JP5079205B2 - System and method for providing program guide data - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing program guide data .

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in addition to broadcast programs, there are broadcast systems that provide viewers with various contents related to a program such as a broadcast program table composed of EPG information or product catalog information. While viewing the program displayed on the display screen, the viewer can acquire content related to the program and receive services such as purchase of products.

  In order to provide the above EPG information, program information including scheduling information for a predetermined number of days from each broadcast station is collected in a lump at approximately the same timing, and after each common program information is distributed to each broadcast station, each broadcast The EPG information is transmitted by multiplexing from the station to a TS packet or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The technical literature information related to the present invention includes the following.

JP 2000-252927 A

However, since it is necessary to collect program information from each broadcasting station and distribute the integrated common program information, the schedule for creating and registering program information for each broadcasting station is inflexible. To determine the timing for creating and registering program information for each broadcasting station, such as registering program information for some of the program information and modifying the remaining program information. It was difficult. In addition, if a content provider that provides various content related to a program wants to advertise / sell content meta information that it owns by effectively using the program information, negotiations with broadcasting stations are necessary. It was.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to create or register program information for each program at each broadcasting station, and to provide content program information and content on a network. To provide a new and improved program information processing system and program registration terminal device which can handle information in association with each other.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a program information management device for managing program information related to a program on a network and a program transmitted to the program information management device for registering program information. A program information processing system is provided in which a registered terminal device and a program confirmation terminal device for confirming program information are connected. In the program information processing system, the program registration terminal device includes at least an input reception unit that receives input of program information related to the program of the own station; and a program meta for configuring as a program guide based on the program information received by the input reception unit. A program meta information generating unit for generating information; and a registration instruction unit for instructing the program information management device to register the program meta information in units of program meta information. A program meta information registration unit for registering the program meta information at least in units of programs in accordance with an instruction for registering the program meta information from; and a program meta information storage unit for storing the registered program meta information at least in units of programs The program confirmation terminal device receives a display request for program meta information at least on the broadcast date basis of the program; A program meta information acquisition unit that acquires digit program meta information from the program information management device; a program table configuration permission unit that updates status information related to the program meta information for each program meta information and permits configuration of the program table It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the present invention, in the program information processing system, when a broadcast program is registered, program information is input to the program registration terminal device for each program, and program meta information is generated for each program. The generated program meta information is managed for each program in the program information management device, and when the configuration of the program guide is permitted from the program confirmation terminal device, the corresponding program meta information is extracted and integrated as a program guide. With this configuration, since each piece of program information is managed individually rather than collectively, such as every broadcast day of each station, each program is not affected by the creation or registration of other program information. Processing such as creation of program information alone can be executed at an optimal timing.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program registration terminal device is provided. The program registration terminal device receives an input of program information consisting of at least one of outline information, detailed information, and broadcast date / time information related to a program of the own station; An input receiving unit; a program meta information generating unit that generates program meta information to be configured as a program guide based on the program information received by the input receiving unit; a registration instruction for instructing registration of the program meta information for each program It is characterized by providing a part.

  According to the present invention, the program registration terminal device accepts input of program information for each program and generates program meta information from the accepted program information. Further, the program registration terminal device instructs to register the program meta information in units of programs. With this configuration, the program meta information can be efficiently accessed, copied, or edited individually by generating the program meta information for each program.

  You may comprise so that at least content meta information may be linked | related with program meta information. With this configuration, it is possible to easily access highly relevant content from the program meta information. In addition, not only content meta information but another program meta information may be associated.

  The program registration terminal device may further include an information adding unit that adds one or more broadcast date and time information to the program meta information. With this configuration, the broadcast date and time information can be managed independently, the program broadcast date and time can be determined at an appropriate timing, and added to the program meta information.

  The information adding unit may be configured to collectively add a plurality of broadcast date and time information to the program meta information. With such a configuration, it is possible to efficiently add and register broadcast date and time information to existing program meta information in a program that is broadcast a plurality of times such as a rebroadcast and a continuous program.

  The broadcast date / time information may include broadcast date information related to the broadcast date of the program and / or broadcast time information related to the broadcast time.

  The program registration terminal device further includes a display unit; the display unit may be configured to display a program meta information processing screen for processing the program meta information. With this configuration, information related to multiple programs can be centrally managed and corrected by displaying common summary information, detailed information, broadcast date and time information, etc. related to multiple programs on the program meta information processing screen. , The efficiency of editing such as addition is improved. In particular, when there are a plurality of similar programs such as rebroadcasts and continuous programs, the efficiency of the editing process is dramatically improved.

  The display unit may be configured to display a date screen for selecting broadcast date information together with the program meta information processing screen.

  The information adding unit adds additional instruction information for adding the selected date and time information among the plurality of date and time information displayed on the date screen to the program meta information displayed on the program meta information processing screen as broadcast date and time information. May be configured to generate. With this configuration, broadcast date and time information can be intuitively and efficiently added from a highly visible date screen to the program meta information processing screen without requiring any special instruction.

  The additional instruction information may be configured to be generated by at least copy and paste, drag and drop, or cut and paste. With this configuration, any user regardless of beginner can generate additional instruction information and add broadcast date and time information with a simple operation.

  In copy and paste, drag and drop, or cut and paste, the date displayed on the date display screen moves at least to the area displaying the broadcast date and time information on the program meta information processing screen You may comprise as follows.

  The information adding unit may be configured to generate copy instruction information for copying detailed information related to the first program to detailed information related to the second program. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the processing time spent on creating detailed information and shorten the creation time by efficiently using past detailed information without having to create the detailed information once created from the beginning. .

  In the copy instruction information, the first broadcast date and time information displayed on the program meta information processing screen is at least copied and pasted, dragged and dropped, or cut and pasted into the second broadcast date and time information. Can be configured to generate automatically. With this configuration, any user regardless of beginner can generate copy instruction information and copy detailed information with a simple operation.

  The registration instruction unit can be configured to instruct registration of the program meta information in conjunction with the generation of the program meta information. With this configuration, when the program meta information is generated from the program information, the program meta information can be registered or updated in real time in conjunction with it.

  The registration instruction unit can be configured to transmit the program meta information to a designated registration destination.

  The program registration terminal device may further include a program meta information storage unit that records and holds program meta information for which registration is instructed in units of programs. With such a configuration, it is possible to improve the registration processing efficiency of program meta information while reducing traffic by reducing the amount of information transmitted and received via the network.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer program is provided. The computer program includes a process for receiving an input of program information including at least one of summary information, detailed information, and broadcast date / time information about a program of the own station; a program guide based on the program information received by the input receiving unit And a program registration method including a process for generating program meta information to be configured as: a process for instructing registration of the program meta information for each program meta information unit.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium on which a computer program is recorded is provided. The recording medium is a process for receiving an input of program information including at least one of summary information, detailed information, and broadcast date / time information regarding at least one program of the own station by a recorded computer program; Causing a computer to execute a program registration method including processing for generating program meta information to be configured as a program guide based on program information; and processing for instructing registration of the program meta information for each program meta information unit It is characterized by.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program registration method is provided, and the program registration method includes at least summary information, detailed information, or broadcast date / time information about the program of the own station. An input receiving process for receiving an input of at least one program information; a program meta information generating process for generating program meta information to be configured as a program table based on the program information received by the input receiving unit; The information unit includes a registration instruction process for instructing registration of the program meta information.

  You may comprise so that at least content meta information may be linked | related with program meta information.

  The program registration method may be configured to further include information addition processing for adding one or more broadcast date and time information to the program meta information.

  The information addition process may be configured to add a plurality of broadcast date and time information to the program meta information in a lump.

  The broadcast date / time information may include broadcast date information related to the broadcast date of the program and / or broadcast time information related to the broadcast time.

  The program registration method may be configured to further include a screen display process for displaying a program meta information processing screen for processing the program meta information.

  The screen display process may be configured to display a date screen for selecting broadcast date and time information together with the program meta information processing screen.

  The information addition processing is an addition for adding the selected date / time information among the plurality of date / time information displayed on the date / month / day screen as broadcast date / time information to the program meta information displayed on the program meta information processing screen. You may comprise so that instruction information may be produced | generated.

  The additional instruction information may be generated by at least copy and paste, drag and drop, or cut and paste.

  The information addition process may be configured to generate copy instruction information for copying detailed information related to the first program to detailed information related to the second program.

  In the copy instruction information, the first broadcast date and time information displayed on the program meta information processing screen is at least copied and pasted, dragged and dropped, or cut and pasted into the second broadcast date and time information. You may comprise so that it may produce | generate by.

  The registration instruction process may be configured to instruct registration of the program meta information in conjunction with the generation of the program meta information.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program registration terminal device is provided. The program registration terminal apparatus performs at least a program registration instruction process and a broadcast date and time addition instruction process for a broadcast program according to at least a user's access, and a communication unit that performs two-way communication with a server via a network. A storage unit storing each processing software; at least an input unit for inputting an instruction or information; according to an operation of the input unit by a user, accepting at least input of program information related to the program of the own station using the processing software An input reception unit; a program meta information generation unit that receives program information from the input reception unit and generates program meta information in units of programs using processing software; and processing software based on an operation of the input unit by a user And a registration instruction unit for instructing an external device to register the program meta information for each program meta information unit.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program management apparatus is provided. The program management device includes a communication unit that performs two-way communication via a network; and registers the program meta information at least in units of programs in accordance with registration instruction information that instructs registration of the program meta information transmitted from the external terminal device A program meta information registration unit; and a program meta information storage unit that stores at least program meta information in units of programs.

  According to the present invention, the program management device stores and manages the program meta information for each program in the program meta information recording unit according to the registration instruction information transmitted via the network. With this configuration, it is possible to execute editing processing such as addition or deletion on the content included in the registered program meta information for each program at a desired timing regardless of other program meta information.

  The program meta information stored in the program meta information storage unit may be configured to be associated with at least content meta information related to the program.

  The content meta information may be configured to include link information for accessing the content entity. With this configuration, the target content entity can be directly accessed from the content meta information.

  The program information management device includes: a program meta information extraction unit that collectively extracts a plurality of program meta information configured as a program table among a plurality of program meta information stored in the program meta information storage unit at least every broadcast day May be further provided. With this configuration, it is possible to efficiently create a list of programs to be broadcast on a designated broadcast date.

  The program meta information extraction unit may be configured to extract program meta information broadcast on a predetermined broadcast day in units of programs. With this configuration, only the program meta information related to one program can be directly and individually extracted, and the efficiency of processing such as searching for program meta information for editing such as correction and addition can be improved.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program management apparatus is provided. The program management device includes a communication unit that performs two-way communication with an external terminal device via a network; each processing of program registration processing of a broadcast program or addition processing of a broadcast date and time according to a request from at least the external terminal device A storage unit storing at least software; an input unit for inputting instructions or information; a program meta information registration unit for registering program meta information transmitted from an external terminal device using processing software; A program meta information storage unit that stores the program meta information at least in units of programs; out of the program meta information stored in the program meta information storage unit, program meta information that is configured as a program table is extracted for each station by broadcast day And a program meta information extraction unit.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer program is provided. According to registration instruction information for instructing registration of program meta information transmitted from a program external terminal device, the computer program includes a program meta information registration process for registering the program meta information at least in units of programs; It is characterized by causing a computer to execute a program information management method including program meta information storage processing stored in units.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium on which a computer program is recorded is provided. The recording medium includes a program meta information registration process for registering the program meta information at least in units of programs in accordance with registration instruction information for instructing registration of the program meta information transmitted from the external terminal device by a computer program; And a program information management method including at least a program meta information storing process for storing the program in units of programs.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program information management method is provided. The program information management method includes: program meta information registration processing for registering at least program meta information according to registration instruction information for instructing registration of program meta information transmitted from an external terminal device; And a program meta information storing process for storing in units of programs.

  You may comprise so that the content meta information relevant to a program may be linked | related with the program meta information stored by the program meta information storage process.

  In the program information management method, a plurality of program meta information configured as a program guide among a plurality of program meta information stored in the program meta information storage processing is extracted at least on a broadcast day basis. Processing may be further included.

  The program meta information extraction process may be configured to extract program meta information broadcast on a specified broadcast day in units of programs.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a communication unit that performs two-way communication via a network; and a request to display program meta information of each station that includes at least content related to a program, A display request receiving unit that receives the broadcast date of each program broadcast; a program meta information acquiring unit that acquires the program meta information received by the display request receiving unit; and status information about the program meta information for each program meta information And a program guide configuration permitting section for permitting the configuration of the program guide.

  According to the present invention, the program confirmation terminal device acquires one or more pieces of program meta information and designates the program meta information that can be configured in the program table when at least a date is designated in broadcast date units when the program is broadcast. Updates status information. With such a configuration, it is possible to collectively acquire a plurality of program meta information included in a program table to be service provided, and to permit the configuration of the program table for the program meta information quickly and efficiently.

