JP4232111B2 - Information processing apparatus and method, recording medium, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program that allow a user to easily reserve a program.

  WO00 / 02386 discloses that a television broadcast program is recorded and the recorded program is classified based on performers and keywords.

  Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-12193 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-295554, the user specifies details such as the genre, performer, and time zone of the program to be reserved for recording. It is disclosed that a program is reserved and recorded based on conditions.

  However, the invention disclosed in WO00 / 02386 only classifies recorded programs, and does not allow a user to easily schedule and record programs.

  On the other hand, the inventions disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-12193 and 2000-295554 make it possible to automatically schedule and record programs.

  However, in the present invention, the user has to specify parameters such as genre, performer, and time zone, which is a heavy burden on the user, and the user cannot quickly and easily record a program. there were.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and makes it possible to easily and reliably make a reservation recording of a program without imposing an excessive load on the user.

One aspect (first aspect) of the present invention is a first acquisition unit that acquires content attribute information including a content attribute name and a plurality of search conditions including an exclusion keyword that is a keyword excluded from a search target ; and presenting means for presenting the content attribute name of the content attribute information acquired by the first acquisition unit, a reception unit for receiving a selection of the presented the content attribute names by the presenting means, the content information about the content The second acquisition unit to be acquired and the content information acquired by the second acquisition unit satisfy all search conditions other than the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name that has been selected by the reception unit. A first determination means for determining whether or not the content acquired by the second acquisition means Second determination means for determining whether or not the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name selected by the reception means is included in the information, and other than the exclusion keyword by the first determination means An information processing apparatus comprising: a creation unit that creates a content list corresponding to the content information that is determined to satisfy all of the search conditions and that is determined by the second determination unit not to include the exclusion keyword. is there.

One aspect (first aspect) of the present invention is a first acquisition step of acquiring content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an exclusion keyword that is a keyword excluded from a search target ; a reception step of receiving and presenting step of presenting the content attribute name of said content attribute information acquired by the processing of the first acquisition step, the selection of the content attribute names presented by the processing of the presentation step, the content A second acquisition step of acquiring content information relating to the content information acquired in the processing of the second acquisition step, and the exclusion corresponding to the content attribute name that has been selected by the processing of the reception step first determination step of determining whether or not all satisfied search conditions other than keywords , The second acquiring the content information acquired by the process at step, the second determines whether selected by processing of the reception step includes the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name accepted It is determined that all the search conditions other than the excluded keyword are satisfied by the determination step and the processing of the first determination step, and it is determined that the exclusion keyword is not included by the processing of the second determination step. An information processing method or program including a creation step of creating a list of contents corresponding to content information .

In one aspect (first aspect) of the present invention, content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword excluded from a search target is acquired, and the acquired content the attribute information content attribute name is presented, the selection of the presented content attribute name is accepted, the content information about the content is acquired, other than the excluded keywords the content information acquired corresponding to the content attribute name It is determined whether or not all the search conditions are satisfied, and it is determined whether or not the excluded keyword corresponding to the content attribute name is included in the acquired content information, and all the search conditions other than the excluded keyword are satisfied And it is determined that the exclusion keyword is not included. List of content is created corresponding to the content information.

One aspect (second aspect) of the present invention includes: a receiving unit that receives access from another information processing apparatus via a network; and the other information processing apparatus that has received access by the receiving unit. A receiving unit that receives a request for transferring content attribute information related to the attribute of the content, which is used when a user of the information processing apparatus selects content, and a content attribute name when the request is received by the receiving unit , And transmitting the content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from a search target to the other information processing apparatus received by the receiving unit via the network. And an information processing apparatus.

One aspect (second aspect) of the present invention includes an accepting step for accepting access from another information processing apparatus via a network, and the other information processing apparatus from which access has been accepted in the process of the accepting step. When a user of another information processing apparatus receives a request for transferring content attribute information related to the attribute of the content used when selecting content, and when the request is received in the processing of the receiving step, The content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from a search target is transmitted to the other information processing apparatus that has been received in the process of the receiving step. Information processing method or program including a transmission step of transmitting via .

In one aspect (second aspect) of the present invention, access via a network from another information processing apparatus is accepted, and the user of the other information processing apparatus is received from the other information processing apparatus from which access has been accepted. Is used when selecting content, a request for transferring content attribute information related to the attribute of the content is received , and when the request is received, the content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from the search target The content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including is transmitted to the other information processing apparatus via the network.

