JP3267249B2 - Program recording / reproducing apparatus and program recording / reproducing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention records video or audio of a broadcast program provided with a randomly accessible storage medium (in this specification, recording video and audio on a recording medium is referred to as "recording"). The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for recording and reproducing a program. In particular, the present invention relates to a program recording / reproducing apparatus and method capable of program reservation and reproduction utilizing characteristics of a random access storage medium, and capable of efficiently selecting and reproducing a recorded program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of digital video / audio compression technology such as MPEG2 and the performance improvement of a randomly accessible storage medium represented by a hard disk drive,
Program recording / reproducing apparatuses capable of recording, storing, and reproducing digitally compressed video of several hours to several tens of hours of television broadcasting programs such as terrestrial broadcasting and satellite broadcasting in a large-capacity storage medium are being put into practical use. Also called a server.

On the other hand, television broadcast program recording / reproducing apparatuses (video tape recorders: VTRs) using magnetic tape media typified by the VHS system and the like are widely used. These devices can record and record up to about 9 hours, and can make a recording reservation by designating in advance the date and time of a program to be broadcasted in the future. Basically, the operation of the VTR is that the user inserts a tape into the apparatus, finds the program desired to be reproduced by manual operation, and performs reproduction. As an easier and more efficient operation, by storing recording reservation information such as what programs are recorded in what order in addition to the program video in a required area of the video tape, Video tape recorders are available on the market that can display the recorded contents of the tape based on the information of the area at the time of playback, and make it easy for the user to search for the desired recorded program. This is called a navigation function or a library function.

[0004] In these functions, first, the user is presented with recording information such as the recording start time, channel, and recording time (length) of each program recorded on the current tape, and the user wishes to reproduce the program. A program is selected, and the tape is searched to the beginning of the area where the selected program is recorded, and is reproduced. Therefore, the user can select and reproduce a program based on more specific and easy-to-understand information such as program recording information, rather than manually performing the cueing and reproducing operation of the tape.

[0005]

However, such a navigation function or a library function is insufficient to be applied to a home server having a large-capacity storage medium capable of random access for the following reasons.

First, the home server is capable of recording for a longer time than the VTR, so that more programs are recorded. To select and reproduce a desired program from such a large number of programs, There is a problem that there are few functions. In a VTR, the recording time of one tape is about 9 hours at the maximum, so the average number of programs recorded on one tape is several programs,
It is considered that there are at most about 10 programs. For this reason,
It is considered easy to guess the program contents from information such as a channel number and a recording time presented by a navigation function when a desired reproduction program is selected. However, the home server can record a maximum of several tens of hours, and it is expected that the number of programs that can be recorded will be 10 or more. Therefore, conventional recording information alone is not enough to select such a number of programs.

Second, unlike a tape which is a sequential access storage medium, the home server uses a storage medium which can be accessed randomly, but there is a problem that there is no operation system for extracting the characteristics of the random access. . As a feature of recording and playback using a random access storage medium, recorded video and audio data does not need to be recorded in a physically continuous area. It is possible to record continuously in the area, and it is very easy to freely change the order of the programs regardless of the order of the recording time and to reproduce them. Therefore, for example, a program repeatedly broadcasted in a specific time zone (a specific day of the week, a serial drama broadcast in a specific time zone, etc.) is recorded several times, and retrieval can be easily performed when selecting a program desired to be reproduced. And present them as a single program, or automatically update and record only the latest broadcasts of news and weather forecasts that are broadcast at a predetermined time, so that the latest A home server is capable of reproducing news and weather forecasts, which are difficult to achieve with conventional VTRs. However, the conventional method does not have an operation system for realizing these utilization modes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and can improve the operability of selecting a program to be viewed and can efficiently select a program. An object of the present invention is to provide a program recording / reproducing apparatus and a program recording / reproducing method that make use of a program recording / reproducing apparatus.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a video / audio of a program on a randomly accessible storage medium.
Recorded program information management means for storing and managing recording information such as the recording date and time of the recorded program, playback history management means for managing a playback history of which part of the recorded program has already been played, and information on the recorded program information management means And a program selection means for displaying a list of recorded programs based on the program and allowing the user to select a program to be reproduced and viewed from the list. Then, the viewing program selection means displays a graph in the recorded program list that visually represents a portion that has already been reproduced and a portion where reproduction has ended immediately before based on the information of the reproduction history management means. Furthermore, a small screen image (thumbnail) of each recorded program at a certain time is also displayed in the program list.

[0010] With this configuration, the user can intuitively judge which program has already been watched from the recorded program from the graph indicating the reproduction history, and can be displayed as a thumbnail. If the image to be reproduced is the part where the reproduction is finished last, it becomes easier to select a program to be reproduced and viewed from many programs.

