JPH10191194A - Program guidance display controller and television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow the user to select its own preferred program quickly among lots of programs by displaying a channel or a program designated by the user in a different display mode from that of other programs. SOLUTION: A user side terminal equipment is provided with a CPU 6 to control the entire user side terminal equipment. The CPU 6 is provided with a storage device 9 that stores its program and required data. An operation section 5 consisting of a remote controller or the like is connected to the CPU 6. The CPU 6 controls a tuner 2 to display a program selected by an operation section 5 and controls a program guidance image generating section 4 to generate a program guidance image. When the user designates a program or a channel, prescribed information as to the designated program or channel is stored. Based on the stored information, the designated program or channel is displayed in a different display mode from that of other programs or channels.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program guide display control device and a television receiver for displaying a program guide necessary for a user to select a desired program from a plurality of channels in television broadcasting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In DSS (Digital Satellite Broadcasting System) and the like put into practical use in the United States, a large number of channels of 150 or more are prepared, and an extremely large number of programs are provided. In this system, guide information of a currently broadcasted program and a program to be broadcasted in the future is transmitted at predetermined time intervals together with original program data. The user terminal has a function of displaying a program guide screen (program guide table) based on the program guide information.

[0003] As shown in FIG.
A part of the program guide table e of the entire program guide table E corresponding to the received all program guide information is displayed as a program guide screen.
On the program guide screen, a plurality of program guides are displayed in a matrix with the vertical axis as the channel number axis and the horizontal axis as the time axis. In this example, the program guide screen displays programs for five channels, that is, two and a half hours of programs. At the left end, channel numbers are displayed vertically. In the row corresponding to each channel, a frame indicating the time zone of each program broadcast by that channel is displayed, and the title names (A to P) are displayed in each frame.

On the program guide screen, a program can be specified,
A cursor for scrolling the program guide screen is displayed. This cursor movement is performed by operating four cursor movement keys provided for each of the left, right, up, and down directions. Each time a cursor movement key for moving up or down is operated, the cursor moves in units of one channel. Each time a cursor movement key for moving left or right is operated, the cursor moves in a predetermined time unit, for example, in 30 minute units.

[0005] A program provided in the DSS is charged separately from a free program which can be viewed for free by paying a system usage fee such as a fee for joining the DSS and a basic fee, and a system usage fee. There are paid programs to be done. Pay programs are purchased in advance in units of channels and those that are charged only when viewed (PP
V: pay per view).

As described above, since the guide information of the currently broadcasted program and the program to be broadcasted in the future is transmitted at predetermined time intervals together with the original program data, the program guide is displayed using this information. ing. Still, because of the large number of channels, a desired program cannot be selected quickly. Therefore, a program guide display device having a function of registering a favorite channel in advance has been proposed.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a program or channel desired by a user can be marked, and a program guide can be displayed for the marked channel or program. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program guide display control device and a television receiver.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a means for designating a program or a channel, a means for storing predetermined information on a designated program or a channel, and a means for specifying the designated program or channel based on the stored information. A program or channel is displayed in a display mode different from other programs or channels. Therefore, according to the present invention, the channel or program designated by the user is displayed differently from other programs, so that the user quickly selects his favorite program from many programs. be able to. According to another configuration of the present invention, a means for designating a program or channel, a means for storing predetermined information on the designated program or channel, and a program or program designated based on the stored information Means for displaying a program guide for the channel, so that the user can quickly select his / her favorite program from many programs.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a DSS (Digital Satellite Broadcasting System) practically used in the United States will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a user terminal.

As the user terminal, a combination of a television receiver and a program guide display control device, or a television receiver incorporating a program guide display control circuit is used. The user terminal includes a CPU 6 for controlling the entire user terminal. CPU6
Is provided with a storage device 9 for storing the program and necessary data. The operation unit 5 including a remote controller and the like is connected to the CPU 6. CPU6
Controls the tuner 2 to display the program selected by the operation unit 5 and the program guide image generation circuit 4 for generating a program guide image.