  As described above, according to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to limit the presentation of the content including the exclusion keyword.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a network system to which the present invention is applied. In this configuration example, servers 2-1 and 2-2 and user devices 3-1 and 3-2 are connected to a network 1 constituted by the Internet, a WAN (Wide Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), and the like. It is connected. In the example of FIG. 1, two servers 2-1 and 2-2 (hereinafter, when these servers do not need to be individually distinguished, they are simply referred to as server 2), and two user devices 3-1. , 3-2 (hereinafter referred to simply as user devices 3 when these user devices do not need to be individually distinguished) are connected to the network 1, but the number thereof is arbitrary, each of which is three or more It may be.

  The server 2-1 has program attribute information (program attribute information 431 in FIG. 9 described later), the server 2-2 has broadcast program information (EPG (Electric Program Guide) information), and the network 1 for the user device 3. To provide through.

  The user device 3 is disposed in a user's home, and the user device 3-1 includes a video recording / reproducing device 11, a display device 12, and an antenna 13.

  The video recording / reproducing device 11 is, for example, a hard disk video recorder or the like, and receives a broadcast radio wave via an antenna 13 and demodulates a signal obtained by the built-in auxiliary storage device 40 (see FIG. 2 described later). The information is stored and provided to the display device 12 in the subsequent stage for display. The display device 12 is composed of, for example, a television receiver or a monitor.

  In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, the user apparatus 3-2 is also comprised similarly to the user apparatus 3-1.

  The video recording / reproducing apparatus 11 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. The tuner 31 demodulates a broadcast signal corresponding to a broadcast wave of a terrestrial television broadcast received by the antenna 13, and outputs a video signal component and an audio signal component to the encoder 32. The EPG information is included in the vertical blanking period of the terrestrial television broadcast signal received by the antenna 13, and the tuner 31 outputs this EPG information to the EPG acquisition module 34.

  The encoder 32 encodes the video signal and the audio signal input from the tuner 31 by, for example, the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) method, and supplies the encoded signal to the auxiliary storage device 40 via the bus 52 for storage. The auxiliary storage device 40 includes a hard disk, a magnetic tape, a removable disk, a flash memory, and the like.

  The video signal and audio signal stored in the auxiliary storage device 40 are output to the decoder 33 via the bus 52, decoded by the MPEG method, and then supplied to the display device 12. When the received video signal and audio signal are not stored in the auxiliary storage device 40, the encoder 32 and the decoder 33 output the signal output from the tuner 31 to the display device 12 as it is.

  For example, a main storage device 39 including a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 38 are connected to the bus 52. The main storage device 39 appropriately stores data and parameters necessary for a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 35 to execute various processes. The ROM 38 stores a program executed by the CPU 35.

  The bus 52 is further connected to a network interface 37 that executes interface processing with the network 1.

  The CPU 35 is connected to the bus 51 together with the encoder 32, the decoder 33, and the EPG acquisition module 34. The bus 51 is also connected to a main storage device 36 composed of a RAM or the like.

  The functional configuration centering on the software of the video recording / reproducing apparatus 11 is as shown in FIG. The live broadcast reproduction unit 61 performs processing of a signal received at that time or a signal input from an external input terminal (not shown) by the tuner 31. The recorded title playback unit 62 executes playback processing of the program (title) stored in the auxiliary storage device 40. The recording control unit 63 executes a signal recording process for the auxiliary storage device 40. The application management unit 64 executes activation, termination, and operation state monitoring processing of the viewing control application 68, the broadcast program information display application 69, and the recording reservation application 70.

  The viewing control application 68 controls the live broadcast playback unit 61, the recorded title playback unit 62, the recorded title management unit 65, or the broadcast program information management unit 66 based on a command from the user, and is received or input at that time. Or the program stored in the auxiliary storage device 40 is reproduced. Also, when the viewing control application 68 controls the live broadcast reproduction unit 61 to cause the tuner 31 to receive a broadcast program of a channel specified by the user, the broadcast program information stored in the broadcast program information management unit 66 is displayed. Refer to it as appropriate. Furthermore, the viewing control application 68 controls the recorded title playback unit 62 to appropriately refer to the management information of the program stored in the recorded title management unit 65 when playing back the program stored in the auxiliary storage device 40. .

