JP6202791B2 - Preference program data management apparatus and method, and television receiver - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a preference program data management apparatus and method, and a television receiver.

  In recent years, recording capacities of recording media such as hard disk drives (HDD) and optical discs (digital versatile disc: DVD, Blu-ray disc: BD) have been remarkably improved. These recording media are used in program recording apparatuses for broadcast programs. As a program recording apparatus for broadcast programs, there are a dedicated program recording apparatus and a program recording apparatus used by being connected to a television receiver. Furthermore, a television receiver capable of connecting a plurality of HDDs via a hub has been developed.

  On the other hand, various broadcasting systems such as terrestrial digital broadcasting and satellite broadcasting are realized as broadcasting systems. In terrestrial digital broadcasting, signals of a plurality of channels can be transmitted simultaneously. As information about broadcast programs, an electronic program guide (EPG) is broadcast as program attribute information instead of a television program guide of newspapers and magazines. This program attribute information can also be obtained via a network such as a telephone line.

  In addition, a program recording apparatus that can record all programs broadcast on a plurality of channels over a plurality of days has been put on the market. When all programs broadcast on a plurality of channels are recorded over a plurality of days, the user must select a program desired to be viewed from a large number of recorded programs.

  In particular, in a television receiver in which a plurality of HDDs are connected via a hub, each program list of programs recorded in the plurality of HDDs is recorded independently in each HDD. For this reason, the program list of each HDD is individually read and displayed by the reproduction control unit and the display control unit. It is very troublesome for a user to find a desired program from a list of a large number of programs.

  In order to facilitate the above-described desired program search, various preference determination devices that determine a user's preference and obtain a list of recommended programs based on the preference data have been proposed.

  For example, in a video playback device, operation history data relating to recording and playback of a broadcast program is stored, and this operation history data is used. The operation history data includes accumulated data obtained by accumulating the reproduction time when the recorded program is actually reproduced. Based on this accumulated data, the preference of what type of program the user likes is determined.

  Furthermore, an apparatus has also been proposed in which program attribute information that seems to correspond to palatability is obtained from a program guide by using the palatability data and recording reservation data is obtained.

JP 2008-42567 A JP 2005-312023 A

  However, even if the user's preference is determined, the conventional method may not always determine the preference adapted to the user. In particular, in a program recording apparatus that can record and store all programs broadcast on two or more channels (for example, six channels) over a plurality of days (for example, two weeks, or three to four weeks), judgment of preference is made. Care must be taken to get things done and to get a list of recommended programs.

  As described above, when all the programs over a plurality of days are recorded, the program of the same title broadcasted daily (broadcast every day) and broadcasted weekly (broadcast once a week) The same title program will be mixed. When the program A with the same title broadcasted in daily units (for example, Monday to Friday) is played twice in two weeks, and when the program B with the same title broadcasted in weekly units (for example, Monday) is played twice The user's preference (attention level) for programs A and B may not be the same rank or rating. That is, the viewing rate of program A broadcast every day is (2/10), and the viewing rate of program B is (2/2). Further, for example, when the number of viewing times is added, for example, after one month, the number of viewing times of the daily program becomes much larger than the number of viewing times of the weekly program. Therefore, when the number of viewing times is simply reflected in the user's preference, it may not be appropriate preference data.

  Accordingly, an object of the present embodiment is to provide a preference program data management apparatus and method, and a television receiving apparatus, which can determine the user's preference for a plurality of programs with an appropriate rating.

According to the present embodiment, the first terminal capable of connecting / disconnecting the first recording device capable of recording programs of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days,
A second terminal capable of connecting / disconnecting a second recording device capable of recording programs of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days;
An identification unit for identifying the first and second terminals;
Each of the programs of the plurality of channels recorded in the first recording device and the program of the plurality of channels recorded in the second recording device connected to the second terminal are associated with each other. A recording control unit that records both the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information in the first recording device;
A viewing history storage unit for storing viewing history data of programs recorded in the first and second recording devices;
Using the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information recorded in the first recording device, and the third program attribute information included in the viewing history data, each viewed program is The same series program detection unit for determining the frequency of a unit program or a weekly program,
A program list generation unit for assigning a weight according to the determination result to each program based on the viewing history data and the determination result of the frequency, and setting a display order of the program list according to the weight; .