The input terminal 1 receives a high-frequency signal from a parabolic antenna (not shown). The signal input to the input terminal 1 is sent to the tuner 2. In the tuner, processes such as frequency conversion and QPSK demodulation are performed, and a digital video signal stream is generated. The output of the tuner 2 is sent to the video processing circuit 3.

The video processing circuit 3 MPEG-decodes the stream output from the tuner 2 and generates an analog video signal, such as an NTSC signal, to be displayed on a display 8 such as a CRT. This video signal is displayed on the display 8 by being sent to the display 8 via the multiplexer 7.

Further, the video processing circuit 3 extracts program guide information from the output of the tuner 2 and supplies it to the CPU 6. The program guide information supplied to the CPU 6 is stored in the storage device 9.
Is stored. The storage device 9 further stores in advance setting screen information for displaying various setting screens such as a menu screen, as well as information on purchased programs.

The program guide image generation circuit 4 has a display memory (not shown). In the program guide image generation circuit 4, various setting images and program guide images are created on the display memory based on the setting screen information, the program guide information, and the like stored in the storage device 9. Then, the images created on the display memory are sequentially read and sent to the display 8 via the multiplexer 7 to be displayed on the display 8. The multiplexer 7 selects one of the output of the video processing circuit 3 and the output of the program guide image generation circuit 4 based on the control signal from the CPU 6 and supplies the selected output to the display 8.

The operation unit 5 includes a menu key 11 for displaying a menu screen and four cursor movement keys 12 for moving a cursor in the left-right direction and the up-down direction.
L, 12R, 12U, 12D, a select key 13 for making a selection input, a check key 14 for giving a check mark to a program and a channel that the user is interested in,
The program guide apparatus is provided with a current key 15 for instructing a current mode. When the user wants to view the program guide screen, the user operates the menu key 11 to display the menu screen, and then presses the cursor movement keys 12.
The program guide may be selected by operating the L, 12R, 12U, 12D and the select key 13.

Further, the user can limit a program guide to be viewed by setting a category or the like on the menu screen. When such a setting is made, a program guide screen is displayed so that a program guide of a program suitable for the contents set by the user and a program guide of a program not suitable for the contents set by the user can be identified.

For example, when the user sets a specific category, the title name is displayed only on the program guide screen for programs belonging to the specific category set by the user. FIG. 4 shows an example of a program guide screen when a movie category is set.

In the following description, the display mode of the program guide screen when the program guide to be viewed is not limited is called a normal mode, and the display mode of the program guide screen when the program guide to be viewed is limited is referred to as a normal mode. Let's call it limited mode.

A process for displaying the program guide screen in the normal mode will be described. The program guide information sent to the receiver includes, for example, guide information of each program for all channels from the current time to a time 24 hours ahead. The program guide information of one program includes a title name, a fee (rating) for a PPV program, a category (sports, music, drama, news, etc.), start and end times, and the like.

The CPU 6 regards the guide information of each program for all channels as two-dimensional array information in which the vertical direction is the channel number and the horizontal direction is the time, as shown in the upper part of FIG. And an index table that can be accessed using the slot number indicating the time. The slot number is, for example, a number assigned every 30 minutes. The area E of the two-dimensional array corresponding to all the program guide information shown in the upper part of FIG.
Is referred to as the entire program guide area. Next, the flow of processing will be described with reference to FIG.

When the program guide display is selected by the operation unit 5, the CPU 6 is activated based on the previously selected channel number, current time and index table.
Generates a display table as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, each small area (hereinafter, referred to as an area) except for the leftmost one column
) Is stored with program guide display information. Therefore, in this example, a display table corresponding to a program guide of 5 channels × 5 cells (corresponding to 2.5 hours) is created. Each cell in the leftmost column stores a channel number (absolute channel number) or data of a station name corresponding to the channel number.

In FIG. 2, x of (x, y) described as an index for each cell is a channel relative number (a relative channel number between cells in the display table, and an absolute channel number). Not a number)
y indicates a slot relative number (a relative slot number between cells in the display table, not an absolute slot number). The second cell S from the left in the top row
Let o be the reference cell. In the normal mode, the reference cell So stores the program guide display information corresponding to the channel number selected immediately before and the current time.