  The broadcast program information display application 69 refers to the broadcast program information (EPG information) stored in the broadcast program information management unit 66 and causes the display device 12 to display the broadcast program information. The recording reservation application 70 executes recording reservation processing based on a command from the user. At this time, the recording reservation application 70 refers to the broadcast program information stored in the broadcast program information management unit 66 as necessary. Further, when making a recording reservation based on an operation from the user, the recording reservation application 70 controls the recording reservation management unit 67 to execute a recording reservation process.

  The recorded title management unit 65 manages information related to the program (title) stored in the auxiliary storage device 40. The broadcast program information management unit 66 manages broadcast program information acquired by the EPG acquisition module 34. The recording reservation management unit 67 controls the recording control unit 63 based on a request from the recording reservation application 70 or the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 and executes the recording reservation process.

  The automatic recording reservation control unit 71 executes a recording reservation process based on the program attribute information acquired from the server 2-1. The network communication unit 72 communicates with the servers 2-1 and 2-2 via the network 1 and acquires program attribute information and broadcast program information.

  The server 2-1 is configured as shown in FIG. 4, for example. In FIG. 4, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 221 executes various processes according to a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 222 or a program loaded from a storage unit 228 to a RAM (Random Access Memory) 223. To do. The RAM 223 also appropriately stores data necessary for the CPU 221 to execute various processes.

  The CPU 221, ROM 222, and RAM 223 are connected to each other via a bus 224. An input / output interface 225 is also connected to the bus 224.

  The input / output interface 225 includes an input unit 226 including a keyboard and a mouse, a display including a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and an LCD (Liquid Crystal display), an output unit 227 including a speaker, a hard disk, and the like. A communication unit 229 including a storage unit 228 and a modem is connected. The storage unit 228 stores program attribute information provided to the user device 3. The communication unit 229 performs communication processing via the network 1 including the Internet.

  A drive 230 is connected to the input / output interface 225 as necessary, and a removable medium 231 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory is appropriately mounted, and a computer program read from them is It is installed in the storage unit 228 as necessary.

  Although illustration is omitted, the server 2-2 has basically the same configuration as the server 2-1 shown in FIG.

  Next, a process in which the user device 3 acquires program attribute information from the server 2-1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

  In step S <b> 1, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 controls the network communication unit 72 to access the server 2-1 via the network 1. In step S2, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 controls the network communication unit 72 to request the server 2-1 to transfer program attribute information.

  As will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6, the server 2-1 that has received this request transmits the program attribute information via the network 1 (step S23 of FIG. 6). Therefore, in step S3, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 receives program attribute information transmitted from the server 2-1 via the network 1 via the network communication unit 72. In step S4, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 stores the program attribute information received from the server 2-1 in the auxiliary storage device 40 (or the main storage device 39).

  In response to the program attribute information acquisition process of the video recording / playback apparatus 11 as described above, the server 2-1 executes the process shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S <b> 21, the CPU 221 accepts access from the video recording / playback apparatus 11 via the network 1. In step S22, the CPU 221 receives a request for transfer of program attribute information transmitted by the video recording / playback apparatus 11 in the process of step S2. In step S <b> 23, the CPU 221 reads the program attribute information stored in the storage unit 228, controls the communication unit 229, and causes the video recording / playback apparatus 11 to transmit the program attribute information.

  As described above, the video recording / reproducing device 11 of the user device 3 acquires the program attribute information from the server 2-1 in advance and stores it in the auxiliary storage device 40.

  In the case where the auxiliary storage device 40 is constituted by, for example, a removable disk, a flash memory, etc., the information of the media is recorded by receiving provision of those media on which the program attribute information is recorded from the administrator of the server 2-1. Can also be held in the auxiliary storage device 40.

  Therefore, the program attribute information can be rewritten (updated) to a new one as necessary. As a result, for example, it is possible to provide each user with program attribute information suitable for the period, such as an election special feature and an Olympic special feature, according to the time when the program is broadcast. By providing such program attribute information, the administrator of the server 2-1 can charge the provided user and increase profits.

  As described above, the user who has acquired the program attribute information can easily reserve recording of a desired program. When making a recording reservation, the user performs an operation of designating program attribute information. Next, processing in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is started when the user instructs the start of the program attribute information designation process.

  In step S41, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 reads the program attribute names of the program attribute information stored in the auxiliary storage device 40 in the process of step S4, and displays the list on the display device 12. Thereby, for example, an image as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display device 12.

