JPH08227544A - Reservation device for video recording of video tape recorder having informing means - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To surely perform recording a program by providing a means informing overlap to a caller with a synthesized voice and a means canceling one side of reservation out of overlapped two reservations, when overlap is caused in a video recording reservation time bond. CONSTITUTION: When reservation information is given, date data of reservation information in a memory region is stored in a register 1 (not shown in a figure). Hereafter in the same way, time data is stored in a register 2, added data of time data and a video recording time, that is, a video recording finish time is stored in a register 3, and channel data is stored in a register 4. When data is overlapped in a time zone, it is decided that which program has priority or all programs are recorded together. When a command sent from a caller as a command canceling reservation information already stored in a memory RAM, for example '1*' is received, reservation information in a memory region of 'N=1' is canceled at the next step.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television program reservation device for a video tape recorder (VTR, VCR in the United States).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus for reserving a television program in a VTR using a telephone in a remote place, there is a prior application, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-296200 by the present applicant. In this prior application, a plurality of TV programs can be reserved, but when the recording time periods overlap (overlap), there is a problem that the TV programs in the overlapping time periods cannot be recorded.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes means for solving the above-mentioned inconvenience as a problem.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a memory means for storing a plurality of television program information transmitted via a telephone line in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a plurality of memory means stored in the memory means. Means for selecting the recording time zone from the TV program information of, the means for checking the overlap of the selected recording time zone, the means for notifying by voice synthesis when the overlap is detected, and the overlapping means. A means for clearing the existing TV program information and a means for controlling the video tape recorder with the confirmed TV program information are provided.

[0005]

When the owner calls his device from a remote place by telephone and confirms that the device is his or her own device, and then sends out one or more television program information, the television program information is stored in the memory means. , The TV program information sent this time includes the TV program information sent previously, and the overlap of the recording time is checked, and it is reported that the overlap has occurred. It is also possible to send it out by voice synthesis), and it works so that it is possible to confirm which TV program information is left or whether it is acceptable to keep overlapping.

[0006]

The structure and function of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an unspecified telephone at the destination, 2 is a telephone line, 3 is a line transformer, 4 is a detection of a ringing signal, and a telephone line when the caller terminates the call and the telephone 1 is on-hook. Is a line monitoring circuit for detecting the voltage change of the.

Reference numeral 5 is a keyboard having numeric keys for registering a personal identification number and various keys for setting an operation mode, and 6 is a one-chip type microprocessor (C
PU) and includes a memory ROM in which a control program and a clock program are stored and a memory RAM for storing reservation information of a television program by DTMF tones sent via a telephone line.

Reference numeral 7 is a voice synthesizing section for sending a response message and a message for coping with the remote control operation of the caller by voice synthesis, and 8 is a memory for recording a message (ICM) from the caller. An ICM recording section 9 composed of (RAM) is a tone decoder for decoding DTMF tones sent through the telephone line 2.

Reference numeral 10 is a NOR gate connected to the interrupt terminal INT of the CPU 6, 11 to 25 are analog switches for short-circuiting various buttons of a remote control box 29, which will be described later, 26 and 28 are connectors, and 27 is a cable. The structure is also such that the connectors 26 and 28 can be directly coupled without using the cable 27.

Reference numeral 29 is a remote control box, and as shown in the figure, numeral buttons 0 to 9, a reservation button 29-1, a transfer button 29-2, a recording speed standard / 3 times button 29-.
3, VTR33 power button 29-4, weekly / daily button 29 to specify weekly or daily TV program reservation
-5, a record button 29-6, and various buttons for manually controlling the VTR 33 in addition to the purpose used in the present application.

Further, it has 30 display portions and 31 light emitting diodes for emitting infrared rays 32.

Next, a specific operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. First, "absent" on keyboard 5
When the key (not shown) is pressed, the program stored in the ROM of the CPU 6 moves to step 51 of the flow chart shown in FIG. 2 and waits for the incoming call signal.

When a ringing signal comes in here, if this ringing signal is detected by the program through the line monitoring circuit 4 and the input port I-4 of FIG. 1, step 51 becomes affirmative, and the output port O is output at step 53. The relay Y-1, which has a load of −20, is on standby. Therefore, the contact y1-a of the relay Y-1 is closed and the telephone line 2 is closed via the line transformer 3, so that the ringing signal is stopped and the telephone 1 and the apparatus side are in a call state.

Then, the first response message OGM-1 in the voice synthesizer 7 is selected by a command from the output port O-2 (plural bits), and this OGM is selected by a start signal from the output port O-3. The transmission of -1 is started (step 54). The end of transmission of this OGM-1 is tested programmatically via input port I-2.

