JP2008271114A - Program recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program recorder which can automatically delete a record reservation of a series program by program discrimination in a final broadcast which can be conducted by the present broadcast operation. <P>SOLUTION: When information indicative of the last round is detected by an external character or a character string from the program title information and program detailed information of a recorded program, a CPU 9 controls a recording reservation setting portion 6 to delete the recording reservation information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program recording apparatus that reserves and records a broadcast program.

  Conventionally, recording reservations for so-called series programs that are broadcast at substantially the same cycle have been executed by the user setting a repeating pattern such as a broadcasting station (ch), a broadcast start / end time, and every week or every day. In recent years, recording reservation setting has been simplified by using program data such as EPG (electronic program guide) obtained from broadcasting or the Internet.

  However, in the conventional recording apparatus, when the series program ends, the user himself / herself has to cancel the recording reservation. Unless the user cancels the recording reservation, even though the series program has ended, the reserved recording will be executed and the useless recording will continue. Had to delete both the deleted content and the reservation.

  On the other hand, various techniques for automatically canceling a reservation by determining the last episode of a series program have been proposed.

  Patent Document 1 automatically cancels a reservation by determining the last episode of a series program based on the premise that program data includes the presence / absence of the next broadcast and date / time information (end flag). Techniques to do this are disclosed.

  Also, in Patent Document 2, program detailed data is received by program specific data (code or text data such as program name and channel time), and if there is no data update time in this program detailed data, the final round is reserved and a reservation is made. A technique for releasing is disclosed.

  In digital broadcasting, series descriptors are prepared and specified as data indicating the identification of the series program and the final episode, but the operation is not yet practical.

  On the other hand, as a technique that can be realized by the current broadcasting, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for detecting the last time based on “character information for identifying the last time of a program”.

  Further, in Patent Document 4, a user searches a program in the EPG without setting a repetitive pattern of recording reservation, and if a corresponding program is detected, recording reservation and recording are executed. An invention of an apparatus that does not execute reservation and recording is disclosed. And in this patent document 4, it is determined that the program has already finished the series by counting the character information indicating the end or that the next program was not found, and the reservation is deleted. In addition, as a method of expressing a character indicating the end, it is described that a series of programs can be determined to end when “end” enclosed by a square is detected.

Also, although not intended to automate the cancellation of the recording reservation, an application that prompts the next recording reservation by the user notifying the user while viewing the current program when the next broadcast is the last episode is also disclosed. (For example, see Patent Document 5).
JP 2002-218333 A JP 2002-320181 A JP 2003-32592 A JP 2006-180057 A JP 2005-80014 A

  However, the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 and digital broadcast series descriptors and the like that are premised on the data that explicitly indicates the last round being operated are not realized because they are not currently operated.

  Currently, EPG program data does not always have an external character of “end” in the last round. For this reason, the invention described in Patent Document 3 alone may cause a detection failure or erroneous determination. Further, in the invention described in Patent Document 4, it takes time until the final judgment is made because there is no corresponding program so that the final judgment is not performed, and the series program ends after recording the next program of the final round. The case where it is judged that it occurred has occurred.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program recording apparatus that can automatically delete a recording reservation of a series program by the final determination that can be realized in the current broadcasting operation. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a program recording apparatus of the present invention includes broadcast date information, broadcast start time information, broadcast duration information or broadcast end time information, program title name information, and a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast. Electronic program guide acquisition means for acquiring electronic program guide information including detailed program information, and recording reservation date and start of recording when making a reservation for recording a series program that is a program broadcast in a weekly or daily repetition pattern Recording reservation setting means for setting time, recording end time, program title name, and repetition pattern as recording reservation information, recording means for executing reservation recording based on the recording reservation information, and recording by the recording means Program title name information and program detailed information of the program are acquired from the electronic program guide information, and the acquired program title name information and program detailed information are acquired. The external character indicating the last round of the series program is detected as the first final round information from at least one of the character strings indicating the final round of the series program from the character string of the program title name information. 2, last recording information detecting means for detecting the last recording information, and the recording reservation setting means is at least one of the first final information and the second final information by the final information detection means. When either one of them is detected, the recording reservation information of the series program is deleted.

