JPH1155637A - Transmission reception system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the transmission reception system in which program retrieval processing is efficiently executed and the load for the retrieval processing is minimized in the case of retrieving a program by using a category a name of a player preferred by the viewer for a retrieval key. SOLUTION: A link information addition section 153 links program information based on link information in a broadcast equipment 150 and a broadcast data transmission section 154 sends program information together with the link information. A broadcast reception section 101 in a receiver 100 receives the program information including the link information, a display control section 103 receives a retrieval key item designated from a detail information display menu by the viewer and a link information control section 106 executes the program retrieval, based on the key by using the link information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcasting apparatus for broadcasting a program and program information relating to the program, and enables a viewer to efficiently select a program that matches his / her taste based on the program information. And a broadcast system consisting of a program and program information related to the program, enabling the viewer to efficiently select a program that suits his / her taste based on the program information. To a receiving device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of satellite broadcasting and cable television broadcasting, the number of broadcasting stations and programs broadcast therefrom has been rapidly increasing. In response to the increase in the number of programs, there is a growing need for devices and methods for supporting program selection by viewers. Therefore, in addition to the conventional method in which viewers select programs by referring to printed materials such as newspapers and magazines,
A method is used in which a broadcast station sends out program information including a program guide, and a viewer selects a program based on the program information displayed on a receiving device. As such a system, there is a "program information broadcasting system" described in JP-A-8-102922. By this method, the viewer can reserve a program with reference to the program guide displayed on the screen of the receiving device. In addition, it is also possible to search for a program that matches the taste using a specific item of the program information as a search key, and then reserve this program.

[0003]

However, in the prior art, when a viewer searches for a program using a favorite genre, performer name, or the like as a search key, the program information of all programs is searched. There is a problem that the time required for the search becomes longer and the load of the search process on the receiving device becomes heavy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a transmission / reception system capable of improving the program search processing efficiency of a receiving apparatus and reducing the load of the search processing. It is another object of the present invention to provide a receiving apparatus capable of efficiently executing a program search process and reducing the load of the search process.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transmitting / receiving system comprising a broadcasting device for broadcasting broadcast data and a receiving device for receiving the broadcast data. The broadcast data includes a broadcast program which a viewer views in the receiving device and program information which is information on the broadcast program. The program information includes a link describing an identifier of another program information having the same item contents. Information is added, the receiving device includes a receiving unit that receives the broadcast data, a program information storage unit that holds program information of the broadcast data received by the receiving unit, and a program information storage unit that holds the program information. For a part of the broadcast program, the first display control means for displaying the program information on the display means, and the program information displayed by the first display control means An item designation accepting unit for accepting an eye designation, a search unit for finding program information including the item content received by the item designation accepting unit from the storage unit using the link information, and a program information found by the search unit. Second display control means for displaying on a display means, and program reservation receiving means for receiving designation of program reservation to be performed by a viewer based on details of the program information displayed by the first display means or the second display control means; It is characterized by having.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a transmission / reception system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a transmission / reception system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The program information transmitting / receiving system includes a broadcasting device 150 and a receiving device 100. Hereinafter, the configuration of each of them will be described.

(Configuration of Broadcasting Device 150) Broadcasting Device 150
Is a broadcast station, which comprises a broadcast data production unit 151, a broadcast data storage unit 152, a link information addition unit 153, and a broadcast data transmission unit 154, and produces and broadcasts broadcast data composed of a broadcast program and program information related to the broadcast program. . Broadcast data production section 151 produces broadcast data and stores it in broadcast data storage section 152.

FIG. 2 shows an example of broadcast data received by the receiving unit 101. The broadcast data 201 includes a program information column 202,
It comprises a program schedule information column 203, a video data column 204, and an audio data column 205. The program information column 202 includes detailed program information on each program scheduled to be broadcast in the future, such as a title and a broadcast time.

[0009] The program schedule information column 203 contains program schedule information of each channel. The video data column 204 contains moving image data of a program. The audio data column 205 contains audio data of the program. FIG. 3 shows an example of the detailed program information constituting the program information column 202. Program information column 202
Include a program column ID 310, a field code column 320, a program name column 330, a broadcast station column 340, a broadcast time column 350, a program content column 360, a person information column 370, a program accompanying information column 380,
The link information section 390 includes data fields.

[0010] The program ID column 310 contains a program ID for uniquely identifying each program. In the field code column 320,
Information indicating the field of the program is included. Field code column 320
Is further subdivided into a genre column 321 and a type column 322. The program name column 330 contains title information of the program. The broadcast station column 340 includes information indicating the name of the broadcast station that broadcasts the program.

The broadcast time column 350 contains information on the scheduled broadcast time of the program, and the start time column 351 and the end time column 352 contain the broadcast start and end time information of the program, respectively. The program content column 360 contains information on the outline of the program. The person information column 370 contains information on the names of program performers.

The program ancillary information column 380 includes information on charging and viewing restrictions other than those described above. The link information column 390 includes link information for linking program detailed information having common information. The broadcast data storage unit 152 stores, for example, R
The broadcast data produced by the broadcast data production section 151 is stored in the broadcast data production section 151.

The link information adding unit 153 sets link information in the link information column 390 of each program detailed information, and links the program detailed information having common information. FIG. 4 shows an example of program detailed information linked by link information. In this example, the program IDs are “11” and “3”, respectively.
The three programs “2” and “54” are stored in the person information column 370.
Are linked by the common information “Character A” included in. The link information is link item information ($ 0
6, character A 人物) and a program ID. Further, the link item information includes an item identification code and item information. The item identification code ("06") indicates which column (item) of the program detailed information. The item information (“character A”) is the specific content of the common information. The program ID indicates which of the other programs shares the information.

