JP4649757B2 - Reservation setting method and recording apparatus having network connection function - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a reservation setting method and a recording apparatus having a network connection function. Specifically, address information for network connection is generated using a video signal obtained by receiving a broadcast signal, reservation setting information is obtained from the information providing destination indicated by this address information, and the obtained reservation is obtained. The reservation setting of the broadcast program to be recorded is performed using the setting information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, with the spread of networks such as the Internet, services for providing various information via the Internet have been provided. In order to use the information service via the Internet, a computer device is used to execute an information browsing program so that an information transmission request is made to the information provider side, or the supplied information is sent to the computer device. To be displayed on the screen. Further, the supplied information is stored in a hard disk device or the like.
[0003]
In addition, in order that even a person who cannot operate a computer device can use an information service via the Internet, a receiving device such as a television device is provided with a function of connecting to a network. The information transmission side can be requested from the apparatus to the information providing side, and the information supplied via the network can be displayed on the screen of the television apparatus.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in broadcast programs, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is displayed on the screen of the broadcast program in order to provide information related to the program. Here, when viewing a broadcast program with a television apparatus having the communication function as described above, when acquiring information using the URL displayed on the screen, take a memo of the displayed URL. The URL must be entered while referring to this memo. For this reason, there is a possibility that the URL is input by mistake. In addition, when inputting a URL, characters and numbers must be sequentially specified by operating the remote control device, which makes the input operation complicated.
[0005]
Broadcast notices are also provided for broadcast programs, and when it is impossible to view the noticed program, information necessary for reservation setting for automatically recording the broadcast program on a recording medium, for example, broadcast time and channel number Etc. and make settings while referring to this memo. For this reason, there is a possibility that an incorrect setting is made. Further, when the broadcast schedule of the broadcast program set as reserved is changed, the broadcast program set as reserved cannot be recorded correctly.
[0006]
Therefore, the present invention provides a reservation setting method and a recording apparatus having a network connection function that can easily and correctly make a reservation setting for automatically recording a broadcast program.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, a step of receiving a broadcast signal including a video signal on which a character signal is multiplexed, a character signal is separated from the video signal, and the separated character A step of generating a character string from a signal; a step of storing the character string; and when the stored character string is selected , access is made with address information indicated by the selected character string , and the accessed information A reservation setting method is provided, comprising: acquiring broadcast program reservation setting information from a provider via a network, and automatically setting recording reservation of the broadcast program using the acquired reservation setting information. .
[0008]
In order to solve the above-described problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal including a video signal on which a character signal is multiplexed, a character signal is separated from the video signal, Address information generating means for generating a character string from the separated character signal, storage means for storing the character string, and address information indicated by the selected character string when the stored character string is selected in access, to obtain the reservation setting information of the broadcast program via the network from the information providing destination and the access, and a control means for automatically recording reservation setting of a broadcasting program using the reservation setting information the obtained A recording device is provided.
[0009]
In this invention, a broadcast signal is received, for example, a character signal multiplexed on a video signal is separated, and a character string indicated by the character signal is used as address information for network connection. In addition, reservation setting information is obtained from the information providing destination indicated by the address information, and reservation setting of a broadcast program to be recorded is performed using the obtained reservation setting information. Further, before the recording of the broadcast program set for reservation is started, the update of the reservation setting information at the information providing destination indicated by the address information is confirmed, and when the reservation setting information is updated, the new reservation setting information is updated. The reservation setting is redone using.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the broadcast program sending side. The program transmission unit 11 sequentially transmits the video signal Sv and the audio signal Sa of the broadcast program according to the time schedule. This video signal Sv is supplied to the character signal multiplexer 16 and the audio signal Sa is supplied to the broadcast signal generator 17.
[0011]
An operation unit 13 and an image display unit 14 are connected to the information editing unit 12, and address information for operating the operation unit 13 to make a transmission request for information from the broadcast program viewer side to the broadcast program transmission side. Is set correctly while confirming the display image of the image display unit 14. The address information Dar generated by the information editing unit 12 is supplied to the character signal generation unit 15.