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the external appearance at the time of seeing the television receiver 100 from the back side, and the side. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of an identification unit 256 in FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the television receiver in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state of the data recording area of the 1st HDD connected to USB terminal 3A, and the state of the data recording area of the 2nd HDD connected to USB terminal 3B. FIG. 2 is a block diagram specifically illustrating a configuration example of a user preference program extraction unit in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the user preference program extraction part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of embodiment in which a weekly program and a daily program are shown as one list. It is a figure which shows the example by which the embodiment in which a weekly program and a daily program appear as one list is displayed on the screen. It is a figure which shows the example of embodiment which made it possible to switch the list of a weekly program and the list of a daily program by tab selection. It is a figure which shows the example by which the embodiment which can switch the list of weekly programs and the list of daily programs by tab selection was displayed on the screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. First, in this embodiment, a television receiver will be described as a representative. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to a television receiver, and can be applied to a dedicated recording device, a personal computer, a portable terminal, and the like.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a television receiver to which the present invention is applied. A digital tuner device 102 includes a plurality of tuners, and can simultaneously receive a plurality of channels and demodulate a plurality of broadcast programs. The tuner device 102 receives a high frequency signal received by an antenna via an input terminal. The tuner device 102 may include, for example, a tuner (not shown) for receiving BS / CS digital broadcasts.

  The input terminal BN1 is an external input terminal, and receives a signal from a cable, a network, or another device.

  The broadcast program signal received by the tuner device 102 and the signal from the external input terminal BN 1 are input to the TS processing unit 122. TSs (Transport Streams) of a plurality of channels (CH) are remultiplexed into one TS. The multiplexed TS includes a packet sequence of broadcast programs for each channel. Identification information for channel and packet identification is added to the packet of each channel. The multiplexed TS is input to the recording device 111 under the control of the recording control unit 255. Of the TS input to the TS processing unit 122, a packet including control information is input to the control unit 200 and processed.

  Here, the recording device 111 is shown as a block in a lump and includes, for example, a plurality of hard disk drives (HDD), an optical disk recording / reproducing device, a USB memory, and the like. The optical disc includes a digital versatile disc (DVD), a Blu-ray disc (BD), and the like.

  The recording control unit 255 can exchange data with each other via the USB terminals 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D with respect to a recording apparatus that takes the USB connection format. The terminals 41 and 42 are, for example, terminals for a DVD recording / reproducing apparatus and a BD recording / reproducing terminal.

  A packet sent from the TS processing unit 122 to the control unit 200 is, for example, a table describing ECM (Entitlement Control Message) that is encryption information of a broadcast program and event information such as a program name, a performer, and a program start time. It includes information such as certain EIT (Event Information Table) and EPG (Electric Program Guide) information. The EPG information may include sponsor information.

  The video data included in the packet is encoded by, for example, MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) method, AVC (Advanced Video Coding) method or the like. The audio data in the audio packet is encoded by, for example, a PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) method, a Dolby method, an MPEG method, or the like.

  Therefore, the audio packet separated by the TS processing unit 122 is input to the audio decoder 123. In the audio decoder 123, the data in the packet is decoded according to the encoding method. The audio data decoded by the audio decoder 123 is subjected to synchronization processing, volume adjustment, and the like by the audio data processing unit 124 and is supplied to the audio output unit 125. The audio output unit 125 performs stereo separation processing or the like according to the speaker system, and supplies the output to the speaker system 126.

  The video packet separated by the TS processing unit 122 is input to the video decoder 131. In the video decoder, the packet data is decoded according to the encoding method. The video data decoded by the video decoder 131 is subjected to synchronization processing, luminance adjustment, color adjustment, and the like by the video data processing unit 132. The output of the video data processing unit 132 is supplied to the video output unit 133. The video output unit 133 can multiplex data, graphics, a program guide, and the like input from the control unit 200 via the on-screen display (OSD) unit 240 to the main video signal.

  In addition, the video output unit 133 sets the scale, resolution, number of lines, aspect ratio, and the like corresponding to the display device 100A with respect to the output video signal, and outputs them to the display device 100A.

  In some cases, audio packets and video packets of pay programs are encrypted. In this case, there is a processing system for decrypting encryption using the key information, but it is omitted here.

  The control unit 200 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 201, an operation command processing unit 202, a communication control unit 203, an operation device management unit 204, an EPG (Electric program guide) data processing unit 206, a memory 211, and a display control unit 212. Including. The control unit 200 further includes a recording control unit 255, an identification unit 256, and a user preference extraction unit 257.

  The CPU 201 adjusts the entire operation sequence of the control unit 200.

The operation command processing unit 202 can analyze an operation command input from the outside and reflect an operation corresponding to the command to the television receiving device 100.

