JPH10304267A - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience at the time of retrieving a program chart by storing data related with a program viewed by a user, and editing and displaying the data as a viewing history according to a request. SOLUTION: An MPEG2 transport demultiplexer 20 separates a PSI data stream from a transport stream. The PSI data stream includes data necessary for a program chart(EPG) such as the information of a channel or a program. An MPEG2 decoder & OSD 22 converts character data constituting the EPG into a video signal, and this video signal is transmitted through a video encoder 24, and displayed as a video. When a user views a program, a CPU 28 prepares a viewing history including a broadcast date, channel, fee, genre, and broadcast content or the like for each program unit by referring to the EPG, and stores it. When the user requests the viewing history at the time of retrieving a program, it is displayed according to a desired sort key and sort order.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver transmitted via a satellite, a cable, or the like.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver capable of presenting useful information to a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a satellite broadcast, a cable broadcast, or the like, a large number of television and / or radio programs are transmitted to each digital broadcast receiver by a large number of channels. The transmission signal includes, together with the program itself, program data relating to a program currently being broadcast and a program to be broadcasted, so that the program name, broadcast date, broadcast time, channel, and the like can be obtained.

[0003]

The conventional digital broadcast receiver does not have a function of presenting viewing history information on what programs the user has watched in the past.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver equipped with a function of presenting a viewing history.

[0005]

The digital broadcast receiver (10) of the present invention has the following (a) to (c). (A) Viewing program data acquisition means for acquiring data on a program viewed by a user from a digital broadcast transmission signal (b) Viewing program data storage means for storing the viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means (c) Viewing history creating means for reading out viewing program data from the viewing program data storage means and creating a viewing history (d) Viewing history display means for displaying the viewing history when a user requests a viewing history display

In the current digital broadcasting, the viewing program data included in the transmission signal includes a program name, a broadcasting date, a broadcasting time, a channel, a genre, a program content (approximate), and a fee for a pay-per-view program. May increase or change. The viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means from the transmission signal of the digital broadcast does not exclude the viewing program data to be added in the future, and includes not only all of the viewing program data included in the transmission signal, but also It covers the case of only the viewing program data of a part. The viewing history is displayed when the user requests the viewing history display, but the viewing history creating means creates the viewing history not only when the user requests the viewing history display, but also when the user requests the viewing history display. May be created in advance in preparation for the viewing history display request.

[0007] The viewing program data of the program watched by the user is stored in the viewing program data storage means, and is read out from the viewing program data storage means, whereby a viewing history can be appropriately created. In this way, the user knows the viewing history, and can obtain information such as the viewing tendency of himself and his family and when and what kind of program was viewed.

Another digital broadcast receiver of the present invention (10)
Has the following (e) and (f). (E) A viewing history creating means for creating a viewing history including a postscript column and adding the user to the viewing history. (F) A viewing program data storage means for restoring the viewing program data added by the user.

For the additional recording, for example, a video tape number or the like on which the program is recorded can be written. As a result, user-specific information can be left in the viewing history.

Another digital broadcast receiver of the present invention (10)
Has the following (g) and (h). (G) Viewing history display means for creating a viewing history in which the corresponding viewing program data has been deleted from the viewing history in response to a deletion instruction from the user. (H) Viewing program data storage means for deleting the viewing program data deleted by the user from storage.

[0011] The user can delete a part of the viewing history that is no longer needed, and thereafter view the viewing history excluding the part.

Another digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention (10)
Has the following (i). (I) Viewing history creating means for searching viewing program data using a search key specified by a user and creating a viewing history of the viewed program data.

[0013] By performing a search using a predetermined search key, the user can view only the target viewing history, not the entire past viewing history, but only the target viewing history. Note that this search does not exclude the case where not only a case including a word that completely matches the search key but also a synonym is searched.