[0012]
The character signal generator 15 converts the supplied address information Dar into a signal of a predetermined format, for example, a character signal Sm of a pattern method, a code method or a hybrid method in character multiplex broadcasting, and character signal multiplexing. To the conversion unit 16.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2A, the character signal multiplexing unit 16 multiplexes the character signal Sm on the 14th to 16th and 21st scanning lines which are vertical blanking periods of the video signal Sv in the first field. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, in the next field, the character signal Sm is multiplexed on the 277th to 279th and 284th scanning lines which are vertical blanking periods of the video signal Sv. The video signal Svm, which is a signal in which the character signal Sm is multiplexed, is supplied to the broadcast signal generation unit 17.
[0014]
The broadcast signal generation unit 17 modulates and mixes the video signal Svm and the audio signal Sa supplied from the program transmission unit 11 to generate a broadcast signal RF and supplies it to the transmission unit 18. The transmitter 18 amplifies the broadcast signal RF and outputs the broadcast signal.
[0015]
The information editing unit 12 generates the address information Dar as described above, and information necessary for reservation setting for automatically recording the broadcast program (hereinafter referred to as “reservation setting information”), for example, the broadcast start of the program The time, broadcast end time, broadcast time, program channel number, and the like are generated. In addition, program guide information including various contents related to program contents and programs is also generated. The reservation setting information, program guide information, and the like generated by the information editing unit 12 are supplied to and stored in the information providing unit 19 that is the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar.
[0016]
The information providing unit 19 has a network connection function, and can communicate information, for example, via the Internet. Here, when an information transmission request is made from the broadcast program receiving side to the information providing unit 19 via the network based on the character signal Sm multiplexed on the video signal Sv, the information requested from the stored information PD is requested. The PR is transmitted to the broadcast program receiving side via the network.
[0017]
Next, FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a recording apparatus having a network connection function on the broadcast program receiving side, for example, a television apparatus that can be connected to the Internet and has a program recording function.
[0018]
A signal obtained by receiving the broadcast signal with the antenna 21 is supplied to the tuner unit 22. The tuner unit 22 selects a signal of a desired channel based on the channel selection control signal CTtu supplied from the operation control unit 40 described later via the bus 50, and generates an intermediate frequency signal IF. The generated intermediate frequency signal IF is supplied to the signal processing unit 23.
[0019]
The signal processing unit 23 amplifies and detects the supplied intermediate frequency signal IF and generates an analog video signal Svm and an audio signal Sa. The generated video signal Svm and audio signal Sa are supplied to the digital conversion processing unit 24 and the signal switching unit 25. The video signal Svm is supplied to the decoding unit 26.
[0020]
The digital conversion processing unit 24 generates a digital image signal DWv composed of, for example, a luminance signal and a color difference signal from the analog video signal Svm. Also, the analog audio signal Sa is converted into a digital audio signal DWa. The image signal DWv and the audio signal DWa obtained by the digital conversion processing unit 24 are supplied to the compression / decompression processing unit 31 via the bus 50.
[0021]
The decoding unit 26 serving as address information generating means separates the character signal Sm multiplexed on the video signal Svm, generates address information Dar from the separated character signal Sm, and supplies the address information Dar to the memory 41.
[0022]
The compression / decompression processing unit 31 encodes the image signal DWv and the audio signal DWa based on, for example, the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard to generate an image encoded signal EWv and an audio encoded signal EWa. The encoded image signal EWv and the encoded audio signal EWa are supplied to an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) interface unit 32 via a bus 50. In addition, in the compression / decompression processing unit 31, when the image encoded signal ERv and the audio encoded signal ERa are supplied from the HDD interface unit 32, the image encoded signal ERv and the audio encoded signal ERa are decoded to generate an image signal. DRv and audio signal DRa are generated. The image signal DRv and the audio signal DRa are supplied to the analog conversion processing unit 35.
