JP2008092339A - Electronic program guide display method and television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a television receiver capable of preventing a viewer from forgetting to watch a television program, forgetting to record, or re-recording by checking a viewing history in an EPG.
A viewing history information display area and a program information display area are displayed on an EPG. In the viewing history information display area 102, the viewing history information for a predetermined day in the same time range as the display time range of the program information displayed in the program information display area 103, for example, the channel number 102a and the name 102b of the previously viewed program are displayed. Displayed in association with program information.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic program guide display method and a television receiver having an electronic program guide display method.

At present, a large number of TV programs are being broadcast along with the increase in the number of channels by digital broadcasting. Therefore, various techniques have been proposed in order to improve convenience for viewers of television programs. As an example of such a technique, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique that allows a viewing history of a television program to be displayed together with a moving image or a still image and selects a channel based on the viewing history information displayed.
JP 2004-336212 A

  According to the conventional technique described above, the convenience at the time of program selection can be improved. However, even when such a technique is used, it is difficult to improve convenience when selecting and viewing or recording a television program by using an electronic program guide that is currently generally used. The following problems have occurred with respect to viewing or recording of video.

For example, when viewing or recording a continuous drama using an EPG (electronic program guide), the problem is that the user forgets to view or record a regularly broadcast program such as a continuous drama broadcast every week. It is. Another problem is that when a television program that has already been viewed or recorded is rebroadcast, the rebroadcast program is inadvertently rerecorded (duplicate recording).
At present, with the increase in the number of channels, a large number of TV programs are displayed on the EPG, and rebroadcast programs are frequently broadcast. Therefore, the above-mentioned problems frequently occur and the convenience of viewers is impaired.

  In addition, since the conventional technology described above displays a viewing history of a TV program together with a still image or a moving image, not only a high-performance CPU for performing image processing is required, but also image data necessary for image display. An image memory for storing the image is separately required. As a result, the product price increases, and the configuration of the equipment becomes complicated, resulting in an increase in manufacturing cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a television in which a viewer can prevent watching a television program, forgetting to record, or rerecording by checking a viewing history displayed on the EPG. An object is to provide a receiving apparatus.

  The first technical means records, as viewing history information, program information of a program for which viewing or recording has started, start and end times of the program, and viewing status of the program, and the viewing history information is recorded as program information. It is characterized by being displayed together.

  According to a second technical means, in the first technical means, the electronic program guide associates the viewing history information of a predetermined day in the same time range as the program information displayed on the electronic program guide with the program information. It is characterized by being displayed.

  According to a third technical means, in the first or second technical means, the electronic program guide sequentially divides the display time range into rows or columns, and the viewing history corresponding to the division of the display time range. The information and the program information are divided and displayed in rows or columns.

  According to a fourth technical means, in any one of the first to third technical means, it is possible to select whether or not to display the viewing history information together with program information.

  A fifth technical means is the third or fourth technical means, wherein the electronic program guide has a row or a column for partitioning an area for displaying program detailed information, and displays the viewing history information or the program information. By selecting a section, detailed information of the display information of the selected section is displayed in an area for displaying the program detailed information.

  The sixth technical means is characterized by having the electronic program guide display method in any one of the first to fifth technical means.

  According to the present invention, forgetting to watch a television program, forgetting to record, or re-recording can be prevented, convenience for viewers is improved. In addition, since the convenience of the viewer is improved by using the EPG function mounted on a general television receiver, the convenience at the time of program selection is increased without increasing the product price and the manufacturing cost. Can be provided.

(Example 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an EPG 100 according to the present invention. In the illustrated EPG 100, the display time range is continuously divided into rows, and the viewing history information display region 102 and the program information display region 103 are displayed so as to be divided into rows corresponding to the division of the display time range. Yes. A cursor 106 is displayed on the EPG 100 and can be operated with a remote controller.
Reference numeral 101 denotes a program detailed information display area, which is displayed divided into rows in the EPG 100. In this area, detailed information of the program on which the cursor 106 is placed, for example, the broadcast station name and channel number 101a of the program, the program name 101b, the broadcast time 101c, and the like are displayed. In the illustrated example, the display time range, the viewing history information display area 102 and the program information display area 103 are divided in units of rows, but may be divided in units of columns.

  In the viewing history information display area 102, viewing history information on a predetermined day in the same time range as the display time range (from 0:00 to 5:00) of the program information displayed in the program information display area 103 described later corresponds to the program information. Is displayed. In this display area, a channel number 102a, a name 102b of a previously viewed program, an icon (not shown) indicating a viewing state, and the like are displayed. In the illustrated example, the predetermined date is displayed one week before (August 23) from the present (August 30).

