JP3460198B2 - Television receiver and program information display method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[Object of the Invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver for displaying a program guide display and a program information display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in addition to ordinary terrestrial broadcasting, various video services such as satellite broadcasting using satellites and satellite communications, CATV (cable television), etc. are being provided.
Further, recently, digitization of broadcasting has been considered, and it becomes possible to combine a television broadcasting and a computer, and it is also possible to use a broadcasting signal for another digital processing system. In addition, interactive systems are being spread, and diversified broadcasting services are about to be provided. With the diversification of such services, the number of programs to be broadcast also increases, and the user needs information about programs he / she desires to watch.

In a video tape recorder (VTR), a cassette management system for managing the contents of a program (program) recorded on a cassette tape has been developed.
In this system, the contents of the program recorded on the cassette tape are automatically displayed on the television screen or the cassette body, and in order to manage the increasing library, the management information such as the recording contents and the recording position is recorded for each cassette tape. Is displayed to facilitate the user's search work. The cassette management information includes a cassette number, tape length, tape type, title, genre, channel (TVch), recording date and recording start time code.

On the other hand, viewers currently obtain program information of television broadcasting through media such as newspapers and program guide magazines. In the United States,
A service that uses teletext (text broadcasting) to provide broadcast program information of a broadcasting station being received has been started.
By using this service, the viewer can display the program information of the receiving broadcasting station on the television screen.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a conventional television receiver capable of displaying such program information.

A high frequency television signal (hereinafter referred to as an RF signal) induced in the antenna 1 is supplied to the tuner 2. The tuner 2 is controlled by a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) 3 to select a predetermined channel. The channel selection is performed based on the user's operation of, for example, a remote control transmitter (hereinafter, referred to as a remote controller) 4. The remote controller 4 generates key input information based on the user's key operation, converts it into infrared light, for example, and sends it out. This infrared light is received by the light receiver 5 and supplied to the microcomputer 3. The microcomputer 3 decodes the received key input information and supplies a control signal for receiving the selected channel to the tuner 2.

The television signal thus selected is
The signal is supplied from the tuner 2 to the decoder 6 and demodulated. The video signal from the decoder 6 is supplied to a CRT (picture tube) (not shown) via the synthesizing circuit 8 and a video based on the received RF signal is displayed.

The video signal selected by the tuner 2 is also given to the teletext decoder 7. When the display of program information is instructed by the user's operation of the remote controller 4, the microcomputer 3 sends a teletext reception command to the teletext decoder 7. The teletext decoder 7 detects the teletext signal superimposed on the video signal, decodes the information of the program information program instructed by the microcomputer 3, converts it into an RGB signal for display, and supplies it to the synthesizing circuit 8. To do.

The synthesizing circuit 8 switches the main video signal from the decoder 6 and the RGB signal from the teletext decoder 7 to switch the C signal.
Supply to RT. As a result, the program information of the broadcast station of the received signal is displayed on the display screen of the CRT.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram showing a display of teletext program information on the screen. In FIG. 27, broadcast programs on TV Kanto on March 1 are shown, and the titles of the broadcast programs are displayed in order of broadcast time.

Such a program information providing service by text broadcasting is currently under consideration in Japan. However, since the character broadcasting transmission bit rate is relatively low and the program information is one of a plurality of character broadcasting programs, it takes a long time to display the program information, and a plurality of program information is required to specify the program information. There is a problem that the operation is required and the display operation of the program information is complicated, and further, there is a problem that only simple information can be transmitted in the program information of the character broadcasting.

[0012]

As described above, in the above-described conventional television receiver, it takes a relatively long time to display the program information, and the operation for displaying the program information is complicated. Moreover, there is a problem that only simple information is displayed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a television receiver capable of presenting program information in a short time by a simple operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a program information display method capable of presenting program information in a short time with a simple operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver capable of displaying program information adapted to actual broadcasting even when information about a program is supplied by a non-rewritable medium. And

[0016]

A television receiver according to the present invention comprises storage means for storing information regarding programs.
Display data creating means for performing sorting on the information about the program read from the storage means and creating display data for displaying a program information display based on the information about the program, and an input video signal are provided. An image based on the input video signal can be displayed on the display screen, the display information can be given to display the program information display on the display screen, and a reduced image based on the input video signal can be displayed. And a display control means capable of displaying the program information on the program information display.

[0017]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores information about programs. The display data creating means reads the information about the program from the storage means and creates the display data for displaying the program information display. This display data is given to the display means, and the program information display is displayed, for example, on the video based on the input video signal. This allows the viewer to display the program information display while viewing the broadcast.

In the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the input video signal is demodulated by the decoding means and displayed on the display screen by the display section. The program information storage means stores information about the program, and the display data creating means searches for information about the program using the current date and time from the clock means and sorts the information to display the program information display. Create the data. The display data is displayed on-screen on the display screen by the display control means.

In the twenty-third aspect of the present invention, when the program information is read, it is searched and sorted by the display data creating procedure to create the display data for displaying the program information display. In the display procedure,
A program information display is displayed on the display screen based on this display data.

In claim 34 of the present invention, the update means updates the program information in the storage means with the program information obtained from the character multiplex broadcast signal. As a result, the latest program information is always used.

In the thirty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the adding means reads the program information which does not exist in the program information storage means from the text broadcast storage means and adds it to the program information storage means. As a result, sufficient program information can be obtained.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a television receiver according to the present invention. In FIG.
The same components as those in FIG.