The program guide display information stored in each cell is:
It consists of a title name, the number of exclusive cells, a rating, information indicating whether or not purchased, a category, and the like. The number of exclusive cells is
The number of cells included from the cell to the cell where the program ends. Therefore, when the program ends in the cell, the number of exclusive cells becomes one. Based on the display table created in this way, the program guide image generation circuit 4 generates an image corresponding to the program guide screen as shown in the lower part of FIG. 14 on the display memory. Then, the image generated on the display memory is sent to the display 8 to display a program guide screen as shown in the lower part of FIG.
Will be displayed.

When the program guide is selected by the operation unit 5, the channel number and the current time selected immediately before are read, and a reference cell is set from the entire program guide area E (see FIG. 14) (step 1). ).

The display table of FIG. 2 is created based on the set reference cells and the index table (step 2).

The information in the display table is sent from the CPU 6 to the program guide image generation circuit 4. The program guide image generation circuit 4 performs a program guide image generation process based on the transmitted information (step 3). That is, a program guide image is generated on the display memory. The program guide images generated on the display memory are sequentially read out and sent to the display 8, so that the display 8 displays a program guide screen. After that, a key input waiting state is set.

When there is a select key / check key input with the select key 13 or the check key 14 (YES in step 4), predetermined selection processing such as program selection, program reservation, check processing, and the like is executed.

That is, when the select key 13 is operated, if the selected program is currently being broadcast,
The program is selected and the video is displayed. If the program is to be broadcast in the future, the program returns to the program guide image generation process of step 3 after the reservation process of the program is performed. In the reservation processing, information such as the channel, start time, and end time of the reserved program is stored as the reservation data (see FIG. 5). Then, for the reserved program, when the start time comes, a message is sent to the user,
We are trying to call attention.

When the check key 14 is operated, a process for adding a check mark to the program is performed, and then the program returns to the program guide image generation process.
In the check mark adding process, predetermined data such as a channel number, a start time, and an end time of a designated program are stored in the check program data shown in FIG. Also,
Programs that have been reserved or marked with a check mark can be easily distinguished from other programs by displaying special icons or changing display characteristics such as color. (See FIGS. 6 and 7. Note that FIGS. 6 and 7 and FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 show the range of time displayed for simplification of drawing.
1 hour and 30 minutes. The number of check program data is determined to be 25 for simplicity of processing, and an area is reserved in the memory of the CPU in advance. Here, in the check mark adding process, a program is simply checked, and a process such as alerting is not performed as in the case of reservation.

Cursor movement keys 12L, 12R, 12
If there is a cursor key input by U, 12D (YES in step 5), the processing of steps 6, 7, 8, or 9 is performed according to the operated cursor movement keys 12L, 12R, 12U, 12D.

That is, the operated key is the left movement key 12
If it is L, the process proceeds to step 6 and it is determined whether or not movement from the left end of the entire program guide area E to the left has been commanded. If the operated key is the right movement key 12R, the process proceeds to step 7, where it is determined whether or not movement from the right end of the entire program guide area E to the right has been commanded. If the operated key is the upward movement key 12U, the process proceeds to step 8, where it is determined whether or not an upward movement from the upper end of the entire program guide area E has been instructed. If the operated key is the down key 12D, the process proceeds to step 9;
It is determined whether a downward movement has been commanded from the lower end of the entire program guide area E.

When the movement from the left end of the entire program guide area E to the left is commanded (YES at step 6), when the movement from the right end to the right of the entire program guide area E is commanded (at step 7). If YES, a command is issued to move upward from the upper end of all program guide areas E (YE in step 8).
S) Or, if a command to move downward from the lower end of the entire program guide area E is issued (YES in step 9), that is, if it is a command to move outside the entire program guide area E, the cursor Cannot be moved, and the process returns to step 4 to wait for key input.

If the cursor movement command by the cursor key input is a movement command within the entire program guide area, the position to which the cursor is moved is calculated (step 10).
If the cursor movement command is a movement command in the left and right direction, the movement amount is set to one cell (one slot) in the left and right direction, and the position of the cursor movement destination is calculated. When the cursor movement command is a vertical movement command, the movement amount is calculated as one cell (one slot) in the vertical direction, and the destination position of the cursor is calculated. Then, it is determined whether or not the position of the cursor movement destination is within the program guide screen displayed on the display 8 (step 11).

