JP2002354391A - Method for recording program signal, and method for transmitting record program control signal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically erase a program whose user's taste level is low, even though programs for user's taste level being low will also be reserved and recorded at recording of the program, in accordance with program taste information obtained preliminarily, based on the tastes of a reserver. SOLUTION: The image texture of a program, whose recording is started is recognized by an image texture recognizing unit 22, a voice keyword is recognized by a voice keyword recognizing unit 23, descriptive information related with program contents is detected by an information tag detector 23, the taste level of a program is compared with a level stored in a holding/erasure parameter memory 25 based on the recognized and detected levels, and when it is determined that the taste level is low, the recorded program is erased by an erasing unit 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program for recording a predetermined program broadcast based on user's program preference information, or a program reservation for recording the program. The present invention relates to a method of recording a program signal for deleting the program signal when the condition is not satisfied and a method of transmitting a recorded program control signal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, analog television broadcasting has been performed, and the number of broadcasting channels, such as BS broadcasting and CS broadcasting, has been increasing. Recently, BS digital broadcasting has started, and preparations are underway to start terrestrial digital broadcasting in 2003.

[0003] In digital broadcasting, video signals are converted to MPEG signals.
Broadcasting channels are further increased, for example, because compression encoding is performed according to the -2 system and broadcasting is performed using a highly efficient digital modulation system, so that three digital channels are broadcast using one channel of analog TV broadcasting band. You.

In such a situation, a viewer who receives a broadcasting service frequently switches channels to search for and finds a program of interest while viewing the program, that is, the program is received while so-called channel hopping is performed, and the viewer desires. Usually, a program is found and the viewing of the found program is continued.

However, in that case, the first part until the desired program is found is not received,
It is not preferable as a channel search for recording and recording a program. For a program to be recorded, the contents of the program are grasped in advance while looking at the program table of a newspaper or a magazine, and a VTR or the like is used to record the program of the channel. The program recording of the channel is reserved.

[0006] As described above, the number of reception channels is increasing year by year, and it takes a considerable amount of time to investigate all programs on broadcast channels that can be actually received and to select a program to be recorded. There is a need for a method of easily searching for a desired program.

On the broadcast station side, an EPG (Electric Program Guide) is provided for the receiver to make such program search convenient.
By broadcasting the information as code information in a broadcast frequency band or an additional information channel using a subcarrier, a scheme is devised so that a broadcast receiver can search for a program.

[0008] However, in order to easily search for a program at home by using information supplied by various kinds of program information providing media, it is necessary to further integrate search information, unify the provided format, And solving many issues such as popularization of program search keywords,
It is necessary to build a viewer-friendly program search system.

A method for automatically searching for a TV program that may be of interest to a viewer from a channel guide list, and automatically searching for a specific TV program that satisfies a user's preference criteria, and A method of generating a list of television programs when the search is completed is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-200638, entitled "Scheduler device using prediction agent for television receiver and method thereof".

[0010] Then, the method predicts a program that is considered to be interesting to a viewer in a television system in which at least program title information of a television program to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance and a channel guide list is configured. This document describes a method and a program search method used as a scheduler device that stores information about a television program watched by a user in the past as a search criterion and allows the user to edit the search criterion.

[0011]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional program prediction agent system, a function of automatically searching for a television program satisfying a criterion regarding a viewer's preference for program viewing is provided in advance by a television system and a video system. The recording device or audio signal recording device must have it.

A program search system having such an ideal automatic search function is still under development.
In addition, search engines become obsolete over time in receivers or recorders that add this function, and the cost of receivers increases when a search engine is developed and installed that anticipates future technological advances. And other issues.

Therefore, the present invention searches for a target program in a receiving device, a recording device, or a recording reservation device by extracting user program preference information based on the user's program recording results and program viewing results for a predetermined time or more. Based on the extracted program preference information, new program information to be recorded is retrieved from the broadcast program information database, and the obtained reserved program information is transmitted to the video / audio information recording apparatus to obtain the program information. A service that starts recording and performs a complicated and expensive analysis process to determine whether or not the program is a user's favorite program at a predetermined time after the start of program recording is performed by a service connected via a transmission path. The service provider performs the analysis, and the service provider analyzes the program recorded by the user,
When the preference level of the program recorded on the user side obtained by the analysis is considered to be a low level, a signal for deleting the recorded program is transmitted from the service provider side to the user side, whereby the user side is transmitted. Reduces the economic burden and records and saves only programs with a higher preference that match the user's preference level.

[0014] The recorded program is automatically erased when a predetermined time has elapsed after the recording, and a deletion cancel signal is added to the program. The video / audio information recording apparatus realizes a video / audio information recording system in which a program having a high preference level is always recorded, for example, by not deleting the program signal to which the information is added.

[0015]

The present invention comprises the following means 1) to 12) to solve the above-mentioned problems. That is,

1) A program signal recording method for making a program reservation with respect to a supplied program signal in accordance with program preference information obtained in advance based on the preference of a subscriber, and recording the reserved program signal. A first step (22) of recognizing whether image texture information obtained based on the program preference information is included in a recorded program signal;
A second step (25) of comparing the information amount of the image texture recognized in the first step with a predetermined image texture information amount set in advance, and a result of the comparison in the second step, And a third step (27) of erasing the recorded program signal when the information amount of the recognized image texture is smaller.

2) A program signal recording method for making a program reservation for a supplied program signal in accordance with program preference information obtained in advance based on a preference of a subscriber, and recording the reserved program signal. A first step (21) of recognizing whether audio keyword information obtained based on the program preference information is included in a recorded program signal,
A second step (25) of comparing the information amount of the voice keyword recognized in the first step with a predetermined voice keyword information amount, and a result of the comparison in the second step, A third step (27) of erasing the recorded program signal when the information amount of the recognized voice keyword is smaller than the above.

3) With respect to a program signal supplied with descriptive information describing the program content, program reservation is performed in accordance with program preference information obtained in advance based on the preference of the subscriber.
A method for recording a program signal for recording a reserved program signal, comprising: a first step of recognizing whether or not the description information obtained in advance based on the program preference information is included in a recorded program signal. (23) a second step (25) of comparing the number of description words between the description information recognized in the first step and the description information previously obtained based on the program preference information; A step (27) of erasing the recorded program signal when the number of common descriptive words obtained by the comparison in the step (c) is smaller. .

4) The erasing of the recorded program signal in the third step is performed on a program after a preset time after the recording of the program signal, 1) to 3). The recording method of a program signal according to any one of the above.

5) If the program signal recorded in the third step is not watched after the recording of the program signal, and the prohibition operation relating to the erasure of the program signal is not performed, the program signal is recorded after the viewing of the program signal is completed. The program signal recording method according to any one of 1) to 3), wherein the program signal is deleted.

6) Pertaining to operation information for which a prohibition operation related to erasure of the program signal has been performed or an operation in which the prohibition operation for erasure has not been performed during viewing of the recorded program signal in the third step after recording. Based on the operation information, the program preference information obtained based on the preference of the reservation person in advance, the level of the information on the program preference detected from the program signal is increased, or the information on the detected program preference is increased. The program signal recording method according to any one of 1) to 3), wherein the program preference information is updated at a lower level.

7) The program signal is supplied as a signal for each preset category. 1)
(3) The method for recording a program signal according to any one of the above (3).

8) The category is program information supplied in advance or together with the program signal, and the recording of the reserved program signal is selected based on the category specified by the user and the program preference information. 7. The method for recording a program signal according to item 7), wherein the category is a category, a category selected based on program information of programs watched for a predetermined time or more, or a category selected based on past program recording results.