FIG. 5 is a list of item identification codes indicating the correspondence between item identification codes and items in the link information. The item identification code does not correspond to the “column” constituting the program detailed information 301 but to the “item” displayed on the program detailed information screen used when the viewer searches for a program on the receiving device 100 side. I have. The contents of the “item” are included in the item column 501. The two-digit code included in the item identification code column 502 is the item identification code. The detailed program information screen will be described later in the description of the display control unit 103 of the receiving device 100. The item identification code list is stored in the RAM incorporated in the link information adding unit 153.

The procedure of the linking process by the link information adding unit 153 will be described below. First, the link information adding unit 153
Extracts link item information from detailed program information. The extracted link item information is information that can be specified as a program search key by the viewer on the receiving device side, such as a person name and a genre name included in each column. Next, link information adding unit 1
53 uses the extracted link item information as a key and finds out the program detailed information having the content corresponding to this key from the program detailed information stored in the broadcast data storage unit 152. Then, a program ID is acquired from the detailed program information and stored in a built-in temporary storage device.

The link information adding unit 153 creates link information by combining the link item information used as the search key and the program ID acquired by the search, and stores the link information in the link information column 390 of the detailed program information to be linked. To link the program detailed information. The broadcast data transmission unit 154 transmits the broadcast data to which the link information has been added.

(Configuration of Receiving Device) On the other hand, the receiving device is a television receiver, and includes a broadcast receiving unit 101 and an extracting unit 102
, Display control unit 103, display unit 104, program data storage unit 105, link information control unit 106, input unit 1
08, a recording unit 109, a clock unit 111, and a control unit 11
2 is provided.

The broadcast receiving section 101 has an antenna, receives broadcast data transmitted from a broadcast station, and sends it to the extracting section 102. The extraction unit 102 performs data extraction from the received broadcast data and manages the program schedule information and the program detailed information in the extracted data. First, the extraction unit 102 selects the program information column 20 of the broadcast data transmitted from the reception unit 101.
2 and the program schedule information column 203 to extract program detailed information and program schedule information, respectively, and store them in the program data storage unit 105.

When storing the detailed program information in the program data storage unit 105, the extraction unit 102 sets the link information included in the detailed program information to be additionally stored and the existing program detailed information stored in the program data storage unit 105. Is compared with the link information included in, and if there is a mismatch, this is resolved. This is because the link information included in the existing program detailed information reflects the contents of the program reservation specification of the viewer, and therefore, the specified contents need to be reflected in the link information of the additional program detailed information. .

FIG. 6 shows an example. FIG. 6 (a)
Then, the program detail information of the program ID “77” newly added and stored is linked to two pieces of program detail information of the program IDs “32” and “54” by the information “character A” of the item “appearance”. ing. However, looking at the link information of the existing program detailed information, the program ID “11” not included in the additional link information is included. This is because the program with the program ID "11" is designated by the viewer and the program detailed information on this program remains after the broadcast of the program 11 ends. Therefore, the extraction unit 102
Indicates that the link information of the program 77 as shown in FIG.
D "11" is added, and then program 11, program 32,
The program ID “77” is added to the link information of the program 54.

Further, the extracting unit 102 deletes broadcast schedule information of a program whose broadcast has ended. However, even if it is the program detailed information of the program whose broadcasting has ended, the program detailed information of the reserved or recorded program is not deleted. The extraction unit 102 instructs the control unit 112 to check whether the program to be deleted is reserved or recorded. The detailed program information of the reserved or recorded program is deleted when the control unit 112 designates a program ID and instructs deletion.

Further, upon receiving an instruction from the control unit 112, the extraction unit 102 extracts data from the video data column 204 and the audio data column 205, and displays these data on the display unit 104.
To the display management unit 103 for output to the display unit or for recording by the recording unit 109. The program data storage unit 105 includes, for example, a RAM, and stores the detailed program information and the program schedule information extracted by the extraction unit 102. Further, the storage unit 105 stores a program detailed information screen displayed on the display unit 104 and screen format information of a program guide. In this embodiment, each format information is stored in advance in the program data storage unit 105, but may be transmitted from the broadcasting device 150 as a part of the broadcast data.

The input unit 108 is an input device such as a remote controller, for example, and converts a viewer's instruction into a signal and transmits the signal to the control unit 112. FIG. 7 shows a remote controller 7 according to the present embodiment.
FIG. Joystick button 701
Transmits an instruction to move the cursor on the screen displayed on the display unit 104 up, down, left, and right. OK button 70
2 transmits an instruction to display a detailed program information screen by designating a specific program from the program table. A decision button 702 transmits an instruction for deciding an item to be a key when searching for a program. The decision button 702 transmits an instruction for designating a program reservation from the detailed program information screen. Further, an enter button 702 transmits an instruction to switch the program detailed information screen of a plurality of programs in the search result. A cancel button 703 transmits an instruction to cancel linking. Program guide button 704
Transmits an instruction to display the program guide on the display unit 104.

The display control unit 103 creates various screens and displays them on the display unit 104, and receives a viewer's designation from the screens. First, the display control unit 103 receives an instruction to display a program guide from the control unit 112, and reads out the program schedule information, the detailed program information, and the program guide screen format information stored in the program data storage unit 105. Then, by editing them, a program guide is created and displayed on the display unit 104.

