JP4466664B2 - Information processing method and information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device connected to a terminal or a device incorporating the terminal by operating the display device of the browsing software operating on the terminal on the computer network with an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. The present invention relates to an information processing method and an information processing apparatus capable of making a recording reservation.

  A system for operating a device connected to a computer on the screen of the computer is conventionally known. However, in this system, since the data sent to the device connected to the computer is input to the computer in advance, the operation of the device is limited to the range of the data.

  Furthermore, there are known systems in which a terminal on a computer network receives data from a server or other terminal on the network and controls a device connected to the terminal based on the data. Since only a predetermined set of controls is performed using dedicated control software, it is necessary to change the control software of the terminal when changing the contents of control.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-276501

  The present invention relates to a terminal in a computer network that receives program data from a server or other terminal on the network and controls a device connected to itself based on the program data. Program recording can be reserved as a control of devices connected to the terminal without changing any software, and when a program that may change the broadcast time is scheduled to be recorded, recording ends An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing method and an information processing apparatus capable of improving convenience by changing the time.

An information processing method according to the present invention includes a reservation button for receiving program data from a server via a network at an operation terminal and making a reservation for an external device, and a notice button for downloading and displaying program notice data. Together with a detailed button for downloading and displaying detailed data of the program and a link button for downloading and displaying related data related to the program, the received program data is displayed on the display screen of the operation terminal. A step of displaying, a step of selecting a predetermined program by an input device from program data displayed on the display screen of the operation terminal, and the reservation button being pressed when the program data is displayed Then, when the selected program is before broadcasting, a step for giving a recording reservation command to the external device so as to reserve the program. When the notice button, the detail button, or the link button displayed together with the program data is pressed, the notice data, the detail data, or the related data is manipulated via the network. The reservation button that is downloaded to the terminal, the notice data, the detail data, or the related data is displayed on the display screen of the operation terminal together with the reservation button, and is displayed together with the notice button, the detail button, or the related data. When is pressed, when the program selected on the operation terminal is before broadcasting, a recording reservation command is given to the external device so as to reserve the program .

The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives program data, program preview data, detailed program data, and related data related to a program from a server via a network, and the receiving unit that receives the data. Display control means for controlling the program data, the advance notice data, the detailed data and the related data to be displayed on a display screen, and an input device for selecting a predetermined program from the program data displayed on the display screen And a processing means for giving a recording reservation command to an external device so as to make a recording reservation for the program when the program selected by the input device is before broadcasting, and the display control means displays the program data When making a reservation, a reservation button for making a reservation for the external device and a notice button for downloading and displaying the notice data of the program are displayed. A detailed button for downloading and displaying the detailed data of the program, and a link button for downloading and displaying related data related to the program, and the notice button, the detailed button or the link When the button is pressed and the preview data, the detailed data, or the related data is displayed, the reservation button is displayed, and the processing means stores the program data, the preliminary data, the detailed data, and the related data. If the reservation button is pressed when the program is displayed, a recording reservation command is given to the external device so as to make a recording reservation for the program when the program selected by the input device is before broadcasting .

  According to the present invention, by operating on the screen of a terminal connected to a computer network, the latest program guide, program preview data, detailed data, or related data sent via the network is used. Control can be performed.

  Since browsing software such as WWW is used for the screen display of the terminal, the screen display and device operation data can be updated at any time by changing the transmission data of the server on the network. Therefore, it is possible to easily change the operability of the device, change the function, etc. according to the situation.

  Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to make a recording reservation using the latest program data sent via the network by operating the screen of a terminal connected to the computer network. When there is identification information that may change the broadcast time in the program data of the program reserved for recording, the process for changing the recording end time is performed, so that convenience can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a channel selection / reservation system to which the present invention is applied. This channel selection / reservation system includes an operation terminal 1, a video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as VTR) 2 as an external device, and a television receiver (hereinafter referred to as a television) 3 as an external device. The operation terminal 1 is connected to the modem 5 of the provider 6 by a modem 14 and a wired or wireless telephone line 4. A program data server 8, a broadcast station server 9, and other servers 10 are connected to the Internet 7. The operation terminal 1 and the provider 6 may be a medium other than a telephone line (for example, a cable television network or a wireless communication line).

