JP2000152113A - Program list display device utilizing electronic program guide and its broadcast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device that provides detailed information of a program to the user without pressing a band for video audio information by fusing an electronic program guide EPG transmitted at the same time when the video audio information is transmitted with an EPG acquired through the Internet. SOLUTION: A satellite digital broadcast transmission station 102 broadcasts EPG data 108 including basic information of a program. A program list display means 105 applies program basic display 110 to a user 107 based on basic information included in the EPG data 108. When the user 107 issues an additional information display request 109, an additional information data fetch means 104 acquires additional information data from a data server 103 and gives the data to the program list display means 105. The program list display means 105 displays the additional information data for the user 107 together with the basic information of the program. Thus, detailed information of the program can be served without especially pressing a broadcast band.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to broadcasting including an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as EPG),
The present invention relates to a program guide display device using an electronic program guide, which can efficiently browse additional information when information of a program represented by an electronic program guide is generated, and a broadcast system thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital broadcasting has become widespread.
Broadcasting over 0 channels is possible. Along with this, EPG is becoming widespread as a means for informing program contents.

[0003] According to the EPG technology conventionally proposed, the EPG is sent together with video / audio information. When such a scheme is adopted, either detailed program information is transmitted using a large number of bands for the EPG, or simple program information is transmitted using only a small number of bands. Only the method can be adopted.

[0004] On the other hand, with the development of the so-called Internet technology, there is also a method of providing all EPGs via the Internet. According to this method, all EPGs are acquired via the Internet, and the acquired EPGs are acquired.
The user was able to select a program using the program information represented by.

[0005]

By the way, in the method of transmitting the EPG together with the video / audio information, a wide band must be prepared for the EPG in order to transmit detailed program information. Conversely, if only a narrow band is allocated for the EPG, it is difficult to send detailed program information.

On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the method of transmitting all EPGs via the Internet requires a very long time to acquire a large amount of program information via the Internet. This is because the capacity of the line prepared by the user for the Internet is generally very small.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and has as its object to provide an EPG that is transmitted simultaneously with video / audio information and an EP that is acquired through the Internet.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of providing detailed information of a program to a user without squeezing the band of video / audio information by fusing G with G.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Normal program information is obtained from an EPG transmitted at the same time as video and audio information, and is transmitted to a server via the Internet only when the user needs more detailed information. By acquiring more information, more detailed information of the program can be provided to the user without hindering the performance of the digital broadcast itself (occupying a band). Based on such a basic principle, the present invention employs the following means.

[0009] The invention according to claim 1 is a program information receiving means for receiving a broadcast including an electronic program guide and obtaining program information contained in the program guide, and wherein the program information obtaining means transmits the program information. A program information display device that includes: an additional information acquiring unit that acquires detailed additional information of an acquired program via a network; and in particular, the program information acquiring unit includes the acquired program information and the additional information. Display means for displaying the additional information of the program fetched by the data fetching means.

Here, the program information obtained by the program information obtaining means is basic information of the program, and the additional information is more detailed information on the program. Therefore, the basic information is obtained based on the broadcasted electronic program guide, and more detailed additional information is obtained via the network.

As a result, even when there is a lot of additional information, it is not necessary to secure a wide band for the electronic program guide, and the band used for the actual broadcast of the program is not overwhelmed.

Further, the program information acquiring means is characterized in that when the program guide includes information indicating that there is additional information, the program information obtaining means displays to the user that there is additional information.

It is desirable that information indicating that additional information is present is added to the electronic program guide. When such information is present, the present invention informs the user that there is additional information. As a result, when the user wants to browse the additional information, the user can instruct the broadcast receiver to acquire the additional information. Of course, if it is determined that the user does not need to browse the additional information, this instruction will not be issued. By adopting such a configuration, the user can browse only information that is truly necessary.

[0014] Further, when the user issues an instruction to view program information more detailed than the program information included in the electronic program guide,
The program information acquiring means acquires detailed additional information of the program from which the program information has been acquired via a network.

As described above, if the user accesses the network and obtains the additional information only when the user wants to view the detailed additional information on the program, useless access to the network can be eliminated.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the broadcast including the electronic program guide is a satellite digital broadcast. In particular, when the broadcast including the electronic program guide is a satellite digital broadcast, it is important to effectively use the band. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively utilize the communication band of the digital satellite broadcasting.

In the invention according to claim 5, the broadcast including the electronic program guide is a terrestrial digital broadcast. The present invention is particularly effective in the case of digital satellite broadcasting, as will be described in embodiments described later. However, in other broadcasts, a broadcast including an electronic program guide is being used, and the bandwidth can be effectively used by applying the present invention to such various broadcasts.

