JP4575070B2 - Broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus that receives, for example, digital television broadcasts, and more particularly to an improved display function of the electronic program guide.

  As is well known, in recent years, digitization of television broadcasting has been promoted. For example, in Japan, not only satellite digital broadcasting such as BS (Broadcasting Satellite) digital broadcasting and 110-degree CS (Communication Satellite) digital broadcasting but also terrestrial digital broadcasting has been started.

  In a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that receives such digital television broadcasts, an electronic program guide is created based on EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information acquired from broadcast signals and displayed on a screen. Then, the user can select a desired program from the electronic program guide displayed on the video, and perform viewing or recording reservation.

  By the way, in this kind of digital broadcast receiver, it is expected that the number of broadcast channels and programs will increase due to the further spread of future digital television broadcasts, and the electronic program guide is displayed on the screen. At this time, it is important to devise so that a large amount of information can be efficiently displayed in a form that is easy for the user to see on a limited screen.

Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration for acquiring program information of a channel selected by a user in advance when the power is turned off, and creating and displaying a program guide based on the acquired program information when the power is turned on. However, nothing is described about efficiently displaying the program guide in a form that is easy for the user to see.
JP 2003-163854 A

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and is in an easy-to-view form for the user, and it is possible to create an electronic program guide that efficiently includes a lot of information and display the image on the screen. An object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiving apparatus.

The present invention broadcast receiving apparatus according to the acquisition means for acquiring the program information, on the basis of the acquired program information acquiring means, and character, including a title indicating each program, start portion of the program at the beginning of the character Display a minute display icon with a number written in the frame, and display a column displaying the minute display icon and a character describing the program along the time axis direction. and displays by dividing the bets, in columns displayed in the minute display icons, and displays a mark indicating the existence of a short program, and creates an electronic program guide border does not exist to separate the program A creation means and a display means for displaying the electronic program guide created by the creation means are provided.

According to the invention described above, together with displaying the minute display icon for displaying the start portion of the program at the beginning of the characters indicating each program, displaying an electronic program table border does not exist to separate turn sets Therefore, it is possible to create an electronic program guide that is easy for the user to view and that efficiently includes a lot of information and display the video on the screen. In addition, since a mark indicating the presence of a short-time program is displayed in the column where the minute display icon is displayed, a column in which characters indicating the program are described can be used effectively. It is an easy-to-see form and can display an electronic program guide that efficiently includes a lot of information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows an appearance of a digital television broadcast receiving apparatus 11 described in this embodiment and an example of a network system configured around the digital television broadcast receiving apparatus 11.

  That is, the digital television broadcast receiver 11 is mainly composed of a thin cabinet 12 and a support base 13 that supports the cabinet 12 upright. In the cabinet 12, for example, a flat panel video display 14 made of a liquid crystal display panel, a speaker 15, an operation unit 16, a light receiving unit 18 that receives operation information transmitted from the remote controller 17, and the like are installed. .

  In addition, a first memory card 19 such as an SD (Secure Digital) memory card, an MMC (Multimedia Card), and a memory stick can be attached to and detached from the digital television broadcast receiver 11. Information such as programs and photographs is recorded on and reproduced from the memory card 19.

  Further, for example, a second memory card (IC card) 20 in which contract information or the like is recorded can be attached to and detached from the digital television broadcast receiver 11, and information is stored in the second memory card 20. Recording / reproduction is performed.

  The digital television broadcast receiver 11 includes a first LAN (Local Area Network) terminal 21, a second LAN terminal 22, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminal 23, and an i. A Link terminal 24 is provided.

  Among these, the first LAN terminal 21 is used as a LAN-compatible HDD dedicated port, and information is transferred to the LAN-compatible HDD 25 which is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) by Ethernet (registered trademark). Used for recording and playback.

  In this way, by providing the first LAN terminal 21 as a LAN-compatible HDD dedicated port, program information can be recorded on the HDD 25 with high-definition image quality without being affected by other network environments or network usage conditions. It becomes possible to carry out stably.

  The second LAN terminal 22 is used as a general LAN-compatible port using Ethernet. For example, via a hub 26, a LAN-compatible HDD 27, a PC (Personal Computer) 28, and a DVD with a built-in HDD. (Digital Versatile Disk) Used to connect devices such as the recorder 29 and to transmit information with these devices.

