasting taken up in this example
PerfectTV is transmitted by MPEG2-TS.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of an MPEG2 transport stream. The definition of each field is as follows. sync: Sync byte transport_error_indicator: Error correction payload_unit_start_indicator: Unit start display. It means that a new packet starts with the payload of this transport stream. transpot_priority: Transport packet priority. Indicates the importance of this packet. transport_scrambling_control: Scramble control. Whether or not this packet is scrambled and its type are shown. adaptation_field_control: Adaptation field control. The presence / absence of an adaptation field and the presence / absence of a payload in this packet are shown. (In the above example, there is no adaptation field and payload is included.) Continuity_counter: Patrol counter. Information for detecting whether or not a packet having the same PID is partially discarded during the process. Detect from the continuity of counting. PID: Program ID. When the above-mentioned EIT or the like exceeds 184 bytes in the payload, it is divided into two or more transport packets and transmitted. When multiple payloads of a transport packet having a target PID are connected, a target bit stream such as SDT or EIT can be obtained.

The data structure of the SDT will be described. As an example, the currently available digital satellite broadcast PerfectT.
The data structure of SDT (Service Description Table) in V is shown below. When PID transport packets of 0x0011 are picked up from the transport stream transmitted from the satellite, a bit stream in the following format is created. The SDT contains information about each Service, that is, each channel. This table (section) is created for each transport stream.

FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram of the SDT. SDT is ta
It has the following meanings depending on ble_id. table_id = 0x42 (SDT_a): Information about the channel in the currently received transport stream. = 0x46 (SDT_o): Information about channels in other transport streams. The information included in descriptor () of the data structure of FIG. 9 includes the following. DM_name_descriptor (): Service name (channel name) DM_c ontent_descriptor (): Service content DM_logo_descriptor (): Logo of the channel is a bitmap image NVOD_reference_descriptor (): near video-on-demand service information time_shifted_service_descriptor (): NVOD Service_id mosaic_descriptor () of the original channel Information about split screen display DM_service_type_descriptor (): Type of service such as video, audio, data

The EIT will be described. In the digital satellite broadcasting PerfectTV taken as an example this time, if a transport packet with a program ID of 0x0014 is picked up from the transport stream transmitted from the satellite, a bitstream in the following format can be obtained.

FIG. 10 is a data structure diagram of the EIT. E
IT has the following meanings according to table_id. table_id ... 0x4E (EIT_p / a): Information about the program that should be currently executed (broadcast). (Channel in the transport stream currently being received) 0x4F (EIT_p / o): Information on the program that should be currently executed (broadcast). (Channels other than the transport stream currently being received) 0x50-57 (EIT_g / a): Information related to all program schedules (however, program contents are excluded). (Channel in the transport stream currently being received) 0x60-67 (EIT_g / o): Information related to all program schedules (however, program contents are excluded). (Channels other than the transport stream currently being received) 0x58-5F (EIT_d / a): Information related to all program schedules (only program content). (Channel in the transport stream currently being received) 0x68-6F (EIT_a / o): Information related to all program schedules (only program content). (Channels other than the transport stream currently being received)

There are several types of descriptors shown in FIG. 10, but among them, those relevant to the present invention are listed. A Program name descriptor DM_name_descriptor () {descriptor_tag 8bit descriptor_length 8bit name_type 8bit for (i = 0; i <N; ++ i) {char 8bit Full-width (2-byte character) maximum 20 characters}} B Program content descriptor DM_content_descriptor () {descriptor_tag 8bit descriptor_length 8bit descriptor_number 4bit last_descriptor_number 4bit for (i = 0; i <N; ++ i) {char 8bit Maximum double-byte character 400 characters}}

The program guide can be created from the service_id (channel) and event_id (program) of the above EIT. event_id
You can know the start time of the program by pulling out start_time from. The end of the program is the event_id of EIT_p / a
Can be considered as terminated when updated from id.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a conventional process for creating and displaying an EPG. In S50, an EPG display command is issued by key input from a user interface, such as a remote controller. In S52, SD
Receives T data, decodes it, and confirms whether there is a program table,
Get service name (channel). Next, in S54, the EIT data is received and each service (channel) is received.
Data such as the program name, start time and end time, genre, etc. are obtained. A program guide (EPG) is created from these data (S56). In S58, the created program guide is output to the TV (television) screen by the OSD 6.

These EPGs have channel codes (serv
Ice_id), genre code, program start time, etc. can be classified to create a program guide. The program guide as described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 can be created and displayed.

The program guides of FIGS. 5 to 7 are arranged by time, by channel, by genre, etc.
It takes a lot of time and effort for the user to find a desired program because of the large number of programs and the acquisition of data up to a week ahead. Therefore, it is desired that the user extracts a program desired to be viewed and quickly displays it, and the process shown in FIG. 1 realizes this.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are flowcharts relating to viewing history processing, and FIG. 3 is an illustration of a viewing history list displayed on the TV screen in S70 of FIG.