In this embodiment, a program information display (hereinafter, also referred to as a program guide display) showing program information can be displayed on the screen by a user's key operation. The program guide display has multiple layers,
By selecting the menu displayed on the screen, you can move to each layer, and by moving the cursor display on the screen, you can select the desired program and display the information of the selected program. Has become.

An RF signal is induced in the antenna 1. This RF signal is supplied to the tuner 2. The tuner 2 is controlled by the microcomputer 15 to select an RF signal of a predetermined channel, convert it into a baseband composite video signal, and output it to the decoder 6. The decoder 6 demodulates the input baseband composite video signal and outputs the baseband component video signal to the synthesizing circuit 11.

The RF signal from the antenna 1 is also supplied to the tuner 12. The tuner 12 is controlled by the microcomputer 15 so that the RF of the channel displayed as a reduced screen to be described later is displayed.
The signal is selected, converted into a baseband composite video signal, and output to the decoder 13. The decoder 13 demodulates the input signal and outputs the baseband component video signal to the compression fitting circuit 14.

The compression fitting circuit 14 has an image memory (not shown) and is controlled by the microcomputer 15 to reduce the input video signal at a specified compression rate and store it in the image memory. The image memory has an area corresponding to the position of the display screen of the CRT (not shown), and the compression fitting circuit 14
Is designed to write a reduced image at a position designated by the microcomputer 15. The video signal of the reduced image stored in the image memory of the compression fitting circuit 14 is given to the synthesizing circuit 11.

The synthesizing circuit 11 synthesizes the video signal from the decoder 6 and the video signal of the reduced image from the compression fitting circuit 14 and outputs it to a CRT (not shown).

The microcomputer 15 is controlled by the remote controller 16. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the remote controller 16 in FIG.

On the remote controller 16, a power key (not shown),
In addition to the volume key and channel selection key, etc., the number key 1
7, up / down / left / right cursor keys 18, enter key 19, cancel key 2
0, a program guide key 21 and a video switching key 22 are provided. The remote controller 16 generates key input information based on the pressing operation of these keys, and transmits the generated key input information by infrared light, for example. The infrared light from the remote controller 16 is received by the light receiver 5. The light receiver 5 extracts key input information from the received infrared light and outputs it to the microcomputer 15.

The microcomputer 15 performs various kinds of processing based on the key input information by the key operation of the remote controller 16. For example, when channel switching is instructed by the remote controller 16, the microcomputer 15 outputs to the tuners 2 and 12 a control signal for selecting a channel based on key input information. Also,
When the image quality is adjusted by the remote controller 16, the microcomputer 15 controls the decoder 6 (not shown) to adjust the image quality. Further, in the present embodiment, the microcomputer 15 is capable of various processes for displaying the program guide display.

In order to enable the display of the program guide display, a clock circuit 25, a display device 26 and a program data memory 27 are provided in this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the clock circuit in FIG.

The baseband video signal from the tuner 2 is input to the input terminal 31. The teletext decoder 32 extracts the teletext from the input baseband video signal, detects the time information included in the teletext, and supplies it to the time register 33. The time register 33 stores the sequentially input time information while updating it, and outputs the stored time information via the terminal 34.
The microcomputer 15 decodes the time information from the clock circuit 25 to obtain the current time.

Other configurations can be considered as the clock circuit. FIG. 25 shows an example in which a battery-backed crystal oscillation circuit is used.

In this example, it is not necessary to supply the output of tuner 2. The battery 35 supplies a power supply voltage to the crystal oscillator 36, the inverter 37, the frequency dividing circuits 38 to 41, and the counter 42 regardless of whether the television receiver is powered on or off. The oscillator constituted by the crystal oscillator 36 and the inverter 37 generates an oscillation output having a frequency of 3276800 Hz.
The 3276800 frequency divider circuit 38 outputs the oscillation output of the oscillator to 327
The frequency is divided by 6800, the frequency divider circuit 60 divides the output of the frequency divider circuit 38 by 60, and the frequency divider circuit 40 divides the output of the frequency divider circuit 39 by 60.
The frequency divider 24 divides the output of the frequency divider 40 by 24. The frequency dividing circuits 39 to 41 output second, minute and hour data, respectively, and the counter 42 counts the output of the 24th frequency dividing circuit 41 to output the day data. The time information is supplied to the microcomputer 15 via the terminal 43. The microcomputer 15 decodes the input time information to obtain the current time.

The program data memory 27 as a storage means is
Information about broadcast programs is stored. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the storage fields of the program data memory in FIG.

The information about the broadcast program is, for example,
There are a program number, a broadcasting station name, a broadcasting date and time, a title, a description of the program content, a sample image of the program, a genre, a reservation situation, and the like. The program data memory 27, as an area for storing these data, as shown in FIG. 4, is a program number field, a broadcast station name field, a broadcast date and time field, a title field, a content description field, a sample image field, a genre identification data field. , VTR reservation field and TV reservation field. The program data memory 27 is controlled by the microcomputer 15 and stores the data of each field for each broadcast program.

