JPH11252499A - Teletext receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reutilize character information as recording retrieval data or the like. SOLUTION: Teletext signals are decoded by a decoder, the decoded character information is displayed on a screen, and the data of the specified character information among the character information are downloaded to a memory means via a control part. The downloaded specified character information is reutilized as index information. For instance, when the character information is television electronic program information, a television program desired of being recorded is recorded by a recording means and the downloaded program information (program title) is stored in the memory means attached to a video cassette. By doing so, since the television program recorded in the video cassette and the program title correspond to each other, the contents of recording can be easily retrieved by using the recorded program title.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a teletext receiver. Specifically, by downloading specific character information from the character information sent from the broadcasting station, the downloaded character information can be freely processed and used by the user. When it is the TV program information, the title of the TV program to be recorded among the downloaded TV program information can be used as the recorded program information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Teletext is a type of broadcast system called teletext, and character information (character signal) such as characters and figures is included in a part of a vertical retrace period of a television signal.
Are digitized and multiplexed, and the receiving side decodes the multiplexed character information so that the original characters and figures can be displayed on a monitor (television screen).

[0003] The text broadcast menu includes a television program guide in addition to news, weather forecast, stock information, and the like. Such text broadcasting is provided with services based on the display contents unique to the broadcasting station.

[0004]

By the way, in the teletext broadcasting, the contents of the selected menu are usually displayed on a television monitor, and the user simply looks at the contents and confirms the contents. For example, in a news program, the user simply looks at the news of the day on the screen and grasps the content. The weather forecast is the same. TV programs are also used as electronic program guides in the same way as newspaper TV columns. Therefore, only the broadcast time and program title of the channel (broadcasting station) and, in some cases, the contents of the program are confirmed.

As described above, conventionally, although the contents of the teletext are displayed on the screen, the display contents are not actively processed or used. This is because the main role can be sufficiently fulfilled only by checking the contents displayed on the screen.

[0006] However, it would be very convenient if the contents displayed on the screen could be processed or used. For example, when searching for recorded content in the case of TV programs,
This is because, if the titles of the recorded programs and the like are recorded simultaneously and automatically, a target recorded program can be easily grasped only by searching for the program title. That is, the operation of reproducing the recorded contents can be omitted.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and is intended to process and use teletext information. In particular, when recording a television program, the program can be used. The title can be automatically recorded in association with the recording medium.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a teletext receiving apparatus according to the present invention, wherein a teletext signal is decoded by a decoder. The data of the designated character information is downloaded to the memory means via the control unit.

In the present invention, designated character information is downloaded, and the downloaded specific character information is used as index information. For example, when the character information is TV program information, a TV program to be recorded or a TV program to be recorded is recorded by a recording unit, and the downloaded program information (program title) is stored in a memory unit (memory) attached to a video cassette. IC or memory card).

[0010] In this case, the television program recorded on the video cassette and the program title correspond to each other, so that the recorded content can be easily searched using the recorded program title.

[0011]

Next, an embodiment of a teletext receiving apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Since this teletext receiver is usually built in a VTR in many cases, a case where the teletext receiver is applied to a built-in teletext receiver will be described first.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an example of a teletext receiving apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A teletext (text signal) received by an antenna 12 is transmitted to a tuner 14.
, And the demodulated video signal is supplied to the recording / reproducing unit 16. The recording / reproducing section 16 includes a recording / reproducing circuit for loading a video cassette 18 into a video mechanism section (not shown) and recording and reproducing a video signal on a loaded recording tape.

A character signal of the demodulated television signal is supplied to a character signal decoder 20 at a subsequent stage, where the character signal is decoded. An instruction such as which of the decoded character signals to use is issued from the control unit 22 by the microcomputer. The control unit 22 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 24 in which a control program is stored and a RAM (Random A) for temporarily storing decoded character information.
ccess Memory) 26 is provided.

The decoded character signal (character information or graphic information) is converted into a video display signal by an on-screen display (OSD) 28, and the converted video display signal is supplied to a monitor 29, and the character information is converted to a video signal. Is displayed. The monitor 29 uses a screen of a television receiver.

