JP4599124B2 - Program recording apparatus, program information search method thereof, and broadcast receiving apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is a program recording apparatus capable of recording setting program using an electronic program guide, about the program information retrieval method and a broadcast receiving apparatus to search for program information of the electronic program guide.

  With the spread of television broadcasts such as terrestrial broadcasts and satellite broadcasts, program recording apparatuses for recording and playing back broadcast programs of television broadcasts have become widespread. Conventionally, most of the program recording devices record video signals and audio signals on a tape medium or the like, but with the development of digital signal processing technology, broadcast programs are recorded as digital signals on a recording medium such as a hard disk or an optical disk. A program recording device has also appeared. In general, a program recording apparatus has a built-in timer and the like, and has a recording reservation function for automatically recording a program by specifying a date and time in advance.

Conventionally, for recording reservation, the user himself / herself has to set the date and time when a desired broadcast program is broadcast to a timer device or the like. As a method for reducing the burden on the user, there is an electronic program guide (EPG). The program recording apparatus can acquire the EPG data from a broadcast wave or the Internet and store it inside, extract program information for each broadcasting station from the EPG data, and create and display a program guide. When a desired broadcast program is selected by the user from the displayed program guide and recording reservation is instructed, the program recording device stores data such as the broadcast station and date / time of the instructed broadcast program. The EPG data is searched and set to the recording reservation function (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-088282 A

  Currently, EPG distribution services include a service form that distributes EPG data over broadcast waves, a form that distributes EPG data over the Internet, and other services that use telephone lines. Each of these services has its characteristics, and there are differences in details of information, the number of broadcast channels provided, and the like. There are also services specialized for specific broadcasts.

  However, in the conventional program recording apparatus, when searching for program information by a keyword, the search target is an EPG that can be acquired from a type of EPG distribution service (hereinafter referred to as “EPG source”) determined by the apparatus. There was a problem that it was limited to the program information included in the data.

  In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a program recording apparatus capable of performing a wide range of program information search across program information provided by a plurality of program information providing services, and a program information search method thereof. To do.

To achieve the above object, the program the program recording apparatus of the present invention, a channel code storing means unique channel code to program information providing services and broadcast channels are stored, provided from a plurality of said program information providing service From the information, program information acquisition means for acquiring program information for each broadcast channel based on a unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means, program information storage means for storing the acquired program information, and the channel A means for searching program information for each broadcast channel based on a unique channel code stored in the code storage means, and the program information when the channel code is a code for a program information providing service by a broadcast wave The program information is retrieved from the storage means, and the channel code is If the code for a program information providing services on the Internet will ask the program information retrieval to the program information service on the Internet, the program information retrieval means for receiving the search result, the program information retrieval means Makes a search request to the program information searched from the program information storage means and the program information providing service, and the program information received as a search result is integrated and displayed as a program information search result for each broadcast channel. Display control means for controlling as described above .

  The program recording apparatus according to the present invention further comprises display means for displaying the program information search results for each broadcast channel obtained by the program information search means in an integrated manner.

  Further, in the program recording apparatus of the present invention, the channel code storage means stores channel codes corresponding to a plurality of program information providing services for each broadcast channel, together with priorities among them, and the program information search means Program information provided by a plurality of program information providing services is searched based on a plurality of channel codes stored in the channel code storage means.

  Further, in the program recording apparatus of the present invention, the display means displays the program information provided by the plurality of program information providing services searched by the program information search means in an integrated manner according to the priority order. It is.

  According to the program recording apparatus and the program information search method of the present invention, it is possible to perform a wide range of program information search across program information provided by a plurality of program information providing services.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a program recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the program recording apparatus 100 of this embodiment has a system control unit 1 that controls the entire system. The system control unit 1 includes a CPU 2, a ROM 3 in which firmware and various data are fixedly stored, and a RAM 4 that is used as a work area of the CPU 2. An EPG management unit 6, a remote control interface unit 7, a tuner unit 8, an information recording / playback unit 9, an EPG screen configuration unit 10, a network connection unit 11, and the like are connected to the system control unit 1 through a bus 5.

  The EPG management unit 6 includes an EPG data acquisition unit 12, an EPG data storage unit 13, a program guide creation unit 14, a program guide information storage unit 15, a channel code table 16, a program information search unit 24, and the like.