  Further, the program recording apparatus of the present invention compares the program title name of the series program with a plurality of program title names included in the electronic program guide information in the same broadcasting station as the recorded series program, As a result of the comparison, if there is a program title name that has more than a predetermined percentage of the number of characters set in advance with respect to the total number of characters of the program title name of the series program, this program title name is designated as the series program. Title name detecting means for detecting as a program title name substantially the same as the program title name of the recording title, the title name detecting means includes a time from a recording start time to a recording end time in the recording reservation information of the recorded series program, and The search target range is within a predetermined time before and after that, and the search target range on the next reservation setting corresponding day of the repetition pattern. The recording reservation setting means detects at least one of the first last time information and the second last time information by the last time information detecting means. And the means for deleting the recording reservation information of the series program when the title name detecting means does not detect the substantially identical program title name.

  The program recording apparatus of the present invention includes broadcast date information, broadcast start time information, broadcast duration information or broadcast end time information, program title name information, and program detail information of a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast. Electronic program guide acquisition means for acquiring the electronic program guide information including the recording reservation date, recording start time, recording end time when making a recording reservation of a series program that is a program broadcast in a weekly or daily repetition pattern Recording reservation setting means for setting the program title name and the repetition pattern as recording reservation information, and when the latest electronic program guide information is acquired by the electronic program guide acquisition means, recording is performed by the recording reservation setting means at that time. The program title name information and program detail information of the reserved program are acquired from the latest electronic program guide information, and the acquired program title name information And an external character indicating the last round of the series program is detected as first last round information from at least one of the program detailed information, and the last round of the series program is detected from the character string of the program title name information. And a final-time information detecting unit that detects a character string indicating the second final-time information, and the recording reservation setting unit is configured to detect the first final-time information and the second final-time information by the final-time information detecting unit. When at least one of the times information is detected, the recording reservation information is a means for setting a flag indicating that the recording reservation information is to be deleted after execution of the reserved recording based on the recording reservation information. Features.

  Further, the program recording apparatus of the present invention provides a program title name of the series program reserved for recording and a plurality of program title names included in the electronic program guide information in the same broadcasting station as the series program reserved for recording. As a result of the comparison, if there is a program title name having characters that match at least a predetermined percentage of the total number of characters of the program title name of the series program, this program Title name detecting means for detecting a title name as a program title name that is substantially the same as the program title name of the series program, the title name detecting means from the recording start time in the recording reservation information of the series program to the end of recording The time until the time and within a predetermined time before and after it are the search target range, and the next day of the reservation setting next to the repetitive pattern A means for searching for a program title name within the search target range, wherein the recording reservation setting means is at least one of the first final information and the second final information by the final information detection means. If either one of them is detected and the substantially same program title name is not detected by the title name detection means, the recording reservation information is deleted in the recording reservation information after execution of the reserved recording based on the recording reservation information. It is a means to set the flag which shows that.

  According to the program recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording reservation information is deleted when information indicating the last time is detected from the external title or character string from the program title name information and program detailed information of the recorded program. The recording reservation of the series program can be automatically deleted by the final determination that can be realized in the broadcast operation.

  The best mode for carrying out the program recording apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment receives a broadcast signal of a desired channel and obtains a received signal, and encodes the received signal with an encoding method such as MPEG. A digital video recorder (DVR) 3 that records encoded data, which is composed of an encoder 2, an HDD, a DVD-RW, and the like, a decoder 4 that decodes the encoded data, and a vertical blanking interval of an analog broadcast wave An EPG analyzer 5 that acquires and analyzes electronic program guide information from a signal superimposed on (VBI: Vertical Blanking Interval), a recording reservation setting unit 6 that generates and holds recording reservation information, and recording reservation information This is composed of a scheduled recording execution section 7 for causing the DVR 3 to perform recording based on an on-screen display (OSD) 8 and a central processing unit (CPU) 9. It is connected to the Bimonita 10. The CPU 9 comprehensively controls each unit provided in the apparatus.

  The electronic program guide information may be obtained from program information (EIT: Event Information Table) in the program arrangement information of the digital broadcast signal or may be obtained from the Internet.

  Next, the operation of the program recording apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, the state of the DVR 3 will be described. During recording under the control of the CPU 9, an analog broadcast signal of a selected desired channel is selectively received by the tuner 1, converted into a baseband received signal, and supplied to the encoder 2, where a moving image such as MPEG is recorded. After being encoded into a digital video signal of a broadcast program of a desired channel by an encoding method, it is written in DVR 3. When a digital broadcast signal is received by a digital tuner (not shown), the received stream is recorded in the DVR 3 as it is, or down-converted and recorded in the DVR 3.