  The program meta information may be configured to be associated with at least content meta information related to the program. By displaying the program meta information on the screen in the form of a list, it is possible to grasp the contents of a plurality of program meta information at a time, and to improve the efficiency of permission processing for permitting the configuration of the program guide.

  The display request receiving unit may be configured to receive a program meta information display request in units of programs.

  The program confirmation terminal device further includes a display unit; the display unit may be configured to display the program meta information acquired in units of programs in a list form.

  The display unit may be configured to control display of the program meta information according to status information included in the program meta information. With this configuration, the status information of one or more displayed program meta information can be easily viewed, and the efficiency of the configuration permission process is improved.

  The status information may be configured to be at least one of program table configuration permission / non-permission of the program meta information, presence / absence of content meta information associated with the program meta information, and validity of the content meta information. it can.

  According to the status information, at least one of the index, program meta information, color, pattern, or shape displayed in the program frame of the program guide may be controlled.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program confirmation method is provided. The above-described program confirmation method includes a display request reception process for receiving a program meta information display request of each station including at least content related to a program in units of broadcast days on which the program is broadcast; Program meta information acquisition processing to be performed; program meta information for each program, status information related to the program meta information is updated for each program, and program table configuration permission processing for permitting the configuration of the program table is included.

  The display request receiving process may be configured to receive the display request for the program meta information in units of programs.

  The program confirmation process may further include a list display process for displaying the program meta information acquired for each program in a list form.

  The list display process may be configured to control the display of the program meta information in accordance with the status information included in the program meta information.

  The status information is configured to be at least one of program meta information permission / denial of program meta information, presence / absence of content meta information associated with the program meta information, and validity / invalidity of the content meta information. Also good.

  Depending on the status information, at least one of the index, program meta information, color, pattern, or shape displayed in the program frame of the program guide may be controlled.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer program is provided. The above-mentioned computer program acquires a display request reception process for receiving a program meta-information display request of each station including at least contents related to a program in units of broadcast days broadcasted by the program; and acquires the program meta-information received by the display request reception unit Causing the computer to execute a program confirmation method including program meta information acquisition processing; program meta information for each program, status information relating to the program meta information is updated, and program guide configuration permission processing for permitting the configuration of the program guide is included. It is characterized by that.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium on which a computer program is recorded is provided. The recording medium includes: a display request receiving process for receiving a program meta information display request of each station including at least contents related to a program by broadcast day unit broadcast by the computer program; a program received by the display request receiving unit A program confirmation method including: program meta information acquisition processing for acquiring meta information; and program guide configuration permission processing for updating status information related to the program meta information and permitting the configuration of the program guide for each program meta information. It is characterized by having a computer execute.

  As described above, according to the present invention, each broadcast station can create and register program information for each program. Therefore, it is possible to flexibly cope with a schedule for creating and registering program information for each program. It is possible to search program information efficiently when past program information is repeatedly used.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the accompanying drawings, components having substantially the same functions and configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

(1. Program information processing system)
First, a program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a program information processing system according to the present embodiment.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, a program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment includes at least a general user 101, a broadcast station 102, a content providing company 104, and a planning company 105.

  The planning company 105 is a company that provides a platform for the program information processing system 100. Furthermore, the planning company 105 performs customer management using the service of the program information processing system 100 and settlement by buying and selling of content entities.

  Next, the content providing company 104 is a company that produces, manages, or provides various content entities. Note that the content providing company 104 also manages or provides content meta information and the like related to the content entity.

  The content entity is a content itself composed of at least one of a product, a program, a package, a service, still image data, moving image data, music data, or text.

  The content meta information is data representing the contents of the content entity. That is, the content meta information describes the contents of the content entity. The content meta information will be described in detail later.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the general user 104 includes one or more user terminal devices 107 (107a, 107b,..., 107n) used by the general user. The broadcasting station 102 includes a terrestrial analog broadcasting station 109a, a BS digital broadcasting station 109b, a 124 ° / 128 ° CS (Communication Satellite) digital broadcasting station 109c,..., A terrestrial digital broadcasting station 109n, and a plurality of broadcasting stations. 109 is provided.

  The broadcast station 102 transmits a program to a user by, for example, uplinking or downlinking radio waves such as broadcast waves. It also collects fees for viewing programs transmitted from users.

  By operating the user terminal device 107 by a general user, the general user can use the service provided by the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment. Services provided to the general user 104 by the program information processing system 100 include, for example, a reservation instruction based on program information in the program guide displayed on the display unit 247 of the user terminal device 107, It is possible to purchase related products (content entities). Note that the program information is a general term for information related to a program in a broad sense, and is information necessary when registering a program in a narrow sense. Therefore, the program meta information is also one piece of information related to the program.

  As described above, the broadcasting station 109 is provided with broadcasting equipment for broadcasting a program for each channel. As broadcasting forms of the broadcasting station 109, there are terrestrial analog broadcasting, BS digital broadcasting, and the like.

  In order to broadcast a program, it is necessary to register information related to the program in advance before a predetermined period of the broadcast date and time, but in each broadcast station 109, a program registration terminal device 129 (129a, 129b) for registering information related to the program. , 129c... 129n). Registration can be performed in units of programs by the registration process by the program registration terminal device 129. The program registration terminal device 129 will be described in detail later.

  The program registration terminal device 129 can be instructed to register information related to the program of the broadcast program by operating the program registration terminal device 129 by a broadcaster related person (broadcast station user). By registering information related to the above programs on a program-by-program basis, program information can be edited on a registered program basis, or program information can be provided to the general user 101 or content provider 104, and broadcast program advertisements and program information can be used. Business can be developed and content content can be sold and commissions can be collected.

  Further, the content providing company 104 includes one or more content providing terminal devices 113 (113a, 113b,..., 113n). The content providing terminal device 113 transmits the produced content entity or content meta information to the planning company 105 via the network 103. Details of the content providing terminal device 113 will be described later.

  The content providing terminal device 113 is operated by a content providing related person (content user), so that the content providing terminal device 113 can receive content meta information related to program information or program meta information held by the planning company, Entities can be registered. By the registration, the content meta information is associated with the program information, and the program information can be provided and the content meta information can be provided to the general user 101 to sell the content entity or the like.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the planning company 105 is provided with a service providing device 111. The service providing apparatus 111 is connected to the broadcasting station 109, the content providing terminal apparatus 113, and the user terminal 107 via the network 103.

  The service providing apparatus 111 manages each process for providing the service of the program information processing system 100, and further manages DB of program meta information and the like transmitted from each broadcasting station 109. The service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the case where there is only one service providing apparatus 111 for the planning company 105 as an example. However, it can be implemented. The service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment corresponds to a program information management apparatus that manages program meta information.

  Furthermore, the planning company 105 is provided with a program confirmation terminal device 121 connected to the service providing device 111 via a network. The planning user operates the program confirmation terminal device 121 to access the service providing device 111 and confirm, for example, whether or not the registered program meta information is in a state where the service can be provided. Note that the program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example a case where the program confirmation terminal device 121 is connected to the service providing device 111 via an internal network such as a LAN in the planning company 105, but is limited to this example. For example, the program confirmation terminal device 121 may be arranged outside the planning company 105 and connected to the service providing device 111 via a network such as the Internet VPN or a dedicated line.

  Access is a general term for information processing that processes information via the network 103, such as system use, connection to a server, file reference, file storage, file deletion, or file change.

  The service providing apparatus 111 provides services such as program registration and provision of a program guide in response to a request from the user terminal 107 connected to the network 103 or a program registration support terminal apparatus. The service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a server of a client / server system, but is not limited to this example, and may be a general-purpose machine provided in a central management system or the like.

  The program guide according to the present embodiment can be exemplified by an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) or ECG (Electronic Content Guide), but is not limited to this example. The program schedule will be described in detail later.

  The network 103 (103a, 103b, 103c) communicates with the broadcasting station 109 (109a, 109b,..., 109n), the content providing terminal device 104 (104a, 104b,..., 104n), and the service providing device 105, respectively. Connected as possible.

  Further, the service providing apparatus 105 according to the present embodiment may be provided in each of the broadcast stations 102 (102a, 102b, 102c,..., 102n), and the broadcast stations 102 (102a, 102b, 102c, 102d,. 102n) may share one service providing apparatus 105 and use it.

  Although not shown in FIG. 1, the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment includes one or more commissioned broadcasters and one or more EPG service providing devices (not shown). .) May also be included.

  The consigned broadcaster is a company that provides channels, and also produces programs and organizes / sends programs. For example, the consigned broadcaster can exemplify, for example, a program supply company (number).

  In the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment, as a service for the general user 101 located in the most downstream process, the service providing device 105 provided in the planning company 104 as a program information providing service is a user terminal device of the general user 101. A service 107 provides a broadcast program guide such as EPG or ECG. The user terminal device 107 can acquire information such as program information via the program guide.

  The service providing apparatus 105 according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example the case of providing program information included in the broadcast program guide. However, if the organization exists or the concept of time such as a time table exists. , It is not limited to such an example. For example, the present invention can be implemented even in the case of a radio program guide instead of a broadcast program guide.

  The EPG service providing device (not shown) also provides the EPG to the user terminal device 107, but the service is limited to providing EPG program information to the user terminal device 107. It differs from the providing device 105.

  The broadcast program guide (program guide) is composed of various information including one or more program meta information. As will be described in detail later, a plurality of program meta information and the like are displayed on the display unit in accordance with a predetermined layout such as a broadcast date and a broadcast time, whereby the entire program table can be configured.

  The user terminal device 107 displays a broadcast program guide. When program meta information of a program displayed in the broadcast program guide is selected by an operation from a general user, content meta information related to the program meta information is displayed / displayed. Search and access content entities.

  Further, the user terminal device 107 can display the acquired content entity in the display area in the display screen of the display unit 247. Note that the content entity or the like is linked below the level of the program meta information included in the broadcast program guide, for example.

(1.1 Operation method of program information processing system)
As described above, the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment can provide a program guide to the general user 101. In order to provide the program guide, it is necessary to register various information such as program meta information from the broadcasting station 101 or the content providing company 104 in the service providing apparatus 111 of the planning company 105.

  Here, the operation of the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of the operation of the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the operation of the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment, a program is first registered in the process step 1. Program registration refers to registering information related to a program determined by the organization of the program by the organization meeting of the broadcast station users of each broadcast station 102 or the like.

  Therefore, the user who registers the program in the processing step 1 shown in FIG. 2 is a program provider (broadcast station related person). The broadcast station related person (broadcast station user) operates the program registration terminal device 129. The program registration terminal device 129 can register a program in units of programs by an operation by a broadcast station user. The program registration process will be described later.

  The program registration is to store information on the program in a database (DB). In addition, information related to a program can be exemplified by, for example, program meta information, but is not limited to such an example.

  When registering a program, as shown in FIG. 2, the broadcast station user inputs the ID and password of each person to the program registration terminal device 129 using the input unit 207. Therefore, if the user is not authenticated, the broadcast station user cannot register the program. In addition, although the case where ID and a password are previously given to each person is explained as an example, the present invention is not limited to such an example, and each person may use it freely. Further, it can be implemented even when charging is performed according to the process used by the user after authentication.

When registering the program, the program registration terminal device 129 uses the processing software (program setting application) stored in the storage unit 201 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 to register the program in the service providing device 111. ing. Specifically, the program setting application generates program meta information and transmits the program meta information via the communication unit 215 in order to instruct to register the program meta information. Details will be described later.

  Next, when the registration of the program is completed, in processing step 2, a process for associating the content meta information with the program meta information registered in the service providing apparatus 111 is performed. When the content meta information is associated, the content meta information is associated with the designated program meta information. In addition to the content meta information, the content entity, other program meta information, and the like can be associated with the program meta information.

  A user who is a target of registration processing of content meta information or the like in the program meta information in the processing step 2 is a content user of the content providing company 104. The content user inputs his / her ID and password to the content providing terminal device 113. The content user can associate the program meta information of an appropriate program. The target programs that can be associated are all stations, but the present invention is not limited to such an example, and broadcast stations may be limited for each content user to be authenticated.

  During the process of associating the content meta information with the program meta information, the content providing terminal device 113 uses the processing software (association setting application) stored in the storage unit provided in the content providing terminal device 113 to store the content in the program meta information. It associates meta information etc.

  Note that when associating other program meta information with the registered program meta information, the content user has no processing authority, and the target user that can be processed is a broadcast station user. The association between the program meta information and the program meta information is basically limited to the program registered in the own station. However, other than this, for example, the program meta information is produced in cooperation with a plurality of broadcasting stations. In the case of association between programs or contents, broadcast station users belonging to the above-mentioned multiple broadcast stations, for example, program meta information of other stations, etc. It can be associated with meta information etc.

