JP7491512B2 - Recording reservation device and recording reservation method - Google Patents

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a recording reservation device and a recording reservation method.

Digital broadcasting is equipped with an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system, which allows you to display a program guide for the day or up to one week in advance by simply pressing a button on the receiver's remote control. You can also view program details such as broadcast times and performers, search for information you want to know, and schedule programs to be viewed or recorded.

During broadcasts, previews are sometimes made to introduce and advertise the program as well as to announce future broadcast dates and times. However, the program information contained in EPG information (hereafter referred to as program guide information) received by broadcast receivers is limited to information on programs that will be broadcast within a specified period from the time the program guide information is acquired. Information on programs that will be broadcast after this period is not included in the program guide information, and so recording cannot be scheduled.

For this reason, for example, if a future program is not included in the received program guide information and there is a preview of the program, it is not possible to schedule a recording in accordance with the preview at that time. To record that future program, the user must schedule a recording again at a later date after the information for that future program has been acquired as program guide information.

JP 2005-117402 A JP 2007-201893 A

The object of the present invention is to provide a recording reservation device and a recording reservation method that can schedule recordings based on broadcast preview programs for future programs.

The recording reservation device of the embodiment includes a program guide management unit which is given the output of a receiving unit which acquires video and audio data from a broadcast signal and acquires program guide information including program information, which is information related to a program, from the broadcast signal; a recording reservation related information acquisition unit which acquires and records recording reservation related information necessary for reserving a recording of a scheduled program whose broadcast is predicted from a broadcast preview program which predicts future broadcast schedules of the program based on the output of the receiving unit; and a control circuit which, based on a recording reservation operation, sets the recording reservation related information recorded immediately before the timing of the recording reservation operation out of the recorded recording reservation related information as scheduled recording reservation information, determines based on the recording reservation related information whether or not program information of the scheduled broadcast program is included in the currently acquired program guide information, and if included, generates recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in which the scheduled recording reservation information was set, and if not, generates the recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in which the scheduled recording reservation information was set after the program information of the scheduled broadcast program became included in the program guide information.

1 is a block diagram showing a receiving device such as a television receiver including a recording reservation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a receiving device such as a television receiver including a recording reservation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the contents of the broadcast preview program are automatically acquired and recorded, and a recording reservation is automatically executed based on the recorded information according to the user's recording reservation operation. This makes it possible to accept a recording reservation operation before the information of the future program that has been previewed is acquired as program guide information, significantly improving convenience.

In FIG. 1, a television broadcast signal (RF input) received by an antenna (not shown) is input to a broadcast data receiving unit 10. The broadcast data receiving unit 10 is composed of a tuner 11 and a decoder 12. The RF input is supplied to the tuner 11. The tuner 11 is controlled by a control circuit 21 (not shown) to select a broadcast signal of a desired channel and output the selected broadcast signal to the decoder 12.

The decoder 12 performs a decoding process under the control of the control circuit 21 (not shown). That is, the decoder 12 demodulates the broadcast signal selected by the tuner 11 to obtain a transport stream including the desired program. The decoder 12 performs a TS decoding process on the signal multiplexed with the transport stream (TS) to obtain digital video data and audio data of the desired program. This video data and audio data are supplied to the signal processing unit 20.

The signal processing unit 20 is provided with a video and audio processing unit 22. The video and audio processing unit 22 performs a predetermined digital signal processing on the digital video data supplied from the decoder 12, and then outputs the data to the output control unit 31. The output control unit 31 converts the input video data into an analog video signal in a format that can be displayed on the display unit 32, and then outputs the analog video signal to the display unit 32. The display unit 32 is composed of a predetermined display device, such as a flat display panel, and displays an image based on the input video signal.