As the above-mentioned video cassette 18, a video cassette with a memory is used. This is a cassette having a built-in memory IC 19 using a semiconductor memory inside the cassette. When the video cassette 18 is loaded into the recording / reproducing section 16, the contact (input / output contact) of the memory IC 19 and the device IC are provided. The contact (input / output contact) 21 comes into contact, and information from the control unit 22 can be written in the memory IC 19. Of course, the information written in the memory IC 19 can be read out and displayed on the monitor 29.

A command for instructing recording or receiving teletext can be input by using a VTR operation key (not shown) provided in the recording / reproducing unit 16 or a remote controller 34. When the remote controller 34 is used, a command signal is sent to the controller 22 via the receiver 32.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen configuration when a teletext is received. The example in the figure is a specific example of the display contents of a television program guide. On the screen 36 shown in the figure, an area 38 for displaying the reception channel number and the current time is provided.
An area 41 for displaying a received broadcast station name is provided. In addition, a one-day program guide that is actually broadcast at the broadcast station is displayed.

In the figure, the head area 42 is an area for displaying the broadcast time, and the area 44 after the broadcast time has the title of the broadcast program (in some cases, the contents of the program).
Is displayed. A page number for displaying program information is also displayed. With this TV program guide (electronic program guide), the user can search for a desired program, check the broadcast time, the program title, and the like.

Conventionally, only the contents of this television program guide are confirmed, and no further use is made.

In the present invention, this character information is further utilized. As an example of a television program guide as a text broadcast, when a user records a television program currently being watched, the recording mode is selected, and the television program currently being viewed is stored in the video cassette 18 of the recording / reproducing unit 16. Is recorded. At the same time as the recording process, a search process of the title of the recorded television program is executed using the download data in the RAM 26.

When a recorded television program is found by a title search, the title of the program is extracted. The extracted program title is temporarily stored in the RAM 26, for example.
Can be stored in another area. The extracted program title is recorded in association with a recording medium.

When a video cassette with a memory as shown in FIG. 1 is used as a recording medium, a program title is recorded in a built-in memory (memory IC) 19.
As a result, the recording medium and the program title have a one-to-one relationship, and if the program title is read from the memory IC 19, the recorded content can be searched by this program title.
In other words, the recorded contents can be searched simply, reliably and in a short time without reproducing the recorded video.

The extracted program title is supplied to the monitor 29 via the OSD 28, so that the program title can be superimposed on the video being recorded. Thus, the title of the program being recorded can be confirmed. Of course, the program title is read from the memory IC 19 even while the recorded recording tape is being reproduced,
This can be superimposed on the monitor 29.

One embodiment of such a title search process and a recording process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a flowchart applied when recording a currently viewed program.

First, the number of the received broadcasting station (channel) is stored in, for example, the RAM 26 (step 6).
2). Next, the presence or absence of the recording mode is monitored (step 6).
4) When the recording switch is turned on and the control unit 22 captures a recording instruction signal, a page (start page) of the television program guide of the receiving channel on which the first program to be broadcast on that day is displayed is searched ( Step 66).

Here, in most cases, the television program guide is stored on a completely different page depending on the broadcasting station, and in many cases, the program start page is not displayed on the guide screen. This is because the screen contents and display contents of the teletext are left to the respective broadcasting stations and are not unified. Also, especially in Europe and the like, since there are several hundred broadcast stations, a television program guide on a receiving channel, that is, a program start page cannot be easily searched, and it is impossible to search simultaneously with recording. is there.

Then, for all broadcast stations that can be received,
The broadcast station and the television program start page of the broadcast station are previously associated with each other, and these are set as a table in the ROM 24.
Prepare it in advance. In this way, if the selected broadcasting station is known, the start page of the television program at that broadcasting station can be immediately searched by referring to this table.

For the above reasons, the TV program start page of the channel is searched in step 66 of FIG. 3 based on the channel number of the received broadcasting station. Even if the program start page is searched, the program that is actually being recorded is not always listed on that page. Therefore, in order to search for a program that is actually being recorded, the time (including the nearest broadcast time) that matches the recording start time is checked with reference to the broadcast time displayed on the program page (step 68). .