FIG. 8 is a program guide displayed on the display unit 104. Also, when the control unit 112 instructs the display of the detailed program information screen while the program guide is being displayed on the display unit 104, the display control unit 103 analyzes the cursor position on the program guide and determines the viewer It is determined whether a program has been designated and the program ID of the program for which the detailed information screen is to be displayed is obtained. And
The program detailed information corresponding to the program ID is read out from the program data storage unit 105 together with the program detailed information screen format information. Then, these are edited together with the current time obtained from the clock unit 111 to create a program detailed information screen, and displayed on the display unit 104.

FIG. 9 is a detailed program information screen displayed on the display unit 104. Because the amount of information that can be displayed in the display area of the display unit 104 is limited, the program guide displays only the programs in some stations and in some time zones. Although only a part such as the name and the leading role is displayed, on the program detailed information screen, the content of the program detailed information of one program is displayed. The current time area 901 of the detailed program information screen displays the current time of the clock unit 111. The selection key 911 accepts a program recording reservation instruction. Other items and their information are stored in the program data storage 1
05 is the detailed program information read from the program 05. A title indicating the type of information such as “appearance” is referred to as “item”, and its specific content (“character A” or the like) is referred to as “item information”. The viewer can specify the item information as a program search key.
Each item is assigned a unique identification code shown in FIG. 5 and is used in a program search using link information.

Further, the display control section 103 receives an instruction from the control section 112, acquires video data and audio data from the extraction section 102, performs processing necessary for viewing and recording such as decoding and decompression, and then performs display processing. 104 or recording unit 10
9 Further, the display control unit 103 includes the control unit 11
In response to the instruction 2, the cursor position on the display unit 104 is analyzed, and the display content of the cursor part is transmitted to the control unit 112. At this time, if the cursor is positioned at any item in the detailed program information, the display control unit 103 converts the item into the item identifier code shown in FIG. 5 and notifies the control unit 112. For this purpose, the display control unit 103 stores the item identifier code list shown in FIG.
M. The cursor can be moved up, down, left, and right between items that can be selected in advance.

The display control unit 103 receives an instruction from the control unit 112 and moves the cursor on the screen display unit 104. Further, when the link control unit 106 completes the search for the program, the display control unit 103 displays the program detail result screen of the search result program in response to an instruction from the control unit 112. The display control unit 103 receives the program IDs and the numbers of the search results transmitted together with the instruction to display the program detailed information screen from the control unit 112, and from the program data storage unit 105, the program detailed information corresponding to these program IDs and the search results. The format of the detailed program information screen for use. Then, the read program detailed information is sorted by the start time data of the program detailed information, a program detailed information screen of the program with the earliest start time is created, and displayed on the display unit 104. At this time, the display control unit 103 receives, from the control unit 112, the link item information serving as a search key together with the program ID of the search result, and stores the link item information in a built-in storage device.

FIG. 10 shows a detailed program information screen of the search result. A search result area 1001, a previous screen key 1002, and a next screen key 1003 are displayed at the bottom line of the screen. “1/4” in the search result area 1001 indicates that it is the first of the four pieces of program detailed information. The previous screen key 1002 and the next screen key 1003 are keys for the viewer to instruct to switch between a plurality of program detailed information screens. When the viewer positions the cursor on the next screen key 1003 and presses the enter key 402 of the remote control 700 on the screen displaying FIG. 10, an instruction to display the next screen is transmitted from the control unit 112 to the display control unit 103, and the display is performed. The control unit 103 receives this,
A second program detailed information screen of the sorted program detailed information is created and displayed on the display unit 104. At this time, the content of the search result area 1001 on the screen is "2/4".

FIG. 11 shows an example of switching the program detailed information screen of the search result. The display unit 104 includes a CRT, a liquid crystal panel, and the like, and displays a program table and a detailed program information screen created by the display control unit 103. The display unit 1
Reference numeral 04 includes a speaker unit for audio output. Display unit 10
Reference numeral 4 outputs the video data and the audio data transmitted from the display control unit 103.

The link information control unit 106 receives a program information search instruction from the control unit 112 and sends the program information search instruction together with the search instruction to the control unit 1.
The search is performed using the link item information transmitted from the server 12. First, the link information control unit 106 searches the link information column 390 of the program detailed information from the top, and finds one program detailed information including the same link information as the link item information. Next, the link information control unit 106 acquires the program ID of the other program detailed information linked by the link item information with reference to the link information.

When the search is completed, the link information control unit 10
6 transmits the program ID of the obtained search result to the control unit 112. According to this search method, the search ends when one piece of program detailed information including the specified item information as link item information is found. In a conventional search that does not use link information, all program detailed information has been searched. Therefore, in a search using link information, the search processing efficiency of the receiving apparatus is improved, and the load of the search processing is reduced.

The link information control unit 106 receives a link cancel instruction from the control unit 112 and, based on the program ID received together with the instruction and the link item information to be canceled, extracts the program detailed information having this program ID. Delete the target link information. Further, from the link information of other detailed program information holding this program ID as link information,
This program ID is deleted. Referring to FIG. 4 as an example, a case in which the linking of the program detailed information of the program 11 by the link item information {06, the character A} is released will be described. The instruction, the program ID “11” of the program 11, and the link item information {06 and the character A} to be canceled are received.
The link information control unit 106 deletes “{06, character A} = {32, 54}” from the link information of the program 11,
Next, from the link information of the programs 32 and 54, “11” is deleted from the program ID combined with the link item information {06, the character A}.

The recording unit 109 manages the recording reservation information of the program and the recording contents of the program, and records and reproduces the program with a built-in recording and reproducing device. It is assumed that the recording / reproducing apparatus has a storage medium such as a video tape, a magneto-optical disk, an optical disk called MO, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a semiconductor memory.