9) Of the broadcast programs, a recording side for recording a program having a predetermined preference level as a recording program, and the recording side are connected to the recording side by a transmission line, and the recorded program is stored on the basis of program preference information of an operator. A method of transmitting a recorded program control signal to and from a service provider that generates a control signal for erasing a recorded program, wherein the service provider provides an image based on the program preference information obtained through the transmission path. A first step (22, 21, 23, 40a) of recognizing whether at least one of a texture, a voice keyword, or the descriptive information is included in the recorded program, and the image recognized by the first step When the level of the texture, the audio keyword, or the description information is equal to or lower than a predetermined level set in advance based on the program preference information, the recorded program is A second step (27, 40a) of generating a control signal for erasing a program for erasing, wherein the generated control signal is transmitted to the recording side. Transmission method of program control signal.

10) The program erasing signal in the second step relates to the recorded program on which a program has been recorded on the recording side and a predetermined time after recording has passed, which is set in advance by the recording side. 9. The method of transmitting a recorded program control signal according to item 9), wherein the signal is an erasing signal.

11) When the recorded program is viewed on the recording side and an erasure prohibition operation relating to erasure of the recorded program is performed, the program providing information is deleted from the recording side by the service providing side. In addition to obtaining the operation information related to the prohibited operation, the program preference information detected from the program signal on which the erasure prohibition operation is performed is added to the program preference information of the operator, so that the program preference information is updated. 9. The method for transmitting a recorded program control signal according to item 9), wherein

(12) The control signal according to the item (9), wherein the control signal in the third step is transmitted using the same transmission path as that used for broadcasting by the broadcasting side that broadcasts the program. Transmission method of recorded program control signal.

[0028]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a method for recording a program signal and a method for transmitting a recorded program control signal according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a video / audio information recording system, which relates to an embodiment of a method for recording a program signal and a method for transmitting a recorded program control signal, and outlines the configuration and operation thereof.

The video / audio information recording system according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 comprises a recording unit 10 comprising a user interface 11, a display 12, a recording / reproducing device 13, a preference information generator 14, and a reservation unit 15. Recording information erasing unit 2 comprising a voice keyword recognizer 21, an image texture recognizer 22, a holding / deleting parameter memory 25, and a deleting unit 27
0, a program search unit 30 including a program search unit 31, an individual preference information database 41, and a program information database 4
2, broadcast receiver 43, detailed program information database 44,
And a database unit 40 comprising an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) receiver 45 and a service provider 40 which provides a service for erasing programs recorded by the user.
a.

The recording unit 10 and the recorded information erasing unit 2
0, the program search unit 30 and the database unit 40 are connected to a data bus 50, and
a is connected directly or via a network (not shown).

The video / audio information recording system connected and configured as described above interacts with the on-screen screen on the display 12 in which the preference information of the program desired to be recorded is displayed on the display unit 12 using a keyboard, a pointing device or the like. The content is recorded based on the reservation signal obtained based on the generated preference information.

The recorded content is extracted from its characteristics, and the recorded content having a small preference is deleted according to the extracted result, and only the content having a large preference is recorded. The operation of the system is described below.

First, a recording / reproducing device 13 for recording / reproducing contents is a device for recording / reproducing a video signal using a recording medium such as a video tape, DVD-RAM, hard disk, or a compact cassette, DAT, CD-R.
This device has a function of recording and reproducing a music signal using a recording medium such as a W or an MD.

The recording / reproducing device 13 includes a user interface 11, a display 12, and a preference information generator 1.
4 is connected, and the connected user interface 11 is operated to operate a key on the basis of an on-screen screen on which information such as the type of video program desired to be recorded and the genre of the music program is displayed on the display 12. The information is input by an operation, a pointing device, or the like, and the input information is supplied to the preference information generator 14.

The preference information generator 14 generates preference information for performing program reservation recording based on the supplied information, and supplies the generated preference information to the data bus 50.

The preference information supplied to the data bus 50 is supplied to a program search unit 31 of the program search unit 30. The program search unit 31 uses the program information database 42 or the detailed program information based on the supplied preference information. Target program information is retrieved from the program database stored in the database 44, and the obtained program information is supplied to the reservation unit 15 via the data bus 50 or directly.

In the reservation unit 15, a program reservation recording setting for recording the program is made for the recording / reproducing apparatus 13 based on the supplied program information. Then, the set broadcast program is recorded.

A part of the recorded signal is obtained by being divided as a monitor signal. The audio signal of the obtained signal is supplied to the audio keyword recognizer 21, and the video signal is converted to the image texture recognition. Is supplied to the vessel 22.

The image texture recognizer 22 and the voice keyword recognizer 21 recognize the image texture and the voice keyword included in the content by a method described later, and retain and delete the recognized image texture and voice keyword. It is supplied to the parameter memory 25.

In the holding / deleting parameter memory 25,
The recognized image texture and voice keyword are compared with previously stored image texture information of a program having a high preference level, and it is determined whether or not the texture is related to the desired content. 2
7 is supplied.

In the deleter 27, when it is determined that the content being recorded is related to the target content, the recording of the broadcast program is continued as it is, but the recognized image texture and the content of the audio keyword are previously stored. When it is determined that the recognition level is lower than the recognition level of the stored content, or when the image texture or the voice keyword is not detected, the recording operation is stopped and the recorded content is erased.

In this manner, the signal of the content being recorded is monitored, the image texture and the voice keyword are recognized until a predetermined time has elapsed, and the storage or deletion of the content is determined according to the recognized result. When deletion is determined, program recording is reserved in the recording / reproducing apparatus 13 and erasing from the first part of the recorded program is performed.

Next, the operation of each section of the video / audio information recording system which performs the intended program reservation recording by searching the program information database connected to the network based on the personal preference information configured as described above. Further description. FIG. 2 shows a preference information transmission format for transmitting an individual preference information signal.

That is, the preference information signal generated by the preference information generating device is a 64-bit system ID (identificatio).
n: identification) signal, a 64-bit user ID signal, a 16-bit total data size signal indicating the total data amount of these signals, a 16-bit preference information number signal indicating the number of transmitted preference information, and preference information 1 , Preference information 2,... And preference information N (N is a natural number).

Then, each of the N pieces of preference information is 16
Bit preference information data size, 8-bit content type code 1, 8-bit content type code 2, 8
Number of bit preference data, preference data corresponding to the number,
It consists of an 8-bit keyword number and keywords corresponding to the number.

Further, the keyword is transmitted as data based on a combination of an 8-bit keyword character number and a keyword corresponding to the character number. FIG. 3 shows a format of the preference data transmitted in such a manner.

When the preference data is composed of N types of preference data, the respective preference data and N sets of data of the respective preference degrees for the preference data are transmitted in order.

FIG. 4 shows a transmission format of the keyword data. The N keywords such as the description of the program and the performers are a set of the number of keywords that can display kanji and hiragana in 2-byte code for each keyword, and the keyword data based on the number of characters. Are sequentially transmitted.

The transmission format of the sequentially transmitted personal preference information signal has been described above. In this manner, a program to be recorded is searched from a large number of contents based on the personal preference information signal. FIG. 5 shows examples of the types of those contents.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the contents of the contents and the type code 1 for largely classifying the contents.
The type code 1 is defined in hexadecimal from "0" to "F", "0" is undefined content, "1"
Is a movie or drama, "2" is news, "3" is show-related, ..., "B" is special content,
“C” to “E” are reserved for the future, and “F” is content defined individually by the user.