The viewing status means whether a program viewed in the past was viewed in real time (normal viewing), viewed with a viewing reservation, or recorded with a recording reservation, that is, how the program was viewed / recorded. It means that.
Note that nothing is displayed when the television receiver is not turned on, or when the television receiver is turned on but is playing a game or the like and therefore has not watched the program. .

  In the program information display area 103, a program currently being broadcast or program information scheduled to be broadcast is displayed. In the illustrated example, a channel number and a broadcast station name are displayed for each broadcast station in 104, and programs scheduled to be broadcast during the broadcast are sequentially displayed in time series 105.

  When a program is selected with the cursor 106, the broadcast station and program name of the program are highlighted (highlighted), and further, detailed information of the selected program is displayed in the program detailed information display area 101 as described above. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a television receiver having an electronic program guide display method according to the present invention.
Reference numeral 1 denotes an antenna for receiving analog broadcast and digital broadcast, 2 denotes a remote controller for operating the television receiver 11, and 3 denotes a display device such as a liquid crystal television.
A receiving unit 12 is a tuning unit 121 that tunes (tunes) broadcast data, a demodulation unit 122 that demodulates the selected broadcast data, video data, audio data, EPG data, character information, and graphics from the demodulated broadcast data. A separation unit 123 that separates image data such as information, a video decoder 124 that decodes the separated video data, an audio decoder 125 that decodes the audio data, an EPG decoder 126 that decodes the EPG data, and decodes the image data It consists of a data decoder 127. The decoded EPG data is recorded in the recording unit 13.

  The recording unit 13 records viewing history information 13a, the above-described EPG data 13b, and the like. The viewing history information includes detailed information such as the channel on which the TV program was broadcast, time, and program content, that is, in addition to the program detailed information, the time when the TV program was started and ended, and the above-described viewing state, etc. Is included. The time when viewing is started is the time when channel selection is successful, or the time when a program is started, and the time when viewing ends is the time when channel selection of the next TV program to be viewed is successful, or when the TV program is It is the time of completion. The process of recording the viewing history will be described later.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a main control unit which executes viewing history information creation processing, EPG creation processing, and the like in addition to the control of each functional block. Further, the main control unit 14 manages information related to the viewing state described above.

In the viewing history information creation process, viewing history information is created from the program detail information, the viewing start time and end time of the program, and information related to the viewing state.
In the EPG creation processing, analysis processing of separated EPG data (program sequence information: Service Information) and extraction processing of EIT (Event Information Table: Event Information Table) are performed. Further, as will be described later, EPG data for displaying the EPG illustrated in FIG. 1 is created based on the extracted EIT and the above-described viewing history information.

  The program arrangement information (SI) means various information defined for the convenience of program selection, and is defined by a standard (ARIB standard) established by the Radio Industry Association. SI is multiplexed with TS and transmitted from a broadcasting station or the like using an area opened as user definable by ISO / IEC13818-1 in TS (Transport Stream).

  The EIT is a table describing event (often representing programs) information, and is one of various types of information included in the SI described above. For each program, information such as the start time, program time, program name, performer, and program genre is described in this table.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a display control unit that performs display control of video and EPG displayed on the display device 3.
Reference numeral 16 denotes a remote control light receiving unit that receives a light emission signal of the remote controller 2.

Next, processing for recording viewing history information in the recording unit 13 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 illustrates a recording process of viewing history information that is executed when a viewer performs a channel selection operation for the first time after viewing the television program after the viewer turns on the television receiver 11.

  After the viewer turns on the television receiver 11 (step S1), the remote control 2 is used to instruct the television receiver 11 to select a channel (step S2). Transmission is performed toward the remote control light receiving unit 16 of the television receiver 11 (step S3).

  When the remote control light receiving unit 16 receives the channel selection instruction signal, the remote control light receiving unit 16 transmits the channel selection instruction signal to the main control unit 14 (step S4). When the main control unit 14 receives a channel selection instruction signal from the remote control light receiving unit 16 (step S5), it instructs the channel selection unit 121 to select a channel based on the channel selection instruction signal (step S6).

  When the channel selection unit 121 executes channel selection processing based on the channel selection instruction (step S7), the channel selection result is notified to the main control unit 14 (step S8). If the channel selection is successful (step S9: YES), the program to be viewed is determined (step S10).