The video and audio processing unit 22 also performs a predetermined digital signal processing on the digital audio data supplied from the decoder 12, and then outputs the data to the output control unit 31. The output control unit 31 converts the input audio data into an analog audio signal for audio output, and then outputs the analog audio signal to the audio output unit 33. The audio output unit 33 is composed of a speaker, and outputs audio based on the input audio signal.

The video and audio processing unit 22 can also output the video and audio after digital signal processing to the program recording unit 35. The program recording unit 35 is a recording device including a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD). The program recording unit 35 receives video and audio data from the video and audio processing unit 22 via a specified interface, and records and plays back a broadcast program based on the input video and audio data on the HDD, SSD, etc.

Recording by the program recording unit 35 is controlled by the recording processing unit 24. When a recording instruction command is given from the control circuit 21, the recording processing unit 24 controls recording by the program recording unit 35 in accordance with the recording instruction command.

The signal processing unit 20 is provided with a control circuit 21. The control circuit 21 centrally controls all operations, including various receiving operations, in the digital television broadcast receiving device of FIG. 1. The control circuit 21 may be configured with a processor using a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc., may operate according to a program stored in a memory (not shown) to control each unit, or may realize some or all of its functions with a hardware electronic circuit.

The control circuit 21 controls each part based on operation information sent from an operation part such as a switch provided on the television receiver body (not shown) or a remote controller (not shown) so that the operation content is reflected. FIG. 1 shows an example in which a remote control signal from a remote controller (not shown) is given to the remote control receiving part 41. The remote control receiving part 41 receives the remote control signal, generates operation information based on the operation of the remote controller, and outputs it to the control circuit 21. The control circuit 21 controls each part based on this operation information. FIG. 1 also shows that the user's voice is received by the voice receiving part 42 composed of a microphone or the like. The voice receiving part 42 outputs a voice signal based on the user's voice to the control circuit 21. The control circuit 21 analyzes the voice of the command issued by the user by known voice recognition processing, and controls each part based on the user's voice.

The decoder 12 also acquires additional information (e.g., section information) transmitted by digital broadcasting. This additional information includes various data for acquiring the program, electronic program guide (EPG) information, program attribute information (program genre, etc.), subtitle information, etc. (service information, SI, PSI). The decoder 12 outputs the acquired additional information to the signal processing unit 20.

The signal processing unit 20 is provided with a program guide management unit 23. The program guide management unit 23 is controlled by the control circuit 21 to acquire program guide information from the additional information from the decoder 12. The program guide management unit 23 provides the acquired program guide information to the recording unit 26 for recording, and also performs image generation processing to generate image information of the program guide based on the program guide information, and outputs this generated image information to the output control unit 31 (not shown). This enables the output control unit 31 to display the program guide on the display unit 32.

In this embodiment, the signal processing unit 20 is provided with a voice detection unit 25. The voice data from the decoder 12 is also supplied to the voice detection unit 25. The voice detection unit 25, which serves as a recording reservation related information acquisition unit, analyzes the contents of the voice in the broadcast program by known voice recognition processing, natural language analysis processing, and the like. Based on the analysis result, the voice detection unit 25 determines whether the currently broadcast program is a broadcast preview program that announces the broadcast of a program scheduled to be broadcast in the future (hereinafter referred to as a broadcast scheduled program). When the voice detection unit 25 determines that the currently broadcast program is a broadcast preview program, it collects information (hereinafter referred to as recording reservation related information) necessary for recording the scheduled program from the contents of the broadcast preview program, and provides the collected recording reservation related information to the recording unit 26, where it is recorded together with information on the current time. The recording unit 26 is composed of a predetermined recording medium such as a hard disk or a memory medium.

For example, recording reservation related information may include information on the broadcast channel, broadcast start date and time, and broadcast end date and time of a program scheduled to be broadcast. For example, when the audio detection unit 25 detects that the audio of a program currently being broadcast contains phrases such as "broadcast on XX day at XX time" or "broadcast tonight at XX time", it records the broadcast start date and time based on these phrases and information on the current receiving channel in the recording unit 26 as recording reservation related information for the program scheduled to be broadcast. Note that since recording reservations are made using program guide information, the recording reservation related information may be information that can identify the program to be scheduled for recording using the program guide information, and may be not only information on the broadcast start date and time, but also information on the program name of the program scheduled to be broadcast, for example.