  In the example of FIG. 8, a message “Please select program attribute information you want to record automatically” and “Western movie”, “Daytime melody”, “Rebroadcast drama”, “Baseball”, “Soccer” ”,“ Midnight Variety ”,“ Enka ”,“ Classic ”,“ News ”,“ Cooking ”,“ Hot Spring ”, and“ Go / Shogi ”are displayed. Of course, the program attribute names are not limited to these. The user designates a program attribute name that seems to correspond to a program that he / she wants to make a reservation recording from among the displayed program attribute names. For example, the user designates a program attribute name of “foreign movie” if he / she wants to make a reservation recording of a program related to a foreign movie, and designates a program attribute name of “soccer” if he / she wants to make a reservation recording of a soccer program. If you want to make a reservation recording, specify the program attribute name of “News”.

  In the display example of FIG. 8, the program attribute name designated by the user is displayed as a shaded program attribute name 301, and the undesignated program attribute name is designated as a shaded program attribute name 302. It is represented.

  FIG. 9 shows a configuration example of program attribute information. As shown in FIG. 9, the program attribute information 431 includes a program attribute name 432 and a program attribute search condition 433. In the example of FIG. 9, the program attribute name 432 is “soccer”. The program attribute search condition 433 includes parameters of a keyword 441, an exclusion keyword 442, a genre 443, a day of the week 444, a time zone 445, a program length 446, and a broadcast station 447. Of course, the program attribute search conditions are not limited to these.

  The keyword 441 is used to extract the program as a reserved recording program when the keyword is included in the title of the program included in the EPG (broadcast program information) or the detailed information introducing the contents of the program. In the example of FIG. 9, “J1” and “J2” are keywords. Therefore, in the case of this example, when the characters “J1” or “J2” are included in the title or the detailed information, the program is searched as a scheduled recording program.

  When the keyword is included in the title or detailed information of the EPG program, the exclusion keyword 442 is a keyword for excluding the program from the reserved recording program. "Is an exclusion keyword. In this example, since the program attribute name 432 is “soccer”, if the title or detailed information of the program includes the characters “baseball”, the program is excluded from the recording reservation target. It will be.

  The genre 443 designates the genre of a program to be recorded for reservation. In this example, programs with genres whose genre IDs are “64” and “0” are reserved. The ID “64” is, for example, a soccer genre, and the genre “0” is a sports genre.

  The day of the week 444 specifies the day of the week on which the program to be reserved for recording is broadcast. In this example, the day of the week whose ID is “0” and the day of the week “1” are designated. The day of the week whose ID is “0” is, for example, Sunday, and the day of the week “1” is, for example, Monday.

  The time zone 445 defines the time zone of the program to be reserved for recording. In this example, a program broadcast between 17:00 and 23:00 is a program to be reserved.

  The program length 446 defines the length of the program to be reserved. In this example, a program of 15 minutes to 120 minutes is set as a reservation target.

  The broadcast station 447 designates a broadcast station that broadcasts a program to be reserved. In this example, a broadcast station with a broadcast station ID “2128” and a broadcast station “2138” are designated. Has been.

  The keywords 441, exclusion keywords 442, genre 443, day 444, time zone 445, program length 446, and broadcasting station 447 constituting the above program attribute search condition 443 are not specified by each user, but the server 2- 1 is a search condition set in advance corresponding to the program attribute name 432 of “soccer”. In other words, when the user designates the program attribute name “soccer” in FIG. 8, the user has designated the search condition in FIG. 9 associated with the program attribute name. Since the search condition is not specified by the user but by the server 2-1, the user only needs to select the program attribute name “soccer”. Therefore, it is possible to set parameters for recording reservation simply, reliably and quickly.

  Returning to FIG. 7, in step S42, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether or not one of the displayed program attribute names is designated by the user in the process of step S41 as shown in FIG. judge. When one program attribute name is designated, the process proceeds to step S43, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether or not a valid flag is set corresponding to the selected program attribute name. . This valid flag is a flag indicating that it is program attribute information for which the user has designated recording reservation.

  If it is determined in step S43 that the valid flag is not set, the process proceeds to step S44, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 adds the valid flag to the program attribute information of the program attribute name whose designation is accepted in the process of step S42. Set. Specifically, in the state shown in FIG. 8, for example, when the program attribute name “baseball” is designated by the user, the validity flag is set in the program attribute information corresponding to the program attribute name “baseball”. The set program attribute name “baseball” is displayed as a program attribute name 301 with a shadow.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S43 that the valid flag has already been set, the process proceeds to step S45, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 sets the valid flag of the program attribute information of the designated program attribute name. To release. Specifically, for example, in the display example of FIG. 8, when the program attribute name “soccer” is designated, this program attribute name is already in a state in which a valid flag is set. When it is designated again, the setting of the valid flag is canceled, and the program attribute name “soccer” is displayed as the program attribute name 302 without a shadow.