A second program recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention is a program recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing video and audio of a program in a randomly accessible storage medium, and stores and manages recording information such as recording date and time of a recorded program. Recorded program information management means, and a viewed program selection means for displaying a list of recorded programs based on the information of the recorded program information management means and allowing the user to select a program to be reproduced and viewed from the list.
Then, the recorded program information management means keeps the number of times of recording specified by the user from the latest recording, and automatically records older recordings of programs repeatedly recorded in a specific time zone on a specific day of the week. I decided to erase it. Further, the viewing program selection means can display and select a plurality of programs recorded repeatedly as a single program, and reproduce them.

[0012] With this configuration, the user can always save only the latest program of a continuous program such as news or drama broadcast on a specific day of the week, or use a program divided into multiple times as one program. This makes it possible to easily select the operation system, and to obtain a more convenient operation system utilizing a random access storage medium that has been difficult to realize with a sequential storage medium such as a conventional tape.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a hardware configuration for realizing a program recording / playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, analog broadcast waves such as satellite broadcasts and terrestrial broadcasts received by an antenna and CATV broadcasts received via a cable are supplied to a tuner 101 and tuned to a channel controlled by a system controller 106. The analog video / audio signal of the selected channel is output as it is through the selector 108 when the program recording / reproducing apparatus is in the tuner operation, and is supplied to the digital encoder 102 in the recording operation. During the recording operation, the analog video / audio signal is converted into digital video / audio information such as MPEG2 by the digital encoder 102 under the control of the system controller 106, and the converted digital video / audio information is supplied to the data storage 103 and stored. The data storage 103 is generally configured using a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, or a magneto-optical disk device. However, if a large-capacity semiconductor storage device can be realized in the future, the data storage 103 may be configured using a semiconductor storage device. I don't care.

Further, when the program recording / reproducing apparatus performs a reproducing operation, under the control of the system controller 106,
Digital video / audio information of a reproduced program is supplied from a data storage 103 to a digital decoder 104, and is combined with an analog video signal such as NTSC and an audio signal.
Is output via. With respect to the video signal, an OSD (On Screen Display) 105 superimposes an interactive screen or an information screen output by the system controller 106 at the time of a recording / playback operation or the like. As a result, it is possible to superimpose and display an operation screen for recording reservation and selecting a program to be viewed on the video of the program output from the tuner 101 or the digital decoder 104.

A system controller 106 is a microcomputer which is the core of the software processing function, a random access memory or read only memory for holding programs and data, and an I / O for controlling peripheral devices.
An O-controller and a real-time clock for maintaining the current time for recording time management, etc., control the hardware of the program recording / reproducing apparatus as described above to perform program recording / reproducing operations, For example, processing such as recording reservation and selection of a viewing program can be realized. The operation unit 107 includes buttons and a remote controller arranged on the front panel of the apparatus, and inputs user operations to input the operation of the system controller 10.
6 to tell.

Although the above-described hardware configuration example of the recording / reproducing apparatus has been described for an analog broadcast wave, it is applicable to a digital broadcast wave using digital video / audio information such as MPEG2. Good.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an example of a button arrangement of a remote controller, which is an example of the operation unit 107 of the program recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment. Will be described. FIG. 2 shows only a button arrangement part necessary for operating the program recording / reproducing apparatus in the present embodiment.

The program recording / playback apparatus according to the present embodiment is roughly divided into four operation modes, which are called a "tuner operation mode", a "recording reservation mode", a "viewing program selection mode", and a "playback mode", respectively. In. The tuner operation mode is a mode for outputting the video and audio of the channel selected by the tuner 101 as it is, and basically shifts to this mode by pressing the tuner button 122 in FIG. The recording reservation mode is a mode for inputting a broadcast channel, a start time, an end time, and the like of a program to be recorded. Basically, when the reservation button 121 is pressed, the mode shifts to this mode. The viewing program selection mode is a mode for displaying a list of recorded programs, selecting a program to be reproduced and viewed from the list, and basically shifts to this mode by pressing the viewing button 123. The playback mode is a mode in which a recorded program is played, and the mode is shifted to this mode after a program to be viewed is selected in the viewing program selection mode or when the playback button 129 is pressed in the tuner operation mode or the recording reservation mode. . In playback mode, rewind playback button 132, fast forward playback button 132, pause button 13
By pressing 3, special playback can be operated.
The stop button 130 is a button for stopping program reproduction in the reproduction mode, and when pressed, shifts to the tuner operation mode. Up button 124, down button 125, left button 12
6. The right button 127 and the decision button 128 are used for operations such as inputting reservation information and selecting a program desired to be viewed in the recording reservation mode and the viewing program selection mode. FIG. 3 summarizes the above operation in a table format.