The display device 26 receives display data such as a program guide display from the microcomputer 15, converts the display data into bit map data using a CG memory (character generator memory) not shown, and a video RAM (not shown). Stored). Then, the display device 26 displays the bitmap data at the designated display position,
By reading the data in the video RAM in correspondence with the screen scanning, the display data is converted into RGB signals and the synthesis circuit
It is designed to output to 11. The synthesizing circuit 11 synthesizes the output of the display device 26 with the outputs of the decoder 6 and the compression fitting circuit 14, and outputs the synthesized output to the CRT. The display device 26 can also write graphic data in the video RAM.

The microcomputer 15 is also provided with an interface 29, and the microcomputer 15 is also supplied with data from the external data memory 28 via the interface 29. The external data memory 28 is composed of, for example, a CDROM, and stores information about broadcast programs. The microcomputer 15 reads the information about the broadcast program stored in the external data memory 28, and the program data memory 27
It is designed to be given to and stored in.

The microcomputer 15 executes processing in accordance with a program stored in a built-in ROM (not shown), accesses the clock circuit 25, the program data memory 27, the external data memory and the display device 26 to create a program guide display. To collect data for. The microcomputer 15 has a built-in ROM
In accordance with the program, the display data for displaying the program guide display is created using the character code stored in the memory (not shown) and is output to the display device 26.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 to 9 and the explanatory views of FIGS. 5 to 9 are C
It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow of PU.

When the viewer turns on the power and specifies the receiving channel, the RF signal induced in the antenna 1 is supplied to the tuner 2 and the specified channel is selected. The video signal selected by the tuner 2 is demodulated by the decoder 6, and the baseband video signal is supplied to the CRT via the synthesizing circuit 11. As a result, the image of the channel based on the user operation is displayed on the display screen of the CRT.

Here, it is assumed that the viewer wants to grasp all the programs currently being broadcast. In this case, the viewer presses the program guide key 21 of the remote controller 16. The key input information based on the pressing operation of the program guide key 21 is sent from the remote controller 16 as infrared light, received by the light receiver 5 and supplied to the microcomputer 15.

When the microcomputer 15 detects that the program guide key 21 has been operated in step S1 of FIG. 5, the microcomputer 15 stores the currently received channel number in step S2. Next, the microcomputer 15 displays the program menu in step S3.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a program menu.

The microcomputer 15 stores a character code for displaying a program menu in a memory (not shown). The microcomputer 15 reads out these character codes and outputs them as display data to the display device 26 together with the data indicating the display position. The display device 26 uses the CG memory to convert the display data into bitmap data, and stores the bitmap data in the video RAM in correspondence with the display position. The display device 26 converts the display data into RGB signals and outputs them to the synthesizing circuit 11 by reading the data in the video RAM corresponding to the screen scanning. RG from the display device 26
The B signal is combined with the video signal from the decoder 6 to form a CRT.
Is supplied to. Thus, on the display screen 50 of the CRT,
As shown in FIG. 10, the main image 51 based on the output of the decoder 6
The program menu 52 is displayed over.

The program menu 52 includes "1. program list on broadcast" for displaying a list of programs currently being broadcast, "2. list of all channels" for displaying a program list of all channels, for example, 1. It has four menu items, "3. list by genre" for displaying weekly programs by genre, and "4. setting" for designating a display state.

Here, it is assumed that the viewer sets the display state before displaying the program list display. In this case, the viewer presses “4” of the number keys 17 on the remote controller 16. Then, the microcomputer 15 shifts the processing from step S4 to step S5 according to the key input information based on this operation. With the microcomputer 15,
A display frame 53 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed on the display screen 50 instead of the program menu 52 shown in FIG. The display frame 53 can be moved by the cursor keys 18 of the remote controller 16 as shown by the broken line.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the setting routine of step S5 in FIG.

In step S11 of FIG. 6, the microcomputer 16
Is waiting for key input. When the user operates the up cursor key of the cursor keys 18 of the remote controller 16, the microcomputer
Step 15 widens the display area upward in step S12. That is, the microcomputer 15 moves the display position of the upper frame of the display frame 53 to the upper side of the display screen 50 and outputs the display data for connecting the left and right frames to the upper frame. Similarly, when the user operates the down cursor key, the right cursor key, and the left cursor key, the microcomputer 15 shifts the processing to steps S13 to S15, respectively, and changes the display position of the display frame 53 and the length of the frame.

This display frame 53 shows a display area for displaying a program guide. When the enter key 19 of the remote controller 16 is operated by a user operation, the microcomputer 15 proceeds to the next step S16 and calculates the number of display lines and the number of display digits in the display area. That is, the microcomputer 15 stores the currently set display area, obtains the vertical length of the display area from the number of scanning lines, and calculates the number of characters that can be displayed and the number of lines of the program guide display.

For example, when the bitmap data of the character stored in the CG memory is Kanji, the upper and lower margins are set to 4
It corresponds to a 16 × 20 dot font including dots. In this case, 20 scanning lines are required to display one line. Therefore, the vertical length of the display area is 1
Assuming that there are 60 scanning lines, the number N of lines that can be displayed is N
= 160/20 = 8 lines. Similarly, microcomputer 15
Determines the number of characters that can be displayed in one line from the horizontal length of the display area and the number of dots in the font, and sets the number of characters in one line. When the setting process of step S15 is completed, the microcomputer 15 returns the process to step S3 to redisplay the program menu.

Next, it is assumed that the user displays a program list display for each genre. In this case, the user operates the number key 17 “3” of the remote controller 16. As a result, the microcomputer 15 shifts the processing to the genre-specific list routine in step S8.