  In the channel code table 16, a unique code (channel code) assigned to each broadcast channel in the EPG source (program information providing service) set as the acquisition source of EPG data in the program recording apparatus 100 is registered. It is a table to be. As the channel code of each broadcast channel, a unique code is determined depending on the type of EPG source such as ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG. In the program recording apparatus 100, channel codes of a plurality of EPG sources can be mixed and registered in the channel code table 16.

  The EPG data acquisition unit 12 refers to the channel code table 16 to acquire EPG data based on broadcast waves or EPG data on the Internet and records it in the EPG data storage unit 13. The program guide creation unit 14 creates program guide information to be provided to the user using the EPG data stored in the EPG data storage unit 13. The program guide information storage unit 15 stores information on the program guide created by the program guide creation unit 14. The program information search unit 24 refers to the channel code table 16 based on the input search keyword, and executes program information search according to a procedure determined for each EPG source corresponding to the channel code of each broadcast channel.

  The remote control interface unit 7 is an interface unit with a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as “remote control”) 17 for inputting an instruction from the user. The tuner unit 8 selects a desired broadcast wave from digital broadcast broadcast waves taken from the antenna 18 or the like. Moreover, the broadcast wave of digital broadcasting is not restricted to what is taken in from the antenna 18, but is taken in via a cable from a cable television station etc.

  The demultiplexer 19 separates the audio signal, the video signal, and the EPG data signal multiplexed on the broadcast wave, and outputs them to the decoder 20. The decoding unit 20 decodes the audio signal, video signal and EPG data signal separated by the demultiplexing unit 19, respectively, and outputs the digital audio signal, digital video signal and digital EPG data signal as an output control unit 21, information recording / reproduction Output to the unit 9 and the bus 5. The EPG screen composition unit 10 is a means for constructing program guide screen information from the information of the program guide stored in the program guide information storage unit 15 of the EPG management unit 6 and configuring various setting screens. The output control unit 21 converts the decoded digital audio signal and digital video signal into an output audio signal and video signal. The audio output unit 22 outputs an audio signal for output from the output control unit 21 to an audio output device (not shown) such as a speaker. The image output unit 23 outputs the video signal for output from the output control unit 21 to a display device (not shown) such as a liquid crystal display.

  The information recording / reproducing unit 9 has a rewritable recording medium such as a hard disk drive or a DVD, for example, and records the digital audio signal and digital video signal decoded by the decoding unit 20 on the recording medium. The digital audio signal and digital video signal recorded in the above are reproduced and output to the decoding unit 20. The network connection unit 11 is a means for connecting to the Internet in order to download EPG data from the Internet.

  The program recording apparatus 100 has a function of providing the user with an interface that can set or change the type of service from which the EPG source is acquired. When an operation for changing the acquisition source (EPG source) of the EPG data is performed by this interface, the channel code of the channel code table 16 described above is also a system code corresponding to the changed EPG source. Automatically updated. Hereinafter, the operation of the program recording apparatus 100 including the automatic conversion of the channel code will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a setting screen that can change the EPG source. As shown in the figure, the setting screen 34 includes an EPG service selection unit 35 for selecting an EPG source as an acquisition source of EPG data, a ADAMS-EPG data reception channel, a reception time, and the ADAMS-EPG. An ADAMS setting unit 36 for setting the program, a color setting unit 37 for setting the background color of each program frame in the program table for each genre, and the like. In this example, the EPG service selection unit 35 includes a check unit 35a for ADAMS-EPG and a check unit 35b for iNET-EPG. The EPG source is selected by inserting a check mark in accordance with an instruction from the user into at least one of the two check units 35a and 35b. Accordingly, it is possible to select both ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG by checking the two check units 35a and 35b. In this example, ADAMS-EPG, iNET-EPG, and the like are cited as EPG sources from which EPG data is acquired, but the present invention is not limited to using these EPG providing services.

  Also, at the bottom of the setting screen 34, help information 38 for displaying the content of the command associated with the operation button of the remote controller 17 to the user is displayed. With this help information 38, for example, an item can be selected with the up / down / left / right cursor buttons of the remote controller 17, and the selection contents can be determined by operating a decision button between the up / down / left / right cursor buttons. Recognize. In such an operation procedure, the user can selectively check the check units 35 a and 35 b of the EPG service selection unit 35.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 3, in the channel code table 16, it is assumed that channel codes for ADAMS-EPG are set for all broadcast channels, and these are converted into channel codes for iNET-EPG. The operation will be described.