When the position of the cursor movement destination is within the program guide screen displayed on the display 8, the cursor image in the display memory is moved so that the cursor is displayed at the movement destination position. (Step 12).

If the position to which the cursor is moved is outside the program guide screen displayed on the display 8, a reference cell change process is performed to change (scroll) the program guide screen (scroll). Step 13). In this reference cell changing process, a position in the entire program guide area E that is away from the current reference cell by the amount of cursor movement in the cursor movement direction is set as a new reference cell. When a new reference cell is set by the reference cell changing process, the process returns to step 2. Accordingly, the display table of FIG. 2 is created based on the newly set reference cell, and a new program guide screen is displayed on the display 8. That is, the program guide screen is updated.

FIG. 8 shows the detailed procedure of the program guide image generation process in step 3 of FIG.

First, for each program in the display table, a frame image of a size corresponding to the occupation time of each program is written to the display memory based on the number of occupied cells (step 81).
At this time, writing is also performed for the channel number. Next, the cursor image is written into the display memory (step 82). Thereafter, a writing control process of an image (title image) representing the title name is performed (step 83).

FIG. 9 shows the procedure of the title image writing control process in step 83 of FIG.

First, a variable SLOT-N representing a slot relative number
UM is set to 1 (step 91). Also, 1 is set to a variable LINE-NUM representing the channel relative number (step 92).

A cell specified by the variable SLOT-NUM and the variable LINE-NUM is set as a cell of interest, program guide display information for the cell of interest is read from a display table, and check program data and reserved program data are referred to. (Step 93). Then, it is determined whether the program corresponding to the cell is checked / reserved (step 9).
4).

If it is determined that the program corresponding to the cell of interest is reserved or checked, the title image of the program corresponding to the cell and the mark corresponding to the reservation or check are written to the display memory (step 95b). ).
Then, the process proceeds to step 96.

If it is determined that the program corresponding to the cell of interest has not been reserved or checked, only the title image of the program corresponding to the cell is written (step 95), and the routine proceeds to step 96. . This step 95 may be canceled in some cases, as will be described later. In this case, the title is not displayed except for the program that has been checked or reserved.

In step 96, the variable LINE-NUM representing the channel relative number is incremented by one. That is, the variable LINE-NUM is updated. Then, it is determined whether or not the updated variable LINE-NUM is larger than 5 (step 97). If the updated variable LINE-NUM is 5 or less (NO in step 97), the process returns to step 93, and the cell specified by the updated variable LINE-NUM and the currently set variable SLOT-NUM , The processes of steps 93 to 97 are executed again.

Thus, one slot relative number
When the processes of steps 93 to 97 are performed on five cells specified by the SLOT-NUM and the channel relative numbers LINE-NUM of 1 to 5, YES is obtained in step 97 and the process proceeds to step 98.

In step 98, the variable SLOT-NUM representing the slot relative number is incremented by one.
That is, the variable SLOT-NUM is updated. Then, it is determined whether or not the updated variable SLOT-NUM is larger than 5 (step 99). If the updated variable SLOT-NUM is 5 or less (NO in step 99), the process returns to step 92 and uses the updated variable SLOT-NUM to execute steps 92 to 92.
The process of 97 is executed again.

As described above, 25 cells specified by the slot relative numbers SLOT-NUM of 1 to 5 and the channel relative numbers LINE-NUM of 1 to 5, ie, the leftmost column in the display table, Step 9 for all other cells except
When the processes of 3 to 99 are executed, YES is determined in the step 99.
, And the title image writing control process ends.
As a result of this processing, as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, a special mark (icon) is displayed at the same time as the title of the reserved or checked program (FIG. 6), or the display characteristics are different. As shown in FIG. 7 (FIG. 7), and can be easily distinguished from other programs at a glance, which is easy for the user to understand.

Next, the channel check function will be described. The channel check function, like the program check function, is a function for enabling a check mark to be added to a channel having many programs of interest to the user, so that the user can select a program more easily. .