7 and 8 concretely show the genre-specific list routine of step S8 in FIG. Also, FIG.
2 shows the genre menu, FIG. 13 to FIG. 15 show the display by genre, and FIG. 16 shows the detailed display of the selected program.

When the routine proceeds to the genre-specific list routine, the microcomputer 15 first proceeds to step S20 of FIG.
The genre menu 55 shown in is displayed. In FIG.
It is shown that each program is classified into five genres of "1. Drama", "2. Movie", "3. Sports", "4. Kayo", and "5. Other". Next, microcomputer 15
In step S21, the time information from the clock circuit 25 is decoded to obtain the current date and time information. Next, in step S22, the microcomputer 15 waits for the input of the genre number.

For example, it is assumed that the user displays a program guide of programs classified into dramas in the genres shown in FIG. In this case, the user operates the "1" key of the numeric keys 17 of the remote controller 16. As a result, the microcomputer 15 searches the genre field of the program data memory 27 to extract the programs whose genre is drama, and then sorts the programs in the broadcast time order using the data in the broadcast date / time field. Next, the microcomputer 15 calculates the number of display lines and the number of display digits that can be displayed in the display area in step S25. Then, the microcomputer 15 calculates the number of programs that can be displayed by the calculated number of display lines and number of display digits. In the next step S26, the microcomputer 15 creates display data for displaying the information regarding the sorted programs by the number of programs obtained in step S25. This display data is supplied to the display device 26 and converted into RGB signals. Thus, the display screen 50 is displayed on the screen shown in FIG.
4 is displayed (step S26).

By the way, depending on the size of the display area determined by the display frame 53, the number of characters that can be displayed in one line is about 20 to 25. Therefore, a program having a large number of characters in the title and the number of characters in one program exceeding the number of characters that can be displayed in one line is displayed in two lines, for example. However, when such a program having a large number of characters must be displayed at the bottom, the display of the last part of the character string is lost as shown in FIG.
The title of the program shown at the bottom of FIG. 13 is "Lunch Entertainment Theater", but it is shown that only "Lunch Entertainment" is displayed.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to prevent the display quality from deteriorating, step S25
In view of the number N of lines and the number of digits that can be displayed in the display area, the number M of programs that can be displayed so that the display characters of the program guide are not lost.
Is calculated. FIG. 14 shows a display example in this case, and shows that up to the third program guide is displayed.

Further, in this embodiment, the programs scheduled to be broadcast after the current time are sequentially displayed from the top to the bottom of the display area in the order of the broadcast start time. This prevents the number of display lines available for the program guide display of the program required by the user from decreasing due to unnecessary program guide display in the past.

In step S27 shown in FIG.
Wait for key input. Here, for example, it is assumed that the user desires to display the genre list on the entire screen. In this case, the user operates the cancel key of the remote controller 16 to shift to the setting routine again.
Then, the genre-specific list routine is terminated from step S27, the process proceeds to step S3 in FIG. 5, and the program menu is displayed again. The user operates the number key 17, “4”. Thereby, the process is the setting routine S
Go to 8. The user operates the cursor key to expand the display frame 53 over the entire screen and then presses the enter key 19 of the remote controller 16. In this way, the display area is expanded to the entire screen.

Next, the user again designates the list by genre to display the genre menu 55, and then selects "1. Drama" of the genre menu with the numeric keys 17.
In this case, the display area is enlarged in the setting routine, and, for example, the program guide shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. In FIG. 15, a cursor 57 is displayed as a framed display on the program guide display of the program which starts broadcasting from 10:00 on March 6. The cursor 57 is for indicating the program currently being received or for instructing the detailed display of the program.

Here, when the user operates the lower cursor key of the cursor keys 18 of the remote controller 16, the microcomputer
15 controls the display device 26 to move the cursor 57 downward by one program guide display in step S28.
If the cursor 57 is displayed on the bottom line, the microcomputer 15
Information about the broadcast program of the program whose broadcast start time is later than the program designated by and whose broadcast start time is closest is searched (step S29). If the corresponding information is present, the microcomputer 15 displays the program guide display regarding the program and the cursor 57 in accordance with the display of the program in step S35.

On the other hand, if the program data memory 27 does not contain information about the program, for example, if the program data memory 27 records only data up to March 6, then the microcomputer 15 performs the processing from step S30. To step S31 to display a message "There is no corresponding data in the program data memory" on the screen and set the external data memory (CDROM) 28 in which the information on the program is stored. Output a message.

When the user recognizes from this message that the information regarding the program concerned is not stored in the program data memory 27, the user sets, for example, the CDROM in which the information regarding the program is stored in the CDROM driver. The microcomputer 15 performs CDRO in step S32.
M is searched, and if the information on the corresponding program is present, the information on this program is transferred to the program data memory 27 in step S33, and the process proceeds to step S35. On the other hand, if there is no information on the corresponding program in the CDROM, a message indicating that there is no corresponding data is displayed (step S34), and the process returns to step S27 to wait for key input.

For example, if the user is from March 7th to March 1st
CDRO that stores information about programs during the 0th day
When the M disk is set in the CDROM driver, the microcomputer 15 reads the data from the CDROM via the interface 29 and writes the read data in the program data memory. In this case, if there is unnecessary data in the past that does not need to be displayed, that area may be overwritten. Next, the microcomputer 15 moves the cursor 57 to the corresponding program guide display and returns to the key input waiting state of step S27.