Next, the screen configuration in the recording reservation mode of the program recording / playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. On the recording reservation screen 141, entries for which recording reservation has already been input but recording has not yet been completed and entries for new recording reservation are displayed as a list in ascending order of recording reservation date and time. The portion where the list of the recording reservation screen 141 is displayed is in a vertical direction, a channel number selection area 142 in which the channel of the recording reservation program is input and displayed, and a recording date selection area in which the date and day of the recording reservation program are input and displayed. 143, a recording start time selection area 144 in which the recording start time of the recording reservation program is input and displayed, a recording end time selection area 145 in which the recording end time of the recording reservation program is input and displayed, a genre of the recording reservation program is input. It consists of a genre selection area 146 to be displayed. Each entry corresponds to each line of the list, and recording information corresponding to each area is displayed.
Note that the recording date selection area 143 is not only a date designation such as "11 (Wed)", but also "Every week,""Everyweek,""Everyweek,""Everyweek,""Everyweek,""Everyweek,""Everyweek,""Monday to Friday," etc. Can be specified repeatedly.

For example, paying attention to the list of the recording reservation screen 141 in FIG. 4, the first line has a channel number of 8, the recording reservation date is the 11th of the month when the recording reservation operation was performed, and the recording start time is 18 Just when the recording end time is exactly 20:00, it indicates that the genre of the program is designated as “drama” and the recording is reserved. Note that the recording reservation is sufficient if it is possible to make a reservation up to one month from the date of performing the reservation designation operation. Therefore, the display and input regarding the year and month are not performed in the recording date selection area 143. The information of the year and month obtained from the real time clock in the system controller 106 is also managed as typical recording information. In the genre display section 146, icons that briefly and graphically represent the genre of the program and the corresponding genre name are displayed. An example of a genre displayed in the genre selection area 146 is shown in FIG. 5, and includes “news”, “weather”, and “movie”.
For example, in addition to a program content classified by a general classification, a content representing personal preference such as “favorite” may be included.

Further, on the recording reservation screen 141, a reservation cursor 147 indicating that the entry row is the input target by changing the color or shading of the entry row which is the current input target,
Also shown is an input focus 148 that indicates the area currently being input for the entry with the reservation cursor by a rectangular frame. The recording reservation mode is internally divided into a cursor movement mode and a focus movement mode.The cursor movement mode is a mode for moving the reservation cursor 147 up and down to change the entry to be input, and the reservation cursor 147 is displayed. Input focus 148 is not displayed,
The focus movement mode is a mode for moving the input focus 148 to the left and right for an entry where the reservation cursor 147 is located, selecting an input target area, and performing an input operation of an area value. The reservation cursor 147 and the input focus 148 are displayed. In FIG. 4, the presence of the reservation cursor 147 on the third line indicates that the entry line is an entry target, and the input focus 148 is located at the “minute” display position in the recording end time selection area 145. Indicates that the input of the recording end time is currently being accepted.

Next, the operation processing procedure on the recording reservation screen 141 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in the table of FIG.
When the mode is shifted from another mode to the recording reservation mode by pressing 1, the operation processing is performed according to the flowchart "recording reservation" in FIG. First, in step S101, information on an existing recording reservation program is displayed on the recording reservation screen based on the recording reservation information.
In 141, a list is displayed in ascending order of recording reservation date and time. Next, in step S102, a new reservation entry is added to the last entry in the list and displayed. This new reservation entry indicates that each area has not been input by indicating the initial value of each area with "-". In step S103, the reservation cursor 147 is set to the line of the new reservation entry, and in step 104, the variable mod
Set ifyMode to false so that the internal mode of the recording reservation mode is the cursor movement mode. Further, in step S105, the reservation cursor 147 is displayed according to the setting, but in the initial state, it is displayed on the line of the new reservation entry. Next, in step S106, the variable modifyMode is checked.
If it is ue, step S1 for processing the cursor movement mode
If it is false, the process proceeds to step S119 for processing the focus movement mode.

In the processing in the cursor movement mode, a step
In step S107, a button input from the remote controller is waited, and when the input is performed, the process proceeds to step S108. Steps
In S108, the input button is up button 124 or down button 125
If so, the process proceeds to S109; otherwise, the process proceeds to S110. In step S109, if the input button is the up button 124 and there is a reservation entry above the current reservation cursor line, the reservation cursor 147 is set in the reservation entry, and the input button is the down button 125 and the current reservation cursor line If there is a reservation entry below, the reservation cursor 14
Set 7 and return to S105. In step S110, if the input button is the enter button 128, the process proceeds to step S111; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S113. In step S111, the channel number selection area 142 of the reservation entry of the line where the reservation cursor is located
Is set to the input focus, and the variable is set in step S112.
The modifyMode is set to true, the mode transits to the focus movement mode, and the process returns to step S105. On the other hand, if the input button is the tuner button 122 in step S113, the process proceeds to the tuner screen. Otherwise, if the input button is the view button 123 in step S115, the process proceeds to the viewing program selection screen. When the button is the play button 129, the process proceeds to the play screen.

