JPH11250525A - Program automatic video recording system and receiving terminal device used for the system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically select the channel of a selected program during a broadcasting and to video record the contents of the program by collating the selection conditions and the program guide information to be received after setting the program selection conditions and finding the broadcasting program corresponding to the program selection conditions. SOLUTION: Program selection conditions and code numbers (category name codes) are set in a memory section 12. If a code number exists in the program guide information, both code numbers are collated and an identification section 9 outputs an 'agreement' to a retrieving section 10. The section 10 checks the program guide information inputted from a demodulation section 7, finds the program which includes the code number, confirms the data, the time and the broadcasting channel of the broadcasting and outputs the information to a control section 11. The section 11 selects the receiving channel of a tuner section 6 at the time of the day of the broadcasting through a channel switching section 13, outputs a video recording start signal to a video recorder 3 through a control terminal 14 and the recorder 3 is set to a video recording condition.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a TV which a viewer wants to watch.
The present invention relates to an automatic program recording system for automatically selecting a program from information such as a genre of a program or a person appearing in the program and recording the program on a recording device, and a receiving terminal device used therein. It is particularly suitable for recording multi-channel broadcasts such as CATV and satellite digital broadcasts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A TV program can be reserved and recorded by inputting reservation information to a recording device (such as a VTR) installed at home by each viewer. In this case, broadcasts published in newspapers, magazines, etc. It is necessary for each user to accurately input the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel reservation information of the program to the recording device while watching the program of the program. Also, in VHF broadcasting, UHF, etc., where G codes are widespread, instead of inputting the broadcast date and time and channel, one G code can be input and the program can be pre-recorded on the recording device.
In this case, the code must be entered correctly.

[0003] Recording devices include an RS232C terminal and a LANC.
Terminal, a control S terminal, a JLIP terminal, and the like, with an interface for external control. In this case,
Editing controller or PC for recording device interface
Recording, playback, pause, stop, and the like can be controlled by connecting them. Such a recording device is generally used for business use, but is not limited to home use. Digital video has a DV terminal, and some of these terminals have a similar control function.

[0004]

The recording of CATV and satellite broadcasts has the following problems. . You must always watch the program of the broadcast program and check in advance whether there is a program you want to watch,
Failure to do so will result in missed recordings of the program. . In multi-channel broadcasting such as CATV and satellite digital broadcasting, it is troublesome for a viewer to check the broadcast contents of all channels and select a desired program, and some improvement is required. . Except for VHF and UHF broadcasting where G codes are widespread, it is necessary to input the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel information to the recording device, but this is cumbersome to operate. In addition, there are also recording failures due to input mistakes. This is a huge problem for those who record programs frequently. . The broadcast time of the program may be changed or suspended due to a serious incident, disaster, extension of baseball broadcasting, etc.
In this case, the recording fails because the desired program cannot be reliably recorded from the beginning to the end or a completely unrelated broadcast is recorded. . If the date and time of the recording device are not set correctly, the program will not be accurately recorded, and the recording will fail. . Since the information to be provided is also limited in the broadcast program due to space restrictions, there is also a problem that a detailed check cannot be performed. . Even if the recording device is provided with an interface for external control, an existing editing controller or the like cannot automatically record a program desired by a viewer.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic program recording system in which a broadcast signal of a program desired by a viewer from a broadcast transmitted from a broadcast device is connected to a reception terminal device. An automatic program recording system for causing the recording device 3 to automatically record a program, wherein the broadcast device 1 can transmit program guide information including at least the content, the broadcast time, and the broadcast channel of a program to be broadcasted. Yes, the receiving terminal device 2 or the recording device 3
Program guide information to be transmitted, and program selection conditions such as a program name for selecting a program to be recorded on the recording device 3, a genre name of the program, names of persons appearing in the program, or codes thereof. When a program selection condition is set, the selected condition is compared with the received program guide information, and when a broadcast program corresponding to the program selection condition is found, the broadcast program is broadcast. At a certain time, the channel of the program is automatically selected, and the program is automatically recorded in the recording device 3.