The audio detection unit 25 may be configured to detect phrases such as "broadcast on XX date at XX o'clock" or "broadcast tonight at XX o'clock" contained in the currently airing program without judging whether the currently airing program is a preview program or not, and record these phrases in the recording unit 26 as recording reservation related information. The audio detection unit 25 may be configured to store only the latest recording reservation related information in the recording unit 26, or may be configured to store recording reservation related information for a predetermined period in the recording unit 26, or may be configured to store a predetermined number of recording reservation related information in the recording unit 26.

The control circuit 21 generates recording reservation information based on the user's normal recording reservation operation for a future program whose program information is included in the program guide information recorded in the recording unit 26. Note that in this case, the recording reservation information is generated by the control circuit 21 based on the user's recording reservation operation for the program guide, for example, and the control circuit 21 generates the recording reservation information using the information necessary for scheduled recording in the program guide information. The control circuit 21 records the generated recording reservation information in the recording unit 26. The control circuit 21 is provided with time information from the timer circuit 27. The control circuit 21 uses the time information from the timer circuit 27 to generate a recording instruction command based on the recorded recording reservation information and outputs it to the recording processing unit 24.

In this embodiment, the control circuit 21 is capable of generating recording reservation information based on a user's recording reservation operation for a scheduled broadcast program whose program information is not included in the program guide information recorded in the recording unit 26 (hereinafter referred to as a recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview). Note that by assigning the recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview to a specific key on the remote controller in advance, the user can perform a recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview with a single touch.

That is, when the control circuit 21 is given operation information corresponding to a recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview, the input of the operation information is used as a trigger to set the recording reservation related information recorded immediately before the input timing of the operation information to the scheduled recording reservation information that is the subject of the recording reservation. For example, the control circuit 21 may set the recording reservation related information recorded in the recording unit 26 to the scheduled recording reservation information by adding a flag indicating that it is scheduled recording reservation information.

In consideration of erroneous operations, if a recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview is performed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the last recording of the recording reservation related information, the operation may be regarded as an erroneous operation, and the last recorded recording reservation related information may not be set as the scheduled recording reservation information. Also, the user may be able to arbitrarily specify recording reservation related information to be set as the scheduled recording reservation information, in addition to the recording reservation related information recorded immediately before the recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview.

The control circuit 21 compares the recording start date and time information in the recording reservation related information set in the recording reservation schedule information with the time information from the timer circuit 27 to determine whether the program information of the scheduled broadcast program is included in the program guide information recorded in the recording unit 26, and if it is included in the program guide information, it acquires the program information of the scheduled broadcast program from the program guide information based on the recording reservation related information, generates recording reservation information based on the acquired information, and records it in the recording unit 26. When the control circuit 21 references the recording reservation information and detects from the time information from the timer circuit 27 that the scheduled recording start time has arrived, it generates a recording instruction command based on the recording reservation information and outputs the generated recording instruction command to the recording processing unit 24.

In addition, the control circuit 21 may be configured to search the program guide information for the program corresponding to the recording reservation related information each time the program guide information recorded in the recording unit 26 is updated, and generate recording reservation information when the program information is found.
In this case, even if the recording reservation related information set in the scheduled recording reservation information does not include information on the recording start date and time, and only includes information on the broadcast program name, it is possible to generate recording reservation information for the scheduled broadcast program.

The user may use a remote controller (not shown) to schedule a recording based on the broadcast preview, or may use voice commands to schedule a recording based on the broadcast preview.