  At the time of reproduction, the digital video signal read from the DVR 3 under the control of the CPU 9 is returned to the video signal of the broadcast program of the desired channel by the decoder 4 and added with the operating state etc. by the OSD 8, and then the television monitor 10 Is output and viewed. Further, the EPG analyzer 5 acquires electronic program guide information from VBI of an analog broadcast signal, EIT of a digital broadcast signal, the Internet, etc., analyzes the data contents, and displays it on the OSD 8 in a display format such as a program guide. The user selects an arbitrary broadcast program by remote control operation, and sets or cancels recording reservation on the screen.

  Here, an example of a series program broadcast in a repeating pattern is shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example in which a series program broadcast every Monday-Friday (every day from Monday to Friday) is the final episode on Thursday. Note that the numbers in parentheses below the program A in FIG. 2 indicate the number of stories of the program A, but are merely described for convenience of explanation and are not included in the program information. . Also, the program may have a broadcast start time that varies depending on the day, or a day when there is no broadcast. Thursday's “end” is an external character, and usually the one enclosed in a white frame is used. Since this is specified, the code will not change. However, there are cases in which this external character code is not included in the program title name or the program detailed information despite the last round.

  The program information is included in the electronic program guide information. The program information includes at least the broadcast start time of the program, the duration or broadcast end time of the program, the title name information (character data) of the program, the genre code, Detailed program information describing the contents of the program is included.

  Next, a procedure for automatically deleting recording reservation information for a series program in the program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of recording reservation information in the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for automatically deleting recording reservation information of a series program in the program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment. is there.

  Under the control of the CPU 9, the recording reservation setting unit 6 generates recording reservation information for a series program broadcast in a repetitive pattern in response to a user's remote control operation, and holds this. As shown in FIG. 3, the recording reservation information includes a reservation number, a program title name, a recording start / end date and time, a channel of a program to be reserved for recording, a recording mode such as a long time mode (LP), and a repetition pattern. Has an item to select.

  In step S110, the scheduled recording execution unit 7 writes the digital video signal of the broadcast program of the desired channel encoded by the encoder 2 into the DVR 3 based on the recording reservation information under the control of the CPU 9.

  When the recording is finished, in step S120, the CPU 9 acquires the program title name information and the program detailed information of the currently recorded program from the electronic program guide information, and at least one of the acquired program title name information and the program detailed information, It is determined whether or not an external character “end” indicating the last episode of the series program is included. If the external character “end” is included (step S120: YES), the CPU 9 stores the detection flag as 1 in step S130.

  When the last character is not included (step S120: NO), in step S140, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the program title name information includes the “last” character string. When the character string “final” is included (step S140: YES), the process proceeds to step S130, and the CPU 9 stores the detection flag as 1. If the “final” character string is not included (step S140: NO), the process proceeds to step S150.

  In step S150, the CPU 9 stores the program data of the program included in the designated range for the next reservation setting corresponding day of the repetitive pattern after the next day at the same broadcast station as the recorded program. Obtained from program guide information. The designated range is, for example, a range including the time from the recording start time to the recording end time in the recording reservation information and a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours) before and after the time. The program data includes at least the broadcast start time of the program, the duration or broadcast end time of the program, program title name information (character data), and a genre code.

  Next, in step S160, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the program title name of the acquired program data is the same as the program title name of the recorded program. Whether the program title names are the same is determined by, for example, decomposing the program title name in the program data as the comparison destination character by character from the character string of the program title name of the recording reservation information as the comparison source. The frequency of appearing in the comparison source in order from the first character is counted, and if the number of comparison source characters is the same, for example, 80% or more, it is determined that the program title names are the same.

  When there is a program with the same program title name (step S160: YES), in step S170, the CPU 9 sets the recording reservation setting unit 6 so as to update the recording reservation information with the broadcast start / end date / time of the program as the recording start / end date / time. Control. When there is no program with the same program title name (step S160: NO), in step S180, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the detection flag is 1.

  When the detection flag is 1 (step S180: YES), in step S190, the CPU 9 controls the recording reservation setting unit 6 to delete the recording reservation information of the recorded program. When the detection flag is not 1 (step S180: NO), the process proceeds to step S170, and the CPU 9 controls the recording reservation setting unit 6 to update the recording reservation information for the next recording execution.