  If it is determined in step S42 that the program attribute name is not specified, or after the valid flag setting process in step S44 or the valid flag releasing process in step S45 is executed, in step S46, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether or not the user has instructed the end of the program attribute information specifying process. If the end has not been instructed, the process returns to step S42, and the subsequent processes are repeated. If it is determined in step S46 that the end of the program attribute information designation process has been instructed, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 ends the process.

  As described above, the user simply sets an arbitrary number of predetermined ones from the program attribute names provided from the server 2-1, and sets program attribute search conditions associated with them. can do. When this setting (selection) is performed, recording reservation is automatically performed as described below.

  Next, a recording reservation process that is automatically executed by the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 after the user has specified a program attribute name (program attribute information) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 is periodically executed at predetermined time intervals.

  In step S61, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether all broadcast program information (EPG information) has been selected. As described above, the EPG information is acquired by the EPG acquisition module 34 and managed by the broadcast program information management unit 66. Specifically, the EPG information is stored in the auxiliary storage device 40.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of such EPG information (broadcast program information). The example of FIG. 11 represents broadcast program information of one program, and the auxiliary storage device 40 stores the broadcast program information of the latest program broadcasted, for example, for two days from the current time. Has been.

  In the example of FIG. 11, the broadcasting station that broadcasts the program is TV Japan, and its broadcasting date is March 26, 2002. The broadcast start time of this program is 17:00, and the end time is 18:00. Furthermore, the genre of this program is variety, and the title of the program is “News 17”. Furthermore, as detailed information, information such as “resigned prime minister, progressing yen depreciation” is described.

  If it is determined in step S61 that all broadcast program information has not yet been selected, the process proceeds to step S62, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 stores, for example, broadcast program information for two days. One piece of broadcast program information is selected. For example, broadcast program information of one program as shown in FIG. 11 is selected here.

  Next, in step S63, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether or not all valid program attribute information has been selected. Here, the valid program selection information is the program attribute information in which the valid flag is set in the process of step S44 in FIG. 7 (program attribute information in which the program attribute name is displayed with a shadow in the display example in FIG. 8). ). In the display example of FIG. 8, there are three pieces of effective program attribute information: “foreign film”, “soccer”, and “news”. In step S63, it is determined whether or not all three pieces of effective program attribute information have been selected. If there is program attribute information that has not yet been selected, the process proceeds to step S64, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71. Selects one of the program attribute information not yet selected. For example, the “soccer” program attribute information is selected from the three effective program attribute information shown in FIG.

  At this time, the process proceeds to step S65, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 reads the search condition of the program attribute information selected in the process of step S64. When the program attribute information corresponding to the program attribute name “soccer” is selected in step S64, for example, the program attribute search condition 433 shown in FIG. 9 is read out here.

  Then, in steps S66 to 71, a determination process is performed to determine whether or not the broadcast program information (EPG information) selected in the process of step S62 is included in the search condition read in the process of step S65. .

  Specifically, in step S66, the genre of broadcast program information selected in the process of step S62 (genre of FIG. 11) is changed to the genre of the search condition (genre 443 of FIG. 9) read in the process of step S65. It is determined whether it is included.

  In step S67, the broadcast date (broadcast date in FIG. 11) of the broadcast program information selected in step S62 is included in the day of the search condition (day 444 in FIG. 9) read out in step S65. Whether the broadcast date in FIG. 11 is a day of the week defined by the day 444 in FIG. 9 is determined.

  Further, in step S68, it is determined whether or not the program start time (start time in FIG. 11) of the broadcast program information is included in the search condition time zone (time zone 445 in FIG. 9).

  In step S69, whether the program length of broadcast program information (time calculated as the difference between the end time and start time in FIG. 11) is included in the program length (program length 446 in FIG. 9) of the search condition. It is determined whether or not.

  In step S70, it is determined whether or not the search condition keyword (keyword 441 in FIG. 9) is included in the title and detailed information (title and detailed information in FIG. 11) included in the broadcast program information.