The operation device management unit 204 can grasp device identification data such as the portable terminals 500 and 501 and the remote controller 115 that give an operation signal to the control unit 200, and can manage input reception, reception rejection, and the like.

  The communication control unit 203 can communicate with the outside and take in operation commands, data, contents, and the like. The captured content and data can be stored in the storage device 111 or the memory 211, for example. The communication control unit 203 can transmit data, content, and the like from the television receiver 100 to the outside.

  The communication control unit 203 is connected to the wireless communication transmission / reception unit 113 and the wired communication transmission / reception unit 112. The wired communication transmitting / receiving unit 112 can transmit / receive data to / from a remote server or home server via the Internet. The wireless communication transmission / reception unit 113 can transmit and receive data, content, and the like to and from the plurality of mobile terminals 500 and 501, and is for short-range communication. The portable terminals 500 and 501 can also remotely control the television receiver 100. The television receiver 100 can also receive an operation signal from the remote controller 115 via the infrared receiver 114.

  The EPG processing unit 206 extracts program attribute information from the packets included in the TS and stores the program attribute information, for example, to hold program attribute information of programs for the past one month, current, and future one month. This program attribute information is updated every day, for example.

  The memory 211 can store various data and applications stored in the control unit 200.

  The display control unit 212 can generally control the video signal displayed on the display device 100 </ b> A via the video output unit 133. The display control unit 212 can also perform adjustment processing such as the resolution, display size, and display area of the image signal. In addition, a video signal of a program table created using EPG data and a menu video signal created in the control unit 200 according to an operation signal can be supplied to the video output unit 133. Furthermore, the display control unit 212 can output various messages such as warnings to the display device 100A in accordance with the operation status of the television receiver.

  The portable terminals 500 and 501 can access the server via a base station (not shown), the Internet, or the like. It is possible to download various applications and game software as well as contents provided by the server and transfer them to the control unit 200 via the wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit 113. In addition, the mobile terminals 500 and 501 can transfer information for acquiring content (for example, a web server address, a mail address, a network address, and the like) to the control unit 200 via the wireless communication transmission / reception unit 113. is there.

  When content, application, or game software is transferred from the mobile terminal 500 or 501, the communication control unit 203 operates.

  The communication control unit 203 stores the received content in the memory 211. The content may be stored in the storage device 111 in response to an operation command or automatically. The storage device 111 can record the received content on, for example, a hard disk. In the hard disk, the content is managed as a content file.

  Menu video signals, program table video signals, and the like are stored and / or managed in the display processing unit 212. When menu display and program guide display are performed, menu image data and program guide data are read from the data storage unit (memory or hard disk) and supplied to the display processing unit 212 under the control of the CPU 201. . Thereby, the menu and the program guide image are displayed on the display 100A.

  A menu video signal, a video signal of a program guide, and the like can be transmitted to the portable terminal 500 or 501. When the portable terminal 501 or 502 requests a menu, a program guide, and the like, the display processing unit 212 can transmit a menu video signal and a program guide video signal based on the control of the CPU 201.

  The portable terminal 501 or 502 can display a menu and a program guide on the screen of the touch panel, and the user receives a television by touching an operation button displayed on the screen of the touch (or point) panel. An operation command signal can be given to the apparatus. As will be described later, the user can use the portable terminal 501 or 502 to execute data processing related to the program guide and keywords.

  The identification unit 256 identifies the USB terminals USB terminals 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D, 41 and 42, and manages terminal function settings and the like.

  The user preference extraction unit 257 can create a list of user favorite programs from a large number of programs recorded on a plurality of hard disk drives in the recording device 111.

  The recording control unit 255, for the first HDD connected to the USB terminal 3A, metadata for managing a plurality of streams recorded in the first HDD, and the first HDD connected to the USB terminal 3B. Metadata for managing a plurality of streams recorded in the second HDD can be recorded collectively.

  FIG. 2 shows a view of the television receiver 100 viewed from the rear side and a view viewed from the side. As described above, the apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of USB terminals 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D.

  The USB terminals 3A and 3B are used to connect program recording apparatuses 111A and 111B that can record all programs broadcast on a plurality of channels (for example, six channels) over a plurality of days (for example, seven days). . The USB terminal 3C is used to connect a program recording apparatus that records an operation command based on a normal operation or a program designated based on recording reservation data. The USB terminal 3 </ b> C allows the program recording apparatuses 1111 to 1114 to be connected via the hub 1110. The program recording apparatuses 1111 to 1114 connected via the hub 1110 can be selectively used, for example, for fathers in the family, for mothers, and for children.