  Next, when the process of associating the program meta information and the content meta information is performed, in the process step 3, the broadcast station user of each station is associated by the content providing terminal device 113 using the program registration terminal device 129. Processing for confirming the program meta information and the content meta information is performed.

  As a result of the broadcast station user's operation on the program registration terminal device 129, a confirmation program table in which the broadcast date is specified is displayed on the display unit 211 provided in the program registration terminal device 129. In the program frame of the program guide, the registered program meta information or the unregistered program frame is displayed.

  The broadcast station user checks the registered program meta information or, if there is content meta information associated with the program meta information, confirms whether appropriate content meta information corresponding to the program is associated. The screen on which the program guide is displayed or program confirmation processing will be described in detail later.

  When the broadcast station user confirms the program meta information or the content meta information from the program table displayed on the display unit 211, the broadcast station user operates the program registration terminal device 129 so that the program registration terminal device 129 , The service providing apparatus 111 is notified of the end of the confirmation process.

  During the confirmation processing of the program meta information or the content meta information, the program registration terminal device 129 receives the program guide by using processing software (program setting application) stored in the storage unit provided in the program registration terminal device 129. The program table is displayed on the display unit.

  After the confirmation process, the program meta information and the like related to the broadcast program of each station is sequentially extracted at a predetermined date and time so as to be in time for the broadcast time of the program, so that the program table data is generated. . For example, program guide data is generated at a time in batch processing at night, or program guide data is generated in response to a request from the user terminal device 109 of a general user.

  Next, in the process step 4, a pre-maintenance process is performed before providing services such as a program guide to general users. The target users who can execute the advance maintenance process are planning users belonging to the planning company 105.

  The planning user needs to enter his / her ID and password in the program confirmation terminal device 121 and receive authentication. Upon receiving the authentication, when the planning user designates the broadcast date and time to the program confirmation terminal device 121, the program confirmation terminal device 121 accesses the service providing device 111, and the program meta information of the program scheduled to be broadcast at the designated broadcast date and time. Receive.

  Further, by the operation of the planning user on the program confirmation terminal device 121, the program confirmation terminal device 121 causes the display unit 221 corresponding to the display to prepare the program meta information and the like, for example, the program meta information and the like in the form of a program table or the like. indicate.

  On the display unit 221, program meta information is displayed in the program frame assigned to the program guide, and the planning user confirms, for example, whether or not the final confirmation was made by the broadcast station user. Further, the planning user operates the program confirmation terminal device 121, so that the program confirmation terminal device 121 updates the status information in order to permit the configuration of the program table for the confirmed program meta information. The status information indicates states such as registration / non-registration of programs, presence / absence of final confirmation regarding program meta information of each program, presence / absence of associated content meta information, and the like. Details will be described later.

  Note that the processing performed by the program confirmation terminal device 121 is performed by using the processing software (service management application) stored in the storage unit 235 provided in the program confirmation terminal device 121 to perform update processing, display processing, and the like. Is called.

  Next, when the assembly of the program guide is permitted with the program meta information of each program as a part, the program guide data is provided to the user terminal device 109 of the general user 101 according to the designated date in the processing step 5. Start. Note that the program guide assembled in the processing step 4 is transmitted from the service providing apparatus 111 to a WWW server (not shown), and the program guide data is transmitted from the WWW server to each user terminal device 109. The WWW server stores processing software (distribution application) for transmitting data such as a program guide in a format such as BML or HTML.

  When the program guide data is distributed to the user terminal device 109 of the general user 101 which is the final process, the program guide can be displayed on the display unit of the user terminal device 109. Further, it is possible to charge each time content meta information related to the program meta information on which the content of a desired program is displayed is accessed by the user terminal device 109 from the displayed program guide.

  Here, the service provision screen displayed on the display unit of the user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment by providing the program guide will be described with reference to FIGS. The program guide will be described by taking the case of ECG as an example, but is not limited to such an example, and may be the case of EPG. 3-6 is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the service provision screen displayed on the display part of the user terminal device 107 concerning this Embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, on the display screen of the user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment, the first display area and the second display area are displayed so as to fit within one screen.

  In the first display area, a program guide made up of ECG is displayed. In the program table shown in FIG. 3, only programs in the time zone “19:00” to “21:00” in which the broadcasting stations are “A station” to “C station” are displayed in the first display area. By selecting a scroll icon with a shape such as “▲” using the input unit, programs of other broadcasting stations and programs of other time zones are displayed.

  In the program frame assigned to the program guide, summary information included in the program meta information is displayed. For example, summary information in which the title is “News 7” is displayed in the program frame from “19:00” of the broadcast station “A station”.

  Note that, in the first display area according to the present embodiment, a case where a program table composed of ECGs is displayed will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, a radio program is displayed in the first display area. Even when the program guide or the like is displayed, it can be implemented.

  Also, nothing is displayed in the second display area and is blank. Of the program table displayed in the first display area, for example, by placing a mouse pointer on the area of each program frame, detailed information on various programs associated with the program is displayed in the second display area. Is done.

  When there is detailed information related to a program, content meta information, or the like in an area such as the first display area, an icon 600 is displayed in each program frame. The icons 600 are displayed by being classified into a plurality of categories. Therefore, when the icon 600 is selected by the input unit, detailed information belonging to the category is displayed in the second display area or the like according to the category of the icon 600.

  The icon according to the present embodiment is not limited to an icon as long as it is a display form that symbolizes a category associated with each program. For example, even in the case of a linked text, symbol, index, etc., it can be implemented.

  In the program frame, a “reservation” icon with “reservation” is displayed. The “reservation” icon is used to make a recording reservation for a program. When clicked, the reservation information is automatically transmitted to the program recording device, and the program can be recorded on time.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, icons 600 of five categories are displayed in the frame of the program “Musashi” broadcast from “20:00” of the broadcast station “A station”. . The category of the icon 600-1 is “program content”, for example, the content of the program broadcast last time, the content of the program scheduled to be broadcast next time, and the like.

  When the icon 600-1 is selected by an input unit such as a mouse, as shown in FIG. 4, detailed information or content meta information indicating the content of the program associated with the program “Musashi” is displayed in the second display area. Is displayed.

  The program “Musashi” and the content meta information of the program content displayed in the second display area shown in FIG. 4 have a parent-child relationship. The program “Musashi” is the parent information, and the content meta information or detailed information of the program contents is the child information. Therefore, content meta information related to the program belongs as one of the child information under the hierarchy of the program “Musashi”. In the meta information hierarchy, the content meta information belongs to the program meta information hierarchy, and, of course, other program meta information belongs to the program meta information hierarchy. Further, a plurality of layers may exist under the program meta information layer.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the category of the icon 600-2 displayed in the frame of the program “Musashi” broadcast from “20:00” of the broadcasting station “A station” is “cast”. For example, a list of names of performers who appear in the program is applicable.

  When icon 600-1 is selected by an input unit (not shown) such as a mouse, as shown in FIG. 5, a list of names of performers associated with the program “Musashi” is displayed in the second display area. Content meta information indicating is displayed.

  When the items 603-1 to 603-8 displaying the names of the performers displayed in the second display area are selected by the input unit or the like, the first display area or the second display area is reduced and newly added. The third display area is allocated, and content meta information and the like associated with the selected item 603 are displayed.

  Next, when the item 603-2 shown in FIG. 5 is selected, as shown in FIG. 6, the item “OK” indicated by the pointer 602 displayed in the second display area becomes active and the color is inverted. To do.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the first display area is reduced, and a third display area is newly allocated, and the third display area is associated with “communication” selected in the second display area. The displayed content meta information is displayed.

  Icons 600 such as icon 600-3 and icon 600-4 are displayed in the third display area. For example, the icons 600-3 and 600-4 are displayed as icons so that they can be purchased by clicking “CD1” and “CD2” composed by “Ryoko Kura” who is the performer “Otsu”.

  Similarly, icons 600-5 and 600-6 are displayed as icons so that they can be purchased by clicking “Book 1” and “Book 2” written by “Ryoko Kura” who is the performer “Otsu”. ing.

(2. Each component of the program information processing system 100)
Next, the configuration of each component constituting the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 7 to 11.

(2.1 Network 103)
The network 103 includes a program registration terminal device 129 (129a, 129b, ..., 129n), a user terminal device 107 (107a, 107b, ..., 107n), and a content providing terminal device 113 (113a, 113b, ..., 113n). Are connected to each other so as to be capable of bidirectional communication, and are typically public line networks such as the Internet connected by a similar method such as ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or FTTH (Fiber To The Home), It also includes closed circuit networks such as WAN, LAN, and IP-VPN. The connection medium may be a fiber optic cable using FDDI (Fibre Distributed Data Interface), a coaxial cable using Ethernet (registered trademark) or a twisted pair cable, a wireless communication using IEEE802.11b, a satellite communication network, etc. Including.

  A program guide such as EPG or ECG includes program meta information, and further has structure information for configuring the program guide. When the program guide is transmitted via the network 103, for example, it is distributed in a format such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) or XML, and when it is transmitted by broadcast waves, for example, SI (Service Information). It is sent out in the format.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the network 103b connecting the planning company 105 provided with the service providing device and the general user 101 provided with the user terminal device 107 may be a broadcast wave. May be sent to the user terminal device 107. Therefore, the user terminal device 107 needs to include an antenna (not shown).

(2.2 Program registration terminal device 129)
First, the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the program registration terminal apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment can be exemplified by a desktop personal computer (desktop personal computer), a notebook personal computer, a workstation, a PDA, or a mobile phone.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment includes a storage unit 201, a control unit 203, an input reception unit 205, an input unit 207, a registration instruction unit 209, a display unit 211, and program meta information generation. A section 213, a communication section 215, an information addition section 217, and a program meta information storage section 219.

  The storage unit 201, the control unit 203, the input reception unit 205, the input unit 207, the registration instruction unit 209, the display unit 211, the program meta information generation unit 213, the communication unit 215, the information addition unit 217, and the program registration terminal device 129 And each part of the program meta information storage part 219 is connected by various buses and transmits various data and information to each other.

  The control unit 203 according to the present embodiment is different from the input reception unit 205, the registration instruction unit 209, the display unit 211, the program meta information generation unit 213, the information addition unit 217, and the program meta information storage unit 219. However, the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the control unit 203 includes an input reception unit 205, a registration instruction unit 209, a display unit 211, a program meta information generation unit 213, and an information addition unit. Even if at least one of 217 or the program meta information storage unit 219 is integrally provided, the present invention can be implemented.

  The storage unit 201 is a device that can read and write various data such as program meta information and store data such as program meta information. For example, the storage unit 201 can be exemplified by a hard disk (HD), a CD-ROM (CD-Read Only Memory), a DVD-R (DVD-Recordable), a DVD-ROM, and the like, and a RAM, an EEPROM, etc. A memory can be illustrated. Although the case where the storage unit 201 according to the present embodiment is provided in the program registration terminal device 129 has been described as an example, the storage unit 201 is not limited to this example, and the storage unit 201 is connected to the program registration terminal device 129 and an external device. It can be implemented even if a configuration for connection is adopted.

  The display unit 211 displays a screen that can be displayed on the display unit 211, such as a program information input screen for inputting program information and a program meta information processing screen for editing such as deleting or adding program meta information. .

  The display unit 211 can exemplify, for example, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a liquid crystal display, and can display a still image or text in addition to a moving image, and can also output audio. is there.

  The input unit 207 includes a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, a stylus pen, or a joystick that can receive an operation instruction from a user, or a keyboard, but is not limited to such an example.

  Each user, such as a broadcast station user, instructs / instructs the program registration terminal device 129 to generate program meta information by clicking or pressing a button, a cross key, or the like provided in the input unit 207. be able to.

  The control unit 203 controls processing / commands and the like of each unit provided in the program registration terminal device 129. Also, the software stored in the storage unit 201 such as a program setting application is activated to instruct / instruct each unit to perform each predetermined process. For example, the input receiving unit 205 is instructed to receive the program meta information or the reception process is controlled. The control unit 203 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but is not limited to such an example.

  The communication unit 204 is connected to the network 103 and transmits data to the network or receives data from the network. The communication unit 204 according to the present embodiment includes at least an encoder (not shown) or a decoder (not shown) for content data such as a moving image, and performs compression encoding and data transmission. Alternatively, the compressed and encoded content data may be received and decoded.

  The input receiving unit 205 receives and acquires information input by the broadcast station user operating the input unit 207. The received information is transmitted by the input receiving unit 205 to each unit such as an appropriate control unit. For example, when the broadcast station user inputs program information via the input unit 207, the input receiving unit 205 receives the program information and transmits the program information to the program meta information generation unit 213 and the like.