First, referring to FIG. 3, in the list of FIG. 3, the record is the program actually viewed by the user, and the fields are the broadcast date (day), broadcast time (hour),
The program name, the channel (No), and the pay-per-view charge (PPV) are set, and the first sort key is an ascending order broadcast date, and the second sort key is an ascending order broadcast time in a sorted list format. FIG. 3 is a schematic display, and in the detailed display, the genre and program content (outline) are further displayed as fields. The rightmost part of FIG. 3 is a memo writing column (MEMO), and the memo writing column is also a field, and the data of all fields of all records are secured in the memory storage area. When it is not displayed on one screen, you can move to the previous screen and the next screen by using the roll up and roll down keys. Each step of the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

S60: It is determined whether or not the program the user is watching has ended. If yes, S62 is skipped and the process proceeds to S64. If no, the process proceeds to the next S62. The end of the program is EIT_ of the EPG data described above.
It can be determined by updating the event_id of p / a. To make this determination, E
Take IT and monitor event_id.

S62: It is determined whether or not the user has changed the channel. If yes, the process returns to S64, and if no, the process returns to S60 .

S64: The user determines whether or not the finished program or the program before the channel change has been watched for a certain period of time (this certain period can be appropriately set by the user). Even if a user watches a program, it may be boring and immediately switch to another channel. In such a case, it cannot be said that the user has actually watched, so such a judgment is provided. .

S66: Information on the viewed program (= viewed program data) is acquired from the EPG data and stored in the viewed program data area of the memory. The following data regarding viewing programs can be obtained from EIT. Channel No. EIT sevice_id Program name EIT DM_name_descriptor Program content EIT DM_content_descriptor Program genre EIT content_descriptor Broadcast time EIT start time, Eit duration PPV (charge) EIT DM_fee_descriptor

S68: It is determined whether the user has requested the display of the viewing history. This is provided with a display request key or O
Judgment is made based on whether or not the user's operation is performed by providing options on the SD.

S70: Viewed program data is read from the memory and displayed as a list (FIG. 3) on the TV screen by OSD. In the list of FIG. 3, the viewing history is displayed in the ascending order of the broadcast time, but it is also possible to display the list re-sorted in, for example, the Japanese syllabary order of the program name at the request of the user. Further, the user may specify, for example, a search key for a program name to display a list of viewing histories of only the program name.

S72: While the viewing history list is being displayed, a cursor for selecting program data is displayed on the TV screen. The cursor is at the beginning of the viewing history list (the cell in the upper left corner)
To display.

S74: The user operates the pointing device or the vertical arrow keys to move the cursor in the vertical direction to select a predetermined program in the viewing history list.

S76: The user operates the pointing device or the horizontal arrow keys to move the cursor to the ME
MO column (column in which the user writes (adds) his or her own memo)
To move horizontally.

S78: The user inputs a memo from the keyboard. In the example of FIG. 3, the memo is a video tape No.
It is 20 (the management number of the video recording the program, etc.).

S80: The user presses the execution key or the like to confirm the memo, and as soon as the memo is confirmed, S82.
Go to.

S82: The input memo (text data) is saved in the storage area of the corresponding viewing program data.

In S74, the line of the program which the user has determined to be unnecessary to be left as the viewing history can be selected with the cursor and deleted with the del key. By this deletion, the corresponding viewing program data in the memory is also deleted, and the viewing program data is no longer displayed on the TV screen.

In S74, the user can select a line of a predetermined program with the cursor and switch to the detailed display. In the detailed display, the TV screen is switched and the program genre data (EIT co
ntent_descriptor) and program content data (EIT DM_conte
(nt_descriptor) is also read, and the genre and program content are also added and displayed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart regarding viewing history processing.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart regarding viewing history processing.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a viewing history list displayed on the TV screen in S70 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a main part of a digital broadcast receiver.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing EPGs by time displayed on a television screen.

FIG. 6 EPG for each channel displayed on the TV screen
FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing EPGs classified by genre displayed on a television screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of an MPEG2 transport stream.

FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram of SDT.

FIG. 10 is a data structure diagram of EIT.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of processing for creating and displaying a conventional EPG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Digital broadcasting receiver

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) References JP-A-8-140003 (JP, A) JP-A-8-180504 (JP, A) JP-A-9-107539 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 298149 (JP, A) JP-A-7-160732 (JP, A) JP-A-10-257405 (JP, A) International Publication 98/031980 (WO, A1) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷⁾ , DB name) H04N 5/44-5/445

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. (a) A program watched by a user has been watched for a certain time or more set by the user.
It is judged whether it is a thing or not and it has been viewed for a certain time or more
If so, viewing program data acquisition means for acquiring data about the program from a transmission signal of digital broadcasting, (b) viewing program data storage means for storing the viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means, (c) Viewing history creating means for reading viewing program data from the viewing program data storage means to create a viewing history, and (d) viewing history display means for displaying the viewing history when a viewing history display request is made by the user. A digital broadcast receiver characterized by having. 2. (e) The viewing history creating means for creating a viewing history including an additional recording field and adding the additional recording by the user to the viewing history, and (f) the viewing for re-storing the viewing program data added by the user. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising program data storage means. 3. (g) The viewing history display means for creating viewing history in which corresponding viewing program data is deleted from the viewing history according to a deletion instruction from the user, and (h) viewing program data deleted by the user is stored. 2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising the viewing program data storage means to be deleted from the digital broadcasting receiver. 4. The viewing history creating means for searching (i) viewing program data with a search key designated by a user and creating a viewing history of the corresponding viewing program data. The digital broadcast receiver according to any one of 1 to 3. 5. (j) The viewing history creating means for sorting viewing program data based on a sort key designated by a user and creating a viewing history based on the result. The digital broadcast receiver according to any one of 1 to 4.