In the process of the focus movement mode, a rectangle representing the input focus is displayed in the area having the current input focus in step S119. Next, in step S120, the process waits for a button input from the remote controller. If the input button is the left button 126 or the right button 127 in step S121, the process proceeds to step S122; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S123. In step S122, the input focus 148 is moved right and left in accordance with the left and right of the button, and
Return to 105. If the area where the current input focus 148 is located at the left end or right end in step S122, the area is not moved to the left or right from that area. In the area of the start time and the end time, the "hour" part and the "minute" part are respectively input focus targets. For example, in FIG.
The input focus 148 of the reservation entry on the line indicates that it is in the “minute” portion of the reservation end time. Next step
If the input button is the up button 124 or the down button 125 in S123, the process proceeds to step 124; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S125. In step S124, input focus 148
The value of the region with is changed according to the upper and lower sides of the button, and the process returns to step S105.

The change of the value in step S124 is as follows. If the input focus 148 is in the channel number selection area 142, set the channel number to 1
Increase or decrease the step. When the input focus 148 is in the recording date selection area 143, the change is made to the next candidate if the date is increased or decreased by "upper week", etc. For example, if the content of the current recording date selection area is “31”
(Month), the upper button 124 is pressed,
When the button changes to “every week day” and the upper button 124 is further pressed, it changes to “every week month”. When the upper button is continuously pressed, "every Tues", "every Wed", "every Thurs", "every Friday", "every Saturday", "Monday to Friday", "1 (Tue)" are continued. Input focus
When 148 is in the “hour” portion and the “minute” portion of the recording start time selection region 144 and the recording end time selection region 145, respectively, the values of “hour” and “minute” are increased or decreased according to the up and down of the button. When the input focus 148 is in the genre selection area 146, the genre changes from the current genre to another predetermined genre according to the up / down direction of the button.

In step S125, the input button is a decision button
If it is 128, the process proceeds to step S126; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S127. In step S126, if the entry with the reservation cursor 147 is a new entry and includes an uninput area, the process proceeds to step S127; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S128.
Proceed to. In FIG. 4, the line where the reservation cursor 147 is located is an example of a new entry including a non-input area in the recording end time selection area 145 and the genre selection area 146. In step S127, it is displayed that the entry with the reservation cursor 147 is a new entry including a non-input item, and it is not possible to shift to the cursor movement mode, and the process returns to step S105. In step S128, the content of the entry where the reservation cursor 147 is located is reflected in the recording reservation information. In step S129, the variable modifyMode is set to false, the mode transits to the cursor movement mode, and the process returns to step S105.

As described above, based on the information of the recording reservation program input on the recording reservation screen, the system controller 106
Accumulates the video / audio of the designated channel at the designated recording start date and time of each recording reservation program in the data storage 103.

Next, the screen configuration in the viewing program selection mode of the program recording / playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. On the viewing program selection screen 161, recording information of recorded programs corresponding to the genre selected in the genre display section 162 is displayed as a list in ascending order of recording date and time. Genre display section 162
Can select one of the genres shown in FIG. 5 and the element "all" by an operation from the remote controller. The portion where the list of recorded programs is displayed is in the vertical direction, a thumbnail display region 163 in which a thumbnail image 170 which is a small image of a specific portion of the program is displayed, a channel display region 164 for displaying the number of the recording channel,
A recording date display area 165 that displays the date of recording, a recording day display area 166 that displays the day of the recording, a recording start time display area 167 that displays the recording start time, and a recording end that displays the recording end time It comprises a time display area 168 and a playback history display area 169 for displaying the viewing and playback history of the recorded program. In each row of the list, the recording information of the recorded program corresponding to the genre selected in the genre display section 162 is displayed in each of the above-described areas. Further, on the viewing program selection screen 161, a selection cursor 173 indicating that the program currently being selected is to be selected by changing its color or shading is displayed. The selection cursor 173 can be moved to the genre display section 162 in addition to a certain line of the program, in which case the current genre can be changed.

In the list displayed in FIG. 7, the genre is "movie", and two recorded programs corresponding to this genre are displayed. When the genre is "all", all of the recorded programs are displayed as shown in FIG. 8, and in this case, an icon indicating the genre of the program is displayed in the upper left corner of the thumbnail image 170 for each recorded program (see FIG. 8). 5) is displayed. A selection cursor 173 is on the second line, indicating that this program is currently selected.

In the reproduction history display area 169, the recording time (length) of the recorded program corresponding to each line is set as the entire length, and a scale corresponding to the recording time of the program is provided. A reproduction history graph 171 which is a bar graph displayed by, and a reproduction end line 172 which indicates on the reproduction history graph 171 where the immediately preceding reproduction of the recorded program has ended are displayed. In FIG. 7, since the recorded program on the first line of the list has not been reproduced yet, no rectangle is displayed in the reproduction history graph, and the reproduction end line is displayed at a position corresponding to the recording start time. ing. Similarly, for the second line, a rectangle indicating that playback and viewing has been performed for about 45 minutes is displayed in the playback history graph, and a playback end line is displayed at a location about 45 minutes after the head.

In the thumbnail display area 163, a small-screen image at the position indicated by the reproduction end line 172 is displayed for each recorded program. Is reproduced, and a still image is displayed for the other lines. Thus, even if the digital encoder 104 can reproduce only one image at a time, the thumbnail display area 163 can be effectively used.