The contents that have been roughly classified according to the type code 1 are classified into the middle class, and the type code 2 performs the classification. FIG. 6 shows an example of the type code 2 for middle-classifying content.

In the figure, together with a type code 2 for middle-classifying movie and drama contents classified as "1" of type code 1, the content is "0" in hexadecimal.
To "F".

That is, “0” indicates a general movie, drama,
"1" is detective, thriller, "2" is adventure, western,
War thing, "3" is show related, ..., "8"
Is an adult movie or drama, "9" to "E" are reserved for the future, and "F" is content individually defined by the user.

FIG. 7 shows an example of contents according to the type code 2 of contents for children and young people whose type code 1 is "5", and FIG. 8 shows contents of arts and educational contents whose type code 1 is "7". The example of the content by the type code 2 is shown.

Then, each of the contents classified as "0" to "F" by type code 1 is classified into type code 2
, Each of which is classified as "0" to "F", and further sub-classification and further subdivision can be performed by providing a type code 3 and a type code 4 as necessary. .

The classification of such contents is performed by a standard broadcasting method such as DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), A
RIB (Association of Radio Industries and Busine)
sses) and other similar digital broadcasting formats, the digital broadcasting EPG (Electr
onic Program Guide).

Next, preference data transmitted after these type codes will be described. FIG. 9 illustrates the contents of the preference data. In the figure, the preference codes are 0 to 2
55 are classified into 256 levels, and the type of preference is predetermined such as “1” for violence degree, “2” for healing degree,. The degree of 100 is shown, and the larger the number of the degree is, the higher the degree of preference is, indicating that the user desires the preference.

The preference information thus made is stored in the program search unit 3
0, and transmitted to the database search
A search result of the target program information is obtained by searching the detailed program information stored in the program.

Next, the program information stored as the detailed program information database will be described. FIG. 10 illustrates information items relating to the detailed program information database.

The information items shown in the figure are examples of information on programs stored in the detailed program information database, and include information items such as schedules for broadcasting, names of people related to programs, and characteristics of programs. I have.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the program contents stored in the detailed program information database for the information item. In this figure, program content information corresponding to the information items shown in FIG. 10 is described. The information items and the program content information corresponding to the information items are collected and created by an application service provider having a database unit.

The detailed program information database stores these information items and program content information in, for example, H
Described in a predetermined format by TML (Hyper Text Markup Language: Hyper Text Description Language) or the like,
Use what is paid or free via the network 50 is used.

The information items exemplified here may be expressed by using the preference code shown in FIG. 9 described above. However, the expression method is used when the program information storage device is used for the purpose of public disclosure. It is shown in plain terms without using numbers, and it is convenient for a user who obtains this information by directly accessing the information. However, the display method can be freely determined by preference codes or plain terms.

The program search device uses the database of the program information storage device provided in this way to search for the desired program information based on the preference information transmitted from the program reservation device. The preference program signal to be transmitted is transmitted to the program reservation device. Next, the transmission format of the preference program signal will be described.

FIG. 12 shows a data format of a preference program signal transmitted as personal reservation information. The preference program signal shown in the figure is a 64-bit system ID signal for identifying the program reservation device, and 64 which is user identification information.
Bit user ID signal, a 16-bit total data size signal indicating the total data amount of the preference program signal data,
It is composed of signals of recording (recording) information 1, recording (recording) information 2,... And recording (recording) information N (N is a natural number).

Each recording (sound recording) information is 8
Bit program reception day, 8-bit broadcast identification code, 8
Bits of the program channel, each of which has 8 bits of program start time "hour", "minute", program end time "hour",
And "minute" signals.

The program broadcast days to be transmitted are set such that 0 is Monday, 1 is Tuesday,..., 6 is Sunday, and the broadcast code is 0 for terrestrial analog broadcast and 1 for BS. Analog broadcasting, 2 is BS digital broadcasting,
No. 3 is used like digital terrestrial broadcasting.

Then, the program channel is directly designated by its channel number, and the program broadcast start / end time information is directly described by the number used when displaying for 24 hours.

As described above, the data of the favorite program signal is transmitted from the program search device to the program reservation device, the target program is searched and supplied to the program search device as the favorite program signal, and the video signal or the music signal is output. In the signal recording device, a reservation setting for recording is made based on the preference program signal, and when the reservation time comes, the target program is recorded.

However, the reservation setting signal for performing the recording and the personal preference information are connected via the data bus, but since the data bus is configured including the network, particularly the personal preference information and the like are provided. Personal information is third
Need to be known and abused.

Therefore, the connection between the preference information generator 14 and the data bus 50 is connected via an unillustrated encryptor. In the encryptor, the preference information signal is transmitted by, for example, a common key method or a public key having a higher security level. The data is encrypted by the method and supplied to the network 50.

At this time, if the user ID is used as a part of the information on which the key is based, the key of each user can be easily managed, and the individual can be identified by using the user ID in the preference information format described above. Can be used to identify it.

As described above, the personal preference information to which the user ID is assigned is searched by the program searcher 31 based on the program information data stored in the program information database or the detailed program information database. The program information obtained by the search is supplied to the reservation unit 15.

When the program search unit 31 and the reservation unit 15 are connected via the network 50, an encryption unit (not shown) is used in the same manner as described above, and encryption is performed using the user ID as a key. Transmission is performed while securing

In the program reservation device for which the reservation setting is made, the program preference information is usually transmitted from the same program reservation device, and the program preference information is received by the same device, and the recording device is set. These operations may be performed between different program reservation devices.

The different case is, for example, a case where an automatic program reservation is made to a home server installed in a living room from a program reservation device installed in a children's room, or a program reservation person is assigned to a program reservation device owned by a friend. In this case, automatic program reservation is performed.

In this way, the user who operates the program reservation device can transmit the program preference information obtained from the operation result to the program reservation device managed by a user other than the user. By designating the ID identification number of or the ID identification number relating to the program reservation device, the program reservation record information obtained by the search can be supplied to a plurality of program reservation devices. .

The configuration and operation of the video / audio information recording system according to the first embodiment have been described above. That is,
In the first example, the degree of preference of the program recorded using the image texture and the audio keyword of the program recorded with the program recording reserved is determined, and the program having the low degree of preference is deleted, thereby reducing the degree of preference. A recording system for recording only expensive programs on a recording medium has been described.

Next, the configuration and operation of a video / audio information recording system according to the second embodiment for recording such a program with a high degree of preference will be described. FIG. 13 shows a configuration of a video / audio information recording system using an information tag detector.

In the video / audio information recording system shown in FIG. 11, the degree of preference of a program recorded by the video / audio information recording system shown in FIG. Although the recognition is performed, in the video and audio information recording system according to the second example, the program information is recognized using the information tag detected by the information tag detector 23.

The information tag means that the transmission of information content called a program is transmitted by attaching the information content to a package and attaching a tag to the package. The content of the content written on the tag is called an information tag. In.

Here, the description of the type and content of the information described in the information tag is free, but the content of the program is determined by the appearance rate of the keyword contained therein and the numerical information indicating the weight of the word. Is made possible.

As described above, the recording information erasing section 20a of the second example supplies the information tag detected by the information tag detector 23 to the holding / deleting parameter memory 25 with respect to the recording information erasing section 20 of the first example. The retention / deletion parameter memory 25 recognizes the degree of preference of the recorded program based on the detected information tag, and supplies a signal for erasing the program recorded in the deleter 27 based on the degree of recognition.