  When receiving the program information, the program meta information generation unit 213 generates program meta information based on the program information. The program meta information generation unit 213 extracts necessary parts from the program information, and generates program meta information in a data format such as XML (extensible Markup Language) so as to conform to the structure of the program meta information. The program meta information generation unit 213 according to the present embodiment receives the program information for each program and generates the program meta information as one file for each program, but is not limited to this example. For example, the program information of a plurality of programs may be collectively received and the program meta information of the plurality of programs may be generated in one file.

  Furthermore, although the program meta information generation unit 213 according to the present embodiment has been described by way of an example of generating program meta information from program information, the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the program meta information generation unit 213 may not generate the program meta information, and the registration instruction unit 209 may transmit the program information to the service providing apparatus 111 via the communication unit 215. In the above case, it is necessary that the service providing apparatus 111 includes the program meta information generation unit 213.

  When registering the program meta information generated by the program meta information generation unit 213 in the service providing apparatus 111, the registration instruction unit 209 indicates that the registration target program meta information selected by the instruction from the input unit 207 is registered. The registration instruction information is transmitted to the communication unit 215. Registration instruction information for registering the program meta information is transmitted by the communication unit 215 to the service providing apparatus 111 via the network 103. The selection of the planning company 105 as a registration organization can be specified by storing the IP address of the service providing apparatus 111 as environment information in the storage unit 201 of the program registration terminal apparatus 129 in advance.

  The registration instruction unit 209 receives an instruction to register program meta information in units of programs from the input unit 207, generates program meta information in units of programs, and transmits the program meta information to the communication unit 215. The registration instructing unit 209 will be described with reference to an example in which the program meta information is generated in units of programs. However, the present invention is not limited to such an example, and the registration instructing unit 209 can be implemented even in a group unit in which a plurality of programs are combined. is there.

  The information adding unit 217 adds information to the program meta information or the like in cooperation with the display unit 211 or the input unit 207. For example, the information adding unit 217 adds information to the program meta information in accordance with information input by the broadcast station user by operating the input unit 207, additional instruction information, or copy instruction information.

  Note that addition instruction information or copy instruction information for the purpose of efficiently adding information to the program meta information is generated by an operation of the input unit 207 when the program meta information processing screen is displayed on the display unit 211. Details will be described later.

  Finally, the program meta information storage unit 219 stores the program meta information generated by the program meta information generation unit 213 in the program meta information DB assigned to the storage unit 201 or in response to a request from the registration instruction unit 209. , Read program meta information.

  Next, software and the like stored in the storage unit 201 will be described. The storage unit 201 includes an OS (operation system), a program setting application, a use application, a DB system, and a program meta information DB. A storage area is allocated in advance by installation or the like and stored in a predetermined area.

  The program setting application includes modules necessary for performing each process from program information input processing to program meta information registration processing. For example, the program setting application includes a module that receives program information necessary for the input reception unit 205 to receive program information, and a program meta information generation module that is necessary for the program meta information generation unit 213 to generate program meta information. , The information adding unit 217 includes an information adding module necessary for adding information to the program meta information, and the registration instruction unit 209 includes an instruction information generating module necessary for instructing registration of the program meta information.

  Note that the program setting application according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example a case where it is composed of a plurality of modules, but is not limited to such an example, and may be composed of a single program that does not constitute a module.

  Therefore, a module included in the program setting application is called as necessary and a predetermined process is executed. For example, when the control unit 219 instructs the input reception unit 205 to acquire program information, the input reception unit 205 calls the program information reception module of the program setting application stored in the storage unit 201 to receive program information. Process.

  The usage application is the same as the usage application installed in the user terminal device 107 used by a general user, and is software used when processing a program table to be provided with a service.

  The use application is composed of a plurality of modules, receives the program guide from the service providing apparatus 111, displays the program guide on the display unit, and executes each process such as requesting or displaying the content meta information as necessary. It is composed of modules for

  In addition, in order to access between the service providing apparatus 111 and the program registration terminal apparatus 129, the use application has a function equivalent to browsing software such as a WWW (World Wide Web) browser. Therefore, the data transmitted from the service providing apparatus 111 is displayed on the display unit 204 by the WWW browser function.

  The DB system is software for processing such as storing, reading, and deleting data in various DBs. For example, the program meta information storage unit 219 calls the DB system, and the program meta information storage unit 219 uses the DB system to store the program meta information in the program meta information DB.

(2.3 Program Confirmation Terminal Device 121)
Next, the program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment.

  The program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment can be exemplified by a desktop personal computer (desktop personal computer), a notebook personal computer, a workstation, a PDA, or a mobile phone.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment includes a display unit 221, a display request receiving unit 223, a control unit 225, a program meta information acquisition unit 227, an input unit 229, and a program guide configuration permission unit. 231, a communication unit 233, and a storage unit 235.

  Each unit of the display unit 221, the display request receiving unit 223, the control unit 225, the program meta information acquisition unit 227, the input unit 229, the program guide configuration permission unit 231, the communication unit 233, and the storage unit 235 provided in the program confirmation terminal device 121. Are connected by various buses and transmit various data and information to each other.

  Moreover, although the control part 203 concerning this Embodiment, each part of the display request reception part 223, the program meta-information acquisition part 227, and the program schedule structure permission part 231 were mentioned as an example and demonstrated, The present invention is not limited to this example. For example, even when the control unit 203 is integrally provided with at least one of the display request reception unit 223, the program meta information acquisition unit 227, or the program guide configuration permission unit 231, the implementation is performed. Is possible.

  The storage unit 235 is a device that can read and write various data such as a program guide or program meta information and store data such as a program guide or program meta information. In addition, since it is the structure substantially the same as the memory | storage part 201 concerning this Embodiment described above about others, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The display unit 221 displays a list (program guide) of programs scheduled to be broadcast by each station as a check for allowing the planning user to configure the program guide. Further, the display color of the program frame is changed according to the status information indicating the status of the program meta information.

  The display unit 221 can exemplify a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a liquid crystal display, for example, and can display a still image or text in addition to a moving image, and can also output a sound or the like. Is possible.

  The display request receiving unit 223 receives and acquires a request for display of the program guide when the planning user operates the input unit 229. The display request receiving unit 223 transmits the received display request information to an appropriate unit. For example, when a planning user inputs a predetermined broadcast date via the input unit 229 and a display request for the program table of the broadcast date is made, the display request receiving unit 223 receives the display request information and transmits the display request information to the communication unit. To 233. The display request information is transmitted to the service providing apparatus 111 by the communication unit 233.

  Although the display request receiving unit 223 according to the present embodiment generates display request information for displaying the program guide, the display request receiving unit 223 is not limited to this example. Display request information may be generated even for the purpose of displaying program meta information in a display format other than.

  The program meta information acquisition unit 227 acquires one or more program meta information configured in the program table transmitted from the service providing apparatus 111 via the communication unit 233. After the acquisition, the program meta information is processed so that it can be displayed in order to display the program table on the display unit 221 and transmitted to the display unit 221. Therefore, the program table is displayed on the display unit 221 by obtaining the program meta information by the program meta information acquisition unit 227.

  The program meta information acquisition unit 227 according to the present embodiment has been described with reference to an example in which the program meta information is acquired and converted into a format that can be displayed in the program table. For example, the program meta information acquisition unit 227 can be implemented even when data conversion is performed so that the program meta information can be displayed in a list format.

  The input unit 229 includes a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, a stylus pen, or a joystick that can receive an operation instruction from the user, or a keyboard, but is not limited to such an example.

  The planning user clicks a button, a cross key, or the like provided in the input unit 229, or operates to display the program guide on the program confirmation terminal device 121 by operating the program meta information to configure the program guide. After checking, it is possible to instruct / instruct processing such as processing for updating the status information of the program meta information.

  After displaying the program table on the display unit 221, the program table configuration permission unit 231 updates the status information of the program meta information that may configure the program table according to an instruction from the input unit 229. The program guide configuration permission unit 231 updates the program guide permission status indicating permission of the program guide configuration in the status information.

  In the processing steps of the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment, the update of the status information by the program guide configuration permission unit 231 is a stage immediately before the program guide is provided to the general user 101. Therefore, after the status information is updated, the program meta information is transmitted to a WWW server (not shown) and is configured in a program table at a predetermined timing.

  Before updating the status information, the program guide configuration permission unit 231 performs a logical check to determine whether the final check has been received from the broadcast user or whether the content meta information meets the preset association condition. If there is not, the status information of the program meta information is updated. The status information will be described later.

  The communication unit 233 has substantially the same configuration as the communication unit 215 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The control unit 225 controls processing / commands and the like of each unit provided in the program confirmation terminal device 121. In addition, the software stored in the storage unit 235 such as an association application is activated to instruct / instruct each unit to perform each predetermined process. For example, a service management application is used for the program guide configuration permission unit 231 to instruct to update the status information of the program meta information or to control update processing. The control unit 225 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but is not limited to this example.

  Next, software and the like stored in the storage unit 235 will be described. The storage unit 201 includes an OS (operation system), an association application, a program setting application, a use application, a DB system, and a service management application. Are pre-allocated and stored in a predetermined area by installation or the like.

  The program setting application includes modules necessary for performing each process from program information input processing to program meta information registration processing. Since the configuration is almost the same as that of the program setting application stored in the program registration terminal device 129 already described, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, when the program setting application is used, the program confirmation terminal device 121 has a program. The meta information generation unit 213, the input reception unit 205, the registration instruction unit 209, and the like need to be provided.

  Since the application, DB system, and OS are almost the same as each application stored in the program registration terminal device 129 described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The service management application includes modules necessary for each process from the process of requesting display of program meta information to the process of permitting the configuration of the program guide. For example, the service management application includes a display request information generation module that generates display request information necessary for the display request reception unit 223 to request program meta information, and a program meta information acquisition unit 227 for acquiring program meta information. A necessary program meta information acquisition module, a program guide configuration permission unit 231 includes a program guide configuration permission module required for permitting the program guide information to be configured for program meta information.

  Note that the service management application according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example a case where it is composed of a plurality of modules, but is not limited to such an example, and may be composed of a single program that does not constitute a module.

  Accordingly, a plurality of modules included in the service management application are called as necessary to execute predetermined processing. For example, when the control unit 225 instructs the display request reception unit 223 to display the program meta information, the display request reception unit 223 displays the service stored in the storage unit 235. A display request information generation module of the management application is called to generate display request information for requesting program meta information.

  The association application includes a module that associates information such as content meta information with program meta information.

(2.4 Content providing terminal device 113)
Next, the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment.

  The content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment can be exemplified by a desktop personal computer (desktop personal computer), a notebook personal computer, a workstation, a PDA, or a mobile phone.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment includes a display unit 237, a control unit 239, an input unit 241, a communication unit 243, and a storage unit 245.

  The display unit 237, the control unit 239, the input unit 241, the communication unit 243, and the storage unit 245 provided in the content providing terminal device 113 are connected by various buses and transmit various data and information to each other. .

  The storage unit 245 is a device that can read and write various data such as content meta information or content entity and store data such as content meta information or content entity. Since the rest of the configuration is substantially the same as that of the storage unit 201 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The display unit 237 displays a list of program meta information to be associated with the content meta information by the content user. The list of program meta information may be, for example, a list in which program frames are assigned by broadcast date and broadcasting station, such as a program table, or a list in which program meta information is displayed in a list format.

  The content user determines a target program to be associated with the content meta information stored in the storage unit 245 while referring to the list displayed on the display unit 237.

  The display unit 237 can exemplify, for example, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a liquid crystal display. In addition to a moving image, the display unit 237 can display a still image, text, or the like, and can also output audio. Is possible.

  The input unit 241 includes a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, a stylus pen, or a joystick that can receive an operation instruction from the content user, or a keyboard, but is not limited to such an example.

  The content user clicks a button, a cross key, or the like provided in the input unit 241 and operates to request the specified program meta information from the content providing terminal device 113, and to add content to the program meta information. It is possible to instruct / instruct processing such as processing for associating meta information, processing for transmitting program meta information associated with content meta information and content meta information to the service providing apparatus 111, and the like.

  The communication unit 243 has substantially the same configuration as the communication unit 215 included in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The control unit 239 controls processing / instructions and the like of each unit provided in the content providing terminal device 113. In addition, the software stored in the storage unit 235 such as an association application is activated to perform each predetermined process. For example, the control unit 239 calls the association application, and executes the association process of the designated content meta information with the designated program meta information by using the association application. The control unit 239 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but is not limited to such an example.

(2.5 User terminal device 107)
Next, the user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment.

  The user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment can be exemplified by a desktop personal computer (desktop personal computer), a notebook personal computer, a workstation, a PDA, or a mobile phone.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the user terminal device 107 according to the present embodiment includes a display unit 247, a control unit 249, an input unit 251, a communication unit 253, and a storage unit 255.

  The display unit 247, the control unit 249, the input unit 251, the communication unit 253, and the storage unit 255 provided in the content providing terminal device 113 are connected by various buses and transmit various data and information to each other. .