First, the specification of the channel to be checked will be described. The channel check can be specified by moving the cursor to the channel slot. For example, in a current mode for displaying a program guide for a program currently being broadcast. The specification of the channel check can be performed by moving the cursor to the channel slot. In the current mode, a display as shown in FIG. 10 is performed. In other words, the title and the like are displayed along with the channel display only for the program currently being broadcast, and the video of the currently selected program is partially displayed in the remaining portion. The current mode is specified, for example, by operating the current mode button 15 of the operation device 5.

In the current mode, only the slot (x, 0) corresponding to the channel and the slot (x, 1) corresponding to the current time are stored in the image memory in the program guide image generation process (step 3) of FIG. Written
Is displayed. When the cursor is moved to a desired channel and the check button 14 is pressed, a check mark is given to that channel. Specifically, the number of the selected channel is stored in the channel check data from 1 to 6, and the process returns to the program guide image generation processing.

The channel check data is provided with six areas in advance in the memory referenced by the CPU, and always stores the most recently checked channel number. In the program guide image generation processing shown in FIG. 8, when the display of the channel is written, the display mode, for example, the background color of the cell of the checked channel is changed by referring to the channel check data. Change and write to that of the channel. As a result, the checked channel can be identified on the program guide screen.

Next, a list display of the checked channels and programs will be described. When the check button 14 is operated when any program is selected and its video content is displayed on the screen, first, a channel check list is displayed. In this mode, the program guide of the currently selected channel and the channels (at most six) specified by the channel check are displayed in the current mode. That is, when the check button 14 is operated in a state where an image is displayed, the processing in FIG. 3 is called to display a channel check list. At this time, the display table shows only the currently selected channel and the channel stored as the channel check data.
Created only for programs currently being broadcast. FIG.
It is an example of a channel checklist.

In this state, when the check button 14 is further operated, a program check list is displayed. This program check list is a program guide screen on which only channels having the checked program are displayed. In this case as well, the process shown in FIG. 3 is called, but when the display table is created, the currently selected channel number and
A display table is created only for the channel numbers stored in the program check data. In addition, since the title image writing process in step 95 shown in FIG. 9 is not performed, only the program checked as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. In addition, since a display table is simply created for the channels included in the program check data, channels having no checked programs within a range displayed on the program guide screen, for example, CH100 in FIG. There is also a display. CH100 is a channel on which a news program is checked out of the display range.

On the other hand, when the display table is created in consideration of both the time range that can be displayed and the program check data at the time of creating the display table, the channel with the checked program must be included in the display time range. , Will be displayed. In this case, when the display time range changes, the displayed channel changes. FIGS. 12 and 13 show examples when the program check list is created in this way. Here, from the state of FIG.
When the cursor changes to the state shown in FIG.
The channel 104 displayed in 2 has disappeared in FIG. 13 and the channel 105 is displayed instead.

When the check button is operated while the program check list is being displayed, the display returns to the original video display screen.

[0056]

According to the present invention, in a program guide,
The cursor can be quickly moved between the program guides of programs that match the user's settings.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a display table.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a display procedure of a program guide screen in a normal mode.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a program guide screen in a limited mode.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure used in processing.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of display of a program check.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing another example of display of a program check.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of a program guide image generation process in step 3 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of a title image writing control process in step 83 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a current mode of a program guide screen.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of display of a program check.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the display of the program check.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the display of the program check.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a program guide screen displayed on a user terminal in DSS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Tuner 3 Video processing circuit 4 Program guide image generation circuit 5 Operation unit 6 CPU 7 Multiplexer 8 Display 9 Storage device 14 Check key 15 Current key

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A designating means for designating a program or a channel, a storage means for storing predetermined information on a program or a channel designated by the designating means, and A program guide display control device comprising display means for displaying a designated program or channel in a manner different from other programs or channels. 2. A designating means for designating a program or a channel, a storage means for storing predetermined information on a program or a channel designated by the designating means, and based on the predetermined information stored in the storage means, A program guide display control device comprising display means for displaying a designated program or channel. 3. A television receiver comprising the program guide display control device according to claim 1.