However, the method of displaying thumbnails in the present invention is not limited to this example, and the reproduction end line in the viewing history bar can be moved left and right according to the operation of the user, and the reproduction time position corresponding to the movement is determined. May be configured to be selected and displayed as a thumbnail image, or an appropriate time interval may be determined in advance, and still images at the reproduction time position in this time interval may be sequentially displayed as thumbnail images. You may. With such a configuration, it is possible to expect an effect that it becomes easy to grasp what the whole program is like.

As a thumbnail display method, an image at a time position predetermined for each genre may be selected and displayed as a thumbnail image. Further, as a thumbnail display method, a still image or a moving image at a time position at which a specific button (for example, a “mark” button) of the remote controller is pressed during program reproduction may be selected and displayed as a thumbnail image. Further, in the case of a continuous program, the configuration may be such that the position marked for any one of the programs is applied to the other programs. With such a configuration, for example, if a part of a drama program in which subtitles of “What episode” appear is selected as a thumbnail image to be displayed,
The effect that the selection of the stored program is further facilitated can be expected. Further, the method of displaying thumbnails in the present invention is not limited to the above-described example, and various forms are conceivable.

Next, the operation processing procedure on the viewing program selection screen 161 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in the table of FIG. 3, when the mode is shifted from the other mode to the viewing program selection mode by pressing the viewing button 123, the flowchart of FIG.
The operation process is performed according to the following. First, in step S201, a variable Cur representing the current genre on the viewing program selection screen 161 is displayed.
The genre is displayed in the genre display section 162 with reference to the genre, and a list of recorded programs belonging to the genre is displayed in the order of earliest recording date and time. Next, in step S202, the variable CurProgram indicating the program with the selection cursor 173 is referred to, and the selection cursor 173 is displayed on the line of the program. The variable CurProgram can refer to the genre display section 162 by having a predetermined special value in addition to the programs in the list. In this case, the selection cursor 173 is displayed on the genre display section 162. In step S203, the variable CurPr
When the gram refers to a program, the thumbnail video of the portion corresponding to the reproduction end line 172 of the program is reproduced as a moving image only for the program, and the thumbnail images of other programs are displayed as still images.

Next, in step S204, button input from the remote controller is waited. In step S205, if the input button is the up button 124 or the down button 125, step S206
Otherwise, to step S207. Steps
In S206, the value of the variable CurProgram is changed so that the selection cursor 173 refers to the program above or below the currently selected program in accordance with the up and down of the button, and the process returns to step S202. If the upper button 124 is pressed while the CurProgram variable is selecting the uppermost program, the selection cursor 1
Variable CurProg so that 73 is displayed in genre display section 162
Change the value of ram to a special value determined in advance.
When the lower button 124 is pressed while the CurProgram is selecting the lowest program, the variable CurProg
Do not change the value of ram. Similarly, when the selection cursor 173 is on the genre display section 162, the up button 124 displays the variable CurPro.
Without changing the value of gram, select cursor 173 with down button 125
CurProgr to point to the top program in the program list
Change the value of am. For example, in FIG.
Is in the program on the second line, but pressing the up button 124 moves the selection cursor 173 to the program on the first line, and further pressing the up button 124 moves to the genre display section 162.
Further, even if the lower button 125 is pressed in the state of FIG. 7, the selection cursor 173 does not move.

In step S207, the input button is the left button 12
If it is 6 or the right button 127, the process proceeds to step S208; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S211. In step S208, the variable
Whether the CurProgram value is a predetermined special value, that is, the selection cursor 173 is displayed in the genre display section 162
Judge whether it is pointing, and if so, step S2
If not, go to step S201. Step S209
Then, change the value of the variable CurGenre according to the left and right of the input button to change the current genre in the list, and in step S210, search for programs belonging to the new genre and sort the obtained programs in order of earliest recording date and time Change the value of the variable CurProgram to refer to the first program, and
Return to S201.

In step S211 the input button is a decision button
If it is 128 or the play button 129, proceed to step S212,
Otherwise, proceed to step S215. In step S212, for the program pointed to by the variable CurProgram, that is, for the program pointed to by the selection cursor 173, a screen is displayed for inquiring whether to resume reproduction from the position where reproduction was ended immediately before or to reproduce from the beginning of the program, and ask the user. Let me choose. In step S213, the value of the variable CurProgram is set to the variable PlayProgram
The playback start position obtained in step S212 is
Substitute for sition, and shift to playback mode. If the selected program has never been reproduced with reference to the reproduction history, the program is reproduced from the beginning of the program without making an inquiry in step S212. For example, when the enter button 128 is pressed in the state of FIG. 7, whether or not the program of the second line where the selection cursor 173 is to be played back from a place where about 45 minutes have passed from the beginning (a place where the immediately preceding play has ended) is resumed. An inquiry is made as to whether the program is to be reproduced from the beginning of the program, and reproduction is performed from a location selected by the user.