First, the recording section 109 allows the viewer to
8, when the reservation is designated, the broadcast start time, the broadcast end time and the broadcast station information of the program to be reserved are received from the control unit 112, and the recording reservation information is created from these information.
Record in the internal RAM. Then, the recording unit 109 determines the recording time based on the current time information acquired from the clock unit 111, issues an instruction to the control unit 112, and causes the display control unit 103 to transmit the image / audio data. get. Then, the recording unit 109 records the image / audio data received from the display control unit 103 with a built-in recording / playback device.

The recording section 109 receives an instruction from the control section 112, reproduces a program recorded by the recording / reproducing apparatus, and sends the reproduced data to the display control section 103. Further, the recording unit 109 receives the instruction from the control unit 112 and deletes the recording reservation information of the program or the recorded contents of the program based on the program ID received from the control unit 112 together with the instruction.

Further, in response to an inquiry from the control unit 112, the recording unit 109 determines whether or not a certain program has been reserved for recording or whether or not recording has been performed.
Notify 2. The program ID is used for this inquiry. The clock unit 111 provides information on the current time in response to a request from each unit. First, the clock unit 111 sends the recording unit 109
The information on the current time necessary for determining the start of recording is sent. Also,
The control unit 112 transmits information on the current time, which is a reference for processing distribution as to whether to reserve or view the program selected by the viewer.
To send to. Further, the extraction unit 102 sends out information on the current time as a criterion when deleting the program detailed information and the program schedule information of the broadcasted program.

The control unit 112 issues instructions and sends information to each unit to control processing such as searching for detailed program information, outputting a program to a display device, and recording / reproducing a program.
The control unit 112 receives the request from the extraction unit 102, and inquires of the recording unit 109 whether a program having the program ID passed from the extraction unit 102 is reserved for recording or recorded. Then, the answer from the recording unit 109 is extracted by the extracting unit 1.
02.

The control unit 112 allows the viewer to
In response to the instruction to display the program guide, the instruction to display the program guide is transmitted to the display control unit 103. Also, the control unit 112
When the viewer receives an instruction of “determination” to be performed using the remote controller 700 while the program guide is displayed on the display unit 104, the viewer sends an instruction to display the detailed program information screen to the display control unit 103.

When the detailed program information screen is displayed on the display unit 104, the control unit 112
When an instruction of “determination” using 0 is received, the display control unit 103 is first instructed to analyze the cursor position,
Receive the result. If the cursor position is on the selection key 911, it means that the viewer wants to view this program, so that the broadcast time information of the program detailed information obtained from the display control unit 103 and the current time obtained from the clock unit 111 On the basis of the time information, the processing of program reproduction, output, and reservation is allocated. That is, if the current time is after the broadcast end time, this program has been broadcasted and recorded, and the control unit 112 instructs the recording unit 109 to reproduce the program. If the current time is between the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time, this program is being broadcast, so the extraction unit 102 is instructed to extract video data and audio data, and sends the data to the display control unit 103. The transmitted data is output to the display unit 104. If the current time is before the broadcast start time, the program has not been broadcast, so the control unit 112 causes the recording unit 109 to create recording reservation information for this program.

When the detailed program information screen is displayed on display unit 104, control unit 112 receives an instruction of “determination” performed by the viewer using remote controller 700, and instructs display control unit 103. If the cursor position analysis result obtained is any of the items of the program detailed information, it is determined that the viewer has designated a key item of the program search, and the information of this item is acquired from the display control unit 103. Then, the received information is transmitted to the link information control unit 106 as link item information, and an instruction is issued to search for the program detailed information using the information as a key.

When the program search is completed, the link information control unit 106 sends a program ID of a program having information matching the link item information to the control unit 112. Control unit 112
Transmits the program ID to the display control unit 103 to display the program detailed information screen of the program of the search result. In addition, when the viewer receives an instruction of “decision” to be performed using the remote controller 700 while the program detailed information screen of the program acquired by the search is displayed, the control unit 112 displays the display control unit 103.
To have the cursor analyzed. If the cursor position is the next screen key 1003 or the previous screen key 1002, the viewer has designated the switching of the program detailed information screen of the search result. Give a switching instruction.

Further, when the viewer receives an instruction of “cancel” using the remote controller 700 while the program detailed information screen of the program obtained as a result of the search is displayed, the control unit 112 Instruct the control unit 106 to delete the link information of the program whose detailed information is being displayed. At this time, the control unit 112 notifies the extraction unit 102 of the program ID of the detailed program information to be canceled and the link item information used for the search, together with the deletion instruction. Control unit 11
2 acquires the link item information from the display control unit 103. Further, the control unit 112 sends the program ID to the recording unit 109.
And instructs to delete the information on this program, and deletes the recording reservation information or the recorded content of this program. Further, the control unit 112 determines whether or not the program has been broadcast based on the current time information obtained from the clock unit 111 and the broadcast time information of the program obtained from the display control unit 103. If there is, it instructs the extraction unit 102 to delete the program detailed information of this program.

In response to a cursor movement instruction given by the viewer operating the joystick button 701 of the remote controller 700, the control unit 112 issues a cursor movement instruction to the display control unit 103 together with information indicating the movement direction. Send out. Further, when instructing the display control unit 103 to display the program guide and the program detailed information screen, the control unit 112 determines the type of the screen to be displayed and the program ID of the displayed program detailed information inside the control unit 112. The information is stored in the temporary storage area so that the screen displayed on the display unit 104 can be recognized.