Next, it is assumed that the user who refers to the displayed list by genre tries to display detailed information about the program at the position of the cursor 57. In this case, the user presses the enter key 19 of the remote controller 16. Then, the microcomputer 15 shifts the processing from step S27 to step S36 and displays the contents of the cursor position. That is, the microcomputer 15 reads the data of the broadcast station name field, broadcast date / time field, title field, content description field, and sample image field of the program data memory 27 for the program pointed by the cursor 57. The microcomputer 15 creates display data for displaying a detailed display based on the read data. In this case, graphic data can also be stored in the memory of the microcomputer 15, and the microcomputer 15 outputs the graphic data read from the sample image field as the display data together with the data indicating the display position. The display device 26 creates detailed display bitmap data based on the display data from the microcomputer 15, stores it in the video RAM, and reads it in synchronization with screen scanning. As a result, the detailed display 58 shown in FIG. 16 is displayed on the display screen 50. As shown in FIG. 16, in the detailed display 58, a sample image 59 is displayed in addition to the broadcast time, the broadcast station, the program title, and the content description. The microcomputer 15 returns the process to step S27 and waits for a key input.

In the present embodiment, when the TV reservation button and the VTR reservation button (not shown) of the remote controller 16 are pressed in the genre-based list display state, TV reservation and VTR reservation can be performed, respectively. When the user operates the TV reservation button on the remote control 16, the microcomputer
15 reads the data in the reserved field of the program data memory 27 for the program designated by the cursor 57. The microcomputer 15 uses the reserved fields VTR and T in FIG.
When the column of V is "1", it is determined that the reservation state is already set, and when it is "0", it is determined that the reservation state is not set.

Now, the microcomputer 15 has a TV about this program.
If it is judged that it is not reserved (step S37),
In the next step S38, "0" in the reservation field is changed to "1", and in step S39, a reservation mark 59 of "○" indicating the reserved state is displayed on the display screen 50.

It is also assumed that the VTR reservation of the program designated by the cursor 57 has already been made. In this case, when the user operates a VTR reservation button (not shown) of the remote controller 16, the microcomputer 15 reads "1" from the reservation field, and shifts the processing from step S37 to step S40 to cancel the reservation. That is, the microcomputer
15 changes the reserved field "1" to "0". Next, in step S41, the microcomputer 15 erases the □ mark reservation mark indicating the reservation state of the VTR.

Incidentally, in step S41, the process may be shifted to the program menu display.

Next, the user selects the program menu 50 (see FIG. 1).
The case of selecting “1. program list on air” from 0) will be described.

It is assumed that the user operates the number key 17 of the remote controller 16 and presses "1" while the program menu 50 is displayed. Then, the microcomputer 15 is shown in FIG.
The processing shifts from the step S4 to the broadcasting program list routine of the step S6. FIG. 9 shows the on-air program listing routine shown in FIG.

The microcomputer 15 reads the time information from the clock circuit 25 in step S51 of FIG. The microcomputer 15 is
In the next step S52, the program data memory 27 is accessed to read the data in the broadcast date / time field of each program and compared with the current time information obtained from the clock circuit 25 to search only the program currently being broadcast. Then (step S
53), sort in order of channel number. Microcomputer
Reference numeral 15 creates display data for displaying the program list on-air program display based on the read information on the program.
In this case, the microcomputer 15, in step S54,
Determine the number of characters required for display from the data in the title field. Then, the microcomputer 15 calculates the number of display lines N in the display area, and also calculates the number of broadcast stations M to be displayed so that the program displayed at the bottom does not have a missing display.

At the next step S55, the microcomputer 15 outputs the display data to display the on-air program list display 61 shown in FIG. 17 on the display screen 50. Further, the microcomputer 15 displays a cursor 57 in a framed display on the display of the program currently being received. That is, the microcomputer 15 retrieves the information about the program of the same channel number as the channel number stored in step S2 of FIG. 5, and creates and displays the display data for displaying the cursor 57 on the program guide display of this program. Output to the device 26. Thus, the cursor 57 shown in FIG. 17 is displayed. In FIG. 17, it is shown that a program called Giant Planet of the three broadcasts with a channel number of 25 is being received. It should be noted that this program is also indicated as being VTR-reserved by the VTR reservation mark indicated by □.

Next, the microcomputer 15 displays the small screen or the sample image in the reduced image display area 62 in step S56. The child screen displayed in the reduced image display area 62 is received R
Created from F signal, sample image is program data memory 27
Created based on the data stored in the sample image field of. The microcomputer 15 sets a switching flag indicating whether to display the received image or the sample image.

If the switching flag indicates that the received image is to be selected, the microcomputer 15 displays the on-air program list display 61 among the RF signals induced in the antenna 1.
Tuners the channels of the show displayed by 12
Select the stations one by one. The decoder 13 demodulates the received signal and outputs it to the compression fitting circuit 14. The demodulated video signal is reduced by the compression fitting circuit 14 at a predetermined compression rate and stored in the image memory in the compression fitting circuit 14, and is also supplied to the synthesizing circuit 11. The synthesizing circuit 11 synthesizes the RGB signals from the display device 26 and outputs them to the CRT so that the reduced image based on the received signal is displayed in the reduced image display area 62 of FIG. As a result, a reduced image based on the received signal is displayed in the reduced image display area 62 of FIG. In the reduced image display area 62 at the position of the cursor 57, a reduced image based on the video signal of the channel currently being received is displayed.