In step S215, the input button is a reservation button
If it is 121, it transits to the reservation screen mode. In step S217, if the input button is the tuner button 122, it transits to the tuner operation mode.

Next, an operation process in the reproduction mode of the program recording / reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
0 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As shown in the table of FIG. 3, when the mode is changed from another mode to the reproduction mode by pressing the determination button 128 or the reproduction button 129, the operation processing is performed according to the flowchart “program reproduction” in FIG. First, in step S301, the variable
Variable PlayPosition for the recorded program indicated by PlayProgram
Normal playback starts from the time position indicated by. Then, the process proceeds to step S302 to wait for a button input of the remote controller. If there is a button input, the process proceeds to step S303, where the input button is the stop button 130, the reservation button 121, or the tuner button 12
If it is either 2 or the view button 123, step S3
Proceed to 04, otherwise proceed to step S307. In step S304, the playback of the currently recorded program is stopped, the variable PlayProgram is changed so as to refer to the recorded program being played, and the playback state and the playback stop position in the current playback mode are reflected in the playback history of the recorded program. Then, in step S305, the playback stop position is set in the variable PlayPosition, and as shown in the table of FIG. 3, the mode is shifted to the tuner operation mode, the recording reservation mode, or the viewing program selection mode in accordance with the input button. In this way, by holding the program and the playback position when stopped in step S304 in the variables PlayProgram and PlayPosition, immediately before the transition to the playback mode by pressing the playback button 129 from the tuner operation mode or the recording reservation mode, The continuation of the program whose reproduction has been stopped can be reproduced and viewed.

In step S307, if the input button is any one of the special playback buttons of the rewind button 131, the fast forward button 132, and the pause button 133, the process proceeds to step S308. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S309. In step S308, special reproduction corresponding to the input button is executed, and the process returns to step S302. In step S309, if the input button is the play button 129, step S310 is executed; otherwise, the process returns to step S302. In step S310, if the current trick play is being performed, the process returns to normal play and returns to step S302.

When the reproduction history is reflected in step S304, the specially reproduced portion is regarded as reproduced in the same manner as the normal reproduction, so that the viewing program selection screen 16 is displayed.
Prevent the display of the playback history graph from 1 from becoming complicated. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, for example, when normal reproduction is performed for 10 minutes, then fast forward reproduction is performed for 5 minutes, rewind reproduction is performed for 3 minutes, and the reproduction is stopped, the reproduced area is one point from the reproduction start point.
5 minutes, the reproduction end point is 12 minutes from the reproduction start point.

If the recorded program being reproduced in the reproduction mode has been reproduced to the end, another flowchart "program end" in FIG. 10 is called. First, in step S321, the program following the recorded program reproduced to the end is selected. More specifically, the variables CurGenre and Cu in the viewing program selection mode
Refer to rProgram, and in the list of programs in the genre indicated by CurGenre in the viewing program selection mode, there is a program next to the recorded program indicated by CurProgram (the program selected by the down button 125 in the operation on the viewing program selection screen). If it is not, the program is selected as the program to be reproduced next, and the process proceeds to step S322. If there is no program to be reproduced, the reproduction mode is terminated assuming that there is no program to be reproduced, and the mode is shifted to the tuner operation mode. In step S322, the next program to be reproduced and its head position are respectively set in the variable PlayPr.
gram and PlayPosition, and the process returns to step S301 to continue the reproduction.

In the first embodiment, the reproduction history graph 171 that visually indicates the reproduction history on the viewing program selection screen 162 and the video are displayed as the thumbnail video 170, so that efficient program selection is possible. Becomes

Next, the screen configuration of the recording reservation mode according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Recording reservation screen 141 in the present embodiment
A recording save number selection area 149 for inputting and saving the number of times of recording to the recording reservation screen of the first embodiment.
Is added.

In the recording save count selection area 149, the recording is repeatedly performed in a specific time zone such as a specific day of the week, such as "every month" or "month to Friday", in the recording date selection area 143 of the recording reservation. When a reservation is made, it is provided to set how many times from the latest recording of the recorded program are stored, and the older recordings are automatically deleted. Specifically, in FIG. 11, in the reservation entry with the reservation cursor 147, the recording date and time is from 21:00 to 22:00 of "every week money", and the number of saves is three. In this case, for example, 1
Three recordings of February 6 (Fri), 13 (Fri), and 20 (Fri) of the same month have been recorded, and the next recording is December 27.
At the time of recording on (Fri), the recording on December 6 (Fri) is automatically erased and the broadcast on Friday (27th) is recorded.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The screen configuration of the viewing program selection mode in the embodiment will be described in detail. The viewing program selection screen 161 according to the present embodiment is different from the viewing program selection screen according to the first embodiment in that a list of recorded programs repeatedly recorded during a specific time zone such as a specific day of the week is displayed. Another difference is that the programs are not displayed separately as individual programs, but are displayed collectively as one program.