In the invention according to claim 6, the network is the Internet. The present invention distributes additional information via a network, and the type of the network does not matter in principle. However, if the additional information is distributed using the Internet which has been widely used in recent years, a highly convenient system can be constructed.

Although the present invention is in principle a program guide display device, it is generally preferable to configure it integrally with a broadcast receiving device. With this configuration, a CRT or the like for displaying a program can be used as a program guide display unit, and a device that is highly convenient for the user can be provided.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast system, comprising: a broadcast transmitting unit for transmitting a broadcast including an electronic program guide; And an additional information server that transmits the information via a network.

According to such a broadcasting system, even when additional information is generated in a program, an EPG to be broadcast
A broadcasting system that can provide additional information to a user without increasing data is obtained.

Further, in the invention according to claim 8, the network is the Internet. The present invention distributes additional information via a network, and the type of the network does not matter in principle. However, if the additional information is distributed using the Internet which has been widely used in recent years, a highly convenient system can be constructed.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment displays a new load on the satellite digital broadcasting system by displaying, as a program guide, a content obtained by synthesizing the EPG used in the satellite digital broadcasting and the additional information extracted from the server on the Internet. The user wants to know without giving the efficiency)
An example in which detailed program information is provided will be described.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a satellite digital broadcast receiver, a broadcasting station, a server on the Internet, and the like according to the present embodiment.

As shown in the figure, a broadcasting system is composed of a digital broadcasting satellite 101, a satellite digital broadcasting transmitting station 102 for generating EPG data 108, and a server 103 for transmitting additional information. Have been.

The satellite digital broadcast receiver 106
Adopts a configuration that includes, in addition to a reception function for receiving the broadcast content itself, an additional information acquisition unit 104 and a program guide display unit 105 for displaying a program guide.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, the satellite digital broadcast transmitting station 102 transmits EPG data 108 including basic program information.
Generate At this time, if there is additional information on the program, the additional information is stored on the data server 103 on the Internet, and this additional information is made public via the Internet. Further, when the additional information is stored on the data server 103 on the Internet, special symbol data and address data of the data server 103 are generated and included in the EPG data 108 described above. By including the address data of the data server 103 in the EPG data 108, the user (receiver) receiving the broadcast can access the data server 103 in which the additional information is stored. Become.

The EPG data 108 generated in this manner is the EPG data 201 shown in FIG.
The format is as follows. As shown in this figure, the EPG data 201 includes special symbol data 202 represented by “#” and “＄” in addition to a program name, its channel, broadcast time, and program contents. Server address of additional data server / additional information data name 203
And is included. The user (satellite digital broadcast receiver 106) can know that the program has additional information by referring to the special symbol data "#". The EPG data 201 is broadcast via the digital broadcasting satellite 101.

The satellite digital broadcast receiver 106 receives the EPG data 108 from the digital communication satellite 101 and, based on the basic information of the program included in the EPG data 108, displays the program table basic display to the user 107 by the program table display means 105. Perform 110.

At that time, the EPG data 108 includes
When “#” special symbol data 202 and “@” server address / additional information name data 203 of the data server are included, additional information of the program is displayed in the program table basic display 110 on the Internet. At the same time as information indicating that the data can be extracted from the data server.

This display is performed by displaying a telop such as "with additional information" on the screen. Of course, it is also preferable to notify the user with other symbols or marks. Such a display allows the user to know that there is additional information about the program.

When the user 107 wants to obtain additional information of the program based on the above display, the user 107 issues an additional information display request 109 to the additional information fetching means 104 in the satellite digital broadcast receiver 106. . Specifically, this request is issued by pressing a predetermined button or the like.

Upon receiving the additional information display request 109, the additional information fetching means 104 converts the server address / additional information name data 2 of the data server contained in the EPG data 108.
03, the data server 10 on the Internet
3 is specified, and an additional information request signal 112 is issued to the data server 103.

The data server 103 which has received the additional information request signal 112 sends the additional information data 113 to the additional information fetching means 104. Additional information data 11
3 receives the additional information data 113 and transfers the additional information data 113 to the program guide display means 105. The program guide display means 105 transmits the basic information of the program contained in the EPG data 108 and the additional information data 113. The additional information included is synthesized, and the program guide detailed display 111 is performed for the user 107.

Next, a specific example of the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. FIG. FIG. 3 shows the contents of EPG data 301 of a certain program. For example,
FIG. 3 shows that the program name is “Mystery of the Universe” and the channel of the program is “123”. In addition, broadcast time is "from 10:00 to 12:00 on August 20, 1998"
It is also shown that

Further, "#" which is special symbol data is shown in the EPG data 301 shown in FIG. By this "#", the program guide display means 105 of the satellite digital broadcast receiver 106 performs the predetermined display to the user. Also, as shown in FIG.
The server address / additional information name data 303 is “203.12
3.20.53 / abc.epg ".