  Next, the main control unit 14 acquires information regarding the current time and the viewing state managed internally (step S11). In this flowchart, since the program is selected using the remote controller 2, the status information of “normal viewing” is acquired as the information regarding the viewing status, but the program is selected by reserved viewing or recording reservation. When the station is set, status information of “reservation viewing” or “recording reservation” is acquired.

  Next, the main control unit 14 acquires program detail information (EPG data) of the program to be viewed from the recording unit 13 (step S12), viewing start time (acquired current time), acquired program detail information and viewing state Viewing history information 13a is created and recorded in the recording unit 13 (step S13). If the above-described channel selection process has failed (step S9: NO), the channel selection process may be displayed by informing the viewer that the channel selection has failed, or the channel selection process is terminated. You may make it do.

  Note that the processing shown in FIG. 4 is executed when another television program is to be watched continuously after the viewing is finished, or when the television receiver 11 is turned off.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining viewing history information recording processing executed after a viewer views a program and then selects another program.
When the viewer determines a program to be viewed using the remote controller (steps S21 to S29), the main control unit 14 acquires the current time and viewing state (step S30) and selects the selection recorded in the recording unit 13. The viewing end time included in the viewing history information corresponding to the program immediately before the station is updated to the current time (step S31).

  In this flow chart, when the channel selection is successful, the viewing end time is updated to the current time. However, the viewing of the program is terminated when the television receiver 11 is turned off. The viewing end time is updated to the current time. In addition, when viewing a continuously broadcast program after the broadcast of the program ends, the viewing end time is updated to the current time.

  Next, the main control unit 14 acquires program detail information (EPG data) of the program that has been successfully selected from the recording unit 13 (step S32), and viewing history from the viewing start time, the acquired program detail information and viewing state Information 13a is created and recorded in the recording unit 13 (step S33).

Further, when the viewer continuously changes (zapping) the channel in a short time, useless viewing history information is recorded in the recording unit 13. In order to prevent this, the viewing history information may be recorded in the recording unit 13 only when the same program is viewed for a certain period of time.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the recording process.
When the channel selection process according to the viewer's instruction is successful and the program to be viewed is determined (step S41 to step 49), the main control unit 14 acquires the current time (step S50).

  Next, when the main control unit 14 acquires the end time of the program that was viewed immediately before (step S51), the main control unit 14 determines the acquired current time and the end time of viewing the program that was viewed immediately before. In comparison, it is determined whether a certain time has elapsed after the channel selection (step S52). When a certain time has elapsed after channel selection (step S52: YES), the main control unit 14 creates viewing history information 13a and records it in the recording unit 13 (steps S53 to S55). If a certain time has not elapsed since the channel selection (step S52: NO), the process returns to step S41 without performing the recording process.

  If a plurality of tuners are mounted on the television receiver 11, program information selected by each tuner can be recorded.

Next, an EPG creation process and an EPG display process in the display control unit 15 will be described with reference to FIG.
When the viewer uses the remote controller 2 to instruct the television receiver 11 to display an EPG (step S61), the remote controller 2 transmits a display instruction signal to the remote control light receiving unit 16 (step S62).

Next, when the remote control light receiving unit 16 receives the display instruction signal, the remote control light receiving unit 16 transmits the display instruction signal to the main control unit 14 (step S63). When the main control unit 14 receives a display instruction signal from the remote control light receiving unit 16 (step S64), it acquires viewing history information 13a and EPG data 13b for all the channels to be displayed from the recording unit 13 (step S65), and displays them. EPG is created (step S66). Further, the main control unit 14 transfers the created display EPG data to the display control unit 15 (step S67).
The display control unit 15 executes display processing of EPG data for display, and displays the EPG illustrated in FIG. 1 on the display device 3 (step S68).

Further, when displaying the detailed information of the program viewed by the viewer in the past, if the section of the viewing history information display area 102 is selected, the detailed information of the display information of the selected section is displayed in the program detailed information display area 101. Is displayed.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the cursor 106 may be placed on a program displayed in the viewing history information display area 102. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how program information is displayed in the program detailed information display area 101 when the cursor 106 is placed on a program displayed in the viewing history information display area 102.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the cursor 106 is moved to a program displayed in the viewing history information display area 102, the broadcast station name and channel number 101a, program name 101b, Broadcast time 101c, viewing state 101d, and viewing time 101e are displayed.