Display of broadcast time is not uniform among broadcast stations. For example, a colon display (:) or a period display (.) Is used between the hours indicating the broadcast time. However, the broadcast time display is almost always 4
Since this is a digit display (0700, 2415, etc.), this 4
The broadcast time is searched based on the digit display.

When the time coincides with or is a time before the recording time and a broadcast time closest to the recording time exists, a character string existing in an area 44 following the broadcast time display area 42 Is a program title, and this character string is extracted (step 70).

The extracted character string is temporarily stored in another area of the RAM 26, and when other conditions are satisfied (for example, a condition that 15 minutes or more have elapsed from the recording start time), the extracted character string is read. The columns are recorded in the memory IC 19 via the control unit 22 and the contacts 21. Of course, the extracted character string may be immediately recorded in the memory IC19. The character string can be recorded by adding a header or the like, or can be recorded including the broadcast time and the receiving channel.

If the broadcast time displayed on the program start page does not match the recording start time, it is checked whether the next page exists as a program guide page (step 72). When the program guide page has a subpage structure, the subpage is searched as the next page. When there is a next page, the search page is set as the next page,
A match search similar to that in step 68 is executed (steps 74 and 76).

This match search process is executed until the corresponding time exists (steps 78 and 72), and when they match, the process proceeds to the program title extraction process shown in step 70 (step 70). However, it is conceivable that the existence of the relevant time may not be confirmed even if 24 hours or more have elapsed from the recording start time. In this case, a process of regarding the broadcast time published on the last program page as the search time is performed ( Step 8
0). At that time, the program title associated with the considered broadcast time is extracted as program information.

In many cases, a program page is published over a plurality of pages, but in rare cases, it ends with only one page. In such a case, the next page does not exist in step 72. In that case, as an unavoidable process, the process proceeds to step 80, where the program title relating to the last broadcast time posted on the first program page is conveniently displayed. It is used as the title of a recorded program.

The reason that the search time is limited to 24 hours is that the program guide may be published over a plurality of days of the week. (Often a separate program).

In the example of FIG. 3, a case is described in which the television program currently being received is simultaneously recorded. However, the same is true when a recording reservation is made. Therefore, the process shown in FIG. 3 starts simultaneously with the start of the recording. If the recording time matches the broadcast time, the program title is extracted and recorded in a memory means such as the memory IC19.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention. The figure shows a case where the recording / reproducing unit is configured separately.
Usually, the recording / reproducing unit in this case is the VTR 17. VTR
A video cassette 30 is loaded in the unit 17, and a video cassette with a memory is used as the video cassette 30 as described above. In this example, a memory card (memory label) 40 described later is used as a memory.

The memory card 40 has a transmission / reception function, and the above-described program title and the like are recorded in a semiconductor memory provided therein. Therefore, the control unit 2 of the receiving device 10 '
A transmission / reception unit 9 capable of transmitting / receiving the extracted program titles
6 and a transmission / reception antenna 98 are provided so that communication with the memory card 40 can be performed.

A recording instruction to the VTR 17 can be given using the remote controller 34 described above, or can be inputted from a keyboard or a personal computer (neither is shown) connected to the receiving device 10 '. The present invention can be applied to such a separate configuration.

FIG. 5 shows an example of use of a memory card 40 as an auxiliary storage device applicable to the video cassette 17 with a memory. The memory card 40 is attached to a concave portion 31 provided in a casing of the video cassette 30. ing. Data is read from and written to the memory card 40 in a non-contact manner.

When the video cassette 30 to which the memory card 40 is attached is mounted on the VTR 17, an antenna (not shown) provided inside the VTR 17 and the memory card 40 attached to the video cassette 30 are connected. They come to face each other.

The memory card 40 can transmit and receive data to and from an internal circuit via an antenna provided inside the VTR 17, and can transmit and receive data to and from the receiving device 10 ′ outside the VTR 17, ie, via the transmitting / receiving antenna 98. It has been done. By enabling transmission and reception to and from the internal circuit, when the VTR 17 is used independently irrespective of the receiving device 10 ', program information demodulated inside the VTR is recorded on the memory card 40.