  Further, in step S71, it is determined whether or not the title of the broadcast program information and the detailed information (title and detailed information in FIG. 11) include at least one exclusion keyword (exclusion keyword 442 in FIG. 9). The

  In all the determination processes in steps S66 to S70, it is determined that the target item is included in the search condition, and in step S71, the exclusion keyword is included in the program title and the detailed information. If it is determined that there is not, the process proceeds to step S72, and the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 controls the recording reservation management unit 67 to add the program that is currently processed to the recording reservation list.

  If the exclusion keyword in step S71 is included, the program is excluded from the search target. Therefore, the absence of the exclusion keyword satisfies the search condition. Therefore, the recording reservation process in step S72 is performed only when all items satisfy the search conditions by the processes in steps S66 to S71.

  In other words, if it is determined that the search condition is not satisfied in any one of the determination processes in steps S66 to S71, the recording reservation process in step S72 is not executed, and the process returns to step S63. .

  If it is determined in step S72 that the recording reservation process has been completed, the process returns to step S63.

  In step S63, it is determined again whether all valid program attribute information has been selected. If all the valid program attribute information has not been selected, next, in the example of FIG. 8, for example, the program attribute information of “foreign film” is selected in the process of step S64. The processing from S65 to S72 is executed.

  When the above processing is repeated and it is determined in step S63 that all valid program attribute information has been selected (all three program attribute information of “soccer”, “foreign film”, and “news” in FIG. If it is determined that it has been selected), the process returns to step S61. In step S61, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 determines whether all broadcast program information has been selected. When it is determined that all broadcast program information has not yet been selected (when there is a program that has not yet been selected), the process proceeds to step S62, where the broadcast program information of that program is selected, and as in the case described above. The processes after step S63 are executed.

  When the above process is repeatedly executed and it is determined in step S61 that all broadcast program information has been selected (when it is determined that the broadcast program information of two days worth of programs has been selected), the process ends. .

  As described above, the automatic recording reservation control unit 71 causes the recording reservation management unit 67 to create a recording reservation list as shown in FIG.

  In the example of FIG. 12, the broadcast date, broadcast station, broadcast start time, and broadcast end time of the program reserved for recording are registered. For example, a program broadcast from 16:00 to 16:30 on TV Japan's broadcasting station on July 1, 2002 is registered as a program reserved for recording.

  This recording reservation list is automatically created when the user performs an operation of selecting a program attribute name such as “foreign film”, “soccer”, or “news”. Therefore, the user is not forced to overload to create the recording reservation list.

  Of course, the user can individually designate predetermined programs via the recording reservation application 70 and register them in the recording reservation list.

  As described above, when the recording reservation list is created, the recording reservation management unit 67 executes recording processing of the reserved program. Next, the recording process of the reserved program will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 is periodically performed at regular intervals.

  In step S91, the recording reservation management unit 67 determines whether or not all programs reserved in the recording reservation list have been searched. If there is a reserved program that has not yet been searched, the process proceeds to step S92, and the recording reservation management unit 67 extracts one program from the recording reservation list. In step S93, the recording reservation management unit 67 reads the broadcast date and time of the program extracted in the process of step S92. For example, when the program indicated by the number 1 in FIG. 12 is extracted in the process of step S92, the broadcast date and the broadcast start time, which is the broadcast date and time of July 1, 2002, 16:00 on the process of step S93. Minute 00 seconds are read as the broadcast date and time.

  In step S94, the recording reservation management unit 67 reads the current date and time from the built-in timer, and determines whether or not the broadcast date and time read out in step S93 is within the reference time from the current date and time. The reference time is a relatively short time such as 30 seconds or 1 minute. This reference time is determined in consideration of the time required from when the control is commanded through the recording control unit 63 until the actual recording process is started.

  If it is determined that the broadcast date and time is not within the reference time from the current date and time, the process returns to step S91, and the subsequent processes are repeatedly executed.

  For example, if the current date is July 1, 2002, 12:00:00, since the current date is 4 hours before the broadcast date, it is not determined that it is within the reference time, and the process returns to step S91. Then, the process for determining whether or not all reserved programs have been searched is performed again. In this case, since all the programs have not been searched yet, the process proceeds to step S92, and the next one program is extracted. For example, the program indicated by the number 2 in FIG. 12 is extracted, and in step S93, the broadcast date and time of the number 2 is read as 17:30 on July 1, 2002.