In addition to the control circuit 21 in the signal processing unit 20, each part in the broadcast data receiving unit 10, each part in the signal processing unit 20, and the output control unit 31 may be configured by a processor using a CPU, FPGA, etc., and may operate according to a program stored in a memory (not shown) to control each part, or may realize some or all of the functions using hardware electronic circuits.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured in this manner will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

A television broadcast signal (RF input) received by an antenna is input to the tuner 11 of the broadcast data receiving unit 10. The tuner 11 is controlled by a control circuit 21 to select a broadcast signal of a desired channel, and outputs the selected broadcast signal to the decoder 12. The decoder 12 is controlled by the control circuit 21 to demodulate the selected broadcast signal and obtain a transport stream including the desired program. The decoder 12 performs TS decoding processing on the signal multiplexed with the transport stream (TS), and obtains digital video data and audio data of the desired program. This video data and audio data are supplied to the signal processing unit 20.

The video and audio processing unit 22 of the signal processing unit 20 performs a predetermined digital signal processing on the digital video data supplied from the decoder 12, and then outputs the data to the output control unit 31. The output control unit 31 outputs the video signal to the display unit 32 and outputs the audio signal to the audio output unit 33. In this way, the video of the broadcast program is displayed on the display unit 32, and the audio is output from the audio output unit 33.

The decoder 12 also acquires additional information contained in the digital broadcast and outputs it to the signal processing unit 20. The program guide management unit 23 of the signal processing unit 20 acquires the program guide information from the additional information and provides the acquired program guide information to the recording unit 26 for recording.

In this embodiment, the audio data from the decoder 12 is also supplied to the audio detection unit 25. In step S1 of FIG. 2, the audio detection unit 25 analyzes the content of the audio in the broadcast program and collects recording reservation related information from the contents of the broadcast preview program (CM) that is necessary for recording the scheduled broadcast program. For example, when the audio detection unit 25 detects a phrase such as "broadcast on channel XX from XX/XX/XX at XX time" from the program being broadcast, it acquires recording reservation related information such as channel XX, XX/XX/XX at XX time. The audio detection unit 25 provides the acquired recording reservation related information to the recording unit 26 for recording. In this embodiment, the audio detection unit 25 sequentially collects recording reservation related information while receiving the broadcast signal and records it in the recording unit 26.

The control circuit 21 checks for an interrupt from the user (S2). That is, the control circuit 21 checks whether or not a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview has occurred by the user using operation information from the remote control receiver 41 and the audio receiver 42. If an interrupt has not occurred, the process returns to step S1, and steps S1 and S2 are repeated.

Here, assume that a user is watching a preview program currently being broadcast and wishes to reserve a recording of a program scheduled to be broadcast that is introduced in the preview program. In this case, the user operates a remote controller or the like to perform a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview. When the control circuit 21 receives operation information based on this operation, it transitions to step S3, reads out the latest recording reservation related information recorded in the recording unit 26, and acquires information such as the broadcast start date and time. The control circuit 21 determines whether program guide information including information on programs up to the acquired broadcast start date and time has been acquired, i.e., whether the program information (target program information) of the program (scheduled program) with the acquired broadcast start date and time is already included in the program guide information (S4).

If the program information of the scheduled broadcast program specified by the recording reservation related information is already included in the program guide information, the control circuit 21 performs a recording reservation in step S5. That is, the control circuit 21 obtains the program information about the scheduled broadcast program from the program guide information and generates recording reservation information.

Therefore, the user does not need to display the program guide and select a program that is scheduled to be broadcast, and can schedule the recording of the program with a simple operation.

On the other hand, if program guide information including program information of the scheduled program has not been received at the time the preview program is broadcast, the control circuit 21 proceeds to step S6, sets the recording reservation related information read in step S3 as scheduled recording reservation information, and holds it in the recording unit 26 until program guide information including program information (target program information) up to the broadcast start date and time of the scheduled program is acquired. The control circuit 21 waits for this period (S7). The control circuit 21 may determine the waiting period based on time information from the timer circuit 27, or may determine the waiting period by performing a search process each time program guide information is acquired.