More specifically, in FIG.
The recorded program with 3 is an example of the recorded content of the reservation entry with the reservation cursor on the recording reservation screen 141 in FIG. This recorded program is available every Friday from 21:00 to 22:00
Batches have been recorded, and each recording date is December 6
The day, the 13th of the same month and the 20th of the same month. The selection cursor 173 indicates that the program recorded on December 6 has been selected.

Selection cursor 17 for repeatedly recorded program
The three operation modes include an overall selection mode and an individual selection mode, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The whole selection mode is a mode for selecting a plurality of repeatedly recorded programs as one program.
The shape shown in FIG. The individual selection mode is a mode for selecting one of the repeatedly recorded programs to be restored, and has a shape shown in FIGS. FIG.
13B, the recording for December 6 is individually selected, and in FIG. 13C, the recording for December 13 is individually selected.

As shown in FIG. 13, the operation of shifting between the whole selection mode and the individual selection mode is performed by pressing the right button 127 from the whole selection mode to the individual selection mode, and by pressing the left button 126 from the individual selection mode to the whole selection mode. The program to be individually selected by pressing the up button 124 and the down button 125 in the individual selection mode is changed.

Regarding the reproduction history graph 171 and the reproduction end line 172, a rectangle indicating that reproduction has been completed is held for each program.
The reproduction end line 172 indicates the time point at which the reproduction of the respective programs was ended last. Specifically, the program with the selection cursor 173 in FIG. 12 first plays back the recorded content on December 20 for about one hour, then plays back all the recorded content as a batch program from the beginning, It is in a state of being reproduced up to about 45 minutes. That is, all the recordings on December 6 are reproduced, and the recordings on December 13 are reproduced for about 45 minutes.
The recording on the 20th of the month is being played back for about one hour, and the playback end line indicates the point where about 45 minutes have passed since the last recording on the December 13th.

When the program of the selection cursor 173 is reproduced, each recording is viewed as one program in the whole selection mode, and is reproduced in the individual selection mode.
The reproduction is performed in the same manner as in the embodiment. Specifically, FIG.
When the reproduction is performed with the selection cursor as in (a), the user is inquired whether to reproduce from a certain portion of the reproduction end line 172 or to reproduce from the beginning of the December 6 recording which is the beginning. In the case of FIG. 13B, since there is no reproduction end line 172, reproduction is automatically performed from the beginning.

In the second embodiment, for a program that has been repeatedly recorded, it is possible to perform recording with automatic updating by designating the number of times of recording and saving in the recording reservation.
In the selection of a viewing program, an easy-to-use and easy-to-use operation system can be obtained by catching one program.

[0054]

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, when displaying a list of recorded programs belonging to the genre selected on the viewing program selection screen, in addition to the recording date and time and the channel number, to what extent each program has already been reproduced. The user can easily select a desired program from a large number of recorded programs by displaying whether the user has viewed the program and the thumbnail of the program.
Further, if the thumbnail is the video at the time when the reproduction was completed immediately before, the content of the program and the scene where the reproduction has been completed can be easily known, so that the program can be further easily selected.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, for a program to be repeatedly recorded on the recording reservation screen, the number of times of recording is designated, the old recording is automatically deleted, and only the latest designated number of times is recorded and stored. On the viewing selection screen, such a repeatedly recorded program is displayed and selected as one program, thereby making it easier to select a program. As described above, it is possible to provide a more convenient operation system utilizing a random access storage medium that has been difficult to realize with a conventional sequential storage medium such as a tape.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a program recording / playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of a button arrangement example of a remote controller according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a table showing a state transition in response to a button operation in an operation mode according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of a recording reservation screen of the program recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a genre used in a recording reservation screen and the like.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in a recording reservation mode of the program recording / reproducing apparatus as the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a viewing program selection screen of the program recording / playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing another display example of a viewing program selection screen of the program recording / reproducing apparatus as the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in a viewing program selection mode of the program recording / playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in a playback mode of the program recording / playback apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a recording reservation screen of a program recording / reproducing apparatus as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a viewing program selection screen of a program recording / playback apparatus as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a selection cursor on a viewing program selection screen of a program recording / playback apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a method of calculating a reproduction history at the time of reproduction including special reproduction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Tuner 102 Digital encoder 103 Data storage 104 Digital decoder 105 OSD 106 System controller 107 Operation unit 108 Selector 120 Remote controller (partial) 121 Reserve button 122 Tuner button 123 View button 124 Up button 125 Down button 126 Left button 127 Right button 128 Enter button 129 Play button 130 Stop button 131 Rewind button 132 Fast forward button 133 Pause button 141 Recording reservation screen 142 Channel number selection area 143 Recording date selection area 144 Recording start time selection area 145 Recording end time selection area 146 Genre selection area 147 Reserved Cursor 148 Input focus 149 Recording save count selection area 161 Viewing program selection screen 162 Genre display section 163 Thumbnail display area 164 Channel display area 165 Recording date display area 166 Recording day display area 167 Recording start time display area 168 Recording end time Display region 169 reproduction history display area 170 thumbnail image 171 reproduction history graph 172 reproduction end line 173 selection cursor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/76-5/937