  The operation terminal 1 is composed of, for example, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), to which a keyboard 11, a mouse 12, an infrared light emitting unit 13, and a modem 14 are connected. Moreover, browsing software 15 such as a WWW (World Wide Web) browser is provided inside.

  The keyboard 11 and the mouse 12 are used for the user to input various commands. The infrared light emitting unit 13 transmits an infrared signal for the operation terminal 1 to control the VTR 2 and the television 3. The modem 14 modulates and transmits data created by the operation terminal 1 and receives and demodulates data sent via the telephone line 4. Here, instead of the infrared light emitting unit 13, the operation terminal 1, the VTR 2, and the television 3 may be connected by a cable, a radio wave, or the like.

  2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the operation terminal 1 when performing channel selection / reservation using the system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows an image displayed on the display (not shown) of the operation terminal 1 at that time. It is a figure which shows a part of. The operation when performing channel selection / reservation will be described below.

  First, when the user performs a predetermined operation using the key word 11 and the mouse 12, the operation terminal 1 creates a command for accessing the home page of the program data server 8 connected to the Internet 7, and the modem 14 is operated. (Step S1). This command is sent to the provider 6 via the telephone line 4 and the modem 5, and is sent to the program data server 8 connected to the Internet 7 via this command.

  Upon receiving this command, the program data server 8 sends the program data to the operation terminal 1 via the Internet 7. This program data is received and demodulated by the modem 14 and is taken into the operation terminal 1. The operation terminal 1 downloads the program data and displays the program guide and various buttons on the display (step S2).

  The image displayed on the display is, for example, as shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, a detailed button, a notice button, a reservation / channel selection button, and a link button are displayed on the program guide display screen. The user can select a program by looking at this program guide and press a desired button. The operation terminal 1 performs the process described below according to the button pressed by the user.

  When the user presses the reservation / channel selection button (YES in step S3, reservation / channel selection in S4), if the selected program is currently being broadcasted, the channel is selected on the television 3; To make a recording reservation (step S5). In this process, a tuning command (control signal for specifying a channel) is given to the tuner of the television 3 via the infrared light emitting unit 13, or a recording reservation command (control signal including recording start time, end time, and channel) is given to the VTR 2. Realize by giving. For programs that may change the broadcast time (for example, prolonging the broadcast time of professional baseball broadcasts and deferring the broadcast time of the subsequent programs), by providing the identification information in the program data, The recording end time can be changed automatically or upon user designation when making a recording reservation.

  If the user presses the notice button or the detail button (YES in step S3, notice or details in S4), the notice data or detailed data is requested from the program data server 8 (step S6). In response to this request, the program data server 8 sends notice data or detailed data to the operation terminal 1. The operation terminal 1 downloads and displays the advance notice data or the detailed data (step S7).

  A reservation / channel selection button, a program guide button, and an end button are displayed on a part of an image (not shown) displayed at this time. When the user presses the reservation / channel selection button (YES in step S8, reservation / channel selection in S9), if the selected program is currently being broadcast, the TV 3 selects the channel, and if it is before the broadcast, VTR2 To make a recording reservation (step S5). If the program guide button is pressed, the program guide display screen is displayed again (YES in step S8, program guide in S9). If the end button is pressed (YES in step S8, end in S9), the process ends.

  Further, when the user presses the link button, the server of related data is accessed (step S10). As a result, related data is downloaded and displayed (step S11).

  3 (2) to 3 (5) show examples of related data. (2) is the homepage of the TV station, (3) is the homepage of the sponsor, (4) is the homepage of the publisher of the original drama, and (5) is the homepage of the talent office.

  On the homepage of the TV station, program guide (detailed contents of the program etc.) and a reservation / channel selection button are displayed. On the sponsor's home page, a list of programs provided by the sponsor including the program selected in the program guide and a reservation / channel selection button are displayed. On the publisher's home page, an introduction screen of the original drama and a reservation / channel selection button are displayed. On the homepage of the talent office, a list of the talented programs including the program selected in the program guide and a reservation / channel selection button are displayed. Here, the channel selection button may be displayed when the program selected by the user is currently being broadcast, and the reservation button may be displayed before the broadcast. Although not shown here, a program guide button and an end button are also displayed.