The memory card 40 is configured as shown in FIG. 6, and the signal RFA received by the antenna 401 is supplied to the tuning circuit 402 and the power supply circuit 420. In the tuning circuit 402, a modulation signal MAR having a predetermined carrier frequency is selected from the signal RFA supplied from the antenna 401. Modulated signal MAR obtained by tuning circuit 402
Is amplified to a predetermined level by the amplifier circuit 403 and then supplied to the demodulation circuit 404. In the demodulation circuit 404, the modulation signal MAR is demodulated to be a reception data signal DMR. The received data signal DMR is supplied to the microcomputer 410 via the communication control circuit 405.

A ROM 411 is connected to the microcomputer 410, and each part of the memory card 40 is controlled according to a control program stored in the ROM 411. Also,
The microcomputer 410 includes an EEPROM (Electrically Eras
program information E such as a supplied program title is connected to the
It is stored in the EPROM 412. When the program information stored in the EEPROM 412 is read by the microcomputer 410 to generate the transmission data signal DMS, the transmission data signal DMS is transmitted to the modulation circuit 40 via the communication control circuit 405.
6.

The modulation circuit 406 receives the transmitted transmission data.
The data signal DMS is modulated into a signal of a predetermined carrier frequency. The modulation signal MBS obtained by the modulation circuit 406 is amplified to a signal level necessary for communication by the amplifier circuit 407, and then supplied to the antenna 401. The antenna 401 transmits the modulation signal MBS of the carrier frequency.

In the power supply circuit 420, the antenna 40
Energy is extracted using electromagnetic coupling between the antenna 1 and an antenna (not shown) inside the VTR 17, so that power required by the memory card 40 can be generated.

Although a video cassette with a memory has been exemplified as a recording medium, when a normal video cassette without a memory is used, a program title may be recorded on a recording tape. A disk-shaped recording medium can be used instead of the video cassette.

The character information to be downloaded and used may be other than the TV program information described above.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, part of teletext information can be downloaded and reused.

According to this, program information of a television program guide, in particular, can be effectively used as text broadcast as search information for recording information. In this case, the recorded contents can be confirmed only with the program information without playing back and confirming the recorded contents, so that the confirmation work of the recorded contents becomes easy and the confirmation work can be completed in a short time. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a main part showing one embodiment of a teletext receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing display contents of a television program guide.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a program search process.

FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a main part showing another embodiment of the teletext receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a video cassette with a memory.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a memory label.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 10 ': Teletext receiver, 20: Decoder for text broadcast, 26: Memory for temporary storage of program data, 22: Control unit, 16: Recording / reproducing unit, 1
7, 18: Video cassette, 19: Memory I
C, 40 ... memory label

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A teletext signal is decoded by a decoder, and data of the specified text information among the decoded text information is downloaded to a memory means via a control unit. Teletext receiver. 2. When the character information is television electronic program information, a television program to be recorded or to be recorded is recorded by recording means, and a program related to the recorded program in the downloaded program information. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is stored in a memory means associated with the recording medium. 3. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the recording medium is a video cassette with a memory, program information on the recorded program is recorded in the memory. 4. The teletext reception according to claim 2, wherein when the recording medium is a video cassette without a memory, program information on the recorded program is recorded on a recording tape. apparatus. 5. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the program information on the recorded program includes at least a title of the recorded program. 6. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means is of a built-in type or a separate type. 7. When the separate recording means is used, the control section is provided with a data transmission section, and the recorded program information can be transmitted to the outside via the data transmission section. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 8. A storage unit provided in the control unit stores in advance page information for displaying a television program of a reception channel, and when a recording instruction or a recording reservation is made, the page information corresponding to the reception channel is stored. 2. A television program display page is searched based on the page information, and title information of a television program corresponding to the recording time or the recording reservation time is recorded as program information. The teletext receiver according to the above. 9. The teletext receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information to be recorded is displayed on a screen of a receiving channel.