(Operation of Broadcasting Station) FIG.
5 is a flowchart of a broadcast data process of the broadcasting device 150 in FIG. Hereinafter, the processing operation of the broadcast data creation will be described with reference to this flowchart. First, the broadcast data production unit 151 creates broadcast data as shown in FIG. 2 (step S1201), and stores the created data in the broadcast data storage unit 152 (step S1202). The link information adding unit 153 extracts link item information from the program detailed information stored in the broadcast data storage unit 152 (step S1203), and searches for program detailed information using the link item information as a key (step S1204). The program detailed information is linked based on the search result (step S120).
5). The above process is performed for all link item information (step S1206). The broadcast data including the detailed program information to which the link information is added is transmitted to the broadcast data transmitting unit 15.
4 (step S1207).

(Operation of Receiving Apparatus) FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the broadcast data processing operation on the receiving apparatus 100 side in the first embodiment. First, the broadcast receiving unit 101
Receives the broadcast data transmitted from the broadcast data transmission unit 154 (step S1301), and sends it to the extraction unit.

The extracting unit 102 extracts program detailed information and program schedule information from the program information column 202 and the program schedule information column 203 of the broadcast data received by the broadcast receiving unit 101 (step S1302), and stores the program data. Part 10
5 (step S1303). Here, extraction unit 1
02 compares the link information of the stored program detailed information with the link information of the program detailed information originally existing in the program data storage unit 105 for each link item information (step S1304). (Step S13
05), this mismatch is resolved (step S130).
6).

Next, the extracting unit 102 deletes the program detailed information and the program schedule information of the program that has already been broadcast from the program data storage unit 105 based on the current time obtained from the clock unit 111 (step S1309). ). However, in this case, the program details information of the reserved or recorded program is
Even if the broadcast has ended, it is not deleted (step S130)
8).

Further, the extraction unit 102 receives a viewing or recording instruction from the control unit 112 (step S1308),
Video data section 204 and audio data section 2 of broadcast data
Extract data from 05. The extracted video data and audio data are sent to the display control unit 103. The display control unit 103 performs a process for viewing or recording on the data. If the instruction from the control unit 112 is viewing, the display control unit 103 causes the display unit 104 to display the data (step S1309). If the instruction from the control unit 112 is recording, the display control unit 103 stores the data in the recording unit 1.
09 for recording (step S1310).

Next, FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a process of searching for a program and making a reservation on the receiving device 100 side in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the processing operation will be described with reference to this flowchart. First, when the viewer presses the program guide button 704 of the remote controller 700, the control unit 112 receives this instruction and instructs the display control unit 103 to display the program guide. The display control unit 103 edits the information stored in the program data storage unit 105 to create a program guide, and causes the display unit 104 to display the program guide (step S1401).

When the viewer operates the remote controller 700 to specify a specific program on the program table, the control unit 112 receives this instruction and instructs the display control unit 103 to display the program detailed information screen display of the specified program. Give instructions. The display control unit 103 analyzes the cursor position to obtain the program ID of this program,
Based on this, the program detailed information screen and the format of the program detailed information screen are acquired from the program data storage unit 105 to create a program detailed information screen and displayed on the display unit 104 (step S1402).

The viewer uses the remote controller 700 to specify search key item information from the item information on this screen. FIG.
As an example, it is assumed that the viewer positions the cursor on the information “character A” of the item “appearance” on the program detailed information screen of the program 11 and presses the enter button 702 of the remote control 700. Upon receiving this instruction, the control unit 112 instructs the display control unit 103 to analyze the cursor position and obtains search key item information (step S1403). In this example, the item identification code “06” indicating the item “appearance”
{06, Character A}, which is a combination of item information "Character A", becomes key item information.

The control unit 112 includes a link information control unit 106
This key item information is sent to the user, and the program detailed information is searched using this information. Link information control unit 1 receiving the instruction
06 finds detailed program information including the link item information of {06, character A} in the link information column 390, and combines the program ID of this detailed program information with {06, character A} in the link information. The program ID and the program ID are acquired (step S1404). Taking FIG. 4 as an example, the link information control unit 106 finds link item information of {06, character A} in the link information of the program 4, and determines the program ID of the program 4 as “11” and the program 11 as the program ID. $ 0 for link information
6. The program ID "3" included with the character A @
2 ”and“ 54 ”are obtained as search results.

Upon completion of the search, the link information control unit 106 sends the acquired program ID to the control unit 112. The control unit 112 sends the program ID to the display control unit 103, and instructs the display of the detailed program information screen. Display control unit 1
03 acquires the program detailed information of the program corresponding to the program ID from the program data storage unit 105. Further, the acquired program detailed information is sorted by the broadcast start time,
The program detailed information screen for the case is created and displayed on the display unit 104 (step S1405). FIG. 10 shows an example of the program detailed information screen of the search result. When there are a plurality of pieces of program detailed information of the search result, the viewer positions the cursor on the “previous screen” button or the “next screen” button of the program detailed information screen and presses the enter button 702 of the remote control 700,
The program detailed information screen can be switched as shown in FIG.