When the control circuit 21 acquires the program guide information including the program information of the program scheduled to be broadcast, it reads out the recording reservation related information set in the scheduled recording reservation information and executes the recording reservation (S8). That is, it acquires the program information about the program scheduled to be broadcast from the program guide information and generates the recording reservation information. The control circuit 21 refers to the recording reservation information, and when it detects from the time information from the timer circuit 27 that the scheduled recording start time has arrived, it generates a recording instruction command based on the recording reservation information and outputs the generated recording instruction command to the recording processing unit 24. When the recording processing unit 24 receives the recording instruction command from the control circuit 21, it controls the recording of the program recording unit 35 in accordance with the recording instruction command. In this way, the scheduled recording of the program scheduled to be broadcast is performed.

In this embodiment, the recording reservation related information required for reserving a recording of a program scheduled to be broadcast is automatically acquired and recorded from the broadcast preview program, and the recording reservation is automatically executed using the recorded recording reservation related information according to the user's recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview. This makes it possible to accept a recording reservation operation before the information of the future program that has been previewed is acquired as program guide information, significantly improving convenience. In other words, when a user wants to watch a program scheduled to be broadcast that has been introduced in the broadcast preview program, the user can immediately make a recording reservation with a simple recording reservation operation without having to search the program guide. Moreover, it is possible to make a recording reservation in advance for future programs for which the scheduled program is not present in the program guide and for which recording reservations would not normally be possible.

Second Embodiment
Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment. In Fig. 3, the same components as those in Fig. 1 are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that recording reservation related information is obtained by capturing video.

In FIG. 3, the signal processing unit 50 differs from the signal processing unit 20 in FIG. 1 in that a video analysis unit 51 is used instead of the audio detection unit 25. Video data is supplied from the decoder 12 to the video analysis unit 51 of the signal processing unit 50. The video analysis unit 51 serving as a recording reservation related information acquisition unit may be configured with a processor using a CPU, FPGA, or the like, may operate according to a program stored in a memory (not shown) to control each unit, or may realize some or all of its functions with a hardware electronic circuit. The video analysis unit 51 has a buffer circuit (not shown) that holds the video data from the decoder 12 for a predetermined period of time for analysis processing.

In this embodiment, when an interrupt occurs due to a user's operation to schedule a recording based on a broadcast preview, the control circuit 21 requests the video analysis unit 51 to perform an analysis process. For example, if the user wishes to schedule a recording of a program that is scheduled to be broadcast and is introduced in a broadcast schedule program, the user performs a recording schedule operation based on the broadcast preview using a remote controller or the like while the broadcast preview program is being broadcast.

When the video analysis unit 51 receives a request for analysis processing from the control circuit 21, it captures an image based on the video data from the decoder 12 and stores it in a buffer circuit. The video analysis unit 51 analyzes the content of the video in the broadcast program using known image analysis processing on the captured image and text information contained in the video data. The video analysis unit 51 collects recording reservation related information required to reserve a recording of the scheduled broadcast program from the video in the captured broadcast preview program, and provides the collected recording reservation related information to the recording unit 26, where it is recorded together with information on the current time.

As with the first embodiment, the recording reservation related information includes the broadcast channel, broadcast start date and time, and broadcast end date and time of the scheduled broadcast program.

The video analysis unit 51 may also be configured to request the collection of recording reservation related information from a computer (not shown) on the cloud 60. In this case, the video analysis unit 51 transmits the video data provided by the decoder 12 and the captured images to the cloud 60 via an interface circuit (not shown) that communicates with the cloud 60. The computer on the cloud 60 analyzes the images and video data to collect recording reservation related information, and transmits the collected recording reservation related information to the video analysis unit 51. The video analysis unit 51 provides the recording reservation related information provided by the cloud 60 to the recording unit 26 for recording.