When the degree of preference of the recorded program is low, the program to be recorded is deleted.
The operation is the same as that of the video / audio information recording system described in the first example.

As described above, the method of determining the degree of preference of a program using image recognition, voice recognition, and an information tag and deleting a recorded program for a program having a low degree of preference has been described. The method is further described.
FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of a video / audio information recording system equipped with a function of deleting a program having a low preference level.

The recording system for video and audio information according to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 13 is configured in the same manner as the recording system for video and audio information according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. The erasing unit 20b is a voice keyword recognizer 2
1. Image texture recognizer 22, CPU (Central Proc
essing Unit) 24, retention / deletion parameter memory 25,
The difference is that a timer 26 and a deleter 27 are provided.

In the video / audio information recording system configured as described above, when a program is reserved for recording by the reservation unit 15 and the program is recorded by the recording / reproducing device 13, the recording / reproducing device 13 The information relating to the recording is supplied to the timer 26. In connection with the operation, a recording program erasing operation different from that of the video / audio information recording system according to the first embodiment is performed.

The time related to the erasure of the recording signal is managed by a timer 26. The timer 26 starts measurement for erasing the recording signal after a predetermined time elapses. When the time has elapsed, a signal for deleting the program is generated and supplied to the CPU 24.

The CPU 24 obtains, from the user interface 11, information on whether or not an operation for canceling the erasure of the recorded program has been performed with respect to the recorded program. Or, despite the fact that intermittent playback viewing has been performed, such as skipping and watching the contents of the program by repeating fast forward and normal playback, if no operation has been performed to prohibit deletion of the program,
A signal for deletion related to the recorded program on which the deletion cancel operation has not been performed is generated and supplied to the deleter 27.

The deleter 27 supplies to the recording / reproducing device 13 a signal for deleting a program signal whose preference degree supplied from the holding / deletion parameter memory 25 is less than a predetermined value, based on the delete signal. In the recording / reproducing device 13, the corresponding program signal is deleted.

As described above, the recorded program of the user interface obtained by viewing and listening within a predetermined period for the recorded program having a low recognition level recognized by the image texture recognizer 22 or the voice keyword recognizer 21. The operation in which the recorded program is deleted when the operation related to the storage of the program is not performed has been described.

Such a program erasing operation can be similarly performed in the video / audio information recording system shown in the second embodiment. FIG. 15 shows a block diagram of a video / audio information recording system equipped with a function of deleting a program having a low preference level using an information tag detector.

The video / audio information recording system according to the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 13 is configured in the same manner as the video / audio information recording system according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. The erasing unit 20c includes an information tag detector 23, C
PU 24, retention / deletion parameter memory 25, timer 2
6 and a deleter 27.

The video / audio information recording system thus configured operates in the same manner as the video / audio information recording system according to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 14 described above. In the example, an operation of deleting a recorded program for a recorded program with a low recognition level recognized by the image texture recognizing unit 22 or the voice keyword recognizing unit 21 is performed, whereas in the fourth embodiment, the operation is performed by the information tag detecting unit. For recorded programs with a low preference level,
When the operation related to saving the recorded program of the user interface obtained by being watched within the predetermined period is not performed, the operation is performed to delete the recorded program.

As described above, when the preference level is such that the broadcast program is temporarily recorded and viewed, the recorded program is stored for a predetermined period, for example, several days.
The stored program is viewed, or at least intermittently viewed, and is automatically deleted immediately after the viewing or when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the user has not performed an operation related to storing the program. Thus, a medium recording area for recording a new program is secured.

[0096] Although a predetermined period has passed,
When the program is not watched, the time-out signal generated by the re-timer 26 at the time is used by the CPU 2.
4, the CPU 24 presents information relating to the erasure of the recorded program to the display 12, and executes the deletion of the recorded signal if the user does not perform an operation related to storage on the user interface 11. I do.

The time measured by the timer 26 can be determined by a predetermined time set in advance as described above, or by allowing the user to set a predetermined storage period for each recorded program. The recorded program may be erased unless an operation such as extension of the period is performed during the storage period set by the user.

Further, in the case of a recorded program for which the storage period is not set by the user, a program whose preference level is not high is:
The program is deleted without waiting for a preset storage period.

In this manner, a program whose preference level is equal to or lower than a predetermined level and whose storage period is not set by the user is regarded as a program to which the deletion cancel signal for stopping the deletion operation is not added, and its recording is performed. Erased programs or recorded contents.

In this way, detection is performed based on the personal preference information stored in advance in the personal preference information database 41,
The deletion cancellation signal is not given to the recorded program because the user's preference level for the program is lower than the assumed level, and is extracted by a program indicating a preference level different from such an assumed value. By updating the preference level of the personal information as a low value, it is possible to make the detection accuracy of the preference program using the personal preference information more consistent with the preference level of the user.

For such an update relating to the preference level of the personal information, the CPU 24 inquires the user of the user interface 11 whether or not to update the preference information,
When the update operation is performed by the user, the fact that the deletion cancel signal relating to the program was not provided is transmitted to the service provider 40a via the data bus 50, and the service provider side transmits the supplied information. The filtering characteristics for extracting the favorite program can be updated based on the content, and the content that the user prefers can be detected and recorded.

On the other hand, in the case of a program in which a long storage period is set by the user with respect to the recorded program, it indicates that the user has a high preference level for the program, and the generation of the deletion cancel signal is indicated. Since the image texture or voice keyword recognized by the selected program or the detected information tag is personal preference information for the content having a high preference level, such personal preference information is stored in the data bus 50 in the same manner as described above. The personal preference information stored in the personal preference information database is updated on the service provider 40a side based on the supplied information by being transmitted to the service provider 40a side through
The content with a higher preference level recorded on the user side is stored as it is.

As described above, the degree of preference of a program that has been programmed and recorded is recognized by the image texture, voice keyword, or information tag.
The method of updating the personal preference information database and improving the detection level by deleting recorded programs or canceling the deletion of recorded programs has been described. Next, a method of recognizing the image texture, the voice keyword, and the information tag will be further described.

First, a method for recognizing image texture and determining the degree of preference of a program will be described. FIG. 16 shows the configuration of the image texture recognizer, and its operation will be described.

The image texture recognizer 22 includes a header detector 221, a VLC (FLC) decoder 222, a DC value,
AC value, motion vector value detector 223, contour detector 22
4a, a frequency band detector 224b, a color detector 224c, a motion amount detector 224d, an image feature database 225, a feature amount comparator 226, and an image discriminator 227.

The image texture recognizer 22 configured as described above includes, for example, MPEG-2 (moving picture
The compressed image data compressed and encoded according to the (international standard established by the experts group) method is supplied, and the supplied compressed image data is supplied to the header detector 221.

The header detector 221 has a horizontal pixel size, a vertical pixel size, a screen aspect ratio, and a vertical pixel size of an image signal described in an area called a sequence header at the beginning of the encoded image signal data. The respective values of the header information such as the frame rate and the transmission bit rate are detected, and the detected information is stored in the image feature database 225 and the VLC (FLC).
The signal is supplied to the decoder 222.

In the VLC (FLC) decoder 222,
When the supplied information is VLC (variable length coding), VLC decoding is performed. When the information has a fixed length structure, the supplied FLC (fixed length) is used.
coding: fixed-length coding), and the obtained signal is a DC value, an AC value, and a motion vector value detector 2.
23.

The DC value, AC value and motion vector value detector 223 uses the DCT (disc
A DC (direct current) component value and an AC (alternating current) component value of an image signal subjected to rete cosine transform) and a motion vector value related to motion compensation of a video signal are detected, and each of the detected signal values is detected as a contour. The detector 224a, the frequency band detector 224b, the color detector 224c, and the motion detector 224d are supplied to the respective detectors.