On the other hand, when the switching flag indicates that the sample image is selected, the microcomputer 15
Data in the sample image field of the program data memory 27 is read to create graphic data, display data including the graphic data is given to the display device 26, and sample images are displayed in the reduced image display area 62 at a position corresponding to the display of each program. Display it.

In this way, the information of each program currently being broadcast and the received image or sample image are associated with each other and displayed on the display screen 50. The broadcast program list display 61 allows the viewer to easily understand the broadcast program of each channel, and the received image or sample image displayed in the reduced image display area 62 allows the viewer to intuitively understand the broadcast content of each program. Can be recognized.

Next, the microcomputer 15 shifts the processing to step S57 in FIG. 9 and waits for key input. Here, it is assumed that the user presses the video switching key 22 of the remote controller 16, for example. Then, the microcomputer 15 performs the processing in step S.
Moving to 58, the display switching flag is inverted and the image displayed in the reduced image display area 62 is switched between the received image and the sample image. In step S56, the received image and the sample image are switched and displayed in the reduced image display area 62, and in step S57, key input is awaited.

When the user operates the up cursor key or the down cursor key of the remote controller 16, the microcomputer 15 changes the display position of the cursor 57 on the on-air program list display 61 in step S59. For example, when the user operates the down cursor, the microcomputer 15 first returns the processing to step S54 to calculate the number of broadcasting stations that can be displayed in the display area. Next, in step S55, the program list display 61 on the air is displayed, and the cursor 57 is moved onto the display of the program of the channel next to the channel currently being received. In the next step S56, the reduced image based on the display switching flag is displayed, and the state shifts to the key input waiting state of step S57.

Here, it is assumed that the user desires to display a detailed display of a desired program. In this case,
The user repeats step S59 to move the cursor 57 to the program guide display of the desired program, and then the remote control key
Depress 16 decision keys 19. The microcomputer 15 displays the contents of the cursor position in the next step S60. That is, the microcomputer 15 reads the data in each field of the program data memory 27 and creates display data. This display data is converted into RGB signals by the display device 26 and supplied to the synthesizing circuit 11. Thus, the detailed display 65 shown in FIG. 18 is displayed on the display screen 50.

In FIG. 18, by the detailed display 65,
It is shown that the contents are displayed in detail about the program whose channel number is 25 and whose title is "Giant Planet". The reduced image display area 66 in the detailed display 65 displays a reduced image based on the received image or a sample image based on the switching flag. For example, when displaying a reduced image based on the received image, the microcomputer 15 causes the tuner 12 to select the channel of the program at the cursor position,
A compression ratio smaller than that of the reduced image displayed in the reduced image display area 62 shown in FIG. 17 is designated to the compression fitting circuit 14. The compression fitting circuit 14 compresses the received signal, stores it in the image memory, and outputs it to the synthesizing circuit 11. Thus, the reduced image based on the received image is displayed in the reduced image display area 66 of the detailed display 65.

In the next step S61, the microcomputer 15 waits for key input. Here, if the up / down cursor key is operated, the process proceeds to step S59 to move the cursor 57, and if another key is input, the on-air program list display is terminated and the step of FIG. The process is returned to S3.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen display when the all channel list in step S7 of FIG. 5 is selected.

In this case, a list 69 of all channels is displayed on the display screen. The all-channel list 69 is a display similar to the list display currently used in newspapers or program guide magazines, and displays the program information of all channels on a desired date separately for each broadcast time.

As described above, in this embodiment, the program data memory 27 stores information about each program, and the microcomputer
15 reads out the data of the program data memory 27 and the clock circuit 25
It is possible to search and sort on the basis of time information from, and to display the program guide on the screen in various display forms based on the read data. Therefore, the viewer can display a sample image or a reduced image based on the received image in addition to the title and description of the program currently being broadcast or the program to be broadcast in the future while watching the television broadcast. it can.
This makes it easy for the viewer to search for programs. Also,
Since the program data memory can be updated by the data from the external data memory, it is possible to cope with the future increase in the number of broadcasting stations. Furthermore, the program data currently being broadcast can be easily displayed without requiring the viewer's complicated remote control operation, and the display area is not occupied by the display of past programs that do not need to be displayed. . Further, for example, the program data broadcast after the current time can be easily displayed without requiring a complicated operation.

Moreover, when these program guides are displayed, the optimum number of program data is set for the display screen size, so that the characters displayed are difficult to see, or a part of the display is cut off to deteriorate the display quality. Can be prevented.

In the on-air program list display, first, the display position of the program of the channel currently being received is indicated by a cursor to facilitate confirmation of the program being received.
Further, when the user wants to refer to the detailed display, the viewer can instantly see the detailed description of the desired program by a simple operation using the cursor key and the enter key. Further, the reduced display based on the received image or the reduced display based on the sample image can be displayed during the display of the program guide, which makes it easier for the viewer to confirm the program.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 20, the same components as those in FIG.

This embodiment is different from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the tuner 12, the decoder 13 and the compression fitting circuit 14 are omitted, the microcomputer 71 is provided in place of the microcomputer 15, and the teletext decoder 32 is provided. The teletext decoder 32 extracts the text multiplexed signal included in the signal from the tuner 2, and receives the program information transmitted by the text multiplexed broadcast.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a specific structure of the teletext decoder shown in FIG.