  As described above, according to the program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment, the information indicating the last time is detected from the program title name information and the detailed program information of the recorded program by using an external character or a character string, and is recorded this time. If there is no next corresponding program that should exist if the program is not the last time, the program recorded this time is judged to be the last time and the recording reservation information is deleted. The recording reservation of the series program can be automatically deleted by the discrimination of the times. As a result, it is possible to prevent useless recording and to eliminate the trouble of the user canceling the reservation.

  If the next scheduled program is scheduled to be deleted when the next recorded program does not exist in the scheduled recording program, the last round will be reached once, but the program will be restarted as another series from the next time. Since the reservation is not deleted, it is possible to prevent the reservation from being deleted.

  In step S160, the genre code is compared with the program title name, so that a more reliable search can be performed. Furthermore, by comparing the genre codes first, the number of programs for which the program title names are compared can be reduced, and the search process can be lightened and the processing speed can be improved.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the processing by the processing after the end of the recording has been described. However, the final detection may be performed before the recording is executed, for example, when the electronic program guide information is updated. In the second embodiment, when the electronic program guide information is updated, there is a so-called program following function that automatically updates the recording reservation that is currently set in accordance with the change in the broadcast start / end time of the program. In the program recording apparatus, an example will be described in which the final detection determination is performed simultaneously with the reservation update process by program following. The configuration of the program recording apparatus according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the program recording apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  A procedure for detecting the final series program in the program recording apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for detecting the final series program in the program recording apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  When the latest electronic program guide information is acquired by the EPG analyzer 5 in step S210, in step S220, the CPU 9 uses the recording reservation information that has been set as a comparison source, and considers program fluctuations to record in the recording reservation information. For programs included in a range including the time from the start time to the recording end time and a predetermined time before and after that (for example, 2 hours), a program with almost the same title name is detected, the broadcast start end time, the program title name, etc. Compare

  In step S230, the CPU 9 controls the recording reservation setting unit 6 to change the recording reservation information if there is a difference in the broadcast start / end time or the program title name based on the comparison result in step S220.

  Next, in step S240, the CPU 9 acquires the program title name information and program detailed information of the program currently set for recording reservation from the electronic program guide information, and at least one of the acquired program title name information and program detailed information. It is determined whether or not an external character “end” indicating the final episode of the series program is included. When the external character “end” is included (step S240: YES), the CPU 9 stores the detection flag as 1 in step S250.

  If the last character is not included (step S240: NO), in step S260, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the “final” character string is included in the program title name information. When the character string “final” is included (step S260: YES), the process proceeds to step S250, and the CPU 9 stores the detection flag as 1. If the “final” character string is not included (step S260: NO), the process proceeds to step S270.

  In step S270, the CPU 9 sends the program data of the program included in the designated range of the next reservation setting corresponding day of the repetition pattern after the next day to the EPG analyzer 5 in the same broadcasting station as the program currently set for recording reservation. Acquired from the stored electronic program guide information. The designated range is, for example, a range including the time from the recording start time to the recording end time in the recording reservation information and a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours) before and after the time.

  Next, in step S280, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the program title name of the acquired program data is the same as the program title name of the program that is currently set for recording reservation. If there is a program with the same program title name (step S280: YES), the process is terminated as it is. When there is no program with the same program title name (step S280: NO), in step S290, the CPU 9 determines whether or not the detection flag is 1.

  When the detection flag is 1 (step S290: YES), in step S300, the CPU 9 adds a final flag to the recording reservation information and controls the recording reservation setting unit 6 to set this final flag as 1. To do. If the detection flag is not 1 (step S290: NO), the series of processes is terminated.

  FIG. 6 shows the recording reservation information with the final flag added. The CPU 9 confirms the final flag after executing the scheduled recording. If the final flag is 1, the CPU 9 controls the recording reservation setting unit 6 to delete the recording reservation information.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the recording reservation of the series program can be automatically deleted by the final determination that can be realized in the current broadcasting operation.

  In addition, for example, when checking whether or not the recording reservation is duplicated when making another recording reservation, since it can be seen that the recording reservation disappears after the last time, it can be excluded from the overlapping partner. Can be obtained. Further, it is possible to obtain the effect that the latest electronic program guide information that is always held by the EPG analyzer 5 can be matched with the recording reservation information.

  It should be noted that only when the last character of “end” is detected, it may be determined that the last time at that time, and the last time flag may be set to 1 in the recording reservation information. ”May be determined as the last time at that time, and the last time flag may be set to 1 in the recording reservation information.