Another digital broadcast receiver of the present invention (10)
Has the following (j). (J) viewing history creating means for sorting viewing program data based on a sort key designated by a user and creating a viewing history based on the result

By designating a predetermined sort key, the user can view the viewing history displayed in ascending or descending order, for example, by broadcast date, channel, program name, or genre.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 4 is a digital broadcast receiver
It is a block diagram of 10 principal parts. Digital broadcasters transmit digital broadcasts using satellite or cable media. In the digital broadcast receiver 10, a transmission signal transmitted via the parabolic antenna 12 or a cable is supplied to a tuner module 14. The tuner module 14 selects the frequency of the radio wave to be received and outputs it to the channel receiver 16. Channel receiver
In the 16th, QPSK demodulation, analog / digital conversion (A
This is a digital data demodulation circuit that performs error correction (DC) and FEC (Forward Error Correction). The transport descrambler 18 descrambles the signal for conditional access, and generates a data stream in a format called a transport stream. (The description of the MPEG transstream will be described later). MPEG2 transport
The demultiplexer 20 converts the input transport stream into an MPEG2 Video data stream,
Audio data stream and PSI (Program S
(Pecific Information) and reconstruct it. In one transport stream, programs of 4 to 8 channels are multiplexed.
A broadcaster transmits a plurality of transport streams from a satellite. This realizes multi-channel broadcasting. When selecting a channel, PS
From I, data such as which transport stream an arbitrary channel is transmitted in and which packet ID in the transport stream is multiplexed are extracted and selected. An MPEG2 decoder & OSD (On Screen Disply) 22 decodes the MPEG2 video stream and the MPEG2 audio stream, respectively, and outputs a video signal and an audio signal to the video encoder 24 and the DAC 26, respectively. The OSD converts EPG character data and the like into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the video encoder 24. A video signal such as an NTSC signal is output from the video encoder 24, and the video is reproduced on a TV or the like.

The CPU 28 controls these components. User interface 30 is EPG
It is for selecting and operating a channel from the screen, and a remote control and a keyboard are connected. Each channel or program can be played (= output of video and / or audio) by contracting with each other, and their information is stored in data (EMM or EMM) in the transport stream.
CM) to the IC card interface 32, and if the data output from the IC card interface 32 meets the conditions of the transport descrambler 18, video and audio can be decoded. The modem 34 transfers the usage history data of the pay program to the broadcaster.

At present, in digital satellite broadcasting, MPEG
By using a data compression technique and a multiplexing technique referred to as "2", broadcasting of more than 100 channels of a digital broadcast receiver is realized. Conventionally, channels and programs are selected from a program table of newspapers or magazines. However, it is necessary to find a program to be viewed from a channel of the digital broadcast receiver 100 or more. For this reason, data necessary for creating a program guide, such as channel and program information, is also multiplexed on an MPEG2 transport stream and broadcast so that a program can be selected on a television screen. This program table is called EPG (Electronic Program Guide).

FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 show EPGs displayed on the television screen by time, channel, and genre, respectively. Three rectangular frames (corresponding to time, channel, and genre classifications from the top) vertically arranged on the right side of the EPG indicate which classification of the current display is the EPG display.

The data required to create an EPG is M
It is transmitted in a data structure defined by PEG2_System and is composed of tables and descriptors. The SDT (Service Description Table) and EIT (Ev
An EPG is created by processing data of additional information relating to a channel or additional information relating to a program, which is called an ent Infomation Table, by a microcomputer or the like. The data structure of SDT and EIT will be described later.

Next, the MPEG transport stream will be described. Digital satellite broadcasting discussed in this example
PerfectTV is transmitted by MPEG2-TS.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the MPEG2 transport stream. The definition of each field is as follows. sync: Sync byte transport_error_indicator: Error correction payload_unit_start_indicator: Unit start indication. This means that a new packet starts with the payload of this transport stream. transpot_priority: Transport packet priority. Indicates the importance of this packet. transport_scrambling_control: Scramble control. The presence and type of scrambling of this packet are indicated. adaptation_field_control: Adaptation field control. Indicates the presence or absence of an adaptation field and the presence or absence of a payload in this packet. (In the above example, there is no adaptation field and there is a payload.) Continuity_counter: A cyclic counter. Information for detecting whether a packet with the same PID was partially rejected on the way. Detect from count continuity. PID: Program ID. When the above-mentioned EIT or the like in the payload exceeds 184 bytes, it is divided into two or more transport packets and transmitted. When multiple payloads of the transport packet having the target PID are connected, the target bit stream such as SDT and EIT can be obtained by connecting them.

The data structure of the SDT will be described. As an example, digital satellite broadcasting PerfectT currently being broadcast
The data structure of SDT (Service Description Table) in V is shown below. When the PID picks up the transport packet of 0x0011 from the transport stream transmitted from the satellite, a bit stream according to the following format is completed. The SDT contains information about each Service, that is, each channel. This table (section) is created for each transport stream.

FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram of the SDT. SDT is ta
ble_id has the following meaning. table_id = 0x42 (SDT_a): Information on the channel in the currently received transport stream. = 0x46 (SDT_o): Information on channels in other transport streams. Information included in descriptor () of the data structure in FIG. 9 includes the following. DM_name_descriptor (): Service name (channel name) DM_content_descriptor (): Content of service DM_logo_descriptor (): Image of a bitmap with the logo of that channel NVOD_reference_descriptor (): Information on near video on demand service time_shifted_service_descriptor (): Service_id mosaic_descriptor () of the channel on which the NVOD is based Information about split screen display DM_service_type_descriptor (): Service type of video, audio, data, etc.

The EIT will be described. In the digital satellite broadcast PerfectTV of this example, if a transport packet having a program ID of 0x0014 is picked up from a transport stream transmitted from a satellite, a bit stream according to the following format can be obtained.

FIG. 10 is a data structure diagram of the EIT. E
IT has the following meaning depending on table_id. table_id ... 0x4E (EIT_p / a): Information on a program that should be currently being executed (broadcast). (Channel in transport stream currently being received) 0x4F (EIT_p / o): Information on a program to be currently executed (broadcast). (Channels other than the transport stream currently being received) 0x50-57 (EIT_g / a): Information on all program schedules (excluding program contents). (Channels in the transport stream currently being received) 0x60-67 (EIT_g / o): Information on all program schedules (excluding program contents). (Channels other than the transport stream currently being received) 0x58-5F (EIT_d / a): Information on all program schedules (program content only). (Channel in the transport stream currently being received) 0x68-6F (EIT_a / o): Information on all program schedules (program content only). (Channels other than the currently received transport stream)

There are several types of descriptors in FIG. 10, and among them, the ones related to the present invention are listed. A Descriptor of program name DM_name_descriptor () {descriptor_tag 8bit descriptor_length 8bit name_type 8bit for (i = 0; i <N; ++ i) {char 8bit Up to 20 characters in full-width (2 byte characters)}} B Descriptor of program contents DM_content_descriptor () {descriptor_tag 8bit descriptor_length 8bit descriptor_number 4bit last_descriptor_number 4bit for (i = 0; i <N; ++ i) {char 8bit Up to 400 full-width (2-byte characters)}}

The program table can be created from the EIT service_id (channel) and event_id (program). event_id
By extracting start_time from, the start time of the program can be known. The end of the program is event_id of EIT_p / a
Can be considered to be finished when updated from id.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a process for creating and displaying a conventional EPG. In S50, an EPG display command is issued by key input from a user interface, for example, a remote controller. At S52, SD
Receives and decodes T data, confirms the presence or absence of a program listing,
Get the service name (channel). Next, in S54, EIT data is received, and each service (channel) is received.
, Such as the program name, start time and end time, and genre. A program guide (EPG) is created from these data (S56). In S58, the created program guide is output to a TV (television) screen by the OSD 6.

These EPGs have channel codes (serv
It is possible to create a program table classified by ice_id), genre code, program start time, and the like. A program table as described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 can be created and displayed.

The program guides shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 are arranged for each time, each channel, and each genre.
Because of the large number of programs and the fact that data can be obtained up to one week ahead, it takes a lot of time for the user to search for a desired program. Therefore, it is desired to extract a program that the user desires to view and display it promptly, and this is realized by the processing in FIG.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are flowcharts relating to the viewing history processing, and FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a viewing history list displayed on the TV screen in S70 of FIG.

First, referring to FIG. 3, in the list of FIG. 3, the record is a program actually watched by the user, and the fields are broadcast date (day), broadcast time (hour),
The program name, the channel (No), and the pay-per-view fee (PPV) are used. The first sort key is an ascending broadcast date, and the second sort key is an ascending broadcast time. FIG. 3 shows a schematic display. In the detailed display, a genre and program contents (summary) are further displayed as fields. The rightmost column in FIG. 3 is a memo column (MEMO). The memo column is also a field, and data of all fields of all records is secured in a storage area of the memory. When not displayed on one screen, the user can move to the previous screen and the next screen using the roll-up and roll-down keys. Each step of the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

S60: It is determined whether or not the program being viewed by the user has ended. If yes, skip S62 and proceed to S64. If no, proceed to the next S62. The end of the program is determined by the EIT_
The determination can be made by updating the event_id of p / a. In order to make this determination, E
Captures IT and monitors event_id.