  The USB terminal 3D is a general-purpose USB terminal to which a USB memory 1116 that stores image data taken by a camera, for example, can be connected. The image data of the USB memory 116 can be displayed on a display.

  The program recording apparatuses 111A, 111B, and 1111 to 1114 are, for example, hard disk drives (HDD), but may be other recording media.

  As described above, the components for recording all programs broadcast on a plurality of channels (for example, six channels) over a plurality of days (for example, seven days) can be collectively referred to as a time shift machine. . The plurality of programs recorded by the time shift machine are programs recorded in the past from the present time. Recording a program by the time shift machine can be referred to as “time shift recording”. The number of programs recorded by the time shift machine is enormous. Therefore, the larger the storage capacity of the HDD used in the time shift machine, the better.

  For this purpose, the HDD used in the time shift machine is arranged outside the television receiver 100 as described above. Conventionally, it is a fixed built-in HDD disposed inside the television receiver. However, with an internal HDD, it is difficult to replace the internal HDD when an HDD with a large storage capacity is developed. For this purpose, a system in which the user can easily replace the HDD is preferable. Therefore, as described above, the external connection method is adopted so that when a large-capacity HDD is developed, the user can easily replace it.

  Further, the USB terminals 3A and 3B are provided so that a plurality of HDDs for recording by a time shift machine can be used, but they may be further added.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the identification unit 256. The identification unit 256 identifies the state of the USB terminals 3A and 3B and includes a terminal operation control unit. When the television receiver 100 is turned on, it is determined whether or not an HDD is connected to the USB terminal 3A (step SA1). If the HDD is connected to the USB terminal 3A, the other USB terminal 3B is set to be usable (step SA2). However, if the HDD is not connected to the USB terminal 3A, it is determined whether or not a hub is connected to the USB terminal 3A (step SA3). If the hub is connected, the USB terminals 3A and 3B are set to be unusable (step SA4). If no hub is connected to the USB terminal 3A, the other USB terminals are set to be unusable (step SA6). After performing the processing of steps SA4 and SA6, a message is output to display 100A of each state, that is, the current state.

  The message is, for example, a message “Please connect a USB hard disk for time shift recording to the USB terminal A”.

  This message is also output when “setting” for performing time-shift recording using a time-shift machine is performed in the television receiver 100. That is, when this “setting” is performed, the identification unit 256 operates to check the state of the USB terminals 3A and 3B. That is, the above-described operation flow is also performed when setting time-shift machine recording.

  FIG. 4A shows the state of the menu image when “setting” the time shift recording. When an item “time shift machine recording setting” is clicked from the entire menu image (not shown), a menu image 1201 having a plurality of items is displayed for “time shift machine recording setting”.

  When the user selects the item “time shift machine recording” 1201 and presses the enter button, the identification unit 256 operates. The menu image 1201 includes an item “USB hard disk setting”.

  If the HDD is not connected to the USB terminal 3A, the item “USB hard disk setting” is highlighted, and as before, the message “Connect the USB hard disk for time-shift recording to the USB terminal A” Is displayed. On the other hand, the item “time shift machine recording” is displayed in gray, indicating that time shift recording has not been set.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4B, a message “Check the time-shift recording device, wait for a while and then operate again” appears. The user presses the enter button, connects the HDD to the USB terminal 3A, and clicks the item “time shift machine recording setting” from the whole menu image again. Thereafter, the item “time shift machine recording” in the menu image 1201 of FIG. 4A can be clicked to set the time shift machine recording function.

  When selecting or clicking each item of the menu image, the user can select the item by operating, for example, a remote controller, moving the cursor on the screen to a desired item, and pressing the enter button. The configuration of the menu image described above is merely an example, and other various types of menu images can be considered.

  Next, when a plurality of programs are recorded on a recording medium, metadata for managing the plurality of programs is necessary. The metadata includes a broadcast station ID that provided the program, a broadcast channel, a broadcast date, a broadcast time zone (broadcast start and end time), a program time length, a program name, performer information, recording position information, and the like.

  The metadata is used for program search, favorite program extraction, and the like. In the case of this apparatus, the metadata of the program recorded in the HDD connected to the terminal 3B is also recorded in the HDD connected to the USB terminal 3A set as a specific USB terminal. That is, in the present embodiment, all metadata for a program to be recorded by the time shift machine is recorded in the HDD on the USB terminal 3A side.

  As a result, when a program search is performed using metadata, one place of metadata can be read and used for the entire program. Therefore, accessing metadata is convenient.