Therefore, when the transmission of OGM-1 is completed, the step 55 becomes affirmative, the interrupt is permitted in the step 57 after the beep tone by the voice synthesis is transmitted in the step 56, and the message (IC
Recording of M) is started by a start signal from the output port O-1, and a message from the caller is recorded in the ICM recording unit 8.

When the recording time, for example, 15 seconds is exceeded, step 59 becomes affirmative, the interrupt is prohibited in step 60, and the second response message OGM-2, eg, "Thank you." It is transmitted by voice synthesis, and in step 63 the relay Y-1 is turned off to release the telephone line from being closed. Then, the process returns to the standby state waiting for the incoming call signal in step 51.

Next, the operation when the calling party is the owner of this apparatus and the reservation of the television program is registered using the telephone 1 at the destination will be described.

As described above, the present apparatus is called by the telephone 1 at the destination, the operation is switched to the recording operation of the message from the calling party, the message is recorded if necessary, and the DTMF button operation of the telephone 1 is performed. Start sending PIN code by tone.

The DTMF tones are decoded by the tone decoder 9 via the line transformer 3.
When the tone is identified, an output is output from the output terminal EST, the NOR gate 10 is interrupted to the CPU 6, and the program proceeds to step 70. I in step 70
Cancel the recording operation of CM.

In step 71, although it is shown in a simplified manner as it is known, for example, a three-digit personal identification number (in the embodiment, a different personal identification number is used for remote control of the answering machine and for the TV program reservation of the present invention). Test) is the same as the registered value.

If they do not match, the current ICM recording is canceled in step 73, and step 6
The standby state of step 51 is restored via 0, 61, 62 and 63.

When they match each other, FIG.
In step 74 of the above, the voice synthesizer sends out "How many channels can I reserve?". Here, if the caller wants to select, for example, channel 12 by operating the keys of the telephone 1, the caller sends "12 #". "#" Is a delimiter signal. The data of the "12" channel is substituted into the variable "CH", for example (step 75).

Then, "How many days?" Is transmitted from the apparatus side by voice synthesis, and in response to this, the caller indicates "31st", which is the recording date of the television program, for example, "31". If "#" is sent, this "31" is substituted into the variable DATE. Further, the recording start time and the reservation information of the recording time are similarly substituted into the variables STIME and TIME (steps 78 to 81).

Then, the reservation information assigned to the above variables is voice-synthesized in order to have the caller confirm the reservation information of the television program sent by the caller, and, for example, from "12 channel, 31st, 13:00". It will record for 2 hours. "Is sent (step 82). Next, in step 83, a subroutine "Check" for testing whether the reservation information overlaps with the reservation information previously reserved is called.

Here, step 9 in the flowchart of FIG.
At 1, the counter variable N is initialized to "1".
Then, it is tested whether or not there is reservation information stored in the memory area of the address indicated by the variable N. If there is the above-mentioned reservation information, step 92 becomes affirmative, and the date data of the reservation information in this memory area is, for example, CP.
It is substituted into the register 1 (not shown) in U6 (step 93).

Similarly, the time data is stored in the register 2 in the following manner.
The sum of the time data and the recording time, that is, the recording end time is assigned to the register 3 and the channel data is assigned to the register 4 (steps 94 to 96).

In the next step 97, register 1
Data, that is, the date data of the step 93 and the date data of the variable DATE input in the step 77 are tested for equality.

If the two data are equal, the step 97 becomes affirmative, and in the next step 98, the data of the registers 2 to 3, that is, the time zone from the recording start time to the recording end time is determined by the caller as described above. From the recording start time (STIME) sent to the recording end time (STIME +
(TIME) to test if there is a partial overlap with the time zone.

If some time zones overlap, step 98 becomes affirmative, the overlapping time zones are calculated, and the time is substituted into the variable M in units of minutes (step 99).

Then, the above-mentioned result is shown in, for example, "channel 6
It overlaps with the reservation of 30 minutes. "(Register 4)" represents the data assigned to the register 4. When the caller sends the reservation information, it is printed in a newspaper or the like. Since it is normal to look at the TV program table that is present, it is possible to determine which TV program the TV program overlaps by knowing the overlapping channels reported from the device side.

Here, the caller gives priority to which television program (deletes the reservation information of one television program),
Decide whether to record on both sides, knowing that reservations for one of the overlapping time zones will not be recorded. If, for example, "1 *" sent from the caller as a command to erase the reservation information already stored in the memory RAM is received, step 101 becomes affirmative, and at the next step 102, the "N = 1" memory area is stored. The reservation information is deleted.

If it is desired to delete the latest reservation information sent by the calling party as described above, for example, the calling party calls "2".
If "*" is sent, step 103 becomes affirmative and the reservation information is erased (step 104).

Alternatively, if it is desired to record the reservation information of both TV programs, knowing that they will not be recorded during the overlapping time period of one TV program, a confirmation command of, for example, "#" sent from the caller is received. Then, step 105 becomes affirmative, the variable N is incremented by 1 and the process returns to step 92 via step 107 to start checking with the next reservation information as described above.