When the search is completed and the detailed program information screen is displayed, the viewer refers to the information on the screen and determines whether to reserve or view the program (step S).
1406). When viewing, the viewer positions the cursor on the selection key 911 on the screen, and then
Button 702 is pressed. Then, the control unit 112
First obtains information on the current time from the clock unit 111.
Further, the display control unit 103 is instructed to obtain the broadcast time data of the program being displayed on the detailed program information screen, and the two are compared (step S1407). If the program is currently being broadcast, the control unit 112 acquires the broadcast station information of the program from the display control unit 103 and sends it to the extraction unit 102 to extract the video data and audio data of the program. The extracted data is sent to the display control unit 103 and output to the display unit 104 (step S1408). If the broadcast start time of the program is later than the current time, the control unit 112
3 and sends it to the recording unit 109 to create recording reservation information for this program (step S1409). When the current time has passed the broadcast end time, that is, when the program has been recorded, the control unit 112 sends out the program ID to the recording unit 109 and instructs the reproduction of this program. At the same time, the control section 112 outputs the video / audio data of the program reproduced by the recording section 109 to the display section 104 via the display control section 103 (step S1410).

The viewer can cancel the reservation designation of the program once reserved. To cancel, on the detailed program information screen of the search result, position the cursor on the selection key 911 and then press the cancel button 703 on the remote control 700.
Press. Upon receiving the cancellation instruction, the control unit 112 first sends the program ID of the program to be released to the recording unit 109,
Instructs cancellation of recording of this program. Receiving this instruction, the recording unit 109 checks the status of the recording reservation based on the program ID (step S1411). If the program is reserved but not recorded, the reservation information is deleted (step S1412). If the program is reserved and recorded, the recorded program is deleted together with the reservation information (step S1413). In the case of a recorded program, the control unit 11
2 instructs the link information control unit 106 to update the link information. When issuing the instruction, the control unit 112 sends the link information control unit 106 the program ID and the search key item information obtained when the program detailed information is searched. The link information control unit 106 uses the program ID as a key to find program information to be unlinked from the program data storage unit 105. Then, from the link information of the program information, a link item that matches the search key item information is selected. The program ID included in the selected link information is sequentially accessed to the program detailed information linked with the key, and the program ID of the program to be canceled is determined from the link information of each program detailed information.
Remove. Then, the link information that matches the search key item information is deleted from the detailed program information to be canceled (step S1414). Further, if the program has been broadcast, the management unit 112 instructs the extraction unit 102 to delete the program detailed information.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the detailed program information received by receiving apparatus 100 from broadcasting apparatus 150 is determined in advance by link information including item information that can be specified when a viewer wants to search for a program. Linked. At the time of program search, a search is performed based on this link information, so that the program search performance is improved as compared with the conventional search method in which all program detailed information is searched using a search key.

In the present embodiment, the program schedule information and the program detailed information are transmitted in separate packets, but they may be transmitted together. In this case, the detailed program information contained in the packet in the program information column 202 is transmitted after being sorted in the order of the broadcasting station and the broadcasting time. Note that the sorting is based on the broadcast start time of the program here, but may be based on the name of the broadcast station or the order of the Japanese syllabary of the program name.

In this embodiment, all pieces of information that can be specified as link item information are unconditionally set as link item information. However, link item information may be limited by providing a criterion such as limiting to personal names. . (Embodiment 2) FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram of a transmission / reception system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

The configuration of broadcast apparatus 1550 is almost the same as that of broadcast station 150 of the first embodiment, and differs from broadcast station 150 only in having external data search section 1551.
The link information adding unit 1553 performs almost the same processing as the link information adding unit 153 in the first embodiment, but differs in the processing performed in a portion related to the external data search unit 1551. Hereinafter, these different parts will be described.

The external storage medium 2900 is assumed to be WWW (World Wide Web) here. The external data search unit 1551 connects to the WWW, searches the home page, and acquires a URL. The browser software for connection and the search software are connected to the external data search unit 1
551. External data search unit 1551
Starts the browser software using the item information received from the link information adding unit 1553 as a key, connects to the WWW, searches the external storage medium 2900 using a search engine such as “Yahoo”, and searches for the relevant item information. The URL of the homepage to be acquired is acquired, and the acquired URL is notified to the link information adding unit 1553.

[0062] Link information adding section 1553 adds to the processing performed by link information adding section 153 in the first embodiment.
When searching the program detailed information by the link item information, the link information is notified to the external data search unit 1551, and the URL of the homepage related to this information is acquired. Then, the link item information, the program ID, and the URL including the URL received from the external data search unit 1551 are included.
L is created and added to the program detail information to link the program detail information and the program detail information with the external data.

FIG. 16 shows an example of the detailed program information to which the link information including the URL is added. This figure is
The program 11 is linked to two programs having program IDs “32” and “54” by information of “character A” included in the “person column”. This indicates that a URL home page “www.aaa.co.jp” exists.

The configuration of the receiving device 1500 on the receiving side is as follows.
Most of the configurations are the same as those of the receiving apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, and the only difference is that an external data acquisition unit 1520 is provided. The control unit 1512, the display control unit 1503, and the program data storage unit 1505 are the control unit 112 and the display control unit 10 in the first embodiment, respectively.
3. Performs almost the same processing as that of the program data storage unit 105, but differs in the processing related to the external data acquisition unit 1520. Hereinafter, these different parts will be described.

The external data acquisition 1520 is executed by the display controller 1
Upon receiving the instruction of 503, the user accesses the home page of the URL passed along with the instruction, reads out the content, and sends it to the display control unit 1503. External data acquisition unit 1520
Has built-in browser software. Since such a configuration has already been put to practical use as an Internet television, it will not be described in detail here.

The display control unit 1503 performs a process for displaying external data in response to a viewer's instruction from various screens, in addition to the process performed by the display control unit 103 of the first embodiment. This process will be described below for each screen. First, when displaying the detailed program information screen as a result of the program search, the display control unit 1503 checks whether or not the link information of the detailed program information to be displayed includes a URL.
If L is included, a program detailed information screen including a means for receiving designation of external data display from a viewer is created,
It is displayed on the display unit 104. The display control unit 1503 reads the format of this screen from the program data storage unit 1505.