  FIG. 5 shows the state of the data recording area of the first HDD connected to the USB terminal 3A and the state of the data recording area of the second HDD connected to the USB terminal 3B. The data recording area of the second HDD is occupied by content (which may be referred to as a program or a stream). In the data recording area of the first HDD, a content area (also referred to as a program or a stream) and a metadata area are secured. As described above, the metadata includes data for managing contents recorded in the first and second HDDs.

  In the time shift machine recording, for example, a plurality of programs of a plurality of channels for seven days are recorded on the HDD. However, programs that are longer than 7 days are deleted from the oldest programs unless there is a special save designation (designation for prohibition of deletion, entry to the Hall of Fame, etc.).

  In the above description, the two USB terminals 3A and 3B are shown as terminals for performing time shift machine recording, but this number is not limited to two. Furthermore, a third USB terminal may be added.

  FIG. 6 shows an internal configuration example of the user preference program extraction unit 257 shown in FIG. The recorded program management unit 261 grasps what programs are recorded as the programs stored in the program storage unit 265. When the recorded program in the program storage unit 256 is reproduced (so-called time-shifted reproduction), the program reproduction management unit 262 transmits program attribute information of the reproduced program to the viewing history generation unit 263. If there is a program that is viewed simultaneously with reception, the viewing history of the program is also transmitted to the viewing history generation unit 263. Further, the viewing history generation unit 263 generates viewing histories of all the reproduced programs such as when an on-air program is reproduced, when a PVR recorded program is reproduced, or when DLNA content is reproduced. These viewing histories are stored in the viewing history storage unit 264.

  The program management unit 261 and the program reproduction management unit 262 may be included in, for example, the program recording control unit 255 of FIG. 1 or the metadata processing unit of the recording apparatus 111 described above.

The program storage unit 265 is, for example, an HDD included in the recording device 111 in FIG. 1 and corresponds to an HDD connected to the USB terminals 3A and 3B.

  The viewing history generation unit 263 creates viewing history data using the program attribute information of the reproduced program, and stores the viewing history data in the viewing history storage unit 264.

  The viewing history data and the program attribute information of the recorded program are used by the addictive program determination unit 267 as follows.

  The addictive program determination unit 267 includes a frequency determination unit 271, an identical series program search unit 272, and a program list generation unit 273.

  The frequency determination unit 271 uses the viewing history data stored in the viewing history storage unit 264 and the program attribute information of the recorded program stored in the program storage unit 265 to convert the viewed program into daily units. The broadcast frequency indicating whether the program is a weekly program is determined. Although it may be determined whether the program is a daily program or a weekly program using only viewing history data, it is advantageous to use program attribute information of a recorded program.

The viewing history data of the program is
(1A) Title information (2A) Broadcast start date and time (3A) Program length (4A) Broadcast station name (5A) Genre information (6A) Broadcast station ID (for example, network ID and service ID)
(7A) View count,
(8A) Includes so-called program attribute information such as total viewing time.

The program attribute information of the recorded program is
(1B) Title information (2B) Broadcast start date and time (3B) Program length (4B) Broadcast station name (5B) Genre information (6B) Broadcast station ID (for example, network ID and service ID)
including. The program attribute information can be acquired from the metadata described above.

  The above example is an example, and may further include the prologue of the performer, information about the producer, and the like. These history data and program attribute information may be referred to as program attribute data.

  The frequency determination unit 272 determines the broadcast frequency indicating whether the viewed program is a daily program or a weekly program using the viewing history data, and the determination result of the frequency determination unit 271 is the same series program search. Transmitted to the unit 272. The frequency determination unit 271 may estimate whether the program is a daily program or a weekly program only from the viewing history data. That is, by comparing viewing history data of different dates and times, it is possible to determine whether there is program attribute information that matches on a daily basis or similar program attribute information on a weekly basis.

  The same series program search unit 272 determines a search procedure according to the frequency determination result, and searches the program storage unit 265 for a program with program attribute data similar to the program attribute data of the viewed program. . Then, the weighting based on the viewing history data is associated with the searched program. A program list generation unit 273 generates a program list of weighted programs. The program list includes the above-described program attribute information such as a program title, a broadcasting station name, and the like.

  The program list is transferred to the display order determining unit 268. The display order determination unit 268 determines the display order according to the weighting (in descending order of weight) and rearranges the programs. The program list in which the programs are rearranged according to the weighting is transferred to the display program list output unit 269.