This check is repeated, for example, seven times until step 107 becomes affirmative, and then "O
K. ", To exit this subroutine and proceed to step 84 in FIG.

In this step 84, "please press" * "to change the reservation and press"#"to add the reservation" is transmitted by voice synthesis. Here, if the caller sends out "*", for example, step 85 becomes affirmative, and variables CH, DATE, STIME, R for substituting the reservation information at step 88.
After clearing TIME, return to the above step 74,
As described above, the caller can send the reservation information according to the voice synthesis.

On the other hand, if the caller sends "#" to add reservation information, step 86 becomes affirmative, and variables CH, DATE, STIME, in which reservation information is substituted,
After transferring the RTIME data to a vacant predetermined area of the memory RAM and clearing the above variables (steps 87, 8)
8) Then, returning to step 74, the next reservation information can be input.

After that, the overlap check is performed as described above, and when the caller hooks the telephone 1 while looping through the steps 85 and 86, this on-hook is sent via the line monitoring circuit 4. When the program is detected, the program moves to step 65 via step 64 of FIG. 2 by an interrupt operation, and if there is the reservation information input last, step 65 becomes affirmative and variables CH, DATE, STIM
The reservation information of E and RTIME is transferred to a vacant predetermined area of the memory RAM (step 66), and the standby state of step 51 is restored.

Next, an example of the operation of controlling the VTR 33 based on the reservation information stored in the memory RAM as described above will be described. In step 52 in the standby state of FIG. 2 described above, a subroutine called TIMETST shown in FIG. 5 is called.

In step 121 showing this subroutine, first, the variable N = 1 is set, and it is tested whether the date of the Nth reservation information matches the date of the clock (not shown) in the CPU 6 (step 122). . In this embodiment, since eight pieces of reservation information can be stored, steps 123, 1
Sequentially test the dates of 8 bookings via 24.

If the date of the reservation information matches the date of the clock, step 122 becomes affirmative, and if the recording start time of the reservation information coincides with the clock time, step 125 becomes affirmative, and the remote controller is operated by this Nth reservation information. Box 2
Recording of the VTR 33 is started via 9.

In this embodiment, the power button 29-4 is used for VT.
Turn on the power of R33, set the channel with the number buttons 0-9, and turn on the above buttons through the corresponding analog switches 11-25 so that the recording button 29-6 starts recording. Have control over.

When the recording end time is reached, step 127 becomes affirmative, and the power button 29-4 is turned on again to turn off the power of the VTR 33 to cancel the recording.
The used reservation information is erased from the memory RAM (steps 128 and 129).

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified in various ways. For example, this device and the VTR 33 are integrated. Alternatively, a reservation code composed of several digits published in newspapers or the like may be used.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a TV program is reserved through a telephone line, if there is an overlap in the recording time zone of the reservation, the caller is called from this device. To send a message to the user by voice synthesis and overlapped 2
Since a means for canceling one of the two reservations is provided, all the TV programs desired by the caller can be surely recorded.

Further, since the means for notifying the overlap information, for example, the overlap time and the channel, is provided, the calling party can quickly find out which TV program is overlapped. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart mainly showing an operation as an answering machine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a reservation operation of a television program via a telephone line.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a subroutine for checking the overlap of recording time zones.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a subroutine for controlling a video tape recorder based on reservation information of a television program.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone 2 Telephone Line 3 Line Transformer 4 Line Monitoring Circuit 5 Keyboard 6 CPU 7 Voice Synthesis Section 8 ICM Recording Section 9 Tone Decoder 10 NOR Gate 11-25 Analog Switch 26 Connector 27 Cable 28 Connector 29 Remote Control Box 30 Display Section 31 Light Emitting Diode 32 Infrared 33 VTR

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine having a circuit means for closing a call signal of a telephone and transmitting a response term or a circuit means for recording a message from a caller after the response term is transmitted, during the operation of the circuit means. Memory means for storing reservation information of one or a plurality of television programs sent by an owner of a remote place operating a key of a telephone, and an owner to confirm the operation each time the above operation is completed. A means for responding by voice synthesis, a means for checking the overlap of the recording time zones of the reservation information of the TV program stored in the memory means, a means for notifying by voice synthesis when the overlap is detected, Means for clearing one of the overlapping television program information by a caller's operation, and a television program stored in the memory means A video tape having a notification means comprising means for controlling the video tape recorder by information, means for restoring the circuit means to the original state when the owner hangs up the telephone after the above operation is confirmed. Recorder recording reservation device. 2. The recording reservation apparatus for a video tape recorder having a notification means according to claim 1, wherein the notification from the overlap notification means includes information on the overlapping time zone.