  In step S94, it is determined whether or not the broadcast date and time is within the reference time from the current date and time, and if not within the reference time, the process returns to step S91 and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

  For example, if the program of number 1 is selected and the current date and time is July 1, 2002 15:59:30, the broadcast date and time July 1, 2002 16:00:00 is the current date and time. It will be within 30 seconds from 15:59:30 on July 1, 2002 (it will be within the reference time), and it will be determined in step S94 that the broadcast date is within the reference time from the current date and time. Is done. In this case, the process proceeds to step S95, and the recording reservation management unit 67 controls the recording control unit 63 to receive the program currently targeted. In this case, the tuner 31 receives broadcast waves from the broadcast station TV Japan.

  In step S96, the recording reservation management unit 67 controls the recording control unit 63 to store the program received in the process of step S95 in the auxiliary storage device 40.

  That is, the video signal and audio signal received by the tuner 31 at this time are supplied to the encoder 32, encoded by the MPEG method, and then supplied to the auxiliary storage device 40 and stored therein.

  In step S97, the recording reservation management unit 67 determines whether or not the program has ended by comparing the broadcast end time of the program that is currently performing the recording process with the current date and time. If the program has not ended yet, it waits until it ends, and if the program ends, the process proceeds to step S98, and the recording reservation manager 67 controls the recording controller 63 to record to the auxiliary storage device 40. End the process. In step S99, the recording reservation management unit 67 controls the recording control unit 63 to end the program receiving process by the tuner 31.

  In step S100, the recording reservation management unit 67 deletes the program that has been recorded from the recording reservation list.

  If it is determined in step S91 that all reserved programs have been searched, the processes in steps S92 to S100 are skipped, and the process ends.

  The above processing is performed at regular intervals, and the programs registered in the recording reservation list are automatically recorded in the auxiliary storage device 40 sequentially.

  Note that the recording reservation list shown in FIG. 12 can be sorted and arranged in the order of broadcast date and time. In this way, the program first extracted in the process of step S92 has the earliest broadcast date and time, and if it is determined that the broadcast date and time is not within the reference time from the current date and time, the remaining Since all of the programs are broadcast dates and times that are not within the reference time from the current date and time, it is possible to omit determination processing for those programs.

  When a program is recorded in the auxiliary storage device 40 as described above, the recording title management unit 65 registers and manages information such as the title of the recorded program and the broadcast date and time.

  When the user commands the reproduction of the recorded program via the viewing control application 68, the viewing control application 68 refers to the management information of the recording title management unit 65, and the program title recorded in the auxiliary storage device 40. Is read out and displayed on the display device 12. When the user views this display and selects a program to be played back, the viewing control application 68 instructs the recorded title playback unit 62 to play back the program. The recorded title playback unit 62 plays back the instructed program from the auxiliary storage device 40. Video data and audio data reproduced from the auxiliary storage device 40 are input to the decoder 33, decoded by the MPEG method, and then output to the display device 12 for display.

  In the above description, the broadcast program information is received from the broadcast station via the broadcast radio wave, but may be received from the server 2-2 via the network 1.

  The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware, but can also be executed by software.

  When a series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software may execute various functions by installing a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware or various programs. For example, it is installed from a network or a recording medium into a general-purpose personal computer or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the recording medium is distributed to provide a program to the user separately from the main body of the apparatus, and includes a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk) on which the program is recorded, an optical disk (CD- It is not only composed of a removable medium 231 composed of ROM (compact disk-read only memory), DVD (digital versatile disk), magneto-optical disk (including MD (mini-disk)), or semiconductor memory. The program is configured by a ROM 222 on which a program is recorded, a hard disk included in the storage unit 228, and the like provided to the user in a state of being preinstalled in the apparatus main body.

  In the present specification, the step of describing the program recorded on the recording medium is not limited to the processing performed in chronological order according to the described order, but is not necessarily performed in chronological order. It also includes processes that are executed individually.