  When the user views the homepage of the broadcast station and presses the reservation / channel selection button (YES in step S12, reservation / channel selection in step S13), if the selected program is currently being broadcasted, the channel 3 is selected, If it is before broadcasting, a recording reservation is made with the VTR 2 (step S5). If you look at the publisher's homepage and press the Reservation / Channel selection button, if you look at the sponsor's homepage, select a program from the list of offered programs and press the Reservation / Channel selection button, you will see the Talent Office homepage The same applies to the case where a program is selected from the list of starring programs to watch and the reservation / channel selection button is pressed.

  If the program guide button is pressed (YES in step S12, the program guide in S13), the program guide display screen is displayed again. If the end button is pressed (YES in step S12, ends in S13), the process is performed. finish.

  Thus, according to the channel selection / reservation system to which the present invention is applied, data related to the program can be accessed immediately by using the Internet. In addition, watching the detailed data and related data, you can select the actual broadcast and make a recording reservation on the spot, so you can expect an increase in the audience rating. Furthermore, it is possible to easily and carefully select a program to be viewed or a program to be reserved for recording from among multi-channel broadcast programs.

  In the above example, the image by the browsing software is displayed on the display of the operation terminal and the input operation for operating the TV and VTR is performed on the screen. However, the operation terminal is not provided with a display. The image by the browsing software may be displayed on the television screen. In addition, an operation terminal may be provided inside a television or VTR. Further, the operation terminal can always automatically download data from each server, and the data can be stored in the operation terminal or in a memory connected to the operation terminal. In this case, since the stored data is read out instead of accessing the server by a user operation, the display speed is improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the channel selection / reservation system to which this invention is applied. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of an operation terminal when performing channel selection / reservation using the system of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a part of an image displayed on an operation terminal when channel selection / reservation is performed using the system of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operation terminal, 2 ... VTR, 3 ... Television, 7 ... Internet, 8 ... Server of program data, 11 ... Keyboard, 12 ... Mouse

Claims (2)

Receiving program data from the server via the network on the operation terminal, downloading a reservation button for making reservations for external devices, a notice button for downloading and displaying program preview data, and downloading detailed program data A step of displaying the received program data on the display screen of the operation terminal together with a detail button for displaying the program and a link button for downloading and displaying related data related to the program;
Selecting a predetermined program by an input device from program data displayed on the display screen of the operation terminal;
A step of giving a recording reservation command to an external device so as to reserve the program when the reservation button is pressed when the program data is displayed and the selected program is before broadcasting; Have
When one of the notice button, the detail button or the link button displayed together with the program data is pressed, the notice data, the detail data or the related data is downloaded to the operation terminal via the network, These notice data, detailed data or related data are displayed on the display screen of the operation terminal together with the reservation button.
When the reservation button displayed together with the advance notice button, the detail button, or the related data is pressed, when the program selected on the operation terminal is pre-broadcast, the program is recorded on the external device so that the program is reserved. An information processing method for giving a reservation command . Receiving means for receiving program data, program preview data, detailed program data and related data related to the program from the server via the network;
Display control means for controlling the program data, the notice data, the detailed data and the related data received by the receiving means to be displayed on a display screen;
An input device for selecting a predetermined program from the program data displayed on the display screen;
Processing means for giving a recording reservation command to an external device so as to perform recording reservation of the program when the program selected by the input device is before broadcasting;
When displaying the program data, the display control means includes a reservation button for reserving the external device, a notice button for downloading and displaying the notice data of the program, and detailed data of the program. A detailed button for downloading and displaying and a link button for downloading and displaying related data related to the program,
When the notice button, the detail button or the link button is pressed and the notice data, the detail data or the related data is displayed, the reservation button is displayed,
When the program data, the advance notice data, the detailed data, and the related data are displayed, when the reservation button is pressed, the processing means, when the program selected by the input device is before broadcasting, An information processing apparatus that gives a recording reservation command to the external device so as to make a recording reservation for the program .

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