Of these detectors, the contour detector 224a
Detects the outline of the image portion that moves while maintaining the same outline shape in the video signal,
In 4b, a frequency bandwidth caused by the fineness of the pattern in the image portion is detected, and in the color detector 224c, the values of the luminance signal, red and blue color signals corresponding to the DC value of the image portion are detected, and the color component is detected. And the motion detector 22
In 4d, a motion pattern whose outline moves in the image is detected as motion information, and the respective detection results thus detected are supplied to the feature value comparator 226.

The feature amount comparator 226 compares each of the supplied detection results with these detection values for the preference target stored in the image feature database in advance, and determines how much the supplied compressed image data is. A comparison is made as to whether the target object matches the preference target, and the comparison result obtained by the comparison is supplied to the image discriminator 227.

In the image discriminator 227, the recognition level recognized by the voice keyword recognizer 21 is supplied as additional information, and image discrimination is performed with reference to the content of the supplied additional information. The determined result is supplied to the hold / delete parameter memory 25 as an image determined result.

The discrimination result supplied in this manner is obtained by detecting a program having a high degree of preference by the image texture recognizing unit 22 and performing statistical processing on a detection result relating to the detected image texture. The data is stored and used as an image feature database.

The data value of the statistically processed image feature database is coded as a signal in which, for example, when the image size of the favorite object changes, the band of the image relatively changes and the transmission bit rate is set low. The compressed image data is encoded at a high compression rate in accordance with the setting of the bit rate lowered, and the effective coefficient value (coefficient value other than 0) of the DCT coefficient obtained by the DCT operation processing is changed accordingly. However, it is composed of data values excluding such a change.

The header signal detected by the header detector 221 is supplied to, for example, the feature amount comparator 226, and the change in the texture data when encoded at the transmission bit rate included in the header signal is obtained. Also occurs, the correction is made according to the change,
The detection result subjected to the correction processing needs to be supplied to the feature value comparator 226.

In order to perform such a correction, the value of the characteristic amount when the transmission bit rate changes is changed by the characteristic amount comparator 22.
6 is changed even when the transmission bit rate is the same. For example, when the frame rate (the number of images per second) changes, the code amount given for each frame also changes. Therefore, the frame rate also needs to be considered for correction when supplying a value stored as an image feature database value.

The data values stored in the image feature database are obtained by statistically processing detected values normalized (standardized) corresponding to changes in all of these parameters for various contents. And stored as image features of the organized object.

The arrangement of the image features is described in, for example, Journal of Information and Media Society, Vol. 54, No. 12, 1742 to 1747
(2000) describes "an image retrieval system using a semantic visualized representation of an image group", and it is also effective to use such a feature extraction system.

For example, when the entire screen is panned, even a stationary object is recognized as a moving image, so that the motion detector 22
When a motion amount indicating that the entire screen is moving in a fixed direction is detected from 4d, a difference between the motions of the object obtained by subtracting the global motion amount from the detection result is detected. I do.

The outline of the object detected in this way is effective because information such as whether the positional relationship in the entire screen where the outline exists is at the center or near the edge is also effective. Such screen position information is detected and stored together with the obtained contour shape information.

The shape of the contour is obtained by converting the AC component value obtained by performing the DCT transform obtained from the frequency band detector 224b on whether the feature of the edge portion is smooth or sharp, into the DCT of the MPEG. The characteristic is also detected as the characteristic of the absolute value of the effective coefficient given to the eight coefficients.

The image feature values stored in the image feature database 225 with respect to the compressed image data obtained by the compression and encoding according to the MPEG-2 method have been described above. The encoding method is MPEG-1, MPEG-4, or the like. MP
In addition to the case of the EG method, for example, even in the case of subband coding or coding using fractals, data in the middle of coding can be obtained by the coding method, and the data has characteristics of an image. As long as the information is information, an image feature database can be generated regardless of the compression encoding method.

When data detected by a compression encoding method different from that of MPEG-2 is stored together with an image feature database based on MPEG-2, the structure of the image feature database is determined by setting the most significant bit of the database parameter to the type of system. It will be information.

The feature amount data detected in this way is supplied to a feature amount comparator and compared with the feature data of various contents stored in the image feature database, and the target content having a high preference level exists. It is used to determine whether or not the voice keyword has been used. Next, a case where a voice keyword is used to improve the accuracy of the determination will be described.

FIG. 17 shows the configuration of the speech keyword recognizer. The speech keyword recognizer 21 shown in the figure includes a header detector 211, a VLC (FLC) decoder 212, an AC
It comprises a value and DC value detector 213, a frequency characteristic detector 214, a sound pressure detector 215, an audio feature database 216, a feature amount comparator 217, and an audio discriminator 218.

The speech keyword recognizer 21 configured as described above is supplied with speech compression data, detects speech keywords from the supplied data, and compares the speech keyword with a speech feature database having a high preference level, thereby responding to the preference level. The recognized output is supplied as a speech determination result.

This recognizer 21 is a BGM (back ground mu)
sic) Detect both sound characteristics and spoken speech. Next, the operation of the voice keyword recognizer 21 performed in this manner will be described.

First, the audio compressed data recorded by the recording / reproducing device 13 and compressed and encoded by, for example, the MPEG method is supplied to the header detector 211, where it is placed before the compressed and encoded audio data portion. Header information, which is a coding parameter such as a sampling frequency, the number of channels, a bit rate, and a coding mode of a coded signal, and has a fixed-length data structure.

The detected encoding parameters are supplied to the audio feature database 216, and are added to a large number of statistically normalized content information stored in the audio feature database 216 according to predetermined conditions based on the supplied header information. Is generated as the given audio data, and the generated audio data is supplied to a feature amount comparator 217 described later, and the header information and the audio data portion following the header information are supplied to a VLC (FLC) decoder 212. Then, the variable length encoded data is decoded.

The VLC (FLC) decoder 212 performs variable-length decoding on the data portion that has been subjected to variable-length coding, and the fixed-length-structured audio data is supplied to an AC value / DC value detector 213. Then, an AC component and a DC component of the audio data are detected, and the detected AC component data is supplied to the frequency characteristic detector 214, and the DC component data is supplied to the sound pressure detector 215.

The frequency characteristic detector 214 obtains the characteristic frequency characteristic of the audio data as characteristic data.
The sound pressure detector 215 obtains the sound pressure level of the audio data as sound pressure level data.

The characteristic data and the sound pressure level data obtained in this way are obtained by using the sub-band method or the DCT method for the compression encoding of the voice, but are obtained by encoding. The order of the data is different from the order when the image is compression-encoded, and for example, a very large value such as 384 samples or 1152 samples is used.

Accordingly, in the case of a compressed and coded audio signal, the data of the detailed frequency characteristics of the supplied audio signal can be obtained as analysis data using the data obtained by the encoding. This is convenient for recognizing voice signals.

Thus, the frequency characteristic detector 214
The obtained unique frequency characteristics of the sound and the sound pressure level data of the sound obtained from the sound pressure detector 215 are supplied to the feature amount comparator 212, and the supplied data is stored in the above-mentioned sound characteristic database 216. The data of the audio feature database corrected by the supplied header signal is compared to determine whether or not there is an audio signal having a unique characteristic with a high preference.