  Further, the step S140 of detecting the “final” character string may be omitted, or it may be determined that the last character is detected only by detecting the external character of “final”, and the final flag is set to 1 in the recording reservation information. It may be.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the program recording apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the series program broadcast by a repeating pattern. It is a figure which shows an example of the video recording reservation information in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which deletes the recording reservation information of a series program automatically in the program recording device which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which detects the last time of a series program in the program recording apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the video recording reservation information in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Tuner 2 Encoder 3 Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
4 Decoder 5 EPG Analyzer 6 Recording Schedule Setting Unit 7 Reserved Recording Execution Unit 8 On-Screen Display (OSD)
9 CPU
10 TV monitor

Claims (4)

Electronic program that acquires electronic program guide information including broadcast date information, broadcast start time information, broadcast duration information or broadcast end time information, program title name information, and program detailed information of a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast Table acquisition means;
When making a recording reservation for a series program that is a program broadcast in a weekly or daily repetition pattern, the recording reservation date, recording start time, recording end time, program title name, and the repetition pattern are set as recording reservation information. Recording reservation setting means,
Recording means for performing reservation recording based on the recording reservation information;
Program title name information and program detailed information of the program recorded by the recording means are acquired from the electronic program guide information, and the series program is obtained from at least one of the acquired program title name information and program detailed information. A final character for detecting the last character of the series program is detected as first final information, and a character string indicating the last time of the series program is detected as second final information from the character string of the program title name information. An information detecting means,
The recording reservation setting means, when at least one of the first final information and the second final information is detected by the final information detection means, records the recording reservation information of the series program. A program recording apparatus which is means for deleting. In the same broadcasting station as the recorded series program, the program title name of the series program is compared with a plurality of program title names included in the electronic program guide information. When there is a program title name having characters that match at least a predetermined percentage of the total number of characters of the title name, the program title name is substantially the same as the program title name of the series program. A title name detecting means for detecting the name
The title name detection means uses a time from a recording start time to a recording end time in the recording reservation information of the recorded series program and a predetermined time before and after the recording target range as a search target range, and the next reservation setting corresponding day of the repetitive pattern Means for searching for a program title name within the search target range of
In the recording reservation setting means, at least one of the first last time information and the second last time information is detected by the last time information detecting means, and the substantially same name is detected by the title name detecting means. 2. The program recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said program recording device is means for deleting said recording reservation information of said series program when no program title name is detected. Electronic program that acquires electronic program guide information including broadcast date information, broadcast start time information, broadcast duration information or broadcast end time information, program title name information, and program detailed information of a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast Table acquisition means;
When making a recording reservation for a series program that is a program broadcast in a weekly or daily repetition pattern, the recording reservation date, recording start time, recording end time, program title name, and the repetition pattern are set as recording reservation information. Recording reservation setting means,
When the latest electronic program guide information is acquired by the electronic program guide acquisition means, the program title name information and program detailed information of the program that is set for recording reservation by the recording reservation setting means at that time are displayed in the latest electronic program guide information. Information is acquired from the information, and an external character indicating the last round of the series program is detected as first last round information from at least one of the obtained program title name information and the program detailed information, and the program title Last time information detecting means for detecting a character string indicating the last time of the series program as second last time information from within a character string of name information,
The recording reservation setting means, when at least one of the first final information and the second final information is detected by the final information detecting means, the recording reservation information includes the recording reservation information. A program recording apparatus, characterized in that it is means for setting a flag indicating that recording reservation information is to be deleted after execution of reserved recording based on reservation information. In the same broadcasting station as the series program reserved for recording, the program title name of the series program reserved for recording is compared with a plurality of program title names included in the electronic program guide information, and the result of the comparison When there is a program title name having characters that match at least a predetermined percentage of the total number of characters of the program title name of the series program, this program title name is designated as the program title name of the series program. And a title name detecting means for detecting as a program title name substantially the same as
The title name detection means uses a time from a recording start time to a recording end time in the recording reservation information of the series program as well as a predetermined time before and after the recording target range as a search target range, Means for searching for a program title name within the search target range;
In the recording reservation setting means, at least one of the first last time information and the second last time information is detected by the last time information detecting means, and the substantially same name is detected by the title name detecting means. When the program title name is not detected, the recording reservation information is a means for setting a flag indicating that the recording reservation information is to be deleted after execution of the reserved recording based on the recording reservation information. Item 4. The program recording device according to Item 3.

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