  First, the setting screen 34 of FIG. 2 is called by the user. Since ADAMS-EPG channel codes have already been set for all broadcast channels, the EPG service selection unit 35 of the setting screen 34 has a check mark only in the ADAMS-EPG check unit 35a. Here, the user operates the remote controller 17 or the like to select the ADAMS-EPG check unit 35a again and delete the check mark, and puts a check mark in the iNET-EPG check unit 35b. Finally, the registration completion button 39 on the setting screen 34 is selected and determined.

  Upon receipt of this registration completion, the system control unit 1 takes in the input contents to the setting screen 34, refers to the channel code correspondence table, and executes channel code conversion of the channel code table 16.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the channel code correspondence table 40. As described above, the program recording apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the channel code correspondence table 40 in which the one-to-one correspondence between the ADAMS-EPG channel code and the iNET-EPG channel code is registered. This channel code correspondence table 40 may be prepared in the program recording apparatus 100 from the beginning, or a server for providing the channel code correspondence table 40 is provided on the Internet so that it can be obtained by downloading from this server. May be.

  Next, a case where both the ADAMS-EPG check unit 35a and the iNET-EPG check unit 35b of the EPG service selection unit 35 of the setting screen 34 in FIG. 3 are checked will be described.

  In this program recording apparatus 100, the priority order between ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG is set by default, and the channel code with the higher priority order is registered in the channel code table 16. This priority setting can be changed by the user. That is, by default, the priority order of ADAMS-EPG is set higher than that of iNET-EPG, for example, from the merits of information accuracy. However, since iNET-EPG is more detailed than ADAMS-EPG and covers program information for a long number of days, a user who places importance on this point sets the priority of iNET-EPG to ADAMS-EPG, DIGITAL-EPG. The setting can be changed to be higher than that.

  Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the program recording apparatus 100 is configured so that the user can confirm the channel code that has already been set and change the priority setting for each broadcast channel. A channel registration confirmation screen 26 is prepared. On this channel registration confirmation screen 26, a channel code (CH code) 25 set for each broadcast channel is displayed. For broadcast channels in which both ADAMS-EPG and DIGITAL-EPG are set with priorities, the channel code with the higher priority is displayed. On this channel registration confirmation screen 26, if a broadcast channel whose priority is to be changed is selected by operating the remote controller 17 or the like, and a button labeled “mode” is pressed on the remote controller 17, the channel code of the currently selected broadcast channel is selected. Are switched between the channel code for ADAMS-EPG and the channel code for iNET-EPG, and then the update contents of the channel code are reflected in the channel code table 16 by operating the registration button.

  The channel code table 16 is mixed with the ADAMS-EPG channel code and the iNET-EPG channel code by changing the priority order for each broadcast channel.

Next, an operation for acquiring EPG data will be described.
There are two EPG data acquisition procedures: a procedure for acquiring from broadcast waves and a procedure for acquiring from the Internet. The time zone in which EPG data is broadcast is determined. The EPG data acquisition unit 12 of the EPG management unit 6 selects the broadcast wave including the EPG data by controlling the tuner unit 8 when the broadcast time of the EPG data is reached. The signal including the EPG data output from the tuner unit 8 is decrypted and then separated into an audio signal, a video signal, and an EPG data signal by the demultiplexing unit 19. The separated EPG data signal is demodulated into a digital signal by the decoding unit 20 and sent to the EPG management unit 6. The EPG data acquisition unit 12 of the EPG management unit 6 extracts the corresponding EPG data from the acquired EPG data based on the channel code registered in the channel code table 16 and stores it in the EPG data storage unit 13. When acquiring EPG data on the Internet, the EPG data acquisition unit 12 of the EPG management unit 6 sends a channel code table to the server that provides the EPG data distribution service on the Internet through the network connection unit 11. The EPG data is downloaded by transmitting the EPG data request to which the channel code for iNET-EPG registered in 16 is added. The downloaded EPG data is stored in the EPG data storage unit 13 of the EPG management unit 6.

  The program guide is created by the program guide creation section 14 of the EPG management section 6 using the EPG data stored in the EPG data storage section 13 in this way, and the created program guide information is stored in the program guide information storage. Stored in the unit 15.