  As for the DVD recorder 29, since the digital information communicated via the second LAN terminal 22 is control system information, analog video and audio information is transmitted to and from the digital television broadcast receiver 11. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a dedicated analog transmission line 30.

  Further, the second LAN terminal 22 is connected to a network 32 such as the Internet via a broadband router 31 connected to the hub 26, and transmits information to and from the PC 33, the mobile phone 34, etc. via the network 32. Used to do.

  The USB terminal 23 is used as a general USB compatible port. For example, a mobile phone 36, a digital camera 37, a card reader / writer 38 for a memory card, an HDD 39, a keyboard 40, etc. via a hub 35. Is used to transmit information to and from these devices.

  Further, i. The Link terminal 24 is used to serially connect, for example, an AV-HDD 41, a D (Digital) -VHS (Video Home System) 42, etc., and perform information transmission with these devices.

  FIG. 2 shows a main signal processing system of the digital television broadcast receiver 11 described above. That is, the satellite digital television broadcast signal received by the BS / CS digital broadcast receiving antenna 43 is supplied to the satellite digital broadcast tuner 45 via the input terminal 44, so that the broadcast signal of the desired channel is obtained. To be selected.

  The broadcast signal selected by the tuner 45 is supplied to a PSK (Phase Shift Keying) demodulator 46, demodulated into a digital video signal and audio signal, and then output to a signal processing unit 47.

  The terrestrial digital television broadcast signal received by the terrestrial digital broadcast receiving antenna 48 is supplied to the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 50 via the input terminal 49, so that the broadcast signal of the desired channel is selected. Is done.

  The broadcast signal selected by the tuner 50 is supplied to an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) demodulator 51, demodulated into a digital video signal and audio signal, and then output to the signal processing unit 47. The

  Here, the signal processing unit 47 selectively selects the digital video signal and audio signal supplied from the PSK demodulator 46 and the digital video signal and audio signal supplied from the OFDM demodulator 51. Predetermined digital signal processing is performed and output to the graphic processor 52 and the audio processor 53.

  Among these, the graphic processor 52 has a function of superimposing and outputting the OSD signal generated by the OSD (On Screen Display) signal generator 54 on the digital video signal supplied from the signal processor 47. The graphic processing unit 52 selectively outputs the output video signal of the signal processing unit 47 and the output OSD signal of the OSD signal generation unit 54, and both outputs constitute half of the screen. Can be combined and output.

  The digital video signal output from the graphic processing unit 52 is supplied to the video processing unit 55. The video processing unit 55 converts the input digital video signal into an analog video signal in a format that can be displayed on the video display 14 and outputs the analog video signal to the video display 14 for video display.

  The audio processing unit 53 converts the input digital audio signal into an analog audio signal in a format that can be reproduced by the speaker 15 and outputs the analog audio signal to the speaker 15 for audio reproduction.

  Here, in the digital television broadcast receiving apparatus 11, all operations including the above-described various receiving operations are comprehensively controlled by the control unit 56. The control unit 56 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like, and receives operation information from the operation unit 16 or receives operation information sent from the remote controller 17 via the light receiving unit 18. Each part is controlled so that the operation content is reflected.

  In this case, the control unit 56 mainly includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 57 that stores a control program executed by the CPU, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 58 that provides a work area to the CPU, and various setting information. And a non-volatile memory 59 in which control information and the like are stored.

  The control unit 56 is connected to a card holder 61 in which the first memory card 19 can be mounted via a card I / F (Interface) 60. Thereby, the control unit 56 can perform information transmission via the card I / F 60 with the first memory card 19 mounted in the card holder 61.

  Further, the control unit 56 is connected to a card holder 63 into which the second memory card 20 can be mounted via a card I / F 62. Thereby, the control unit 56 can perform information transmission via the card I / F 62 with the second memory card 20 mounted in the card holder 63.

  The control unit 56 is connected to the first LAN terminal 21 via the communication I / F 64. Accordingly, the control unit 56 can perform information transmission via the communication I / F 64 with the LAN-compatible HDD 25 connected to the first LAN terminal 21. In this case, the control unit 56 has a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server function and assigns and controls an IP (Internet Protocol) address to the LAN-compatible HDD 25 connected to the first LAN terminal 21.

  Further, the control unit 56 is connected to the second LAN terminal 22 via the communication I / F 65. Thereby, the control unit 56 can perform information transmission with each device (see FIG. 1) connected to the second LAN terminal 22 via the communication I / F 65.