In the program detailed information display area 101, the program information is displayed, and at the same time, the channel number and the name of the broadcasting station that broadcasts the program with the cursor 106 are highlighted. In FIG. 7, the television XYZ is highlighted.
When the viewer moves the cursor to the left or right using the remote controller 2, the detailed information of the program with the cursor is displayed in the program detailed information display area 101. At the same time, the channel number and name of the broadcasting station corresponding to the program are highlighted.

Further, when there is the same program (for example, a continuous drama) as the program with the cursor 106 in the program information display area 103, this program may be further highlighted.
The viewing history information display area 102 can be switched between display / non-display using a button provided on the remote control or the main body, a menu screen, or the like.

(Example 2)
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a back program list 200 which is another display example of the electronic program guide, and is displayed at one corner of the display screen during program viewing.

Reference numeral 201 denotes a program detailed information display area. In this area, information relating to the program on which the cursor 206 is located, for example, the name and channel number of the broadcasting station that broadcast the program 201a, the program name 201b, the broadcast time 201c, the viewing state 201d, A viewing time 201e is displayed.
Reference numeral 202 denotes a viewing history information display area, in which a name, a channel number, an icon (not shown) indicating a viewing state of a previously viewed program, and the like are displayed.

  Reference numeral 203 denotes a program information display area, in which the back program information of the currently broadcast program is displayed. In the illustrated example, a channel number and a broadcast station name are displayed in 204 for each broadcast station, and a back program is displayed in 205.

  When a program is selected with the cursor 206, the broadcast station of the program and the program name are highlighted (highlighted), and the detailed information of the selected program is displayed in the program detailed information display area 201 as described above. .

  It should be noted that display / non-display of the viewing history information display area 202 can be switched using a button provided on the remote control or the main body, a menu screen, or the like.

  In this way, since the viewing history displayed on the EPG can be confirmed, forgetting to watch a television program, forgetting to record, or re-recording can be prevented, convenience for the viewer is improved. In addition, since an EPG function mounted on a general television receiver is used, a television receiver improved in convenience at the time of program selection without increasing the product price and manufacturing cost is provided. Can do.

It is the figure which showed an example of EPG by this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the television receiver which has a display system of the electronic program guide concerning this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the recording process of viewing history information at the time of a viewer watching a television program for the first time after powering on. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the recording process of the viewing history information performed after a viewer selects another program after watching a program. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process which records viewing history information, only when viewing the same program for a fixed time. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an EPG creation process and an EPG display process. It is the figure which showed a mode that the information of the viewed program was displayed on the program detailed information display area. It is the figure which showed a mode that the back program list was displayed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna, 2 ... Remote control, 3 ... Display apparatus, 11 ... Television receiver, 12 ... Reception part, 121 ... Channel selection part, 122 ... Demodulation part, 123 ... Separation part, 124 ... Video decoder, 125 ... Audio decoder, 126 ... EPG decoder, 127 ... data decoder, 13 ... recording unit, 13a ... viewing history information, 13b ... EPG data, 14 ... main control unit, 15 ... display control unit, 16 ... remote control light receiving unit, 100 ... EPG, 101, 201 ... Program detailed information display area, 101a, 201a ... Broadcast station name and channel number, 101b, 201b ... Program name, 101c, 201c ... Broadcast time, 101d, 201d ... Viewing state, 101e, 201e ... Viewing time, 102, 202 ... viewing history information display area, 102a ... channel number, 102b ... program name, 103 ... program information display area , 106, 206 ... cursor, 200 ... off-screen program list.

Claims (6)

  The program information of a program that has been viewed or recorded, the start and end times of the program, and the viewing status of the program are recorded as viewing history information, and the viewing history information is displayed together with the program information. Display method of electronic program guide.   The electronic program guide displays the viewing history information on a predetermined day in the same time range as the display time range of the program information displayed on the electronic program guide in association with the program information. Electronic program guide display method.   The electronic program guide continuously divides the display time range into rows or columns, and displays the viewing history information and the program information in rows or columns corresponding to the display time range divisions. The display method of the electronic program guide according to claim 1 or 2.   4. The electronic program guide display method according to claim 1, wherein whether or not the viewing history information is displayed together with program information can be selected.   The electronic program guide has a row or a column that divides an area for displaying detailed program information, and an area for displaying the detailed program information by selecting the viewing history information or the category for displaying the program information. 5. The display method of the electronic program guide according to claim 3, wherein detailed information of the display information of the selected section is displayed.   6. A television receiver having the electronic program guide display method according to claim 1.

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