In the audio feature database storing the unique characteristics, a large number of typical audio characteristic patterns for contents having a high degree of preference are obtained and stored in advance, and these patterns are stored in the audio feature database. In the feature amount comparator 217, the sound pressure level and the frequency characteristic of the supplied audio data are compared with these databases, and based on the comparison result, it is determined whether or not the sound corresponding to the keyword exists. Will be inspected.

The feature amount comparison signal obtained by being inspected by the feature amount comparator 217 is supplied to a speech discriminator 218.
In the voice discriminator 218, it is also recognized whether or not the preference voice keyword data is included with reference to additional information serving as a reference for determining the degree of preference such as a recognition signal obtained from the image texture recognizer 22. The recognized recognition data is supplied from the voice keyword recognizer 21 as a voice determination result.

Thus, the voice keyword recognizer 2
1, the recognized voice discrimination result is supplied. The voice discrimination result includes a BGM-like sound and other voices of an announcer, a narrator, and a performer. A so-called spoken voice recognition technique (not shown) is used for detection, and a result indicating whether or not a voice corresponding to the keyword exists is supplied as an output signal.

As described above, the recognition of the image texture for the keyword and the recognition of the voice keyword for recognizing a program having a high preference level have been described. However, at this stage, the result of these recognitions tends to include an ambiguous part. In addition, the result of determination by other means is used as reference information, and is supplied as additional information for performing keyword recognition based on the reference information.

The additional information may be a method using the recognition information of the other recognizer as described above, or other teletext information supplied from a device other than the video / audio information recording device, or additional information. Alternatively, a method of not supplying such additional information signal may be used.

The method of recognizing the preference level based on the image texture and the voice keyword has been described above. Next, a method using an information tag which is one of the additional information used as a means for supplying the program preference information will be described. State.

For the information tag, for example, a classification code corresponding to a category pre-classified in the header of the content data is used. When the content includes the category information, the code is written in the above-mentioned header so that the classification code is written. Is to be inserted.

That is, when the content is divided into 256 categories, the category numbers are described in such a way that a plurality of the category numbers can be written using 8-bit codes. Next, a description method of the category code information will be described.

FIG. 18 shows a syntax for describing the information tag. That is, the start code of the information tag is, for example, 0xffff0000bfbhex in hexadecimal notation.
bfbf, and the code identifies the head position of the information tag.

Next, the number of corresponding categories transmitted as information tags is 1 byte (unit is byte, maximum is 256 bytes).
), And category IDs indicating the number of categories are transmitted as information tag information.

The information tag is described and transmitted by the method shown in the figure, but the information tag is transmitted by using an information content descriptor defined by the MPEG7 international standard as a method of transmitting by another syntax. Can also.

As the information content descriptor in the case of MPEG-7, for example, an image that can be described as an index and its characteristics are described by a color histogram, and the motion vector of the motion vector indicating the motion of the subject as a favorite object is described. A description, and further, a description of a conceptual tag indicating a language symbol can be made.

These descriptions are described in XML (extensible Marku
p Language: Extensible Markup Language), and the content data and its tag information are described in a linked form in that language.
The retrieval of the information content descriptor can be performed for the XML description language.

[0148] These MPEG7 information is described in detail at http://drogo.cselt.it/mpeg on the Internet. In addition, IPSJ Journal Vol. 41, No. 2, February 2000, 176-182. An introduction article is also posted on the page.

The configuration and operation of the program signal recording device including the video signal or music signal recording device and the recorded program control device for erasing the recorded program signal have been described above. With these devices, among many programs recorded according to the user's viewing preference, programs that do not satisfy the criteria of a predetermined preference level are automatically searched for and deleted. It is possible to easily realize a video / audio information recording system having a function of recording only a program having a high preference level.

That is, the recording apparatus is simply connected to a network, and by providing a transmission function relating to the preference program signal information, the user's viewing preference is retrieved and extracted, and the recorded program is recorded based on the extracted preference information. A program signal recording apparatus having a convenient function of storing only a program with a high preference level by automatically deleting a program with a low preference level can be configured at a low price.

[0151] The automatic program recognition function for realizing such a function requires terminology and language interpretation related to the described preference information and the program information attached to the program. This is because the ideal automatic search function for handling intellectual information is still under development, and the search accuracy is evolving every day.

If such a developing technology is installed in a consumer device, its function is likely to become obsolete and inconveniences the purchaser of the device. Therefore, such a function is not installed in the consumer device. , The record information deletion unit 20 is installed in an external application service provider,
If a service provider deletes program information with a low preference level recorded by the user via the network 50, the search algorithm of the site need only be updated by the provider's device.
As a result, a function for improving the preference level of programs recorded on the recording device of many users is installed.

In order to further improve the preference level of the recorded program, the image texture recognizing unit 2 of the recorded information deleting unit 20 installed in the application provider is required.
2. The detection accuracy of the voice keyword recognizer 21 may be improved, and the information tag information attached to the program may be subdivided, hierarchized, and appropriately mapped.

[0154] Such advancement of tag information is preferably performed by a program creator who produces a broadcast program and a program broadcaster. In particular, when the program broadcast is a CATV broadcast that is performed using a communication line, the use of the communication line makes it easy to perform the operation of deleting the recorded program of the recording device possessed by the viewer, and the program provider can provide the user with the information. A program providing contract with the user to provide the program, and among the contents automatically recorded by the user, a program having a low user preference level obtains the user preference information by the broadcaster making a contract with the user. In addition, it is easy for the broadcaster to perform the erasing service of the program via the program providing network.

[0155] Then, among the programs recorded in this manner, those having a low preference level are erased, so that
For example, such a function is installed in a home server, and the home server has the same category as the category set and recorded.
Alternatively, recording of a program that is broadcast in a similar category is started.

The category of the program whose recording is to be started is, in addition to the category based on the program recording results specified by the user in the past, the category selected by the program information of the program watched for a predetermined time or more, and the user's program preference. A category such as a category selected based on the information is selected and used.

Even when a large number of categories are designated and a program reservation is made and a large number of programs are started to be recorded, a program whose preference level is not high is determined by the preset program preference information of the user. Since the erasure is performed and the erasure service is performed, a free area of the recording medium is secured, and an accident such as a failure in recording a program having a high preference level can be prevented.

The service for erasing the recorded contents of the program recorder at the user's house according to the user's preference level has been described above. The erasing function is performed for the recording device installed on the broadcaster side. There is an application in which a recorded program with a high preference level is transmitted to a user by VOD (video on demand).

For example, a user who is a fan of “specific actress” requests a service related to the keyword “specific actress” from an application service provider (ASP) that provides VOD.

For the keyword requested by the user, the ASP carries out image texture recognition with the face data of “specific actress” for image texture recognition.
The motion vector of the dance pattern of the "specific actress" is also stored, and the voice keyword recognizer has the voice formant information of the "specific actress" as comparison data, and recognizes the name of the "specific actress" by voice recognition. Detection is performed as a keyword.

In this manner, the ASP uses the registered keyword "specific actress" to utter "voice of specific actress" from the content broadcasted on all channels for 24 hours. If the utterance is a simple quotation, the number of utterances generated within a predetermined time is small, so that the content is determined to have a low preference level.

On the other hand, in the case of a content in which a “specific actress” appears, since the number of “specific actresses” uttered per unit time is large, Recording as a content having a high preference level is continued in the recording unit.

As described above, when the recording of the content having a high preference level is completed, the content is
The content is transmitted to the user using the dedicated line based on the OD, and the user records the content having a high preference level transmitted from the ASP on the recording device and views the content.