  When a program guide display command is input by the user using the remote controller 17 or the like, the program information of each broadcast channel stored in the program guide information storage unit 15 is sent to the EPG screen configuration unit 10, and the EPG screen configuration unit 10. Configures screen information of the program guide from the acquired program information. The screen information of the configured program guide is displayed on a display device (not shown) through the output control unit 21 and the image output unit 23. The user can refer to the program guide displayed on the display device and use the remote control 17 or the like to select a broadcast channel, program selection, recording setting, and the like. The system control unit 1 executes a recording process based on the recording setting. That is, the system control unit 1 instructs the tuner unit 8 to select a broadcast channel when the broadcast time of a program reserved for recording comes. The broadcast signal selected by the tuner unit 8 in accordance with this instruction is decrypted and then separated into an audio signal, a video signal, and the like by the demultiplexing unit 19, and a digital audio signal and a digital signal are respectively decoded by the decoding unit 20. A video signal is recorded on the recording medium by the information recording / reproducing unit 9.

Next, the program information search operation will be described.
The program recording apparatus 100 is provided with a function for providing a user with an interface screen for inputting a keyword for searching for program information.

  A user inputs a keyword to the interface screen by operating the remote controller 17 and presses a search button provided on the screen, whereby a search command is given to the system control unit. The system control unit passes the search command to the program information search unit 24 of the EPG management unit 6. The program information search unit 24 receives this search command and performs program information search as follows.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the program information search operation.
First, the program information search unit 24 reads the contents of the channel code table 16 from the beginning, acquires the channel code of the first broadcast channel (step 601), and this channel code is an EPG of either ADAMS-EPG or iNET-EPG. It is determined whether the code is a provided service (step 602). This determination can be made with reference to, for example, the channel code correspondence table 40 shown in FIG.

  Here, the search procedure is divided according to the channel code for ADAMS-EPG and the channel code for iNET-EPG. When the channel code is for ADAMS-EPG, the program information search unit 24 is given by the user from the corresponding ADAMS-EPG data stored in the EPG data storage unit 13, that is, the ADAMS-EPG data of the corresponding broadcast channel. The program information corresponding to the keyword is searched (step 603). In the case of the iNET-EPG channel code, in order to widen the search target range, the search is not performed from the iNET-EPG data stored in the EPG data storage unit 13, but the EPG providing service is provided on the Internet. A request for a program information search request for all the EPG data covered by the EPG providing service is transmitted to the server to be performed through the network connection unit 11, and the program information that is the search result is acquired (step S1). 604).

  If any of the above search procedures is repeated for channel codes of all broadcast channels registered in the channel code table 16 in this way and all search results have been acquired (YES in step 605), individual search results are obtained. The program information is sorted according to conditions such as time specified in advance (step 606), and the sorted result is transferred to the EPG screen configuration unit 10. As a result, the EPG screen configuration unit 10 configures a program information search result screen, and information on the configured program information search result screen is displayed on a display device (not shown) through the output control unit 21 and the image output unit 23 ( Step 607).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the program information search result screen 41. As shown in the figure, on the program information search result screen 41, individual program information 42 as program information search results are displayed side by side in the order of time, and individual program information 42 as program information search results is displayed. Includes items of date, broadcast start and end times, display channel, and program name. In addition, help information 43 for displaying the content of the command associated with the operation button of the remote controller 17 is displayed at the bottom of the program information search result screen. With this help information 43, for example, a program can be selected by using the upper and lower cursor buttons of the remote controller 17, and recording of the selected program can be reserved by operating a decision button between the upper and lower cursor buttons. Recognize.

  As described above, according to the program recording apparatus 100 of this embodiment, it is possible to obtain a search result of program information of a plurality of EPG providing services such as ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG, and to provide the plurality of EPGs. The search results of program information obtained from the service can be provided to the user in a unified form.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples described above, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the EPG data of the source EPG providing service having the higher priority is acquired for each broadcast channel between the ADAMS-EPG and the iNET-EPG. Each channel code corresponding to a plurality of EPG providing services is registered together with priorities among them, and the program information corresponding to the keyword given by the user is searched for both ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG. You may do it. Thereby, the search result of the program information with respect to each of ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG is obtained, and the program information search result can be provided to the user.
In this case, there is a high possibility that the program information search result includes the program information of ADAMS-EPG and iNET-EPG for the same program. Program information to be displayed is selected in accordance with the priority order with iNET-EPG. This priority order is preset by default, but can be changed by the user. For example, by default, the priority order of ADAMS-EPG is set higher than that of iNET-EPG due to merits such as accuracy of information. Since the information is covered, a user who places importance on this point can change the setting so that the priority of iNET-EPG is higher than that of ADAMS-EPG.