[0023]
A hard disk device (HDD) 33 is connected to the HDD interface unit 32, and processing for recording the image encoded signal EWv and the audio encoded signal EWa supplied from the compression / decompression processing unit 31 in the hard disk device 33. I do. Further, a process of reading the encoded signal recorded in the hard disk device 33 is performed, and the image encoded signal ERv and the audio encoded signal ERa read from the hard disk device 33 are supplied to the compression / decompression processing unit 31.
[0024]
The analog conversion processing unit 35 converts the digital image signal DRv and the audio signal DRa into an analog video signal SRv and an audio signal SRa, and supplies the video signal SRv and the audio signal SRa to the signal switching unit 25.
[0025]
In the signal switching unit 25, the video signal Svm and the audio signal Sa supplied from the signal processing unit 23 based on the switching control signal CTs from the operation control unit 40, or the video signal SRv and the audio signal supplied from the analog conversion processing unit 35. Select one of SRa. The video signal selected by the signal switching unit 25 is supplied to the display driving unit 36 as a video output signal SSv. The audio signal selected by the signal switching unit 25 is supplied to the audio driving unit 37 as an audio output signal SSa.
[0026]
The display drive unit 36 generates a display drive signal Pv based on the video output signal SSv and supplies it to the image output unit 38, thereby displaying an image based on the video output signal SSv on the screen of the image output unit 38.
[0027]
The audio driving unit 37 adjusts the signal level of the audio output signal SSa and supplies it to the audio output unit 39, thereby outputting audio based on the audio output signal SSa at a desired audio level.
[0028]
A memory 41 and an operation unit 42 are connected to the bus 50, and the memory 41 stores address information Dar output from the decoding unit 26. The operation unit 42 generates an operation signal PSk corresponding to the key operation and supplies the operation signal PSk to the operation control unit 40.
[0029]
Further, the bus 50 is connected to a network connection unit 45 for inputting / outputting information via a network and a connector 46 for connecting an expansion module 60 for expanding functions of the television apparatus.
[0030]
The network connection unit 45 performs a process of converting into a signal of a predetermined protocol when performing communication via the network. For example, when communication is performed via the Internet, communication with a device on the network is performed as a TCP / IP protocol signal. The network connection unit 45 also performs connection processing to the Internet service provider, authentication processing with the Internet service provider, and the like when connecting to the network via the Internet service provider.
[0031]
The operation control unit 40 generates a channel selection control signal CTtu based on the operation signal PSk from the operation unit 42 to control the channel selection operation in the tuner unit 22, and also generates a switching control signal CTs to generate a signal switching unit. The switching operation at 25 is controlled. Further, by generating a recording / reproduction control signal CTrw and controlling the operations of the compression / decompression processing unit 31, the HDD interface unit 32 and the hard disk device 33 by this recording / reproduction control signal CTrw, the broadcast program can be converted into the hard disk device The program recorded on the computer 33 or the program recorded on the hard disk device 33 is reproduced. Further, the operation control unit 40 controls the network connection unit 45 to make an information transmission request to the information input / output destination indicated by the address information Dar stored in the memory 41.
[0032]
Next, the operation will be described. On the broadcast program sending side, for example, when the broadcast program is a program preview, for example, the information providing destination address information Dar that provides reservation setting information of the program to be notified is multiplexed as a character signal Sm with respect to the video signal Sv of the program preview. To do. Further, a broadcast signal is generated and output using the video signal Svm which is a signal in which the character signal Sm is multiplexed. On the broadcast program transmission side, when the reservation setting information providing destination of a program to be broadcast in the future is different, the address information Dar for each program may be sequentially multiplexed and broadcast on the video signal Sv as the character signal Sm. Furthermore, when reservation setting information of programs to be broadcast in the future is managed together, the address information Dar of the information providing destination that manages the information collectively is multiplexed as a character signal Sm and broadcast on the video signal Sv. You can also.
[0033]
On the broadcast program transmission side, when a request for transmission of reservation setting information is made from the broadcast program reception side to the information providing unit 19 which is the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar multiplexed as the character signal Sm, The stored reservation setting information is supplied to the broadcast program receiving side. Further, when the reservation setting information of a plurality of programs is supplied from the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar, the program selection screen information is supplied to the broadcast program receiving side, and then the broadcast program receiving side. Supply reservation setting information for a specified broadcast program.