  The storage unit 255 is a device that can read and write various data such as content meta information or content entities and store data such as content meta information or content entities. Since the rest of the configuration is substantially the same as that of the storage unit 201 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The display unit 247 displays information such as a program guide when a general user receives service provision from the planning company 105. The program table is a time schedule table of programs to which program frames are allocated for each broadcast date and each broadcasting station, for example. Note that the present invention is not limited to the program table, and for example, a list of programs may be displayed in a list format.

  A general user views the program table displayed on the display unit 247, accesses program recording reservations, accesses detailed information such as performers from the program meta information displayed in the program frame, and content meta data related to the program. It is possible to access information and purchase a content entity associated with a program such as a theme song of the program.

  The display unit 247 can exemplify, for example, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a liquid crystal display, and can display a still image or text in addition to a moving image, and can also output audio. Is possible.

  The input unit 241 includes a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, a stylus pen, or a joystick that can receive an operation instruction from the content user, or a keyboard, but is not limited to such an example.

  The general user selects / displays program meta information displayed in the program frame on the user terminal device 107 by clicking or pressing a button, a cross key, or the like provided in the input unit 251. , It is possible to instruct / instruct processing such as processing for searching program meta information or content meta information associated with the program meta information.

  The communication unit 253 has substantially the same configuration as the communication unit 215 included in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The control unit 249 controls processing, commands, and the like of each unit provided in the user terminal device 107. In addition, the software stored in the storage unit 255 such as an association application is activated to perform each predetermined process. For example, the control unit 249 executes a process of calling a use application and displaying program meta information corresponding to the selected program frame, using the use application. The control unit 249 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but is not limited to this example.

(2.6 Service Providing Device 111)
First, the service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the service providing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment is exemplified by a desktop personal computer (desktop personal computer), a notebook personal computer, a workstation, a home server provided in a home and connected to a personal personal computer or a television. can do.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the service providing apparatus 111 according to the present embodiment includes a display unit 257, a control unit 259, a communication unit 261, an input unit 263, a program meta information registration unit 265, a program meta information extraction unit 267, and A storage unit 269 is provided.

  The display 257, the control unit 259, the communication unit 261, the input unit 263, the program meta information registration unit 265, the program meta information extraction unit 267, and the storage unit 269 provided in the service providing apparatus 111 are connected by various buses. , Various data and information are transmitted to each other.

  Moreover, although the control part 203 concerning this Embodiment and each part of the program meta-information registration part 265 and the program meta-information extraction part 267 were mentioned as an example and demonstrated, it is not limited to this example, For example, even when at least one of the program meta information registration unit 265 and the program meta information extraction unit 267 is integrally provided, the present invention can be implemented.

  The storage unit 269 is a device capable of reading and writing various data such as a plurality of program meta information registered by each broadcasting station 101 and content meta information associated with the program meta information by the content providing company 104 and storing various data. . The other storage unit 269 has substantially the same configuration as the storage unit 201 provided in the above-described program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The display unit 257 can exemplify, for example, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a liquid crystal display, and can display a still image or text in addition to a moving image, and can also output audio. is there.

  The input unit 263 includes a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, a stylus pen, or a joystick that can receive an operation instruction from an administrator who manages / operates the service providing apparatus 111, a keyboard, and the like. , It is not limited to such an example.

  The control unit 259 controls processing / instructions and the like of each unit provided in the service providing apparatus 111. Also, the software stored in the storage unit 269 such as a program setting server application is activated to instruct / instruct each unit such as the program meta information registration unit 265 or the program meta information extraction unit 267 to perform each predetermined process. For example, in order to register the program meta information, the control unit 259 instructs the program meta information registration unit 265 to store the program meta information in the program meta information DB or controls storage processing. The control unit 259 according to the present embodiment corresponds to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but is not limited to such an example.

  The communication unit 261 is connected to the network 103 and transmits data to the network or receives data from the network. The communication unit 261 has substantially the same configuration as the communication unit 204 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 according to the present embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  When receiving the program information, the program meta information generation unit 213 generates program meta information based on the program information. The program meta information generation unit 213 extracts necessary parts from the program information, and generates program meta information in a data format such as XML (extensible Markup Language) so as to conform to the structure of the program meta information. The program meta information generation unit 213 according to the present embodiment receives the program information for each program and generates the program meta information as one file for each program, but is not limited to this example. For example, the program information of a plurality of programs may be collectively received and the program meta information of the plurality of programs may be generated in one file.

  Furthermore, although the program meta information generation unit 213 according to the present embodiment has been described by way of an example of generating program meta information from program information, the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the program meta information generation unit 213 may not generate the program meta information, and the registration instruction unit 209 may transmit the program information to the service providing apparatus 111 via the communication unit 215. In the above case, it is necessary that the service providing apparatus 111 includes the program meta information generation unit 213.

  When registering the program meta information generated by the program meta information generation unit 213 in the service providing apparatus 111, the registration instruction unit 209 indicates that the registration target program meta information selected by the instruction from the input unit 207 is registered. The registration instruction information is transmitted to the communication unit 215. Registration instruction information for registering the program meta information is transmitted by the communication unit 215 to the service providing apparatus 111 via the network 103. The selection of the planning company 105 as a registration organization can be specified by storing the IP address of the service providing apparatus 111 as environment information in the storage unit 201 of the program registration terminal apparatus 129 in advance.

  When there is an instruction (registration instruction information) for registering program meta information from the program registration terminal device 129 provided in each broadcasting station 102, the program meta information registration unit 265 performs a predetermined format check on the program meta information received together with the registration instruction information. After the process, the program meta information is stored in the program meta information DB. Note that update processing such as correction of information is also performed on already registered program meta information. Further, when the storing process and the updating process are completed, the result information is transmitted to the program registration terminal device 129 as the registration request source.

  Therefore, for example, in accordance with the additional instruction information and the copy instruction information, the program added to the program meta information DB by the information adding unit 217 provided in the program registration terminal device 129 adds new information such as broadcast date and time information. The meta information is updated to the program meta information to which the above information is added.

  The program meta information registration unit 265 according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example the case where the program meta information is stored as it is in the program meta information DB, but is not limited to such an example. For example, program meta information registration is performed. The unit 265 may receive program information from the program registration terminal device 129, convert the program information into program meta information, and store the program information in the program meta information DB.

  In addition, the program meta information registration unit 265 receives an instruction to register program meta information for each program unit and stores the program meta information. However, the program meta information registration unit 265 is not limited to this example. The present invention can be implemented even when each piece of program meta information corresponding to the above program is stored in a group unit in which a plurality of programs are combined into one set.

  When there is a request for designated program meta information from the program registration terminal device 129 or the content providing terminal device 113, the program meta information extraction unit 267 extracts the program meta information from the program meta information DB. The extracted program meta information is transmitted to each terminal device via the communication unit 261.

  Further, when there is a request for program meta information in which a predetermined keyword is set from the program registration terminal device 129 or the content providing terminal device 113, the program meta information extraction unit 267 searches for program meta information including the keyword. , Even when the retrieved program meta information is transmitted to each terminal device.

  Next, software and the like stored in the storage unit 269 will be described. The storage unit 269 includes an OS (operation system), a program setting server application, a use server application, a DB server system, and an association setting server. An application, a service management server application, and a program meta information DB are preliminarily assigned storage areas by installation or the like and stored in predetermined areas.

  The program setting server application executes a process when an external terminal device such as the program registration terminal device 129 requests each processing from the program information input processing to the program meta information registration processing. It has the necessary server modules. For example, the program setting application includes a program meta information registration module for registering the program meta information when requested to register the program meta information from an external terminal device. Note that the program meta information registration module stores the program meta information already stored in the program meta information DB when information such as broadcast date and time information is added to the program meta information by an external terminal device such as the program registration terminal device 129. It is also a module for processing updates.

  Note that the program setting server application according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example the case of being configured by a plurality of modules, but is not limited to such an example, and may be a case of being configured by one program that does not constitute a module. .

  Therefore, a module included in the program setting server application is called as necessary to execute a predetermined process. For example, when the control unit 259 instructs the program meta information registration unit 265 to register the program meta information, the program meta information registration unit 265 displays the program meta information of the program setting server application stored in the storage unit 269. Calls the information registration module to perform program meta information registration processing.

  The usage server application edits a program guide composed of stations on a broadcast day designated as a program guide display request from the user terminal device 107 used by a general user, and uses a data format that can be displayed on the display unit. Software used when generating a program guide. Note that the present invention is not limited to the program table, and the present invention can be implemented in any other format for displaying the program of each station.

  The usage server application is composed of a plurality of modules, receives a program guide display request from the user terminal device 107, edits a program guide of a specified broadcast date and time, etc. in a data format that can be displayed on the display unit, etc. It is comprised from the module for performing each process of these.

  The DB server system is software for executing processing as requested when requested to store, read, and delete data in various DBs. The DB server system cooperates with other server applications to execute DB storage and the like. For example, the program meta information extraction unit 267 or the like calls the DB system in the process by the service management server application, and the program meta information extraction unit 267 uses the DB system to store the program meta information in the program meta information DB. Is done.

  The service management server application is equipped with modules necessary to perform each process from the display request processing of the program meta information after registration to the processing for permitting the configuration of the program guide, which is the final process stage of the program guide creation. .

  For example, the service management server application includes an extraction request information confirmation module for checking extraction request information necessary for the program meta information extraction unit 267 to extract program meta information, and the program meta information extraction unit 267 extracts program meta information. For example, a program meta information extraction module for checking designation information necessary for the purpose is included.

  Note that the service management application according to the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example a case where it is composed of a plurality of modules, but is not limited to such an example, and may be composed of a single program that does not constitute a module.

  Accordingly, a plurality of modules included in the service management server application are called as necessary to execute predetermined processing. For example, if there is an instruction from the control unit 259 to display the program table on the display unit 257 in order to extract the program meta information, the program meta information extraction unit 267 will display the service management server application stored in the storage unit 269. The program meta information extraction module is called to perform extraction processing for extracting program meta information.

In addition, the association server application includes a module or the like that executes an association process for associating information such as content meta information with program meta information when an association process is requested by an external terminal device.
(3. Data or data structure according to this embodiment)
Next, various data or data structures applied to the information providing system according to the present embodiment will be described.

  First, a content entity or content meta information produced in the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment will be described. As described above, the content providing terminal device 113 generates content meta information including link information and the like for accessing the content entity after producing the content entity.

  The generated content meta information is added to, for example, program meta information highly related to the content entity. The content meta information is meta information that can be linked to the program meta information of the program that is the main content. The content entity is a content including at least one of a product, a program, a package, a service, still image data, moving image data, music data, or text associated with the content meta information. The content entity can be purchased, for example, by downloading from another Web site that provides the content entity.

  The content meta information is meta information belonging to the program meta information (or main meta information) of a plurality of programs (main content) included in the broadcast program guide. Therefore, when the user terminal device 107 accesses one program meta information included in the program guide, the user terminal device 107 can derivatively access one or more content meta information related to the program meta information.

  Therefore, it is possible to access the detailed information of the program or the content meta information from one program meta information, and further access the substance of the target content (goods, etc.). The general user 101 can purchase the goods by charging / settlement. Billing / settlement is performed by the service providing apparatus 111 operated on the planning company 105 side.

  The program registration terminal device generates program meta information that is main meta information based on the input program information, and requests the service providing device 111 to register. Note that the program meta information is configured as one program element of a program guide distributed to the user terminal device 107. Some program guides are configured in EPG format or ECG format, but both can be implemented in this embodiment.

  When the program guide is provided to the general user 101 from the planning company 105 according to the present embodiment, a meta information reference ID is assigned in advance to the program meta information of each program constituting the program guide. May be transmitted to the user terminal device 107 and the program meta information or the like may be accessed by selecting the meta information reference ID.

  Even when the user terminal device 107 can acquire the program meta information or the content meta information based on the meta information reference ID by giving the meta information reference ID to the program meta information and the content meta information. Good.

  Next, ECG information according to the present embodiment will be described. The ECG information includes at least program meta information and content meta information, which are meta information. The EPG information is information that is the basis of the ECG information.

  ECG information extends basic EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information as data for searching TV (television) programs, and retrieves not only TV programs but also various contents such as on the Internet to obtain necessary information. It becomes possible. Therefore, a part of ECG information corresponds to basic EPG information.

  By using the ECG with the EPG information expanded, the search target is not limited to a TV program, and detailed information that can be acquired via the network 103 and various goods can be searched. , Various goods can be obtained.

  The program meta information is meta information in which the contents of a program configured in the program guide are described among meta information provided as ECG information. The plurality of programs included in the broadcast program guide are contents (programs) provided as the main contents by the broadcast station 102.

  The content meta information is meta information added to the content entity among the meta information provided as ECG information. The content entity (goods) is linked to one or more detailed information or content meta information associated with the program meta information.