  Further, in this specification, the system represents the entire apparatus constituted by a plurality of apparatuses.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the network system to which this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the video recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the functional structure of the video recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the server 2-1 of FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining program attribute information acquisition processing of the video recording / playback apparatus in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart explaining the program attribute information transfer process of the server 2-1 of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the program attribute information designation | designated process of the video recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the list of program attribute names in step S41 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of program attribute information. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a recording reservation process of the video recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the example of broadcast program information. It is a figure which shows the example of a video recording reservation list. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a recording process of a reserved program in the video recording / playback apparatus of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

  1 network, 2-1, 2-2 server, 3-1, 3-2 user device, 11 video recording / playback device, 12 display device, 31 tuner, 32 encoder, 33 decoder, 34 EPG acquisition module, 35 CPU, 36 Main storage device, 40 auxiliary storage device, 61 live broadcast playback unit, 62 recorded title playback unit, 63 recording control unit, 64 application control unit, 65 recorded title management unit, 66 broadcast program information management unit, 67 recording reservation management unit, 68 viewing control application, 69 broadcast program information display application, 70 recording reservation application, 71 automatic recording reservation control section, 72 network communication section

Claims (8)

A first acquisition unit configured to acquire content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from a search target ;
Presenting means for presenting the content attribute name of the content attribute information acquired by the first acquiring means;
Accepting means for accepting selection of the content attribute name presented by the presenting means ;
A second acquisition means for acquiring content information related to the content;
A first determination is made as to whether or not the content information acquired by the second acquisition unit satisfies all search conditions other than the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name selected by the reception unit. A determination means;
Second determination means for determining whether or not the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name selected by the reception means is included in the content information acquired by the second acquisition means;
A list of contents corresponding to the content information determined by the first determination means to satisfy all the search conditions other than the exclusion keyword and determined not to include the exclusion keyword by the second determination means An information processing apparatus comprising creation means for creating . A first acquisition step of acquiring content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from a search target ;
A presentation step of presenting the content attribute name of the content attribute information acquired in the processing of the first acquisition step;
And accepting step of accepting a selection of the content attribute name that has been presented in the processing of the presentation step,
A second acquisition step of acquiring content information related to the content;
It is determined whether or not the content information acquired in the processing of the second acquisition step satisfies all search conditions other than the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name that has been selected by the processing of the reception step. A first determination step,
Determining whether the content information acquired in the process of the second acquisition step includes the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name selected in the process of the reception step; A determination step;
Corresponds to the content information that is determined to satisfy all the search conditions other than the excluded keyword by the process of the first determination step and that the excluded keyword is not included by the process of the second determination step. An information processing method including a creation step of creating a list of contents . A first acquisition step of acquiring content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from a search target ;
A presentation step of presenting the content attribute name of the content attribute information acquired in the processing of the first acquisition step;
And accepting step of accepting a selection of the content attribute name that has been presented in the processing of the presentation step,
A second acquisition step of acquiring content information related to the content;
It is determined whether or not the content information acquired in the processing of the second acquisition step satisfies all search conditions other than the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name that has been selected by the processing of the reception step. A first determination step,
Determining whether the content information acquired in the process of the second acquisition step includes the exclusion keyword corresponding to the content attribute name selected in the process of the reception step; A determination step;
Corresponds to the content information that is determined to satisfy all the search conditions other than the excluded keyword by the process of the first determination step and that the excluded keyword is not included by the process of the second determination step. A program that causes a computer to execute processing including a creation step of creating a list of contents .   A recording medium on which the program according to claim 3 is recorded. Accepting means for accepting access from other information processing apparatuses via a network;
A request for transferring content attribute information related to the attribute of the content used when the user of the other information processing device selects content is received from the other information processing device whose access has been accepted by the accepting unit. Receiving means;
When the request is received by the receiving unit, the content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from the search target is received by the receiving unit. An information processing apparatus comprising: transmission means for transmitting to another information processing apparatus via the network. An accepting step for accepting access from another information processing apparatus via a network;
A request for transfer of content attribute information related to the attribute of the content used when the user of the other information processing device selects content from the other information processing device whose access has been accepted in the processing of the accepting step. A receiving step for receiving;
When the request is received in the process of the receiving step, the content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from the search target is processed in the process of the receiving step. A transmission step of transmitting via the network to the received other information processing apparatus. An accepting step for accepting access from another information processing apparatus via a network;
A request for transfer of content attribute information related to the attribute of the content used when the user of the other information processing device selects content from the other information processing device whose access has been accepted in the processing of the accepting step. A receiving step for receiving;
When the request is received in the process of the receiving step, the content attribute information including a plurality of search conditions including a content attribute name and an excluded keyword that is a keyword to be excluded from the search target is processed in the process of the receiving step. A program for causing a computer to execute a process including a transmission step of transmitting via the network to the received other information processing apparatus.   A recording medium on which the program according to claim 7 is recorded.

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