  The control unit 56 is connected to the USB terminal 23 via the USB I / F 66. Accordingly, the control unit 56 can perform information transmission with each device (see FIG. 1) connected to the USB terminal 23 via the USB I / F 66.

  Further, the control unit 56 is configured to i. I. Via Link I / F67 It is connected to the Link terminal 24. Thereby, the control part 56 is i. Each device (see FIG. 1) connected to the Link terminal 24; i. Information transmission can be performed via the Link I / F 67.

  The control unit 56 also includes an EPG information acquisition unit 68 that acquires EPG information that is program information from the received broadcast signal, and a program that creates an electronic program guide based on the EPG information acquired by the EPG information acquisition unit 68. A table creation unit 69 is provided, and the electronic program table created by the program table creation unit 69 can be displayed on the video display 14.

  FIG. 3 shows the appearance of the remote controller 17. The remote controller 17 mainly includes a power key 17a, an input switching key 17b, a direct channel selection key 17c for a satellite digital broadcast channel, a direct channel selection key 17d for a terrestrial broadcast channel, a quick key 17e, a cursor key 17f, and an enter key. 17g, program guide key 17h, page switching key 17i, face net (navigation) key 17j, back key 17k, end key 17l, blue, red, green, yellow color key 17m, channel up / down key 17n, volume adjustment key 17o Etc. are provided.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of an electronic program guide displayed on the video display 14. This electronic program guide is displayed by operating the program guide key 17h of the remote controller 17, and six broadcasting stations (broadcast channels) are arranged in the horizontal direction, and a time frame for five hours is arranged in the vertical direction. Arrange and display programs.

  The electronic program guide can be selectively scrolled in the vertical and horizontal directions by operating the cursor key 17f of the remote controller 17. Further, if the page switching key 17i of the remote controller 17 is operated, the electronic program guide for one screen can be selectively skipped in the vertical and horizontal directions at once.

  Here, this electronic program guide has display columns A to F corresponding to six broadcasting stations (broadcast channels), and each of the display columns A to F includes a channel number display area A1 to F1 and a broadcasting station, respectively. Name display areas A2 to F2 and program display areas A3 to F3 are configured.

  In this case, for example, as shown in the display columns D to F, when the same broadcasting station has a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) channel numbers, the three broadcasting station name display areas D2 to F2 are one. Used as a common broadcast station name display area.

  In addition, the same broadcast station broadcasts the same program with a plurality of channel numbers (three in the figure), so-called event sharing is performed, and three program display areas D3 to F3 are shared by one. Used as a program display area.

  Further, in this electronic program guide, a channel selection program display area G indicating the channel number, title, broadcast time, etc. of the currently selected program is provided below the six display fields A to F. In this case, the currently selected program is expressed by hatching in the display fields A to F, but the display area of the program is displayed in a different color from the display areas of other programs. ing.

  Further, in this electronic program guide, five time regions H1 to H5 indicating time frames for every hour are provided on the left and right from the top to the bottom. FIG. 4 shows a state in which each time region H1 to H5 corresponds to 9 am to 1 pm, respectively. When the current time is 10:00 am, the time regions H1 to H5 are switched to correspond to 10:00 am to 2 pm, respectively.

  Here, more detailed contents of the electronic program guide will be described. That is, in the program display areas A3 to F3 of the display columns A to F, no frame lines are displayed for dividing the programs arranged there for each time zone.

  This is because the program guide creation unit 69 creates an electronic program guide with no information for displaying a frame line for dividing a program time zone. As a result, a space for display can be increased as much as the frame line is deleted, and more characters can be efficiently described.

  However, there is a frame line 70 for separating the program sharing the event from the program not sharing the event.

  In the program display areas A3 to F3 of the display columns A to F, the minute display icons 71 for displaying the start of the program at the beginning of the characters indicating the programs described there, respectively. Is displayed. For this reason, by referring to the time frame and the minute display icon 71 shown in each time region H1 to H5, the user can start each program even if there is no frame line for dividing the program into time zones. Time and minutes can be easily grasped.

  Here, the minute display icon 71 expresses a two-digit number (for example, 00, 50, etc.) indicating the start of the program in white in a rectangular frame. Then, the frame of the display icon 71 is color-coded according to whether the program is a favorite program searched by the search information set by the user or according to the genre of the program. Thereby, the user can easily grasp whether the program is a favorite program or to which genre it belongs by looking at the color of the minute display icon 71.