A receiving terminal device according to a second aspect of the present invention is for receiving a broadcast transmitted from a broadcast device 1 and displaying the broadcast on a television or recording the broadcast on a recording device 3 such as a VTR. A receiving function capable of receiving the program guide information including the content of the program to be broadcasted from now on and broadcast from now on, the broadcast time of the program, and the broadcast channel to the receiving terminal device, and a program to be recorded on the recording device 3 When a selection condition setting function capable of setting program selection conditions such as a program name for selection, a genre name of the program, names of persons appearing in the program, or codes thereof, and a program selection condition are set,
A collation search function for collating the selection condition with the program guide information and finding a broadcast program corresponding to the program selection condition;
It is characterized by having a channel selection function in which a channel of the program is selected at the time when the broadcast program is broadcast and the program is automatically recorded in the recording device 3.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an automatic program recording system according to the present invention and a receiving terminal device used therein. A broadcast signal transmitted from a terrestrial broadcasting device 1 is transmitted by a communication satellite 4. , And is a CS broadcast received by the receiving terminal device 2 on the ground.

The broadcasting apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has at least one dedicated program guide channel for performing only program guide in addition to a plurality of general broadcast channels. The broadcast signal is introduced to introduce the program to be performed. The broadcast signal is transmitted by superimposing program guide information described below in addition to an audio signal and a video signal which are received by the receiving terminal device 2 at the receiver's home and become audio and video. When the information amount of the program guide information is large, the audio signal and the video signal may be cut off, or in the CS broadcasting using the image compression technique, the information amount of the video signal may be reduced by transmitting a stop image. .

The program guide information includes, in addition to the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel of the program, information indicating the contents of the program. The broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel information of the program may be used as individual numerical information. However, a single numerical information such as a G code is generated through an appropriate algorithm. It may be replaced with a single code. Various information such as a program name, a genre name of the program, a name of a person appearing in the program, a name of a song played in the program, and the like can be used as the information on the contents of the program. . In this embodiment, the program is divided into 100 genres, code numbers from 100 to 199 are assigned to each of the programs, and code numbers from 200 to 299 are assigned to each person so that the performers can be selected from the 100 who are currently active. To be assigned. Specifically, for one program, its broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, numerical information indicating a broadcast channel, a code number indicating a program genre, and one or more code numbers indicating performers Can be sent.

The receiving terminal device 2 receives a broadcast signal relayed by the communication satellite 4 and outputs an audio signal and a video signal to the television 5 and the recording device 3, and is called IRD in CS broadcasting. The receiving terminal device 2 includes a tuner 6 for selecting a receiving channel, and a demodulator 7 for demodulating a signal received by the tuner 6 to obtain the audio signal or the video signal. The demodulation unit 7 can reproduce the program guide information superimposed on the signal of the channel when the tuner unit 6 selects the dedicated program guide channel, and has a function of receiving the program guide information.

The receiving terminal device 2 compares a selection condition setting function for setting a program selection condition for selecting a program to be recorded on the recording device 3 with the program guide information, and matches the program selection condition. A matching search function for finding a broadcast program to be executed, and a tuner unit 6 for the broadcast time of the broadcast program.
And a channel selecting function for changing the receiving channel of the program to the program. In order to realize these functions, the matching unit 8, the identifying unit 9, the searching unit 10, the control unit 11,
2. A channel switching unit 13 is provided.

The memory section 12 is a section for storing program selection conditions, and can input, modify, or delete program selection conditions through a console or a remote controller (not shown). In this case, as with the program guide information, each code number of 100 to 199 can be used for the genre name and each code number of 200 to 299 can be used for the performer name. The viewer can select one or a plurality of desired code numbers from these code numbers and set them in the memory unit 12. In addition, a code list or the like is distributed to each viewer's house so that the code number can be easily checked from the genre name and the performer name of the program.

The collating unit 8 stores the code numbers (100 to 299) of the program guide information reproduced by the demodulating unit 7 and the memory unit 12
Is checked one by one with the code number of the program selection condition set in the search unit 10 and if there is a match, the search unit 10
"Match" is output. When a plurality of code numbers are set in the memory unit 12, if any one of the code numbers is included, the matching of the OR condition that outputs “match” is performed. It is possible to switch between a match of an AND condition for outputting “match” and the like.

The search section 10 is adapted to accumulate the program guide information reproduced by the demodulation section 7.
When "match" is output from, the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel of the program whose code number matches are checked, and are passed to the control unit 11.

The control unit 11 sets the reception channel of the tuner unit 6 to the broadcast date and broadcast start time of the recorded program delivered from the search unit 10 based on the current date and time of a timer (not shown). Change to the channel of the program,
Further, a recording start signal is output to the recording device 3 through the interface 14, and the recording by the recording device 3 is started. When the broadcast end time comes, a recording end signal is output to the recording device 3 to stop the recording. If the time zones of the programs do not overlap, the control unit 11 can record two or more recorded programs, and a plurality of programs can be sequentially recorded on the recording device 3. As the control terminal 14, an RS232C terminal, a LANC terminal, a control S terminal, a JLIP terminal, or the like can be used.