This is because, for this program, the additional information abc.epg is stored in the data server 203.1 on the Internet.
Means to be on 23.20.53. Therefore, the satellite digital broadcast transmitting station 102 transmits the
The special symbol data 302 and the data / additional information name data 303 of the data server address are generated and included in the EPG data 301 (EPG data shown in FIG. 3).

EPG data 301 shown in FIG.
Is broadcast via the broadcast satellite 101, and the satellite digital broadcast receiver 106 receives it. First, the program guide display means 105 performs a basic program guide display as shown in FIG. 4 for the user 107 based on the basic information of the program included in the EPG data 301. FIG. 4 shows an example of the program guide basic display. At this time, a mark is displayed at the bottom of the screen to indicate that detailed information exists on the Internet server. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4, by displaying the mark of “detailed description”, the user 10
7 has additional information.

When the user 107 wants to obtain not only basic information but also additional information, the user 107 issues an additional information display request 109 by operating a remote controller or the like.

Upon receiving the additional information display request 109, the additional information fetching means 104 converts the address data / additional information name data 3 of the data server contained in the EPG data 301.
03, the data server 103 on the Internet
Is specified, and an additional information request signal 112 is issued to the data server 103. The data server 103 responds to the additional information request signal 112 by
3 is sent back to the additional information data taking means 104. In this way, the additional information data acquisition unit 104 acquires the additional information data 113.

The additional information data 113 received by the additional information data fetching means 104 is transferred to the program guide displaying means 105, combined with the basic information of the program contained in the EPG data 301, and displayed to the user 107. An example of this display is shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the basic information of a program is obtained based on the broadcasted EPG data, and the additional information of the program is obtained via the Internet. Therefore, detailed information of a program can be provided to a user without preparing a wide bandwidth for EPG data.

Although the present embodiment has been described with respect to digital satellite broadcasting, the present invention can be applied to other types of broadcasting.

For example, digital terrestrial broadcasting or V
Even when the EPG broadcast using BI is performed, the same method as described in the present embodiment can be used.
A similar effect can be obtained.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. First, the additional information data allows the user to obtain detailed information that cannot be obtained with conventional EPG data.

Second, the change of the additional information data can be freely changed by the data server on the network. Therefore, there is no need to issue a request to change the EPG data to the commissioned broadcaster.

Third, it is possible to prevent broadcast EPG data from increasing significantly. Therefore, there is an effect that the band of the broadcast (for example, digital broadcast) can be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a broadcast system, a digital satellite broadcast receiver, and the like according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents and format of EPG data including special symbol data and the like.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents and format of EPG data of a certain program.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a program basic display in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which additional information is also displayed in addition to the basic program display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 102 satellite digital broadcast transmitting station 103 data server 104 additional information data acquisition means 105 program table display means 106 satellite digital broadcast receiver 107 user 108 EPG data 109 display request 110 program table basic display 111 program table detailed display 112 request signal 113 addition Information data 201 EPG data 202 Special symbol data 203 Server address / additional information name data 301 EPG data 302 Special symbol data 303 Server address / additional information name data

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A program information acquiring means for receiving a broadcast including an electronic program guide and acquiring program information included in the program guide, and a detailed program information of the program from which the program information acquiring means has acquired the program information. Additional information acquiring means for acquiring additional information via a network, display means for displaying program information acquired by the program information acquiring means, and additional information of the program acquired by the additional information data acquiring means. A program guide display device using an electronic program guide, comprising: 2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition unit displays to the user that there is additional information when the program guide includes information indicating that there is additional information. Program guide display device using a program guide. 3. The program information obtaining means according to claim 1, wherein said program information obtaining means is configured to: when said user issues an instruction to view program information more detailed than the program information included in said electronic program guide, 2. The program guide display device using an electronic program guide according to claim 1, wherein detailed additional information of the program for which the program information has been obtained is obtained via a network. 4. The broadcast including the electronic program guide is a satellite digital broadcast.
A program guide display device using the electronic program guide according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 5. The broadcast including the electronic program guide is a terrestrial digital broadcast.
A program guide display device using the electronic program guide according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 6. The program guide display device using an electronic program guide according to claim 1, wherein the network is the Internet. 7. A broadcast transmitting means for transmitting a broadcast including an electronic program guide, and an additional information server for transmitting the additional information via a network when the program information of the program represented by the electronic program guide has additional information. And a broadcast system comprising: 8. The broadcasting system according to claim 7, wherein said network is the Internet.