  Program meta information is meta information related to a program among meta information provided as ECG information. For example, the program meta information roughly includes information, detailed information, and broadcast date / time information.

  For example, in the case of a continuous program, the summary information includes information common to all times (broadcast day, time, main performers, etc.), and the detailed information includes information about the times (summary of the times). , Performers appearing only in that time, etc.).

  More specifically, the program meta information includes program title, broadcast date / time, language, credit list of actors and directors, promotion information describing contents used for sales promotion purposes, one word or a plurality of words. Information including a keyword, a genre, and a scene in the program. Note that the detailed information may not be included in the program meta information as described above, but may exist as detailed information linked to the outside.

  In the case of a continuous program, etc., each program has a common part, but it is different from each other, and program meta information is also created for each program. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. In such a case, the program meta information consisting only of the summary information of the common part of the program may be unified into one file, and the program meta information such as other detailed information may be created for each program.

  The program meta information is distributed by SI in the current broadcast wave or the service providing apparatus 111 on the network. The program meta information included in the ECG information is different from the data structure of the EPG information, but the content is substantially the same even if the program meta information is expressed as EPG information.

  The content meta information is meta information included in the ECG information. The content meta information is associated with the program meta information by the content providing terminal device 113, and the link meta information generated by the association is managed by the service providing device 111.

  The content meta information includes, for example, content location information (location information) which is a URI (Universal Resource Identifier), name, name of author, name of author, content expiration date, service expiration date for providing the content, etc. Is included. The URL is included in the URI system.

  Next, the data structure of the program meta information according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of program meta information according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the data structure of the program meta information of the program configured in the broadcast program table made up of ECG is in the XML format, and the program meta information includes a program meta information ID (“program id”), a genre, It is composed of a tag including an element or an attribute indicating a performer, a broadcast time, a segment indicating the number of broadcasts such as the first part and the second part of the program, and a linking meta information ID (“relation reference_id”).

  The program meta information is composed of a program summary indicating summary information, a program detail indicating detailed information, and broadcast date information.

  First, among the tags “<program id˜>”, “id =“ 12345678 ”” indicates a program meta information ID, which is an identifier of a program or program meta information that is uniquely assigned at the time of program organization or the like. “Name =“ DDDD ”” indicates that the title of the program is “DDDD”.

  Next, in the program overview including the tag “<ProgramBasicInfo˜ />”, information common to a plurality of programs is included in the tag. For example, information represented by tags and elements such as “Title =“ movie “A” ”” indicating the title of the movie “A” and the program and “Language =“ Japanese ”” indicating the language and the language are included. It is.

  In addition, “genre =“ news ”” in the program overview tag indicates that the genre of the program is “news (news)”, and “keywords =“ JJ KKK LLL ””. . The “keywords” is set for each program meta information, and the corresponding program can be searched by searching the genre and the attribute value of the “keywords (keyword)”. For example, when a word that symbolizes the feature of a program is set as a keyword, other programs that are similar to the feature of the program can be efficiently searched.

  “SponsorInformation =“ Zony ”” indicates the sponsor of the program.

  Next, in the tags “<oa˜> ˜ </ oa>”, broadcast date / time information for each broadcast program is included in the tag. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 12, <oa start_date = “2003/10/1: 20: 00: 00: 00” duration = “01:00:00”> indicates that “start_time =“ 2003/10/1: 20 ” ": 00: 00" "indicates the broadcast date and time of the program, and" duration = "01:00:00" "indicates the time length of the program. The broadcast date and time information is information representing the broadcast date and the broadcast time, but is not limited to such an example, and can be implemented even in the case of only the broadcast date or only the broadcast time, for example. Broadcast date and time information is added in units of detailed information for each program.

  Next, in the tags “<details> to </ details>”, detailed information of each broadcast program is included in the attribute / element in the tag. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, “<CreditList> ˜ </ CreditList>” is a tag indicating a credit list. By defining <Person id = “1_1” name = “abc” Birthplace = “Japan” /> etc. in the tag, a list of performers can be provided as information.

  The attribute “name” indicates the name of the performer, and “Birthplace” indicates the place where the performer was born. Note that the attribute set in “<Person˜ />” is not limited to this example, and can be implemented even when an attribute indicating the category of performers such as actors and comedians is included.

  Tags “<SegmentGroup˜> ˜ </ SegmentGroup>” are tags indicating a segment group of a program. A segment group can collectively manage a plurality of segments. Segments can be defined meaningfully for each scene by dividing the scene in the program by the start time and the time interval. For example, in a baseball sports program, the third batting scene of the batter “Matsui” and the nine-th pitching (pitching) scene of the pitcher “Suzuki” can be exemplified.

  The segment according to the present embodiment has been described by way of an example in which a scene in a program is divided by a start time and a time interval. However, the segment is not limited to such an example. In the case where the number of broadcasts is from the first to the 11th, the segment is divided into programs of the number of broadcasts, the program is divided into a plurality of versions such as the first part, the second part, and the omnibus, etc. But it is possible.

The tag 803 includes a link meta information reference ID for identifying the link meta information generated when the association process is performed in the program meta information as an attribute. Therefore, “reference_id_list
= “12345 6789” indicates that the linked meta information reference IDs are “12345” and “6789”. A space is used to divide the ID into two IDs. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and a symbol such as “/” can be used.

  The data structure of the program meta information according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the case of the XML format as an example. However, the data structure of the program meta information is not limited to such an example. For example, the data structure of the program meta information is HTML (Hyper Text). Even in the case of the Markup Language) format or the like, implementation is possible.

  In addition, the attribute name and the like described in the tag of the program meta information according to the present embodiment can be implemented regardless of the name given by defining the attribute.

  Next, the data structure of the content meta information according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of content meta information according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the data structure of the content meta information is in the XML format. The content meta information includes a tag “<content˜ />” (tag 900) including an element or attribute indicating a content meta information ID, a product name, a genre, a keyword, a manufacturer, a price, detailed content information, and the like.

  In the tag 900 shown in FIG. 13, “id =“ 12345 ”” is a content meta information ID including “12345”, and is an identifier of content or content meta information uniquely assigned at the time of content creation or the like. “Name =“ product 1 ”” indicates that the product name of the content is “product 1”.

  In the tag 900, “genre =“ publishing ”” indicates that the genre of the content is “publishing”, and “keywords =“ XXX YYY ZZZ ”” has the keywords “XXX”, “YYY”, “ "ZZZ". Note that the “keywords” is set for each content meta information as described above, and the corresponding content can be searched by searching the genre and the attribute value of the keyword. In addition, although it is divided into three keywords by inserting a space, the present invention is not limited to this example, and can be implemented with a symbol such as “/”.

  “Maker =“ zony ”” indicates that the manufacturer of the content entity is “zony”, and “price =“ 100 yen ”” indicates that the price of the content that is the product is “100 yen”. “Content_info” indicates detailed information of the content, for example, “www.zony.co.jp” or “http://www.zony.co.jp/”, A URI such as URL information is set. Note that the “content_info” is divided into two URIs by inserting a space, but the present invention is not limited to this example, and can be implemented with a symbol such as “&”. Also, the URL can be expressed even in the case of notation such as FQN (fully qualified name).

  The attribute of the content meta information according to the present embodiment does not include an attribute indicating the link destination (existing location) based on the URL information of the thumbnail image of the content, but indicates the link destination of the thumbnail image. Even if the attribute is included in the tag 900, it can be implemented.

  The data structure of the content meta information according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the case of the XML format as an example. However, the data structure of the content meta information is not limited to such an example. For example, the data structure of the content meta information is HTML (Hyper Text). Even in the case of the Markup Language) format or the like, implementation is possible.

  Further, the attribute name and the like described in the tag of the content meta information according to the present embodiment can be implemented regardless of the name given by defining the attribute.

  Next, the data structure of the link meta information according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing the data structure of the linked meta information according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the data structure of the linking meta information is in the XML format. The link meta information includes a tag 901 and a tag group 902 including elements or attributes indicating a link meta information reference ID, a link meta information name, a link expiration date, or an associated program or content genre. The

  As shown in FIG. 14, “id =“ 12345 ”” in the tag 901 is a link meta information reference ID consisting of “12345”, and as described above, uniquely at the time of link meta information generation. This is an identifier of the link meta information to be assigned. “Name =“ HHH ”” indicates that the stringing meta information name is “HHH”.

  Also, “start =“ 2003/10/3: 00: 00 ”end_time =“ 2003/12/25: 00: 00 ”in the tag 901 indicates the expiration date of the link meta information. Yes.

  Among the expiration dates of the above-mentioned stringing meta information, “start =“ 2003/10/3: 00: 00 ”is“ 2003/10/3: 00: 00 ”(October 3, 2003 00 “End_time =“ 2003/12/25: 00: 00 ”is an example such as“ 2003/12/25: 00: 00 ”. As described above, the end date and time are shown, but the present invention is not limited to such a notation format or date and time. For example, it may be a relative number of days or time.

  By setting the expiration date of the link meta information, the user terminal device 107 refers to the link meta information and controls access to the related program meta information or content meta information set in the link meta information. be able to. When accessing the associated meta information by referring to the link meta information whose expiration date has passed, means such as charging the user terminal device 107 again or concluding a contract for use again Can be illustrated.

  Further, the tag group 902 includes a plurality of tags, attributes, and the like, and each tag indicates linked program meta information or content meta information. As shown in FIG. 10, “link_program id” is an identifier that is uniquely assigned to each program meta information or content meta information in the link meta information.

  As described above, “program_id” is a program meta information ID for identifying program meta information. Further, “content_id” indicates the content meta information ID as described above.

  Therefore, by referring to the program meta information ID or content meta information ID in the link meta information, it is possible to acquire (or acquire, access) the linked program meta information or content meta information.

  Furthermore, the “genre” attribute indicates the genre of the program or content. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, genres such as “shopping”, “sports”, “DVD”, and “publishing” can be exemplified.

  The data structure of the link meta information according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the XML format as an example, but is not limited to such an example. For example, the data structure of the link meta information is HTML ( (Hyper Text Markup Language) format or the like.

  In addition, the attribute name and the like described in the tag of the linked meta information according to the present embodiment can be implemented regardless of the name given by defining the attribute.

  Here, “selection” according to the present embodiment refers to, for example, a state in which a program content element is specified by clicking a mouse as an input unit or pressing a button, a mouse cursor or the like displaying program meta information and the like. For example, a state in which a frame (cursor) for selection by remote control operation or the like is displayed on a display area for the program meta information or the like.

(4. Operations Related to Program Information Processing System 100)
Next, each operation applied to the program information processing system according to the present embodiment will be described.

(4.1 Program meta information registration process)
Next, an embodiment of an operation of registering program meta information in the information providing system 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an outline of an operation for registering program meta information according to the present embodiment.

  First, a program meta information processing screen is displayed on the display screen of the program registration terminal device 129 (S1501). When the control unit 203 activates the program setting application, the program meta information processing screen is displayed on the display unit 211 (S1501).

  Next, the program registration terminal device 129 determines whether the program meta information is newly created or whether the program meta information for the already created program is read (S1503). The above determination is determined by the operation of the input unit 207 by the broadcast station user.

  Here, the program meta information processing screen according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a program meta information processing screen according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the program meta information processing screen is composed of a program outline, a broadcast schedule, detailed settings, and three display areas so as to be divided by a broken line in the vertical direction. In addition, although the case where the program meta information regarding the YYY program of the XXX broadcast station is displayed on the program meta information processing screen shown in FIG. 16 will be described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this example.

  In addition to the display of the program meta information processing screen, a date screen (calendar screen) which is a screen for displaying date and time information such as date is displayed on the display unit 211.

  Summary information of the program meta information is displayed in the program summary display area. In the broadcast date / time information display area, broadcast date / time information in which the broadcast date / time of one or more programs is set is displayed. For example, in the case of a series drama program, all set broadcast dates and times that are broadcast a plurality of times are displayed. The set broadcast date and time information is displayed in the broadcast date setting display area. As shown in FIG. 16, “2003/8” displays the date of broadcasting in August 2003 as an icon (7th, 14th, 21st,...).

  In the detailed information display area, for example, detailed information related to a certain program among the series of drama programs is displayed. In the detailed setting shown in FIG. 16, detailed information of a program broadcast on September 30, 2003 is displayed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 15, in the case of newly creating program meta information, first, input of program information is received from a general user in order to register the program meta information. First, input of summary information is accepted (S1505). For example, program information such as a broadcast station name and a program is input to the program overview shown in FIG. The information itself entered in the program summary is not yet program meta information, but program meta information may be created on the spot.

  In the case of program meta information that has already been registered and created, the corresponding program meta information is selected and acquired from the program meta information DB of the storage unit 201 or the program meta information DB of the service providing apparatus 111 and then displayed on the display unit 211. The information is displayed in the “program overview” display area (S1507).