  Since the program searched in the same series program search unit 272 is a program searched based on the viewing history data, it can be estimated that the program is a series program that the user is interested in. Further, the search procedure differs depending on the frequency determination result, and the weighting is different for the daily and weekly programs. Therefore, there is no preference imbalance between the daily and weekly programs.

<Determination of daily and weekly programs>
Using the title information, the broadcast start date and time, the broadcast station ID, and the genre information, the daily unit program and the weekly program are determined.

Title information The title information is not completely matched, but a keyword is extracted from the title information of the viewed program included in the viewing history data, and the title of the recorded program is searched based on the extracted title keyword.

-Broadcast start date / time Based on the broadcast start date / time of the already viewed program included in the viewing history data, the recording start date / time of the recorded program is searched for 1 hour before and after every day (excluding after 7 days). In other words, daily programs are searched from recorded programs after the viewing date and time until one day, two days later,... Six days (excluding after seven days), and the same series as the viewed programs. Search for the presence of a program. The number of days after the search may be either the start time of the latest program among recorded programs or the current time. The previous search range of 1 hour before and after is only an example, and it is arbitrary such as 15 minutes before and after, 1 hour and a half before and after, and 2 hours before and after. The search range may be changed or switched by setting according to the genre such as drama, news, or weather forecast.

・ Broadcasting station ID
For example, the broadcast station ID is a set of a network ID and a service ID, and the filter condition is that the information is the same between the viewed program and the recorded program.

-Genre information The filter condition is that any one of the genre information of the viewed program is included in the program attribute information of the recorded program. In this case, the genre information may be arbitrarily used for determining a weekly program and a daily program. Therefore, a means for selecting whether or not to add genre information to the search element before starting the search may be provided.

  If a recorded program is detected in the search process as described above, it is determined that the program included in the viewing history data is a daily program, and if it is not detected, it is included in the viewing history data. The program is determined to be a weekly program.

<Judgment method of the same series program>
Based on the viewing history data of the viewed program, the same series program is searched by the following procedure from the recorded programs after the broadcast date and time of the viewed program.

  Title information, broadcast start date and time, broadcast station of a viewed program (program on history data) and a recorded program (a program broadcast after the viewed program and stored in the program storage unit) Search using ID and genre information. The essential items are title information, broadcast start date and time, and broadcast station ID, and other elements may be used to improve detection accuracy.

Title Information The title information is not completely matched, but a keyword is extracted from the title information of the viewed program, and the title of the recorded program is searched based on the extracted title keyword.

-Broadcast start date / time If the program has already been determined to be a daily program based on the broadcast start date / time of the viewed program, the program is searched every day. In the case of a viewed program determined to be a weekly program, a program for each week is searched.

  The number of days or weeks after which the search is to be made is up to the start time of the most recent program in the recorded program (in the program stored in the program storage unit 256) or the current time Either of them may be used.

・ Broadcasting station ID
For example, the ID is a set of a network ID and a service ID, and the filter condition is that the information is the same for a viewed program and a recorded program.

-Genre information The filter condition is that any one of the genre information of the viewed program is included in the recorded program.

  When a recorded program is detected by the above processing, the following information (viewing count, total viewing time and total viewing program length, latest viewing flag) is stored in association with the detected recorded program.

  If the following information is given when processing other already viewed programs, addition processing is performed for “viewing count” and “total viewing time and total viewing program length” other than the latest viewing flag. I do. If the latest flag is invalid, it is changed to valid, and if it is valid, nothing is done.

-Weighting by viewing count The program viewing count is stored separately for each day and each week. Here, when the number of recorded programs searched in the time of each day is detected one or more, it is determined that the recorded programs are programs of a day unit, and the searched programs are searched every week. The number of recorded programs is added to the number of recorded programs retrieved every day, and the number retrieved per week is managed as zero. This detected number can be used when calculating the viewing ratio between a weekly program and a daily program.

  As a result, the “viewing count” of the same series program (the viewing count is included in the history data of the viewed program) is weighted with respect to the recorded program in the program storage unit 265. If “viewing count” is added when the program attribute information of another viewed program has already been processed, the viewing count adding process is performed when the same series program is detected this time. This addition process may be a process of adding a value of + α. In this case, the weight count is different between the daily program and the weekly program, for example, x (1/5) for the number of times of viewing the daily program, and x for the number of times of weekly viewing. (1/1). This weighting method is an example, and arbitrary weight addition and subtraction may be performed.