FIG. 17 shows a detailed program information screen for accepting designation of external data display designation. When the viewer wants to display the external data, the viewer positions the cursor on the external data key 1701 and presses the enter button 702 of the remote control 700. When the viewer gives the above external data display instruction,
The display control unit 1503 receives an instruction from the control unit 1512, creates an external data specification screen for receiving specification of which external data is to be displayed from the viewer, and causes the display unit 104 to display the screen. The display control unit 1503 reads the format of this screen from the program data storage unit 1505.

FIG. 18 shows an external data designation screen. On this screen, an external data designation area 1801 and a program detailed information designation area 1802 are provided. Viewers
Positioning the cursor on a desired URL displayed in external data designation area 1801,
Is pressed, the external data is displayed on the display unit 104. When the viewer positions the cursor on a desired one of the program names displayed in the program detailed information designation area 1802 and presses the enter button 702 of the remote control 700, the display unit 104 displays the program detailed information of the program. The screen is displayed. The program name and the URL displayed on the external data designation screen are displayed by the display control unit 1503.
Is extracted from the program detailed information read from the program data storage unit 1505 based on the program ID received from the control unit 1512 as a program search result.

When the viewer specifies a URL from the external data specifying screen, the display control unit 1503
Is sent to the external data acquisition unit 1520 to instruct the external data acquisition unit 1520 to read the contents of the home page indicated by the URL. Then, the external data acquisition unit 1520
Is displayed on the display unit 104. Although the screen on which the contents of the homepage is displayed is not shown, switching from this screen to the external data designation screen is performed by the viewer using the cancel button 703 of the remote controller 700.
Specified by

When the viewer designates a program name from the external data designation screen, the display controller 1503
In response to the instruction of 512, a program detailed information screen for displaying the program detailed information of this program is created and displayed on the display unit 104. In addition, when the viewer designates cancellation from the remote controller 700 while displaying the contents of the homepage, the display control unit 1503 receives an instruction from the control unit 1512, creates an external data designation screen, and causes the display unit 104 to display the screen.

The control unit 1512 notifies the display control unit 1503 of an instruction to decide and cancel the display of the external data by the viewer using the remote controller 700. Program data 15
Reference numeral 05 stores the screen format of a program detailed information screen for receiving external data display designation and an external data designation screen. (Operation of Broadcasting Apparatus) FIG. 19 is a flowchart of broadcast data processing of broadcasting apparatus 1550 in the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the processing operation of the broadcast data creation will be described with reference to this flowchart. Since this processing has many parts in common with the processing operation of broadcasting apparatus 150 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 12, the description of the common parts will be omitted.

First, the broadcast data production section 151 creates broadcast data and stores it in the broadcast data storage section 152. Then, the processing performed by the link information adding unit 1554 to extract the link item information (steps S1201 to S1203) is the same as that in FIG. Here, the link information adding unit 155
4 retrieves the program detailed information using the link item information as a key (step S1204), and retrieves the external data acquisition unit 1
551 is also notified of the link item information, and the URL of the home page related to the link item information is obtained (step S1901). Then, the link information adding unit 155
4 is the program ID and U acquired by these two types of searches.
The link information is created from the RL and the item information used as the search key, and the link between the program detailed information and between the program detailed information and the homepage is linked (step S1902). Subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

(Operation of Receiving Apparatus) FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying external data in receiving apparatus 1500 according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the processing operation of the external data display of the receiving apparatus 1500 will be described with reference to FIG. This processing is performed according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.
Since many parts are common to the processing operation of the receiving apparatus 100 in the above, description of the common parts will be omitted. The receiving device 1
As the process 500, there is another broadcast data process by the extraction unit 102, but this is exactly the same as the process in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

From the display of the program guide, the control unit 1512 accepts the designation of item information serving as a search key, instructs the link information control unit 106 to obtain the program ID of the detailed program information corresponding to the key. This is the same as the first embodiment (steps S1401 to S1404). Here, it is assumed that the search by the item information “character A” of the item “appearance” has been performed.

The display control unit 1503 acquires from the program data storage unit 105 the program detailed information of the program corresponding to the program ID in the search result. Further, the obtained program detailed information is sorted by the broadcast start time, a program detailed information screen for the first program is created, and displayed on the display unit 104 (step S1405). At this time, if the link information of the acquired program detailed information includes a URL, a program detailed information screen including a button for external data display instruction as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed. Here, the viewer positions the cursor on the “external data” button and presses the enter button 70 of the remote control 700.
When 2 is pressed, this determination instruction is notified from the control unit 1512 to the display control unit 1503, and the display control unit 1503 that has analyzed the cursor position recognizes the external data display instruction. Then, the external data designation screen of FIG. 18 is displayed.
Then, the viewer uses the remote controller 700 to specify a specific UR
When an instruction to display L is issued (step S2001), the display control unit 1503 sends an external data acquisition instruction to the external data acquisition unit 1520 together with the specified URL. The external data acquisition unit 1520 accesses the homepage based on the URL, reads out the content, and sends it to the display control unit 1503. The transmitted data is displayed on the display unit 1.
04 (step S2002). Viewers
When the cancel button 703 of the remote controller 700 is pressed, the screen of the homepage display can be switched to the external data designation screen.