A specific example of the operation of the collating unit 8, the identifying unit 9, the searching unit 10, the control unit 11, the memory unit 12, and the channel switching unit 13 will be described. When the code number “201” (genre name code) is set as a program selection condition in the memory unit 12 and the code number “201” is included in the program guide information, the identification unit 9 searches the code number as a result of collation of both code numbers. "Match" is output to the unit 10. The search unit 10 determines “match”
Upon receiving the program guide information, the program guide information input from the demodulation unit 7 is searched to find a program including the code number "201", and the broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, and broadcast channel of the program are confirmed, and this information is checked. Is output to the control unit 11. The control unit 11 stores information from the search unit 10 and uses a signal from a timer (not shown) to display the current date and time.
While checking the time, the reception channel of the tuner unit 6 matches the broadcast channel of the program via the channel switching unit 13 at the broadcast date and broadcast start time of the program including the code number “201”, and the control terminal 14 A recording start signal is output to the recording device 3 through the recording device 3 to put the recording device 3 in a recording state. As a result, the program of the code number “201” selected by the tuner unit 6 is recorded on the recording device 3. The control unit 11 subsequently checks the current time, and when the broadcast end time of the program is reached, the control terminal 14
A recording stop signal is output to the recording device 3 through the controller to stop the recording.

The automatic program recording system of the present invention and the receiving terminal device used therefor can be applied not only to satellite digital broadcasting but also to wired CATV broadcasting, wired music broadcasting, and other various broadcasting systems.

Further, in the present invention, instead of transmitting the program guide information to a specific dedicated channel, the program guide information may be transmitted by being superimposed on a broadcast signal on a channel where a normal broadcast is performed. If the system is analog broadcasting,
It is possible to transmit a signal using a vacant portion of a video frame such as teletext.

[0019]

According to the automatic program recording system of the present invention and the receiving terminal device used therein, the following effects can be obtained. . If the viewer sets the genre name and performer name of the program he / she wants to watch in the receiving terminal device 2, the receiving terminal device 2 automatically checks whether or not there is a corresponding program. Is automatically recorded on the recording device 3, so that the viewer does not have to check the program program one by one, and the setting of the recording channel and time is not required, which is convenient. In particular, it is very effective for multi-channel broadcasting such as CATV and satellite digital broadcasting. . By updating the program guide information on the broadcast device side, a pause of a program or a change in broadcast time is automatically reflected on the recording device 3, so that a recording error can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic program recording system of the present invention and a receiving terminal device used therein.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Broadcasting device 2 Receiving terminal device 3 Recording device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A program for automatically recording a broadcast signal of a program desired by a viewer from a broadcast transmitted from a broadcast device (1) on a recording device (3) connected to a receiving terminal device (2). An automatic recording system, wherein a broadcasting device (1) is capable of transmitting at least a program guide information including a content, a broadcasting time, and a broadcasting channel of a program to be broadcasted, and a receiving terminal device (2) or a recording device. (3) is capable of receiving program guide information transmitted from the broadcasting device (1), and appears in a program name, a program genre name, and a program for selecting a program to be recorded on the recording device (3). A program selection condition such as a person name or a code thereof can be set. When the program selection condition is set, the selected condition is compared with the received program guide information, and the broadcast corresponding to the program selection condition is checked. Turn Is found, a channel of the program is automatically selected at a time when the broadcast program is broadcast, and the program is automatically recorded in the recording device (3). Recording system. 2. A receiving terminal device for receiving a broadcast transmitted from a broadcast device (1) and projecting the broadcast on a television or recording on a recording device (3) such as a VTR.
A receiving function capable of receiving program guide information transmitted from the broadcasting device (1) and including the content of the program to be broadcast, the broadcasting time of the program, and the broadcast channel, and selecting a program to be recorded in the recording device (3) Selection condition setting function for setting program selection conditions such as a program name, a program genre name, a name of a person appearing in the program, or a code thereof, and a program selection condition. A collation search function for collating with the program guide information to find a broadcast program that satisfies the program selection condition, and selecting a channel of the program at a time when the broadcast program is broadcast, and recording the program (3)
Receiving terminal device having a channel selection function for automatically recording the program.