An ASP equipped with such a function
Since the recording device installed in the system is always equipped with the latest program search algorithm, it can be said that this is a new broadcasting service such that the user can view a satisfactory program.

Further, the control for erasing the recorded content by obtaining the information relating to the user's personal preference of the program obtained by the search by the ASP is performed by a computer program. The operation performed is as follows.

That is, a computer for making a program reservation for the supplied program signal in accordance with the program preference information obtained in advance based on the preference of the subscriber, and recording the program signal for recording the reserved program signal. The program recognizes whether image texture information obtained based on the user's program preference information in advance is included in the recorded program signal, and the information amount of the recognized image texture,
The computer compares the information amount with a predetermined image texture information set in advance, and when the comparison result indicates that the information amount of the recognized image texture is smaller, causes the computer to execute the recorded program signal. As a result, only a content having a high user preference level is recorded on a recording medium, thereby realizing a method of recording a program signal having a high medium usage rate.

In addition to the detection of the program preference information using the image texture, the method using audio keywords and the use of description information broadcasted or transmitted together with the program can be used to similarly increase the medium usage rate. A method of recording a program signal can be realized.

[0168] In addition, since methods for recognizing such image textures and methods for detecting voice keywords have not been sufficiently established, the recognition or detection is performed by AS.
It is effective to request P and perform the erasure control on the recorded program of the user's program signal recording device using the result obtained by analysis by the ASP.

In such a new broadcasting service, different preference data for individual users and reservation data of search results are encrypted also from the viewpoint of privacy protection, and the encrypted information is managed by an ID number. This prevents the leakage and misuse of such information.

In this manner, recognition or detection performed on the ASP side under sufficient information management is performed by a computer executed by a program, and a computer program on the ASP side is as follows.

That is, a program broadcasted from the broadcast side with category information classified according to the content of the program and / or descriptive information relating to the program content is added to the receiving side, and the received program A program having the predetermined category information is selected and recorded, and the recorded program is recorded on the basis of a program erasure signal for erasing the recorded program supplied from a service providing side. The program is erased, and the service providing side, based on the program preference information based on the reservationer's preference obtained in advance from the receiving side, sets the preference for the program received and recorded on the receiving side. When the extracted preference level is equal to or lower than a predetermined level, a control signal for erasing a program recorded on the receiving side is generated, and the generated control signal is received. A computer program for executing a control of a recorded program that deletes the program that is supplied to and recorded by executing the computer based on program preference information provided from a receiving side via a transmission path. The recorded program recognizes whether at least one of the image texture based on the program preference information, the audio keyword, or the descriptive information is included in the recorded program, and recognizes the recognized image texture, the audio keyword, Alternatively, when the level of the description information is equal to or lower than a predetermined level set in advance based on the program preference information, a program erasure signal for erasing the recorded program is transmitted to a receiving side via a transmission path. A computer program that causes a computer to execute and operate.

As described above, the operation for recording only the content having a high user preference level can be realized by using the program for executing the computer. Recognition of the voice keyword information requires a predetermined complicated device and a predetermined execution time for calculating and extracting the preference information as described above.

Since the first purpose of recognizing image texture information and recognizing voice keyword information is to specify an artist preferred by the user, the broadcaster who directly owns the information of the performing artist However, if the performer information and the like can be described using character codes and transmitted using an auxiliary channel or the like, the user can directly extract his / her favorite keywords from the character code string by a search process, which is an economic burden. It is possible to extract a preference level related to the content without increasing.

[0174] In a broadcasting system for transmitting such a keyword, a program signal supplied with descriptive information describing the program contents is provided in advance by a keyword representing program preference information which is preferred by many program subscribers. , And the classified keyword is transmitted as auxiliary information together with the program signal in association with the program performer. The transmitted keyword for each program performer has a number of appearances by the viewer. To be recognized,
On the program viewer side, if the number of times recognized is equal to or less than the predetermined number, the content recorded by the viewer is transmitted after the viewing or after a predetermined time after the viewing, a content erasing signal for automatically deleting the content is transmitted. Keyword information related to the identification of such content is supplied to the viewer side, and the viewer has a high preference level among the contents recorded in the content recording device. Is used as an identification keyword for automatically deleting recorded content except for.

As described above, by using the keyword information supplied from the broadcaster, or by using the image information and the audio keyword information relating to the user's favorite program, the user side can perform the processing in the conventional manner. In addition to recording a large amount of content, the recorded content is automatically deleted and stored after viewing or after a predetermined period of time after viewing, unless an operation for inhibiting deletion is performed. The contents are only those having a high user preference level, and the user preference information is updated to information having a higher degree of coincidence with the user preference based on an operation for inhibiting deletion. Things.

[0176]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a program to be broadcast based on information on a program preference set in advance by a user's preference is automatically reserved and recorded, and at a predetermined time interval. When the image texture information of the video signal to be recorded is obtained and the level of the obtained image texture information is a target to be tasted is low, or when the texture information is not obtained, the program being recorded is deleted. Therefore, there is an effect that a method of recording a program signal for recording only a program having a high user preference level can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a program to be broadcast is automatically reserved and recorded on the basis of information relating to a program preference set in advance by a user's preference, and is recorded at predetermined time intervals. When the audio keyword information of the audio signal to be obtained is obtained, and the obtained audio keyword information has a low level of preference, or when the audio keyword information cannot be obtained, the program being recorded is deleted. Thus, there is an effect that a program signal recording method for recording only a program with a high user preference level can be provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a program to be broadcast is automatically reserved and recorded on the basis of information on program preferences set in advance by the user's preference, and is recorded at predetermined time intervals. When the content tag information relating to the content of the program signal to be obtained is obtained and the obtained content tag information is at a low level to be a target of preference, or when the content tag information to be preferred cannot be obtained, Since the program is deleted, there is an effect that a method of recording a program signal for recording only a program with a high user preference level can be provided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects described in the first to third aspects, in particular, a program whose time has been set by the user is erased, so that the program of the user is deleted. It is easy to delete a program having a low preference level, and the recording apparatus can provide a program signal recording method for storing only a program having a high user preference level.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects described in the first to third aspects, particularly when the user does not perform an operation for prohibiting erasure of a recorded program, the user can view and listen to the program. Since the erasure is performed after the termination, it is easy to erase a program having a low user preference level, and the recording apparatus can be provided with a method of recording a program signal for storing only a program having a high user preference level. effective.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects described in the first to third aspects, in particular, an individual set in advance based on operation information relating to prohibition of erasure of a program recorded by a user. Since the preference information is updated, the recording apparatus has an effect of providing a method of recording a program signal for recording and accumulating a program having a higher user preference level.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects described in the first to third aspects, in particular, program reservation setting by the user can be performed by designating only a category, and setting of the category can be performed. Even if a plurality of programs are reserved and recording is started, the program having a low user preference level can be deleted based on the image texture, audio keywords, or description information related to the program contents of the broadcast program. Therefore, there is an effect that a recording method of a program signal for recording only a program having a high user preference level on the recording device can be provided.