In this embodiment, the control circuit 21 executes the same recording reservation process as in the first embodiment each time recording reservation-related information is recorded in the recording unit 26.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured in this manner will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, the same steps as in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals and the explanation will be omitted.

The control circuit 21 checks for an interrupt from the user (S10). That is, the control circuit 21 checks whether or not a recording reservation operation based on a broadcast preview has occurred by the user based on operation information from the remote control receiver 41, the audio receiver 42, etc. The control circuit 21 repeats step S10 until an interrupt occurs.

Let us now assume that a user wishes to schedule a recording of a program that is scheduled to be broadcast that is being introduced in a currently being broadcast preview program. In this case, the user performs a recording reservation operation based on the preview program while the preview program is being broadcast. When this interrupt occurs, the control circuit 21 requests the video analysis unit 51 to collect information related to the recording reservation.

In step S11, the video analysis unit 51 captures an image based on the video data from the decoder 12, analyzes the content of the program to be broadcast, and acquires recording reservation related information based on the analysis results. The video analysis unit 51 may also transmit the video data and the captured image to the cloud 60 and request the collection of recording reservation related information. The video analysis unit 51 records the acquired recording reservation related information in the recording unit 26.

Then, the control circuit 21 reads out the recording reservation related information recorded in the recording unit 26 and obtains information such as the broadcast start date and time (S12). The subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment. That is, the control circuit 21 generates recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in step S5, or sets and retains scheduled recording reservation information in the recording reservation related information in step S6. Then, when program information for a program scheduled to be broadcast becomes included in the program guide information, the control circuit 21 generates recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in which scheduled recording reservation information has been set in step S8.

In this way, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained in this embodiment.

In the first embodiment, similar to this embodiment, recording reservation-related information may be obtained by voice analysis using the cloud.

(Variation 1)
In the above explanation, an example was given in which the video analysis unit 51 collects recording reservation related information when an interruption occurs due to a recording reservation operation based on a user's broadcast preview, but as in the first embodiment, the video analysis unit 51 may be configured to constantly perform analysis or request the cloud 60 to obtain recording reservation related information.

For example, the video analysis unit 51 may determine, based on the analysis results, whether the currently broadcast program is a preview program that announces the broadcast of a scheduled program, and if it determines that the currently broadcast program is a preview program, collect recording reservation related information required to reserve a recording of the scheduled program from the video in the preview program, and provide the collected recording reservation related information to the recording unit 26, where it is recorded together with information on the current time.

In addition, when the video analysis unit 51 detects phrases such as "broadcast on XX date at XX o'clock" or "broadcast tonight at XX o'clock" contained in the video of the currently broadcast program, it may record these phrases in the recording unit 26 as recording reservation related information, without determining whether the currently broadcast program is a broadcast preview program or not.

In this case, the user can simply watch the preview program and then schedule a recording based on the preview. The control circuit 21 executes the same recording schedule processing as in the first embodiment each time an interrupt occurs due to a user's schedule recording based on the preview program.

(Variation 2)
In the first embodiment, the user needs to perform a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview during the broadcast of the broadcast preview program. On the other hand, in the first modification, even if the user performs a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview after the broadcast preview program has ended, the recording reservation process is possible, but since the analysis process is always performed by the video analysis unit 51 or the computer on the cloud 60, the processing load is large. Therefore, in the second modification, the video data of the broadcast preview program is recorded in the buffer circuit. In this case, the user only needs to perform a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview within a predetermined period after viewing the broadcast preview program. In the second modification, the buffer circuit included in the video analysis unit 51 is configured to have a capacity to hold the video data provided from the decoder 12 for a predetermined period corresponding to the broadcast time of the broadcast preview program.