Weighting by total viewing time and total viewing program length The recorded programs searched by the above search processing are weighted by the total viewing time and total viewing program length of the viewed programs of the same series. The total viewing time is the total viewing time of the viewed programs on the history data, and the total viewing program length is the total of the total program lengths of the corresponding viewed programs. The viewing time does not have to be the time when the program is completely viewed from the beginning to the end, and is stored as the viewing time even when a part (for example, 10 minutes or more) is viewed.

  For the recorded program (the same series program broadcast after the viewed program on the viewing history data) in the program storage unit 265 searched by the above search processing, the “total viewing time and total viewing program of the same series program” "Program length" is weighted. If the program attribute information of another already viewed program has already been processed and "total viewing time and total viewing program length" has been added, the total viewing time and total viewing program length are added. Is done. This addition process may be a process of adding a value of + β.

  In this case, the weighting rate may be different between the daily program and the weekly program. However, it is desirable to determine the respective weighting rates according to the program lengths of the daily program and the weekly program. For example, the daily program may be a 30-minute program, and the weekly program may be a 60-minute program. In this case, it is preferable to use the ratio of the viewer's viewing time to the entire program time without simply using the viewing time. The weighting rate for the ratio of the viewing time of the daily program may be different from the weighting rate for the ratio of the viewing time of the weekly program.

-Latest viewing flag If a program start time of a viewed program and a recorded program is the latest, a flag indicating that is given. The latest viewing flag here is, for example, a recorded program one week after the viewed program in the case of a weekly program, and a recorded program one day after the viewed program in the case of a daily program.

  The processing described above is executed using the attribute data of the viewed program. The number of viewed programs that are the execution target of the above processing performed using history data may be set to the viewed programs and the deadline from the current time to one month ago, or all stored viewed programs It may be a program.

  For each recorded program, the recorded program display order using the number of viewed programs (daily program, weekly program), total viewing time, total viewing history program length, or most recent viewing flag is set. It is determined. An example of an embodiment for rearranging programs after a program list of recorded programs is created is shown below.

<Reordering of programs according to the number of views>
The viewing frequency of the weekly program is given priority over the viewing frequency of the daily program, and the higher the viewing frequency, the higher the display. The reason why the weekly program is displayed higher than the daily program is that there is a high possibility that many recorded programs will hit one viewing history program, so the display order is one week. Lower than the program. However, next to the weekly program, the daily program is displayed in descending order so that the daily program having the highest viewing frequency is displayed at the top.

<Sort according to total viewing time and total viewing history program length>
Those having a large ratio between the total viewing time and the total viewing history program length are displayed in order.

<Sort by latest viewing flag>
The fact that the latest viewed flag is valid means that the user wants to view the latest series, and since there is a high possibility that the user wants to view the next time, the recorded program is displayed at the top.

<Sort according to the program already viewed>
If the recorded program has already been viewed, do not display it or lower the display order. This is because if there is a display order with the same weight for both the viewed program and the most recently viewed program, there is a high possibility that the upper program will always be the same program, so the viewed program (viewed program different from the most recent program) is lowered in display order. Operate. This makes it possible to determine a program that has not been viewed and matches the user's preference as a recommended program.

  Alternatively, the recorded program list is displayed based on the display order determined by a combination of two or more of the above-mentioned viewing count, total viewing time, total viewing history program length, and latest viewing flag.

    The recorded program attribute information may be any or all of the following information. Information indicating how many times the same series program has been viewed, information indicating whether it is a weekly program or a daily program, information on the lifetime of the corresponding recorded program (time until automatic deletion), and a program that has already been viewed And information on the time interval between the corresponding recorded program and the like may be used.

  FIG. 7 corresponds to the above description, and is a flowchart showing an operation example of the present embodiment. For example, this operation starts when the “addictive program list display button” is operated (step SC1). Viewing history data is acquired from the viewing history storage unit 264 (step SC2). Using the viewing history data, it is determined whether the viewed program is a daily program or a weekly program (step SC3). For the daily program, the program attribute information of the recorded program in the program storage unit 265 is switched in units of one day, the switched program attribute information and the program attribute information of the program on the history data are collated and searched, and the same series Detect programs. For weekly programs, the program attribute information of each recorded program in the program storage unit 265 is switched on a weekly basis, the switched program attribute information is compared with the program attribute information of the program on the history data, and the same series program Is detected.

  When the same series program is detected, as described above, the attached information of the recorded program (viewing count, total viewing time, total viewing program length, etc.) is updated (step SC7). The above search is performed on, for example, all the programs stored in the program storage unit 265 (steps SC6 and SC4).

  Further, all or a set of viewing history data of a large number of past viewing programs stored in the viewing history storage unit 264 is used (steps SC8 and SC2).