According to the invention of claim 8, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 7, the category set in the past even when the category is not set by the user especially for program reservation. Even when a program of a similar category is automatically set for reservation based on the information, and a plurality of programs are reserved and recording is started by the category setting, the image texture of the broadcast program, Since a program with a low user preference level is deleted based on audio keywords or descriptive information on program contents, a recording signal recording method for recording only a program with a high user preference level on a recording device is provided. There is an effect that can be done.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when a user receives and records a broadcasted program, for example, a service provider in a contractual relationship with the user receives a user preference level of the recorded program. The picture texture,
When the recognition is performed based on the voice keyword or the descriptive information added in relation to the program content, and the recognition result indicates that the program preference level is low or the program preference level is absent, the service provider determines that the user has no preference. Has an effect of providing a method of transmitting a recorded program control signal for transmitting a control signal for erasing a recorded program.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the ninth aspect, in addition to the effect of the ninth aspect, control for program erasure based on an operation relating to the erasure time of a recorded program signal, particularly performed on the recording side. Since the signal is generated, it is possible to provide a method of transmitting a recorded program control signal for appropriately deleting a program having a low preference level or having no preference level.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the ninth aspect, in particular, when a program signal is viewed and an erasure prohibition operation relating to erasure of the program signal is performed, the recording side transmits the program signal. In addition to obtaining the operation information relating to the erasure prohibition operation, the program preference information detected for the program signal on which the erasure prohibition operation has been performed is added to the program preference information provided by the user in the past. In addition, there is an effect that a method of transmitting a recorded program control signal for suitably storing only a program having a high preference level on the user side can be provided.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the ninth aspect, the service provider and the broadcaster can supply a program using a common transmission path and record a recorded preference level with a low preference level. Alternatively, since it is possible to delete a program having no preference level, the user can use only one communication path, and the recording is performed to delete the recorded program whose communication cost is reduced by a simple receiving device. There is an effect that a method of transmitting a program control signal can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video / audio information recording system according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a preference information transmission format.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission format of preference data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission format of keyword data.

FIG. 5 is an example in which contents are classified by type code 1;

FIG. 6 is an example in which a movie or a drama having a type code 1 is further classified by a type code 2 and illustrated.

FIG. 7 is an example in which content for a child or a youth having a type code 5 is further classified by a type code 2 and illustrated.

FIG. 8 is an example in which arts and culture contents having a type code of 7 are further classified by a type code 2 and illustrated.

FIG. 9 illustrates contents of preference data for a preference code.

FIG. 10 illustrates information items relating to a detailed program information database.

FIG. 11 shows an example of program contents stored in a detailed program information database.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a data format of a preference program signal transmitted as personal reservation information.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a video / audio information recording system according to a second embodiment using an information tag detector.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video / audio information recording system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video / audio information recording system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image texture recognizer.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a speech keyword recognizer.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a syntax for describing an information tag.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 recording unit 11 user interface 12 display 13 recording / reproducing device 14 preference information generator 15 reservation unit 20, 20a recording information erasing unit 21 voice keyword recognizer 22 image texture recognizer 23 information tag detector 24 CPU 25 retention / deletion parameter memory 26 timer 27 deleter 30 program search unit 31 program searcher 40 database unit 40a service provider 41 personal preference information database 42 program information database 43 broadcast receiver 44 detailed program information database 45 EPG receiver 50 data bus 211 header detector 212 VLC (FLC) decoder 213 AC value, DC value detector 214 Frequency characteristic detector 215 Sound pressure detector 216 Voice feature database 217 Feature amount comparator 218 Voice discriminator 221 Header detector 222 V LC (FLC) decoder 223 DC value, AC value, motion vector value detector 224a Contour detector 224b Frequency band detector 224c Color detector 224d Motion detector 225 Image feature database 226 Feature comparator 227 Image discriminator

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Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A recording method of a program signal, wherein a program reservation is made in accordance with program preference information obtained in advance based on a preference of a reservation person with respect to a supplied program signal, and the reserved program signal is recorded. A first step of recognizing whether or not image texture information obtained based on the program preference information is included in a recorded program signal; an information amount of the image texture recognized in the first step; A second step of comparing with the set predetermined image texture information amount, and, as a result of the comparison in the second step, when the information amount of the recognized image texture is smaller, the recorded program 3. A method for recording a program signal, comprising: a third step of erasing a signal. 2. A recording method of a program signal for making a program reservation for a supplied program signal in accordance with program preference information obtained in advance based on a preference of a subscriber, and recording the reserved program signal. A first step of recognizing whether or not voice keyword information obtained based on the program preference information is included in a recorded program signal; an information amount of the voice keyword recognized in the first step; A second step of comparing with the set predetermined amount of voice keyword information, and, as a result of the comparison in the second step, when the information amount of the recognized voice keyword is smaller, the recorded program 3. A method for recording a program signal, comprising: a third step of erasing a signal. 3. A program signal is supplied in accordance with program preference information obtained based on a preference of a reservation person with respect to a program signal supplied with descriptive information describing program content. A method for recording a program signal to be recorded, comprising: a first step of recognizing whether the description information obtained in advance based on the program preference information is included in a program signal to be recorded;
A second step of comparing the number of descriptive words between the description information recognized in the first step and the description information obtained based on the program preference information in advance; and a comparison in the second step. A third step of erasing the recorded program signal when the number of common descriptive words obtained as a result is smaller. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the erasure of the recorded program signal in the third step is performed for a program after a preset time after the recording of the program signal. A method for recording a program signal according to any one of the preceding claims. 5. The program signal recorded in the third step, if the prohibition operation relating to the erasure of the program signal is not performed at the time of viewing after the recording of the program signal, after the viewing of the program signal is completed. The program signal recording method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the program signal is erased. 6. The method according to claim 3, wherein, during the viewing after the recording of the recorded program signal in the third step, operation information indicating that the prohibition operation relating to the erasure of the program signal has been performed, or operation in which the prohibition operation relating to the erasure has not been performed Based on the operation information, the program preference information obtained in advance based on the preferences of the
The program preference information updating process is performed by increasing the level of information on the program preference detected from the program signal or decreasing the level of the information on the detected program preference. The method for recording a program signal according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 7. The program signal according to claim 1, wherein the program signal is supplied as a signal for each preset category.
4. The method for recording a program signal according to any one of the above items 3. 8. The category is program information supplied in advance or together with the program signal, and the recording of the reserved program signal is selected based on a category designated by a user and the program preference information. 8. The recording method of a program signal according to claim 7, wherein the category is a category, a category selected based on program information of programs watched for a predetermined time or more, or a category selected based on past program recording results. 9. A recording side for recording a program of a predetermined preference level among broadcast programs as a recorded program, and the recording side is connected to the recording side by a transmission line, and the recorded program is recorded on the basis of program preference information of an operator. A method for transmitting a recorded program control signal to and from a service provider that generates a control signal for erasing a recorded program, wherein the service provider provides an image based on the program preference information obtained via the transmission path. Textures, voice keywords,
Or a first step of recognizing whether at least one of the description information is included in the recorded program, and the level of the image texture, voice keyword, or description information recognized in the first step is A second step of generating a control signal for program erasure for erasing the recorded program when the level is equal to or lower than a predetermined level set based on the program preference information; and A method for transmitting a recorded program control signal, wherein a control signal is transmitted to the recording side. 10. The program erasure signal in the second step relates to the recorded program in which a program has been recorded on the recording side and a predetermined time after recording has passed, which has been preset by the recording side. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the signal is an erasing signal. 11. When the recorded program is viewed on the recording side and an erasure prohibition operation for erasing the recorded program is performed, the program preference information is deleted from the recording side by the service providing side. In addition to obtaining the operation information related to the prohibited operation, the program preference information detected from the program signal on which the erasure prohibition operation is performed is added to the program preference information of the operator, so that the program preference information is updated. The method according to claim 9, wherein the transmission is performed. 12. The control signal according to claim 9, wherein the control signal in the third step is transmitted using the same transmission path as that used for broadcasting by the broadcasting side that broadcasts the program. Transmission method of recorded program control signal.