When an interrupt occurs due to a user's operation to schedule a recording based on a broadcast preview, the control circuit 21 requests the video analysis unit 51 to perform analysis processing. The buffer circuit sequentially stores video data corresponding to video from a predetermined period ago to the current time. When the video analysis unit 51 is requested to perform analysis processing by the buffer circuit 21, it performs analysis processing using the video data stored in the buffer circuit and requests analysis from the cloud 60. The video analysis unit 51 provides the recording reservation related information thus obtained to the recording unit 26 for recording.

In this case, the control circuit 21 executes the same recording reservation process as in the first embodiment each time recording reservation-related information is recorded in the recording unit 26. As a result, in this modified example, the processing load is reduced, while enabling recording reservation processing even when the user performs a recording reservation operation based on the broadcast preview after the broadcast preview program has ended.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the gist of the invention. In addition, the above embodiment includes inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriate combinations of the disclosed multiple constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment, if the problem described in the "Problem to be Solved by the Invention" column can be solved and the effect described in the "Effect of the Invention" column can be obtained, the configuration from which the constituent elements are deleted can be extracted as the invention.
For example, in the above first and second embodiments, examples have been described in which recording reservation related information is collected using either audio data or video data, but recording reservation related information may also be collected using both audio data and video data.

10...broadcast data receiving unit, 11...tuner, 12...decoder, 20...signal processing unit, 21...control circuit, 22...video and audio processing unit, 23...program guide management unit, 24...recording processing unit, 25...audio detection unit, 26...recording unit, 27...timer circuit, 31...output control unit, 32...display unit, 33...audio output unit, 35...program recording unit, 41...remote control receiving unit, 42...audio receiving unit.

Claims (6)

a program guide management unit that receives an output of a receiving unit that acquires video and audio data from a broadcast signal, and acquires program guide information including program information, which is information related to a program, from the broadcast signal;
a recording reservation related information acquisition unit that acquires and records recording reservation related information required for recording a program whose broadcast is predicted from a broadcast preview program that predicts a future broadcast schedule of the program based on an output from the receiving unit;
a control circuit which, based on a recording reservation operation, sets the recording reservation related information recorded immediately before the timing of the recording reservation operation out of the recorded recording reservation related information as recording reservation scheduled information, determines based on the recording reservation related information whether or not program information of the scheduled broadcast program is included in the currently acquired program guide information, and if included, generates recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in which the scheduled recording reservation information was set, and if not included, generates recording reservation information based on the recording reservation related information in which the scheduled recording reservation information was set after the program information of the scheduled broadcast program becomes included in the program guide information . 2. The video recording reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit does not set the most recently recorded video recording reservation related information to the video recording reservation schedule information when the video recording reservation operation is performed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the last recording of the video recording reservation related information . The recording reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the recording reservation related information acquisition unit acquires the recording reservation related information by analyzing the audio data from the receiving unit. The recording reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the recording reservation related information acquisition unit acquires the recording reservation related information by analyzing the video data from the receiving unit. Acquiring at least one of video data and audio data from a broadcast signal;
acquiring program guide information including program information, which is information related to a program, from the broadcast signal;
acquiring and recording information related to a recording reservation required for recording a program whose broadcast is predicted from a broadcast preview program which predicts a future broadcast schedule of the program based on at least one of the video data and the audio data;
This video recording method includes setting the video recording related information recorded immediately before the timing of the video recording operation out of the recorded video recording related information as video recording schedule information based on a video recording reservation operation, determining whether or not program information of the scheduled broadcast program is included in the currently acquired program guide information based on the video recording related information, and if included, generating video recording information based on the video recording related information in which the scheduled video recording information was set, and if not included, generating the video recording information based on the video recording related information in which the scheduled video recording information was set after the program information of the scheduled broadcast program becomes included in the program guide information . The video recording reservation method according to claim 5, wherein, when the video recording reservation operation is performed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the last recording of the video recording reservation related information, the most recently recorded video recording reservation related information is not set as the video recording reservation schedule information .

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