Claims (15)

(57) [Claims] 1. A program recording / reproducing apparatus which records video / audio of a program on a storage medium which can be randomly accessed and reproduces the program, displays a list of recorded programs, and can select a program to be reproduced from the list. Te, of each program described above recorded, and graphs that already holds the reproduction history indicating the time region reproduced for each program described above recorded, representing the reproduction history to the list, when in the of each program
A program recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by displaying a small screen image of a video between the two together. 2. The program recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the video displayed as the small-screen image is a video at the end of reproduction of each program using the stored reproduction history. A program recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. The program recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the video to be displayed as the small-screen image displays a still image of the program at a predetermined time interval. . 4. The program recording / playback apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a corresponding portion of the playback history indicated by the graph can be changed by a user, and the video of the playback history portion corresponding to the operation is displayed on the small screen. A program recording / reproducing apparatus for displaying as a picture. 5. A program recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, when the recording reservation of the program, to select a genre related to the program to the user, which is the selected A program recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein a genre is stored together with a program, and a list is displayed for each stored genre when displaying the list. 6. A program recording / reproducing apparatus which records video / audio of a program on a storage medium which can be randomly accessed and reproduces the recorded video / audio, and manages recording information relating to each recorded program; Playback history information, which is information relating to the time domain that has already been played, among the recorded programs, a playback history management unit that manages each of the recorded programs, and the recorded information managed by the recorded program information management unit. A list of programs recorded using the program, and a viewing program selection unit for allowing a user to select a program desired to be played from the list. The viewing program selection unit performs the playback for each of the recorded programs. From the playback history information managed by history management means, the already played time region is displayed in the list as a graph that visually represents the time region, and Was
For each program, a small video at a certain time of the program
A program recording / playback apparatus , wherein a screen image is displayed together with the list . 7. The program recording according to claim 6 , wherein the small-screen image is a video of a place where reproduction was interrupted immediately before based on the reproduction history information managed by the reproduction history means. Playback device. 8. The graph is a bar graph in which the recorded time of a program is the entire length and the already reproduced time region is expressed as a rectangle, and a point where reproduction has been completed immediately before is indicated by a line at a corresponding position in the bar graph. The program recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the program recording / reproducing apparatus is arranged in a form. 9. Random access to video and audio of a program
The method of recording and playing back programs that can be recorded on a storage medium and played back
Manages the recording information on each recorded program, and, among the recorded programs,
The playback history information, which is information related to
Manages each set and displays a list of programs stored using the recording information
At this time, the reproduction history information for each program being displayed
From the graphical representation of the time domain already played back
Displayed in the list aboveAnd For each program displayed in the list,
Add the small screen image of the video at a certain time to the list
To display A program recording / reproducing method characterized by the following. 10. The program recording / reproducing method according to claim 9 , wherein the small-screen image is a video at a position where reproduction was interrupted immediately before based on the reproduction history information. 11. A program recording / reproducing apparatus which records video / audio of a program on a storage medium which can be randomly accessed and reproduces the program, wherein a recorded program information managing means for managing recording information on each recorded program; Playback history information, which is information relating to the time domain that has already been played, among the recorded programs, a playback history management unit that manages each of the recorded programs, and the recorded information managed by the recorded program information management unit. And a viewing program selection unit for displaying a list of programs stored by using the list, and allowing a user to select a program desired to be played from the list. The viewing program selection unit performs the playback for each of the recorded programs. The list is displayed in the list as a graph that visually represents the already played time region from the playback history information managed by history management means, Program recording, wherein the divided programs of a continuous program among the selected programs are collectively displayed as one program in the list, and the program is reproduced when the user selects the list. Playback device. 12. The recorded program information management means stores, for each of the divided programs of the continuous program, the number of times specified by the user from the program with the latest recording time, and the old recording exceeding the number of times. The program recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the program is automatically deleted. 13. The program recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein a user can designate a continuous program and the number of times of recording and saving the continuous program at the time of recording reservation. 14. A program recording / reproducing method for recording and reproducing video / audio of a program in a storage medium which can be accessed at random, comprising: managing recording information relating to each recorded program; The playback history information, which is information on the time domain played, is managed for each of the recorded programs, and when displaying a list of programs recorded using the recording information, the From the playback history information, the already played time area is displayed in the list as a graph that visually represents the time area.Furthermore, among the recorded programs, each of the divided programs of the continuous program is recorded as one program in the list. A program recording / reproducing method, which is collectively displayed and reproduces the program when the user selects the list. 15. An old recorded program exceeding the number of times, wherein each divided program of the continuous program is recorded and saved for the number of times designated by the user from the program with the latest recording time based on the recording information. The program recording / reproducing method according to claim 14 , wherein the program is automatically deleted.