  In other words, the digital television broadcast receiving apparatus 11 automatically inputs programs corresponding to preference information from the input time point to one week ahead when the user inputs preference information such as channel, genre, and keyword. You can search. Then, the favorite program searched by this preference information is indicated by the color of the minute display icon 71 when the electronic program guide is displayed. Note that a favorite program color display area I indicating the color of the minute display icon 71 corresponding to the favorite program is provided below the above-described channel selection program display area G.

  In the digital television broadcast receiver 11, for example, the user can set a color for each genre such as sports, news, movies, etc., and when the electronic program guide is displayed, the genre of the program is set. The minute display icon 71 is indicated by the color set by the user. A plurality of genre color display areas J1 to J3 for indicating colors set by the user are provided in the lower part of the above-described channel selection program display area G in correspondence with genres such as sports, news, and movies.

  If an arbitrary program displayed in the electronic program guide is a favorite program and belongs to a genre for which the user has set a color, the minute display icon 71 of the program indicates the favorite program. The color is displayed with priority.

  Here, the color setting for each genre by the user will be described. That is, when the quick key 17e of the remote controller 17 is operated in a state where the electronic program guide as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, the quick menu 72 is superimposed on the electronic program guide as shown in FIG. Is displayed.

  The quick menu 72 displays four items: “program table symbol list”, “change character size”, “genre color classification setting”, and “update program information”. Then, the user operates the cursor key 17f of the remote controller 17 to select the “genre color classification setting” item, and operates the enter key 17g.

  Then, a genre color classification setting screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the video display 14. In this genre color setting screen, a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) color display areas K1 to K3 in which different colors are displayed in advance, and genres for displaying genres corresponding to these color display areas K1 to K3 Display areas L1 to L3 are displayed.

  When this genre color classification setting screen is displayed, the user first operates the cursor key 17f of the remote controller 17 to select a color display area (for example, K1) where a desired color is displayed, and operates the enter key 17g. To do.

  Then, a genre change screen as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the video display 14. On this genre change screen, a plurality of genre areas displaying “movie”, “foreign film”, “Japanese film”,.

  Then, on this genre change screen, the user operates the cursor key 17f of the remote controller 17 to select a desired genre area (for example, movie) and operates the enter key 17g.

  Then, the display of the video display 14 returns to the genre color classification setting screen of FIG. 6, and the characters “movie” are displayed in the genre display area L1 corresponding to the color display area K1, and are displayed in the color display area K1. Colors and genres (movies) are associated with each other.

  The color display areas K1 to K3 on the genre color setting screen can be made to correspond to four or more colors by operating the cursor keys 17f of the remote controller 17 and scrolling.

  Returning to FIG. 4 again, the electronic program guide will be described. In other words, the program display areas A3 to F3 of the display columns A to F are displayed in a column in which the minute display icon 71 is displayed along the time axis direction as shown by dividing the program display area B3 by the dotted line 73, for example. 74 and a column 75 in which characters such as a program title are described.

  In short, in all the program display areas A3 to F3, the display form is such that no characters are described in the column in which the minute display icon 71 is displayed. By adopting such a display form, it is possible to display a program that is easy for the user to view even when there is no frame line for dividing the program for each time period.

  In the column 74 where the minute display icon 71 is displayed in the program display area B3, a bar (mark) 76 having a length substantially equal to the width of the minute display icon 71 is displayed. This bar 76 indicates that there is a short-time program such as within 1 minute.

  In this way, by displaying the presence of the short-time program by the bar 76, it is possible to reduce the space for displaying the title of the short-time program by characters and to enable efficient program display. That is, when a title of a short-time program within 1 minute is displayed, a space is required in the time axis direction, that is, in the vertical direction of the program display area B3. Cannot be set.

  In this electronic program guide, only the presence of a short-time program is indicated by the bar 76, so that it is possible to provide a user with a wide program guide in terms of time by extending the time frame in the vertical direction. In this case, the color of the bar 76 is fixed. In addition, even when a plurality of short-time programs are continued, a single bar 76 is displayed.

  Here, the time areas H1 to H5 provided on the left and right of the electronic program guide are set so that the background colors thereof are different depending on the associated time zones. For example, when the current time is 10:00 in the state where the time areas H1 to H5 are displayed in the first to fifth background colors corresponding to 9 am to 1 pm, respectively, the time areas H1 to H5 are , Respectively corresponding to 10 am to 2 pm are shifted so as to be displayed in the second to sixth background colors.