[0034]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the reservation setting information transmission request operation. When the television apparatus starts receiving a broadcast program and proceeds to step ST1, it is determined whether or not the character signal Sm is multiplexed with the video signal Svm. Here, when the character signal Sm is multiplexed, the process proceeds to step ST2, the address information Dar based on the multiplexed character signal Sm is stored in the memory 41, and the process proceeds to step ST3. When the character signal Sm is not multiplexed, the process proceeds from step ST1 to step ST3.
[0035]
In step ST3, it is determined whether or not an operation for selecting the address information Dar has been performed. Here, when the address information Dar is not stored in the memory 41, or when none of the address information Dar stored in the memory 41 is selected, the process returns to step ST1. When any of the address information Dar stored in the memory 41 is selected, the process proceeds to step ST4.
[0036]
In step ST4, a transmission request for reservation setting information is sent from the network connection unit 45 to the information providing destination indicated by the selected address information Dar, and the process proceeds to step ST5.
[0037]
In step ST5, the channel number of the broadcast program to be recorded on the hard disk device 33, the broadcast start time, etc. are designated using the reservation setting information obtained from the information providing unit 19 which is the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar. Then, reservation setting is performed and the process returns to step ST1. When the information providing unit 19 that is the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar manages reservation setting information for a plurality of programs, any broadcast program is selected from the plurality of managed programs. Selection instruction information to be selected is supplied from the information providing unit 19 to the television apparatus via the network and displayed on the image output unit 38. Thereafter, when the information providing unit 19 is notified that one of the broadcast programs has been selected by the television device, reservation setting information of the selected broadcast program is supplied from the information providing unit 19 to the television device.
[0038]
In this way, by using the address information Dar indicated by the character signal multiplexed in the broadcast program, the network connection unit 45 makes a transmission request for the reservation setting information to the information providing unit 19 via the network, and provides the information. The reservation setting is performed using the reservation setting information supplied from the unit 19. For this reason, reservation setting can be performed easily and without error without operating a remote control device or the like to input a channel number, a recording start time, or the like.
[0039]
In the recording apparatus having the network connection function shown in FIG. 3, the character signal Sm multiplexed on the video signal Svm is separated by the decoding unit 26, and the character string indicated by the separated character signal Sm is address information Dar. However, the generation of the address information Dar is not limited to the case where the character signal Sm is used. For example, by performing character recognition processing using a video signal having a display image of address information and using the recognized character string as address information Dar, the same operations and effects as described above can be obtained. .
[0040]
By the way, the broadcast schedule of a broadcast program may be changed depending on the broadcast content. For example, when the broadcast program is a baseball broadcast or the like, the broadcast time is extended with the progress of the game. In such a case, if the reservation setting is made to record the program broadcast after the baseball broadcast, the recording operation ends in the middle of the program because the broadcast start time is later than scheduled. Will be.
[0041]
For this reason, the broadcast program transmission side updates the reservation setting information when a change occurs in the broadcast schedule, and provides update information that can determine the newness of the reservation setting information. On the broadcast program receiving side, the reservation setting information update confirmation process is performed before the recording of the reserved broadcast program is started, and the reservation setting is performed again as necessary.
[0042]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the update confirmation process for reservation setting information. In step ST11, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time Ta before the recording start time. Here, when the change of the broadcast schedule of the broadcast program is determined and the reservation setting information is updated at least a predetermined time Tb before the broadcast start time of the broadcast program, the predetermined time Ta is set to a time shorter than the predetermined time Tb. To do. Here, when it is not before the predetermined time Ta, the process returns to step ST11, and when it is before the predetermined time Ta, the process proceeds to step ST12.