The signal from the tuner 2 is given to the data fetch circuit 82 via the terminal 81. The data acquisition circuit 82 extracts the character multiplex broadcasting signal superimposed in a predetermined horizontal scanning period of the vertical blanking period of the television signal and supplies it to the character multiplex decoder 83. The character multiplex decoder 83 has a terminal 87.
Controlled on the basis of a control signal from the microcomputer 71 input via the, the input character multiplex broadcast signal is decoded and the display information of each program is stored in the video RAM 84.
The character generator ROM 86 stores character data such as characters to be displayed. The display control circuit 85 converts the display information read from the video RAM into a display signal by using the character generator ROM 86, and outputs the character broadcast screen from the output terminal 86. It is designed to output as output.

In this embodiment, the microcomputer 71 causes the character multiplex decoder 83 to receive the program information, and the video R
The display information stored in the AM can be read out via the terminal 88.

The microcomputer 71 reads the display information of the program information from the teletext decoder 32 and collates it with the information on each program stored in the program data memory 27. When the microcomputer 71 reads the program information of the same program as the program stored in the program data memory 27 from the teletext decoder 32, it compares the broadcast date and time of the program, the title, etc. Judging that the data in the data memory 27 is old and incorrect,
The data read from the video RAM 84 is used to update the data in each field of the program data memory 27.

Further, the microcomputer 71 uses the program data memory 27
When the program information about the program not stored in the program is read from the teletext decoder 32, the program data memory 27
It is determined that the data regarding the program is insufficient, and the program information is read from the video RAM 84 and the program information is added to each field of the program data memory 27.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 22 to 24 show an operation flow of the microcomputer 71. 22, the same steps as those in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In step S71 of FIG. 22, the microcomputer
71 determines whether the program guide key has been pressed. When the microcomputer 71 determines that the program guide key of the remote controller 16 is operated, the process proceeds to step S2 and the channel number being received is stored. Step S
The processes after step 2 are the same as steps S2 to S8 in FIG.

If it is determined in step S71 that the program guide key has not been pressed, the process proceeds to step S72. While the broadcast program is being received, the teletext decoder 32 is receiving the program information.
The video RAM 84 of the teletext decoder 32 stores program information which is display information regarding a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast. The microcomputer 71 reads this program information from the video RAM 84. In step S72, the program information stored in the video RAM is retrieved by the microcomputer 71, and the program information stored in the program data memory 27, for example, the program number. It is determined whether or not there is program information of a program that matches the program ID (identification) number stored in the field. Program No. A serial number (ID number) is attached to the field for each broadcast program and for each broadcast date and broadcast station name. On the other hand, the program information of teletext also has the same ID for the program broadcasted on that day for each broadcasting station.
A number is added and transmitted.

In step S72, the program data memory
Information about programs not stored in 27 Video RA
If it is stored in M84, the microcomputer 71 shifts the processing to step S75 and stores these data in the video RAM 84.
And outputs it to the program data memory 27. As a result, the information about the program in the program data memory 27 is expanded.

On the other hand, if the program information stored in the program data memory 27 and the program information stored in the video RAM 84 are related to the same program, the microcomputer 71
In step S73, it is determined whether the broadcast date and time and the title match, and if they match, the process ends. If they do not match, it is determined that the data in the program data memory 27 is old and not correct data, and in the next step S74, the program information in the video RAM 84 is given to the program data memory 27 to be updated.

FIG. 23 is for explaining the updating of the program data memory.

In step S81 of FIG. 23, the microcomputer
71 extracts an ID number for each program data received by teletext. Next, in step S82 of the microcomputer 71, the data in the program data memory 27 is read to extract a program whose reception broadcast, reception date, and program ID number match the data stored in the video RAM 84.

At the next steps S83 and S84, the microcomputer 71 uses the program information memory 27 to extract program information from the program data memory 27. 27
It is checked whether or not it can be regarded as matching the corresponding data in the title field and the broadcast date / time field. If the title information is different, in step S86, the title information of the program information transmitted by teletext is written in the title field of the program data memory 84 corresponding to the corresponding program. If the broadcast time information is different, the broadcast time information of the program information transmitted by teletext is written in the broadcast date / time field of the program data memory 84 corresponding to the corresponding program in step S87.

Thus, the program data memory 27 is updated by the program information transmitted by the character multiplex broadcasting.

In the flow of FIG. 23, when the program data memory 27 is not added with an ID number for each program, or when the program information transmitted by teletext is not added with an ID number. Can not be adopted. In this case, a method of searching by the program title or broadcast time is adopted. FIG. 24 is for explaining the operation of updating the program data memory in this case.

In step S91 of FIG. 24, the microcomputer
Reference numeral 71 controls the teletext decoder 32 to receive teletext program information, and reads the program title portion of the program information stored in the video RAM 84. In the next step S92, the microcomputer 71 reads the broadcast date / time field and the title field of the program data memory 27, and searches for the programs having the matching reception dates and the matching reception dates.

In the next step S93, the microcomputer 71
Compares the program information stored in the video RAM 84 with the data in each field of the program data memory 27 for the program searched in step S92. When it is determined in step S94 that the detection results do not match, the microcomputer 71 updates the data in each field of the program data memory 27 using the data stored in the video RAM 84 in step S95.