S62: It is determined whether or not the user has changed the channel. If yes, return to S64; if no, return to s60.

S64: The user determines whether or not the user has watched the finished program or the program before the channel change for a certain period of time (this fixed period can be appropriately set by the user). Even if the user watches the program, there is a case where it is boring and immediately switches to another channel. In such a case, it can not be said that the user has actually watched the program, so such a determination is provided. .

S66: Information of the viewed program (= viewed program data) is obtained from the EPG data and stored in the viewed program data area of the memory. The following data on the viewing program can be obtained from the EIT. Channel No. EIT sevice_id Program name EIT DM_name_descriptor Program content EIT DM_content_descriptor Program genre EIT content_descriptor Broadcast time EIT start time, Eit duration PPV (fee) EIT DM_fee_descriptor

S68: It is determined whether the user has requested display of the viewing history. This can be done by providing a display request key or
It is determined whether an option is provided on the SD or the user has performed an operation.

S70: The viewed program data is read from the memory and displayed on the TV screen by the OSD as a list (FIG. 3). In the list of FIG. 3, the viewing history is displayed in ascending order of the broadcast time. However, at the request of the user, a list in which the program names are sorted in the order of the Japanese syllabary, for example, can be displayed. Alternatively, the user may specify a search key for a program name, for example, to display a list of viewing histories of only the program name.

S72: While the viewing history list is being displayed, a cursor for selecting program data is displayed on the TV screen. The cursor is initially at the top of the viewing history list (top left corner cell)
To be displayed.

S74: The user operates the pointing device or the vertical arrow key to move the cursor in the vertical direction, and selects a predetermined program in the viewing history list.

S76: The user operates the pointing device or the horizontal arrow key to move the cursor to ME.
MO field (field where users write their own memos)
To the side.

S78: The user inputs a memo from the keyboard. In the example of FIG. 3, the memo is a video tape No.
20 (the management number of the video recording the program).

S80: The user presses the execution key or the like to confirm the memo, and as soon as the memo is confirmed, S82.
Proceed to.

S82: The input memo (text data) is stored in the storage area of the corresponding viewing program data.

In S74, a line of a program for which it is determined that the user does not need to leave it as a viewing history is selected with a cursor, and can be deleted with a del key. By this deletion, the corresponding viewed program data in the memory is also deleted, and the corresponding viewed program data is not displayed on the TV screen.

In S74, the user selects a line of a predetermined program with a cursor and switches to a detailed display. In the detailed display, the TV screen is switched, and the program genre data (EIT co
ntent_descriptor) and program content data (EIT DM_conte
nt_descriptor) is also read out, the genre and the program content are added, and the display is performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of processing of a viewing history.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart relating to viewing history processing;

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a viewing history list displayed on a TV screen in S70 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a main part of the digital broadcast receiver.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an EPG for each time displayed on a television screen.

FIG. 6 shows an EPG for each channel displayed on a television screen.
FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a genre-based EPG displayed on a television screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of an MPEG2 transport stream.

FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram of an SDT.

FIG. 10 is a data structure diagram of an EIT.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a conventional process for creating and displaying an EPG.

[Description of Signs] 10 Digital Broadcast Receiver

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A viewing program data acquisition means for acquiring data on a program watched by a user from a digital broadcast transmission signal, and b. A viewing program for storing the viewing program data acquired by the viewing program data acquisition means. Program data storage means; (c) viewing history creation means for reading viewing program data from the viewing program data storage means to create a viewing history; and (d) saving the viewing history when a user requests a viewing history display. Viewing history display means to be displayed,
A digital broadcast receiver comprising: 2. (e) The viewing history creating means for creating a viewing history including an additional record column and adding the user to the viewing history, and (f) the viewing program for re-storing the viewing program data added by the user. 2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising program data storage means. (G) the viewing history display means for creating a viewing history in which the corresponding viewing program data is deleted from the viewing history in response to a deletion instruction from the user; and (h) storing the viewing program data deleted by the user. 2. The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, further comprising said viewing program data storage means for deleting said program data from said program. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: (i) said viewing history creating means for searching for viewing program data by a search key designated by a user and creating a viewing history of said viewing program data. The digital broadcast receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: (j) the viewing history creating means for sorting viewing program data based on a sort key designated by a user and creating a viewing history based on the result. A digital broadcast receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 4.