  Next, summary information, broadcast date information, or detailed information on the selected broadcast date is displayed in each display area shown in FIG. 16 (S1509). The summary information, the broadcast date information, or the detailed information of the selected broadcast date is called from the program meta information DB assigned to the storage unit 201 or the program meta information DB of the service providing apparatus 111 via the network 103. . In particular, since it can be obtained without going through the network 103, calling from the program meta information DB of the storage unit 201 improves processing efficiency and reduces communication costs.

  Next, appropriate information is edited out of the three display areas shown in FIG. First, when editing summary information such as correction, information displayed in the program summary display area of the program meta information processing screen can be input and set by the input unit 207 (S1511). The information that can be set is not limited to text, and still images such as “still images” shown in FIG. This is not limited to summary information, and detailed information can be set similarly.

  After the above setting, when the “update” button displayed at the bottom of the program summary display area is pressed by the input unit 207, the summary information of the program summary is updated (S1513). The update does not update the program meta information, but only updates the information displayed on the program meta information processing screen. That is, the information on the display screen is updated, but the present invention is not limited to this example, and the program meta information may be updated.

  Next, the broadcast date and time are set (S1515). Of the above broadcast date and time settings (S1515), the broadcast date addition (S1517) is performed by dragging and dragging (D & D) the “day” icon displayed on the calendar screen to the broadcast date information display area shown in FIG. , Copy and Paste (Copy & P), Cut and Paste (Cut & P), etc., can add the broadcast date.

  For example, among the “day” icons on the calendar screen shown in FIG. 16, the “day” icon of “30 days” with a black thick line is selected and surrounded by a broken line “2003/9” as indicated by an arrow 1601. If D & D is performed in the broadcast date information display area, the broadcast date of “30th” can be added as shown in FIG.

  The broadcast date is added by the information adding unit 217 receiving the additional instruction information generated by D & D between the display area of the calendar screen and the display area of the broadcast date information, so that the “date” displayed on the calendar screen is displayed. "Can be added to the broadcast date information display area as the broadcast date.

  In addition to the broadcast date addition (S1517), in addition to the case where one “day” icon displayed on the calendar screen is selected and D & D is performed in the broadcast date and time information display area, a plurality of “date” icons are collectively displayed. The broadcast date can be added at a time by selecting and D & D in the broadcast date information display area. For example, broadcast dates can be added at once by selecting the “day” icons for every Tuesday in a black thin line rectangle shown in FIG. Note that the addition of the broadcast date and time information according to the present embodiment has been described with respect to the addition of only the broadcast date information (date). However, the present invention is not limited to such an example, and for example, when adding broadcast time information or the like, it is the same as the date. Even if the icon is added and displayed, it can be implemented.

  Next, the setting of the detailed information on the added broadcast date is performed using the input unit 207 in the detailed information display area shown in FIG. After the setting, when an “update” button displayed at the bottom of the detailed information display area is clicked, an update process is performed, and the information on the display screen is updated as in the program overview (S1519).

  Next, when the broadcast date is deleted, the “day” icon displayed in the broadcast date information display area can be displayed and deleted by, for example, right-clicking the mouse (S1521). Further, as in the case of adding broadcast days, it is also possible to select a plurality of “day” icons and delete the broadcast days at once.

  If the detailed information related to the deleted broadcast date has been input, a confirmation screen asking whether the detailed information may be deleted is displayed in the display scene, and the detailed information is deleted (S1523). Note that the above-described deletion deletes the detailed information on the display screen, but is not limited to this example, and the detailed information of the program meta information may be deleted.

  Next, when the detailed information displayed in the program detail display area is set (S1525), the information is input to the input unit 207 and set in the program detail display area. Since it is inefficient in processing to set the above settings for all the programs, it is possible to copy from the detailed information of another program.

  As shown in FIG. 16, for example, the “day” icon of “7 days” displayed in the display area of “2003/8” broadcast date information is displayed in the broadcast date information display area of “2003/9”. By performing D & D etc. on the “day” icon of “30 days”, the detailed information of “7 days” can be copied to the detailed information of “30 days”.

  Detailed information can be copied by the information adding unit 217 receiving copy instruction information generated by D & D between broadcast date information display areas.

  When the setting / updating of each display area is completed, the program meta information generation unit 213 generates updated program meta information based on the program information set on the display screen (S1527). Here, information such as unnecessary detailed information is also deleted. Furthermore, when there is a registration instruction from the broadcast station user via the input unit 207, the registration instruction unit 209 requests the service providing apparatus 111 to register the generated program meta information. At this time, the program meta information is updated to the program meta information DB by the program meta information storage unit 219. When transmitted to the service providing apparatus 111 via the network 103, the program meta information registration unit 265 provided in the service providing apparatus 111 writes the updated program meta information in the program meta information DB (S1527). Note that the program meta information before update may be overwritten or left as it is.

  When the program meta information is registered (S1527), the series of operations of the program meta information registration processing according to the present embodiment ends.

  Next, a modified example of the detailed information duplication processing (copy processing) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an outline of detailed information copy processing applied to the program information processing system according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 17, first, a program meta information processing screen is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 211 of the program registration terminal device 129 (S1701). Since S1701 is substantially the same as S1501 described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the program registration terminal device 129 determines whether the program meta information is newly created or whether the program meta information for the already created program is read (S1703). The above determination is determined by the operation of the input unit 207 by the broadcast station user.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 17, in the case of newly creating program meta information, first, input of program information is received from a general user in order to register the program meta information. First, input of summary information is accepted (S1705). For example, program information such as a broadcast station name and a program is input by the input unit 207 to a display area such as a program summary shown in FIG. The information itself input in the program summary is not program meta information, but the program meta information may be created at the input timing.

  In the case of program meta information that has already been registered and created, the corresponding program meta information is selected and acquired from the program meta information DB of the storage unit 201 or the program meta information DB of the service providing apparatus 111 and then displayed on the display unit 211. The information is displayed in the “program overview” display area (S1707).

  Next, summary information, broadcast date information, or detailed information on the selected broadcast date is displayed in each display area shown in FIG. 16 (S1709). The summary information, the broadcast date information, or the detailed information of the selected broadcast date is called from the program meta information DB assigned to the storage unit 201 or the program meta information DB of the service providing apparatus 111 via the network 103. . In particular, since it can be obtained without going through the network 103, calling from the program meta information DB of the storage unit 201 improves processing efficiency and reduces communication costs.

  Next, the already set detailed information is copied to the unset detailed information (S1711). In order to perform the detailed information copy process, the broadcast date on which the detailed information is set is selected, and D & D is performed on the broadcast date on which the detailed information is not set.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the “day” icon for “7 days” displayed in the broadcast date information display area for “2003/8” is displayed in the broadcast date information display area for “2003/9”. By performing D & D or the like on the “day” icon of “30 days”, as shown by the arrow 1602, the detailed information of “7 days” can be copied to the detailed information of “30 days”.

  When the copy process (S1711) is executed, the detailed information of the selected copy source is set in the copy destination unset detailed information (S1713), and a series of operations of the detailed information setting process according to the present embodiment is performed. finish.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 18, a modified example of the broadcast day addition process according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a modification of the broadcast day addition process shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 18, first, a program meta information processing screen is displayed on the display screen of the program registration terminal device 129 (S1801). Note that S1801 is substantially the same as S1501 described above, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  Next, the program registration terminal device 129 determines whether the program meta information is newly created or whether the program meta information for the already created program is read (S1803). The above determination is determined by the operation of the input unit 207 by the broadcast station user.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 18, in the case of creating new program meta information, first, input of program information is received from a general user in order to register the program meta information. First, input of summary information is accepted (S1805). For example, program information such as a broadcast station name and a program is input to the program overview shown in FIG. The information itself entered in the program summary is not yet program meta information, but program meta information may be created on the spot.

  In the case of program meta information that has already been registered and created, the corresponding program meta information is selected and acquired from the program meta information DB of the storage unit 201 or the program meta information DB of the service providing apparatus 111 and then displayed on the display unit 211. The information is displayed in the “program overview” display area (S1807).

  Next, summary information, broadcast date information, or detailed information on the selected broadcast date is displayed in each display area shown in FIG. 16 (S1809).

  Next, in order to add the broadcast date of the program in the program meta information processing screen displayed on the display unit 211, a calendar screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 16 (S1811). Note that the calendar screen according to the present embodiment is almost the same as described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The displayed calendar screen is displayed on the display unit 211 in a state where nothing is selected, for example, a “day” icon (S1813).

  Next, when the calendar screen is displayed, the “day” icon displayed on the calendar screen is selected with the input unit 207 such as the left button of the mouse, for example, as the broadcast date to be added (S1815).

  When one or more “day” icons are selected, for example, when the right button of the mouse is clicked, a menu screen (not shown) is displayed, which is the same as the selected “day” icon. The “day” of the day of the week can be selected on a monthly basis or the selected “day” icon can be canceled.

  When the broadcast date to be added is selected, an “update” button (not shown) displayed on the menu screen is pressed by clicking or the like (S1815).

  Next, when the “update” button is selected (S1815), the broadcast date for which no information is set in the detailed information is displayed as a “date” icon in the broadcast date information display area shown in FIG. It is displayed (S1817).

  When the “day” icon is selected, the added broadcast day detailed information is displayed in an empty state in the detailed information display area shown in FIG. 16, and the detailed information is set in the display area (S1817). .

  When the detailed information is set (S1817), a series of operations for the broadcast day addition process according to the present embodiment is completed.

  When the program meta information is registered, the content providing terminal device 113 provided in the content providing company 104 can associate the content meta information in units of programs immediately after that.

  By using the association setting application and requesting screen display by the content user via the input unit 241, the display unit 237 of the content providing terminal device 113 displays the program meta information registration status screen as shown in FIG. Is displayed in the program table format.

  The registration status screen of the program meta information shown in FIG. 19 is the registration status of the program meta information of the program scheduled to be broadcast on December 1, 2003, and the programs of each station are allocated and displayed in a time schedule. ing.

  In the program frame in which the program meta information is already registered, appropriate information such as the program summary information is displayed in addition to the program name as the program title. As shown in FIG. 19, a grayed shaded display in the program frame indicates a registered program. Furthermore, an icon 160 symbolizing the content meta information is displayed on a program frame already associated with the content meta information, that is, a program for which a service is set.

  The icon 160 is not limited to an icon as long as it is a display form that symbolizes a category associated with each program. For example, even in the case of a linked text, symbol, index, etc., it can be implemented. The icon 160 according to the present embodiment is not limited to an icon as long as it is a display form that symbolizes a category associated with each program. For example, even in the case of a linked text, symbol, index, etc., it can be implemented.

  Note that the case where only one icon 160 is displayed in the program frame shown in FIG. 19 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the present invention can be implemented even when a plurality of icons 160 are displayed in the program frame according to the type of content meta information such as genre and category.

  If no icon 160 is displayed in the program frame, it indicates that the program meta information has been registered, but the content meta information is still not associated. Therefore, the content user can easily understand which program is associated with the content meta information or which is not associated with the registration status displayed on the display unit 241.

  In the program meta information registration status screen shown in FIG. 19, by designating the broadcast date, all the programs broadcast on the broadcast date are displayed as a program guide. It is also possible to display a narrowed-down program meta information registration status screen.

  When the broadcast date and broadcast time are specified by the input unit 241, as shown in FIG. 20A, the program meta information extraction unit 267 of the service providing apparatus 111 includes the program frames of the registered program meta information. , Only the program frames corresponding to the designated broadcast date and broadcast time are extracted.

  When the extracted program meta information is transmitted to the content providing terminal device 113, the program meta information is displayed in a line in a list format as shown in FIG. When the content meta information is associated with the program frame displayed in the list format as described above, the icon 160 is displayed. Note that the case where one icon 160 is displayed on the screen shown in FIG. 20 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this example, and a plurality of cases may be used.

  Note that the designated broadcast date and broadcast time to be displayed in the program meta information shown in FIG. 20B is “19:00 to 20:00” of “December 1, 2003”. FIG. 20 is a modification of the program meta information registration status screen according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. The program meta information search process shown in FIG. 20 will be described in detail later.

  When the content user finds a program associated with the content meta information stored in the content providing terminal device 113 from the registration status screen of the program meta information displayed on the display unit 237, the content user right-clicks on the input unit 241 and the like. (Not shown) and “Calendar screen display” is selected, the control unit 239 displays the calendar screen on the display unit 237 using the association setting application. Since the calendar screen is almost the same as described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Therefore, a calendar screen is first displayed on the display unit 237 as shown in FIG. Next, the content user selects a day corresponding to the broadcast date of the associated program via the input unit 241 with the “day” icon displayed on the calendar screen.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when the date corresponding to the broadcast date is September 30, 2003, “30” day is selected by the input unit 241 as the “day” icon. Then, the control unit 239 uses the association setting application and requests the service providing apparatus 111 for the program meta information scheduled to be broadcast on the “30” day.