Next, the microcomputer 71 sends the data of the broadcast time of each program of the character multiplex broadcast to the video R in step S96.
Read from AM84. In the next step S97, the video RA
The same program stored in the video RAM 84 and the program data memory 27 is extracted by comparing the data relating to the broadcast time read from the M84 with the data in the broadcast date / time field of the program data memory 27. Then, step S98
In the program, the microcomputer 71 stores the data of the video RAM 84 and the program data memory 27 for the program extracted in step S97.
It is compared whether or not the data of each field of (3) match.

If the microcomputer 71 determines that the data in the video RAM 84 and the data in each field of the program data memory 27 do not match, the process shifts from the next step S99 to step S100, and the data is stored in the video RAM 84. The data in each field of the program data memory 27 is updated using the stored data.

As described above, in this embodiment, the program information of the character multiplex broadcast is received and stored in the video RAM, the program information stored in the video RAM is added to the program data memory, and the program data memory is also added. If the information in each field of and the information in the video RAM do not match,
The information of each field of the program data memory is updated by the information of the video RAM, and the latest program information is always stored in the program data memory. Therefore, even if the preset broadcast time and the actual broadcast time deviate from each other and the broadcast time of the subsequent programs deviates from the information stored in the program data memory, such as sports relay programs, Since the program information of the received character multiplex broadcast is updated to the correct broadcast time and content, the viewer can obtain the actual correct program information from the program guide display.

[0110]

As described above, the first and second aspects of the present invention are described.
According to Claims 14 and 23, there is an effect that the program information can be presented in a short time by a simple operation, and according to Claims 34 and 38 of the present invention, the information about the program by the non-rewritable medium. Even when the information is supplied, it is possible to display the program information adapted to the actual broadcasting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a television receiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a remote controller.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of a clock circuit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining a storage field of a program data memory in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the teletext decoder in FIG.

22 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG.

23 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG.

25 is a block diagram showing another example of the clock circuit in FIG.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a conventional television receiver.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of teletext.

[Explanation of Codes] 14 ... Compression fitting circuit, 15 ... Microcomputer, 25 ... Clock circuit,
26 ... Display device, 27 ... Program data memory, 28 ... External data memory

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-5-284481 (JP, A) JP-A-6-22233 (JP, A) JP-A-5-284477 (JP, A) JP-A-5-292412 (JP , A) JP 5-56405 (JP, A) JP 5-300482 (JP, A) JP 5-284476 (JP, A) JP 5-236437 (JP, A) JP 7-193760 (JP, A) JP-A-7-193761 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/44-5/46 H04N 7/025-7 / 035 H04N 7/08-7/088

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. Storage means for storing information about a program, and information about the program read from the storage means
And perform sorting based on the information about the program.
A display data generating means for generating display data for displaying the Ku program information display, with can be displayed on the display screen an image based on the input video signal given input video signal, the display data is given It is possible to display the program information display on the display screen and further display a reduced image based on the input video signal.
A television receiver comprising: a display control means capable of displaying the program information on the display . 2. Storage means for storing information about a program, and information for the program read from the storage means
And perform sorting based on the information about the program.
Together it creates display data for displaying the Ku program information display, on the display of the predetermined program being displayed the program information
Creating display data for displaying the cursor
And means for detecting the channel number of the input video signal
Display the program corresponding to the detected channel number
Create display data to display the cursor above
Display and display data producing means and provided the input video signal can be displayed on the display screen an image based on the input video signal, the program information displayed on the display screen the display data is provided to A television receiver comprising a display control means capable of displaying. 3. The display data creating means creates display data for hierarchically displaying detailed information display by using information about a predetermined program out of information about the program, and corresponds to the cursor position. The television receiver according to claim 2 , wherein display data for displaying the detailed information display is created using information about a program. 4. Storage means for storing information about a program, and information about the program read from the storage means
And perform sorting based on the information about the program.
A display data generating means for generating display data for displaying the Ku program information display, with can be displayed on the display screen an image based on the input video signal given input video signal, the display data is given And display control means capable of displaying the program information display on the display screen, the display control means being capable of changing a display area for displaying the program information and displaying the program information. A television characterized by calculating the number of display lines and the number of display digits and displaying the display state of the program information display according to the calculated value.
John receiver. 5. Storage means for storing information about a program, and information about the program read from the storage means
And perform sorting based on the information about the program.
A display data generating means for generating display data for displaying the Ku program information display, with can be displayed on the display screen an image based on the input video signal given input video signal, the display data is given And display control means capable of displaying the program information display on the display screen, wherein the display data creating means creates the display data for displaying the program information display of a program based on a user operation. In addition, when a change of a program to be displayed is instructed by a user operation, when there is no information on the program corresponding to the storage means, display data for displaying a message indicating that is created. A television receiver that does. 6. Storage means for storing information about a program, and information for the program read from the storage means
And perform sorting based on the information about the program.
A display data generating means for generating display data for displaying the Ku program information display, with can be displayed on the display screen an image based on the input video signal given input video signal, the display data is given And a display control means capable of displaying the program information display on the display screen, the display data creating means having a terminal for receiving data from an external data storage device, The display device includes means for reading information about a program from a storage device and transferring the information to the storage unit, and creating display data for displaying a message indicating that information about the program designated by a user operation does not exist in the storage unit. At the same time, the information about the program designated by the user operation is read from the external data storage device to store the information. Television reception, characterized in that the transfer
Machine. 7. The display data creating means creates display data for displaying a message to that effect when information relating to a program designated by a user operation does not exist in the external data storage device. The television receiver according to claim 6 .