The viewer refers to the contents of the home page displayed in this way, and judges whether or not to reserve a program, using the information obtained as one of the judgment factors. The reservation processing is the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. As described above, according to the present embodiment, broadcast apparatus 1550 broadcasts broadcast data to which link information including external data information has been added in addition to program detailed information, and receiving apparatus 1500 transmits the link information. Based on the viewer's specification, external data is displayed. by this,
Since the viewer can refer to the external data from the detailed program information screen, the viewer can determine whether to reserve and view the program based on a wider range of information.

In the present embodiment, the external data search unit 1551 searches the homepage with a search engine to obtain a URL related to link item information.
The acquisition method is not limited to this. Regarding the contents of the homepage, various types of index information are provided in various media such as a publication, a CD-ROM attached to the publication, or a homepage for index information, and these may be used. .

In the present embodiment, the receiving device 150
Although the 0 side is provided with the external data acquisition unit 1520, the reception device 1500 may not display the URL to the viewer by displaying the URL on the display unit 104 without acquiring the external data.

[0079]

As is apparent from the above description, the transmission / reception system of the present invention is a transmission / reception system including a broadcasting device for broadcasting broadcast data and a receiving device for receiving the broadcast data. Broadcast data is composed of a broadcast program that a viewer views in the receiving device and program information that is information on the broadcast program, and the program information includes an identifier of another program information having the same item content. Link information to be described is added thereto, and the receiving device includes: a receiving unit that receives the broadcast data; a program information storage unit that holds program information of the broadcast data received by the receiving unit; For a part of the broadcast program held in the information storage means, the first display control means for displaying the program information on the display means, and the first display control means for displaying the program information. An item designation receiving unit that receives designation of an item from the program information; a search unit that finds out program information including the item content received by the item designation reception unit from the storage unit using the link information; Second display control means for displaying program information on display means, and program reservation for accepting designation of program reservation performed by a viewer based on details of the program information displayed by the first display means or the second display control means Since the receiving device has a receiving unit, when the receiving device performs a program search using specific item contents as a key, the broadcasting device can search using the link information added to the program information. The efficiency of the search process is improved as compared with the search to be performed, and the load of the search process is reduced.

Further, the broadcast device further includes, in the link information, identification information of external data related to the content of the item together with a program information identifier. If the second display control means causes the display means to display the identification information of the external data included in the link information relating to the found program information, the program created by the broadcasting device when the viewer makes a program reservation It is possible to determine whether or not to reserve a program by referring to external information such as a homepage in addition to the information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a transmitting and receiving system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of broadcast data in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of detailed program information broadcast as a part of the broadcast data of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of link item information in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a list of identification codes of link items in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of resolving link information mismatch according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a remote controller according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a program table in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a detailed program information screen before search designation in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search result program detailed information screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of switching of a detailed program information screen of a search result in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a broadcast data creation process on the broadcast device side in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of broadcast data processing on the receiving device side according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a program search and reservation process on the receiving device side in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a transmission / reception system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
It is a block diagram of.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of link information including external data identification information in the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a program detailed information screen including an external data display instruction button in the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of an external data designation screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a broadcast data creation process in the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a display process of external data in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 broadcast receiving unit 102 extracting unit 103 display control unit 104 display unit 105 program data storage unit 106 link information control unit 107 link item storage unit 108 input unit 109 recording unit 111 clock unit 201 broadcast data 301 program detailed information 700 remote control 701 joystick button 702 Enter button 703 Cancel button 704 Program guide button 901 Selection key 1001 Search result area 1002 Previous screen key 1003 Next screen key 1701 External data key 1801 External data designation area 1802 Program detail information designation area

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Hisayuki Kina 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting / receiving system comprising a broadcasting device for transmitting broadcast data and a receiving device for receiving the broadcast data, wherein the broadcast data transmitted by the broadcasting device is a broadcast program and information on the broadcast program. The program information includes a plurality of items that specify the content of the program information, and the program information includes link information that describes an identifier of another program information having the same item content. Receiving means for receiving the broadcast data; program information storage means for holding program information of the broadcast data received by the reception means; and displaying the program information held in the program information storage means on a display means First display control means, item specification receiving means for receiving an item specification from the program information displayed by the first display control means, and item specification receiving means A search unit for finding program information including the received item content from the program information storage unit using the link information; and a second display control unit for displaying the program information found by the search unit on a display unit. Characteristic transmission / reception system. 2. A program reservation receiving means for receiving a designation of program reservation performed by a viewer based on details of program information displayed by the first display control means or the second display control means. The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein 3. The broadcast data broadcasted by the broadcasting device includes:
The link information further includes identification information of external data related to the item content together with an identifier of the program information. In the receiving device, the second display control unit relates to the program information found by the search unit. 3. The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the identification information of the external data included in the link information is displayed on the display unit. 4. Link information which describes a broadcast program and a plurality of items which are information on the broadcast program and specify the contents of the program, wherein the program information includes an identifier of another program information having the same item contents. A receiving device for receiving the broadcast data, a receiving device for receiving the broadcast data, a program information storing device for holding program information of the broadcast data received by the receiving device, and the program information. First display control means for displaying the program information held in a storage means on a display means, item specification receiving means for receiving an item specification from the program information displayed by the first display control means, and item specification receiving means Search means for finding program information including the item content received in the program information storage means using the link information; and program information found by the search means. And a second display control means for displaying information on the display means. 5. A program reservation receiving means for receiving designation of program reservation performed by a viewer based on details of program information displayed by the first display control means or the second display control means. The receiving device according to claim 4, wherein 6. The broadcast data further includes, in the link information, identification information of external data related to the item contents together with an identifier of program information. In the receiving device, the second display control means includes: 3. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays identification information of external data included in link information on program information found by the search unit.