As a result, it is possible to search for program information according to the user's multifaceted needs.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the program recording apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the setting screen which can change an EPG provision service. It is a figure which shows the example of a conversion of a channel code table. It is a figure which shows the example of a channel code correspondence table. It is a figure which shows a channel registration confirmation screen. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement of program information search. It is a figure which shows the example of a program information search result screen.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... System control part, 6 ... EPG management part, 8 ... Tuner part, 9 ... Information recording / reproducing part, 10 ... EPG screen structure part, 11 ... Network connection part, 12 ... EPG data acquisition part, 13 ... EPG data storage part , 14... Program table creation unit, 15... Program table information storage unit, 16... Channel code table, 24.

Claims (10)

Channel code storage means for storing a channel code specific to the program information providing service and the broadcast channel;
From the program information provided from a plurality of said program information providing service, a program information acquisition means for acquiring program information for each broadcast channel based on a unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means,
Program information storage means for storing the acquired program information;
A means for searching for program information for each broadcast channel based on a unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means, and when the channel code is a code for a program information providing service by a broadcast wave, The program information is retrieved from the program information storage means, and when the channel code is a code for the program information providing service on the Internet, the program information providing service on the Internet is requested to search for program information, and the search is performed. Program information search means for receiving the results ;
The program information search means makes a search request to the program information searched from the program information storage means and the program information providing service, and the program information received as the search result is used as the program information search result for each broadcast channel. Display control means for controlling to display in an integrated manner;
A program recording apparatus comprising: A table for storing the program information providing service and the channel code specific to the broadcast channel in association with each other;
The display control means further controls to display the searched program information and the received program information in an integrated manner as a program information search result for each broadcast channel based on the correspondence table. The program recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The program recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel code storage means stores a unique channel code for each broadcast channel of a different type of the program information providing service in a mixed manner . In the channel code storage means, a unique channel code corresponding to a plurality of program information providing services is stored for each broadcast channel together with a priority between them,
The program information retrieval means, according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that to search for program information of the plurality of program information providing service provided on the basis of a plurality of unique channel code stored in the channel code storing means The program recording device according to any one of the above. The display control means controls the program information provided by the plurality of program information providing services searched by the program information search means so as to be integrated and displayed according to the priority order. 4. The program recording device according to 4 . Channel code storage means for storing a channel information unique to the program information providing service and the broadcast channel is provided, and the channel code storage means is obtained from program information provided from a plurality of program information providing services by the program information acquisition means. Acquiring program information for each broadcast channel based on the unique channel code stored in the program information storage means,
The program information search means searches for program information for each broadcast channel based on the unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means, and the channel code is a code for a program information providing service using broadcast waves. In this case, the program information is retrieved from the program information storage means, and when the channel code is a code for the program information providing service on the Internet, the program information providing service on the Internet is requested to retrieve the program information. And receiving the search results ;
A step of controlling the display control means to display the searched program information and the received program information in an integrated manner as a program information search result for each broadcast channel;
A program information search method comprising: Storing the program information providing service and the channel code unique to the broadcast channel in association with each other.
In the controlling step, the display control means integrates and displays the searched program information and the received program information as a program information search result for each broadcast channel based on the correspondence table. 7. The program information search method according to claim 6 , wherein control is performed so that In the channel code storage means, a unique channel code corresponding to a plurality of program information providing services for each broadcast channel is stored together with a priority between them,
By said program information search means, according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that to search for program information of the plurality of program information providing service provided on the basis of a plurality of unique channel code stored in the channel code storing means The program information search method described in 1. The display control means controls the program information provided by the plurality of program information providing services searched by the program information search means so as to be integrated and displayed according to the priority order. 8. The program information search method according to 8 .   Tuner means for receiving broadcast waves;
Channel code storage means for storing a channel code specific to the program information providing service and the broadcast channel;
  Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information for each broadcast channel from program information provided from a plurality of the program information providing services based on a unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means;
  Program information storage means for storing the acquired program information;
  A means for searching for program information for each broadcast channel based on a unique channel code stored in the channel code storage means, and when the channel code is a code for a program information providing service by a broadcast wave, Search program information from program information storage means, and if the channel code is a code for a program information providing service on the Internet, a program information search for receiving a program information search result from the program information providing service on the Internet Means,
  The program information search means integrates and displays the program information searched from the program information storage means and the program information received from the program information providing service on the Internet as a program information search result for each broadcast channel. Display control means for controlling;
  A broadcast receiving apparatus comprising:

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