Next, a program list related to the recorded program is generated based on the attached information given to the recorded program (viewing count, total viewing time, total viewing program length, one of the most recent viewing flags, or any combination thereof) Is done. Further, for example, the display order of the program on the program list (the order of the program with the larger weight is higher) is set using the number of viewing times, the total viewing time, and the like (step SC9). The program list generated in this way is output as a display program list (step SC10).
8 and 9 are examples in which weekly programs and daily programs are displayed as one list. FIG. 8 shows an example of item names included in the list, and FIG. 9 shows an example of an actual screen. 10 and 11 are examples in which the list of weekly programs and daily programs can be switched by tab selection. FIG. 10 shows an example of item names included in the list, and FIG. 11 shows an actual screen example. For example, when a tag described as “daily” is selected, the tag is highlighted, and a tag described as “weekly” is gray. Conversely, when a tag described as “weekly” is selected, the tag is highlighted and the tag described as “daily” is grayed out.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to determine the user's preference regarding a program using the viewing history data. In this case, the program whose preference is judged is a plurality of programs simultaneously received by a plurality of channels, and a program already stored in the program storage unit is targeted. That is, it is a program that can be played back by the time shift machine function. For this reason, the apparatus of the present embodiment adds weighting based on palatability to recorded programs from the past to the present. The future programs from the present time are not recorded because they are not recorded. Further, in this embodiment, since a plurality of recorded programs are targeted, when searching for the same series of programs, a daily program or a weekly program can be determined. In addition, since the plurality of recorded programs are time machine recordings, they are automatically recorded without making a reservation.

  In the above description, the term “unit” can be replaced with “device”, “container”, “block”, and “module”, and it is of course within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, in each constituent element of the claims, even when the constituent element is expressed in a divided manner, when a plurality of constituent elements are expressed together, or when they are expressed in combination, they are within the scope of the present invention. Even when the claims are expressed as a method, the apparatus of the present invention is applied.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

3A-3D ... USB terminal, 100 ... TV receiver, 111 ... recording device, 200 ... control unit, 212 ... display control unit, 25 ... recording control unit, 256. ..Identification unit, 257... User preference program extraction unit, 264 .. viewing history storage unit, 265... Program storage unit, 267 .. addictive program determination unit, 268. 271 ... Frequency determination unit, 272 ... Same series program search unit, 273 ... Program list generation unit.

Claims (4)

A first terminal capable of connecting / disconnecting a first recording device capable of recording programs of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days;
A second terminal capable of connecting / disconnecting a second recording device capable of recording programs of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days;
An identification unit for identifying the first and second terminals;
Each of the programs of the plurality of channels recorded in the first recording device and the program of the plurality of channels recorded in the second recording device connected to the second terminal are associated with each other. A recording control unit that records both the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information in the first recording device;
A viewing history storage unit for storing viewing history data of programs recorded in the first and second recording devices;
Using the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information recorded in the first recording device, and the third program attribute information included in the viewing history data, each viewed program is The same series program detection unit for determining the frequency of a unit program or a weekly program,
A program list generation unit for assigning a weight according to the determination result to each program based on the viewing history data and the determination result of the frequency, and setting a display order of the program list according to the weight; A preference program data management device comprising:   The display program list output unit further includes a display program list output unit, which can be selected by an operation in order to distinguish between display of a weekly program list and display of a daily program list. The favorite program data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a daily tab and a weekly tab are displayed. Connect / disconnect a first terminal capable of connecting / disconnecting a first recording device capable of recording a program of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days and a second recording device capable of recording a program of a plurality of channels for a plurality of days. A possible second terminal, a viewing history storage unit for storing viewing history data of programs recorded in the first and second recording devices, the first and second recording devices, and the viewing history storage A preference program data management method of a preference program data management device comprising a control unit for controlling the unit,
Each of the programs of the plurality of channels recorded in the first recording device and the program of the plurality of channels recorded in the second recording device connected to the second terminal are associated with each other. Recording both the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information in the first recording device;
Each program viewed using the first program attribute information and the second program attribute information recorded in the first recording device and the third program attribute information included in the viewing history data is Determine the frequency of daily or weekly programs,
Based on the viewing history data and the determination result of the frequency, each program is weighted according to the determination result, and the display order of the program list according to the weight is set.
Preference program data management method.   Further, the display program list output unit displays a daily tab and a weekly tab that can be selected by operation so that the display of the weekly program list and the display of the daily program list can be distinguished. The preference program data management method according to claim 3.

Images