[0043]
In step ST12, using the address information Dar stored in the memory 41, it is determined whether or not the reservation setting information has been updated for the information providing destination that has obtained the reservation setting information of the broadcast program to be recorded. Determine. In the determination of the update of the reservation setting information, the reservation setting information update information used for the reservation setting of the broadcast program to be recorded is compared with the update information of the reservation setting information held in the information providing destination. It can be easily determined whether or not the setting information has been updated. Here, if the update information is not equal, that is, if the reservation setting information is updated, the process proceeds to step ST13, a request for reservation setting information is made to the information providing destination indicated by the address information Dar, and a new reservation setting is made. After the reservation setting is redone using the information, the update confirmation process for the reservation setting information is terminated. If the update information is the same, that is, if the reservation setting information has not been updated, the reservation setting information update confirmation process ends.
[0044]
In this way, it is determined whether or not the reservation setting information has been updated before the start of recording. When the reservation setting information is updated, the reservation setting is performed again, so that the desired broadcast can be performed even if the broadcast schedule is changed. The program can be recorded correctly. Needless to say, whether or not the reservation setting information has been updated can also be determined by comparing the reservation setting information held in the information providing destination with the reservation setting state in the television apparatus.
[0045]
In the above-described embodiment, a television apparatus capable of recording a broadcast program by providing a hard disk device as a recording device having a network connection function has been described. However, recording using an optical disk, a magnetic tape, or the like as a recording medium Of course, it may be a device.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, address information for network connection is generated using a video signal obtained by receiving a broadcast signal, and reservation setting information is obtained from an information providing destination indicated by the address information. Then, reservation setting of a broadcast program to be recorded is performed using the acquired reservation setting information. For this reason, it is not necessary to input the broadcast start time and broadcast time of a broadcast program to be recorded while referring to a memo or the like, so that the broadcast program reservation setting can be easily performed.
[0047]
In generating address information, a character signal is separated from a video signal, and a character string indicated by the character signal is used as address information. For this reason, by indicating the information provider to which the reservation setting information is supplied by a character signal, the reservation setting information can be obtained correctly and the reservation setting can be performed correctly.
[0048]
Further, when the reservation setting information at the information providing destination indicated by the address information is confirmed to be updated before the recording of the reserved broadcast program is started and it is detected that the reservation setting information is updated, new reservation setting information is obtained. The reservation setting is redone using. For this reason, even if the broadcast schedule of a broadcast program is changed, a broadcast program that is correctly reserved can be recorded.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast program sending side.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing multiple positions of character signals.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording apparatus having a network connection function.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of a recording apparatus having a network connection function.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an update confirmation process for reservation setting information.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Program transmission part 12 Information editing part 13,42 Operation part 14 Image display part 15 Character signal generation part 16 Character signal multiplexing part 17 Broadcast signal generation part 18 Transmission part 19 Information provision part 21 Antenna 22 Tuner part 23 Signal processing part 24 Digital conversion processing unit 25 Signal switching unit 26 Decoding unit 31 Compression / decompression processing unit 32 HDD interface unit 33 Hard disk drive (HDD)
35 Analog conversion processing unit 36 Display drive unit 37 Audio drive unit 38 Image output unit 39 Audio output unit 40 Operation control unit 41 Memory 45 Network connection unit 50 Bus

Claims (3)

Receiving a broadcast signal including a video signal multiplexed with a character signal;
Separating a character signal from the video signal and generating a character string from the separated character signal;
Storing the character string;
When the stored character string is selected , access is made with the address information indicated by the selected character string, broadcast program reservation setting information is obtained from the accessed information provider via the network, and the acquisition is performed. Automatically setting recording reservation for broadcast programs using the reserved setting information,
A reservation setting method. Receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal including a video signal multiplexed with a character signal;
Address information generating means for separating a character signal from the video signal and generating a character string from the separated character signal;
Storage means for storing the character string;
When the stored character string is selected , access is made with the address information indicated by the selected character string, broadcast program reservation setting information is obtained from the accessed information provider via the network, and the acquisition is performed. Control means for automatically setting recording reservation of a broadcast program using the reserved setting information,
A recording apparatus.   The control means confirms the update of the reservation setting information at the information providing destination before the recording of the broadcast program set as the recording reservation is set, and when the update is detected, the updated reservation setting is updated. The recording apparatus having a network connection function according to claim 2, wherein the recording reservation setting is redone using information.

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