  Then, the background colors of all the program display areas A3 to F3 are determined to be the same color as the background color of the top time area H1. For this reason, the background colors of the program display areas A3 to F3 change every hour. In this case, if a background color suitable for the time zone is set for each time zone, it is possible to display a program guide that is easy for the user to view. However, for the currently selected program, the display area of the program indicated by hatching in FIG. 4 is displayed with the background colors and colors of the program display areas A3 to F3 being changed.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by variously modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements according to different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a digital television broadcast receiver and a network system configured around it. The block block diagram shown in order to demonstrate the main signal processing systems of the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment. The external view shown in order to demonstrate the remote controller of the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the electronic program guide displayed by the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the quick menu displayed by the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the genre color classification setting screen displayed by the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the genre change screen displayed by the digital television broadcast receiver in the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Digital television broadcast receiver, 12 ... Cabinet, 13 ... Support stand, 14 ... Video display, 15 ... Speaker, 16 ... Operation part, 17 ... Remote controller, 18 ... Light receiving part, 19 ... 1st memory card 20 ... second memory card, 21 ... first LAN terminal, 22 ... second LAN terminal, 23 ... USB terminal, 24 ... i. Link terminal, 25 ... HDD, 26 ... hub, 27 ... HDD, 28 ... PC, 29 ... DVD recorder, 30 ... analog transmission path, 31 ... broadband router, 32 ... network, 33 ... PC, 34 ... mobile phone, 35 ... Hub, 36 ... mobile phone, 37 ... digital camera, 38 ... card reader / writer, 39 ... HDD, 40 ... keyboard, 41 ... AV-HDD, 42 ... D-VHS, 43 ... antenna, 44 ... input terminal, 45 ... Tuner, 46 ... PSK demodulator, 47 ... Signal processing unit, 48 ... Antenna, 49 ... Input terminal, 50 ... Tuner, 51 ... OFDM demodulator, 52 ... Graphic processing unit, 53 ... Audio processing unit, 54 ... OSD signal generation 55, image processing unit, 56 ... control unit, 57 ... ROM, 58 ... RAM, 59 ... non-volatile memory, 60 ... card I / F, 61 ... card Holder 62 ... Card I / F, 63 ... Card holder, 64 ... Communication I / F, 65 ... Communication I / F, 66 ... USB I / F, 67 ... i. Link I / F, 68 ... EPG information acquisition unit, 69 ... Program guide creation unit, 70 ... Frame line, 71 ... Minute display icon, 72 ... Quick menu, 73 ... Dotted line, 74, 75 ... Column, 76 ... Bar.

Claims (8)

Obtaining means for obtaining program information;
Based on the acquired program information by the acquisition unit, a character containing a title in each program, for displaying the start portion of the program to the beginning portion of the character, minute display icons numbers written in the frame The column displaying the minute display icon and the column describing the character indicating the program are divided and displayed along the time axis direction, and the display of the minute display icon is displayed. in columns, a creation unit briefly displays a mark indicating the existence of a program, and for creating an electronic program table border does not exist for separating the program,
A broadcast receiving apparatus comprising: display means for displaying the electronic program guide created by the creating means.   The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creating means displays the minute display icons in different colors for each program genre. Comprising setting means for setting the genre and color of the program in correspondence with each other;
The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creating unit displays the minute display icon corresponding to a program of a predetermined genre in a color set by the setting unit.   The said creation means displays the said minute display icon corresponding to the program searched based on the input preference information by the color for preset preference programs, The display of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Broadcast receiving device. The creating means includes
The minute display icon corresponding to a program of a predetermined genre is displayed in a color set in advance corresponding to the genre of the program by an operation, and the program corresponding to the program searched based on the input preference information The minute display icon can be displayed in a preset color for your favorite program,
The color display based on a favorite program is prioritized when the color display based on a genre overlaps with the color display based on a favorite program for the minute display icons corresponding to the same program. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to 1. Said creation means along said time axis direction of the electronic program guide to display a plurality of time domain time slot consecutive respectively associated with, that of displaying the plurality of time regions with different colors The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: Said creation means, with the passage between the time, the broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that shifts the color associated with said plurality of time domain. The creation means associates a column in which the minute display icon of the electronic program guide is displayed with a column in which characters indicating the program are described, with the past time zone being associated among the plurality of time regions. 7. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the broadcast receiving apparatus is displayed in the color of the time domain.

Images