  When the content providing terminal device 113 receives the corresponding program meta information from the service providing device 111, the program meta information is displayed on the display unit 237. As shown in FIG. 21, a case where only the broadcast station name and the program name in the program meta information are displayed in the display area 2101 where the program meta information is displayed will be described as an example. It is not limited to the example, and other information included in the program meta information can be displayed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 21, when the program “YYY station 22222” on the display screen 2101 is selected as the target to be associated, the display screen 2103 is displayed. On the display screen 2103, program summary information, detailed information, and the like are displayed, and conditions for content meta information that can be associated with the program meta information in advance by the broadcasting station 102 are set. As shown in FIG. 21, for example, the condition for content association is “not applicable to car manufacturers”. A plurality of the above conditions can be set such as condition 1, condition 2,...

  Further, when the “related setting” button is selected, a content meta information selection screen (not shown) is displayed on the display unit 237, and the content meta information can be selected. When the content meta information is selected, a display screen 2105 that displays the content of the content meta information is displayed on the display unit 237.

  On the display screen 2105, detailed information on the content entity, link information for purchasing the content entity, and the like are displayed, and the condition clearing condition for the association preset in the program meta information as the association source (condition 1) , Condition 2, condition 3,...) Are displayed.

  When all the clear states are “OK”, the control unit 239 uses the association application to generate the link meta information, and transmits it to the service providing apparatus 111 for storing the content meta information and the link meta information. . Further, an icon 160 is displayed on the display screen 2103 shown in FIG.

  When the content providing information and the linked meta information are transmitted from the content providing terminal device 113, the service providing apparatus 111 stores both pieces of meta information in a program meta information DB or a content meta information DB (not shown). .

  When the association process between the content meta information and the program meta information is completed for each program, when the final confirmation is performed by the broadcasting station 102, the content meta information is provided together with the program meta information when the program meta information is provided to a general user. Can be provided.

  From the above, since the content providing company 104 can associate the content meta information with the registration of the program meta information for each program, it can be quickly and efficiently referred to the appropriate program meta information displayed on the display screen. The association process can be performed.

  In addition, content meta information can be associated with a program that meets the purpose of the content provider, such as a program that has not yet been associated, so that it can be stopped by a general user for as long as possible.

  As described above, the program meta information is registered by the program registration terminal device 129 provided in each broadcasting station 102, and the content meta information is associated with the program meta information by the content providing terminal device 113 provided in each content providing company 104. .

  With respect to the associated program meta information, as shown in FIG. 2, the broadcast station user of the registration-source broadcast station 102 performs final confirmation processing by the program registration terminal device 129 (processing step 3).

  The final confirmation process is a process for checking whether or not the content meta information associated with the program meta information satisfies a set condition when registering the initial program meta information. Specifically, the user application or the program setting application is activated and a program meta information final confirmation screen (not shown) is displayed on the display unit 211, and then the broadcast station user of the program registration terminal device 129 is input by the input unit 207. To select program meta information to be final confirmed.

  When the program meta information is selected, the program meta information and the content meta information stored in the service providing device 111 are transmitted to the program registration terminal device 129 via the network 103 and displayed on the program meta information final confirmation screen. The For example, when a plurality of program meta information are selected, a plurality of program meta information and content meta information are transmitted to the program registration terminal device 129.

  The selected program meta information and content meta information are displayed on the program meta information final confirmation screen, but nothing is displayed if the conditions set when registering the program meta information are satisfied, or “Normal” is displayed. For example, the condition information set in the program meta information may be added to the program meta information, or the condition information may be stored and managed independently.

  If the content meta information displayed on the program meta information final confirmation screen does not satisfy the set condition, a message indicating “condition error” is displayed on the program meta information final confirmation screen. Note that checking whether the condition is satisfied can be exemplified by, for example, a case where the program meta information extraction unit 267 provided in the service providing apparatus 111 checks at the time of extraction, but is not limited to such an example.

  Since the broadcast station user can confirm the content meta information associated with the program meta information through the program meta information final confirmation screen displayed on the display unit 211 while referring to the check result, it can be quickly and efficiently performed. Can be finally confirmed. After confirmation, the broadcast station user selects the “Checked” button using the input unit 207.

  Furthermore, the broadcast station user can select the program meta information associated with the content meta information for each program unit, not for every program unit broadcasted by each broadcast station, for the final confirmation. Can be used in a distributed manner, so that time can be used effectively or the burden of processing on a terminal device or the like can be reduced.

  The content user can confirm the result of the final confirmation process by the broadcast station user. The content user can confirm via the display screen of the display unit 237 of the content providing terminal device 113.

  Here, a display screen displayed on the display unit of the content providing terminal device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the display screen of the display unit of the content providing terminal device according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 22, the display screen displayed on the display unit 237 includes at least a calendar screen, a display screen 2301, a display screen 2302, and a display screen 2303. For example, a screen such as a calendar screen is a screen displayed in a part of the entire display screen displayed on the display unit 237.

  When the content user uses the input unit 241 to request display of the display screen, first, the control unit 239 activates the association setting application and executes display processing of the initial screen.

  When the initial screen is displayed on the display unit 237, only the calendar screen shown in FIG. 22 is first displayed. The calendar screen has almost the same configuration as that described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  From the state in which the calendar screen is displayed, an appropriate year and month are selected by clicking on the “▲” or “▼” icon on the input unit 241. Furthermore, in order to select the day, the “day” icon in which the number of the date is written is selected. When the “day” icon is selected, for example, the “day” icon shown in FIG.

  When a broadcast day consisting of a date is selected via the calendar screen, when a broadcast time is further selected from a broadcast selection screen (not shown), summary information of the program meta information selected on the display screen 2301, etc. Information is displayed. Note that the display screen 2301 has substantially the same configuration as the display screen 2103 described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, when the icon 160 displayed on the display screen 2301 is selected by clicking or the like, the content meta information associated with the program meta information corresponding to the genre of the icon 160 is displayed on the display screen 2302, for example.

  The display screen 2302 displays the title name of the content meta information corresponding to the icon 160 relating to the genre of the publication. Note that “■” displayed on the display screen 2302 indicates that the broadcasting station 102 has finally confirmed the final confirmation, and “□” indicates that it has not been checked yet.

  As shown in FIG. 22, when the title name or the like of the content meta information displayed on the display screen 2302 is selected, the content of the selected content meta information is displayed on the display screen 2303. For example, when “XXX publishing” is selected on the display screen 2302, the associated content meta information of the XXX publication is displayed on the display screen 2303.

  Whether the display unit 2303 is authorized or not allowed to associate the content meta information with the program meta information from the broadcast station 102 side in addition to displaying the associated content meta information. Is represented by “permitted” icon and “not permitted” icon.

  For example, when only the “permit” icon is displayed, the displayed color is inverted, blinks, or the brightness is increased, which means that the content meta information is permitted on the broadcast station 102 side. On the other hand, for example, when only the “not permitted” icon is displayed in black or white, or when the brightness is low and dark, the content meta information is not permitted on the broadcast station 102 side.

  Therefore, the content user can efficiently confirm whether the association with the program information is permitted by the association setting application after the period of the final confirmation of the association by the broadcast station 101 is completed. Since confirmation can be made even before the final confirmation period of association, the presence or absence of final confirmation can be efficiently checked for each program.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the final confirmation of the program meta information is completed by the program registration terminal device 129 provided in each broadcasting station 102 as shown in FIG. , A preliminary maintenance process for permitting the configuration of the program guide is performed (processing step 4).

  In the pre-maintenance process, before providing a service such as a program guide to a general user, the planning user side belonging to the planning company 105 checks the program meta information and content meta information before providing the service, and permits the configuration of the program guide. Processing.

  Here, the advance maintenance process according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the advance maintenance process according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 23, first, a service management screen is displayed on the display screen of the program confirmation terminal device 121 (S2201). The service management screen is displayed on the display unit 211 when the control unit 225 activates the service management application (S2201).

  Next, the planning user selects the date of the program guide to be confirmed through the input unit 229, for example, “XXX year XX month XX day” (S2203). When the date is selected, the program meta information acquisition unit 227 requests the service providing apparatus 111 for information such as the program meta information and the associated content meta information.

  Next, the program confirmation terminal device 121 reads the requested program meta information transmitted via the network 103 one by one for each program (S2205). Here, when a transmission completion flag or the like is transmitted from the service providing apparatus 111, the communication unit 233 of the program confirmation terminal apparatus 121 completes reception.

  Next, when the program meta information or content meta information is read one by one (S2205), the program meta information is set to an appropriate position according to the layout of the list (S2207). For example, the layout of the list can be exemplified by the layout of the program table with the horizontal axis as the broadcasting station and the vertical axis as the time.

  Steps S2205 and S2207 are repeatedly executed until all the program meta information of the program set in the list is read. When all the program meta information is read, the program meta information related to the program set in the list and the program meta information are read. The registration status of the content meta information associated with the information is displayed on the display unit 221 (S2209).

  Here, the list displayed on the display unit 221 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a service management screen displayed on the display unit of the program confirmation terminal device 121 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 24, a service management screen is displayed when the service management application is started, and a list is displayed on the display unit 221 by reading program meta information corresponding to the broadcast date. Note that the icon 160 displayed in the program frame of the program guide is not limited to a single icon, and can be implemented in a plurality of cases.

  In the list, program frames are assigned with a plurality of broadcasting stations on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis on the time zone, and corresponding program meta information is set in the program frames. The display of the program meta information displayed in the list is controlled by the display unit 221 according to the status information.

  As shown in the list of FIG. 24, the status information for controlling the display of the program meta information according to the status of the program meta information includes status 1 to status 4. For example, status 1 indicates that the content meta information can be associated, status 2 indicates that the program meta information is not registered, and status 3 indicates that the final confirmation by the broadcasting station 102 has been completed. Status 4 indicates that the period during which the content meta information can be associated has ended.

  The status information according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the case of status 1 to status 4 as an example. However, the status information is not limited to this example, and the number of statuses may be any number. In addition, the status information is associated with a status indicating a state in which paid content meta information is associated, a status indicating a state in which free content meta information is associated, or content meta information that is known / popular. It may be the case that the status indicating the status is included.

  Therefore, when the display unit 221 displays the program meta information, the display is changed according to the status information. Therefore, the pattern in which the program meta information is displayed differs depending on each status (status 1 to status 4). Note that the display control of the program meta information according to the present embodiment has been described by taking the case where the display color is changed according to the status information as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. The display control can be performed even when the shape of the program frame is changed to an elliptical shape or the like according to the status information, or the displayed pattern or the like is changed.

  The status information accompanying each piece of program meta information is added to the program meta information in advance when the program meta information is registered in the service providing apparatus 111. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. When registering program meta information, the program meta information is managed separately for each program meta information in a status information DB (not shown) separately from the program meta information DB in which the program meta information is stored in advance. Can also be implemented.

  The list displayed on the display unit 221 according to the present embodiment can be switched to the actual program table provided to general users by selecting the menu screen by the input unit 229. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently execute the confirmation assuming the production.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 23, when the registration status is displayed (S2209), the program guide configuration permission unit 231 uses the association application to extract the program meta information included in the list shown in FIG. In step S2211, it is confirmed whether the content meta information is associated with the extracted program meta information (whether there is an association) (S2213).

  When the content meta information is not associated with the program meta information (S2213), the program table configuration permission unit 231 takes out the next program meta information configured in the list (S2211).

  When the content meta information is associated with the program meta information, the program table configuration permission unit 231 determines whether the program meta information has received final confirmation from the broadcast station 102 or not. If it is determined based on the information and the final confirmation is completed, the program guide configuration permission unit 231 displays a permission screen for obtaining consent to incorporate the program meta information into the program guide provided to the general user. .

  Here, the permission screen displayed on the display unit of the program confirmation terminal apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a display screen displayed on the display unit of the program confirmation terminal device according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 25, the display screen displayed on the display unit 221 includes at least a calendar screen and a permission screen. For example, the calendar screen or the permission screen is a screen displayed in a part of the entire display screen displayed on the display unit 237.

  In the permission screen, the program name of the program meta information for which the final confirmation by the broadcasting station 102 has been completed, the error contents if there has been an error that occurred before, and the “to list” for returning to the list display. A “return” button, a “permit” button, and a “non-permission” are displayed for each program. Note that the present invention is not limited to such an example, and any information can be displayed.

  When the permission screen is displayed on the display unit 221, the planning user presses the “permission” button displayed on the permission screen, for example, by the input unit 229. When displaying the program meta information of the preceding and following programs, the display can be switched by selecting the icon 2501 or the icon 2502.

  Next, when it is permitted to configure the program table by pressing the “permit” button or the like, the program table configuration permission unit 231 sets the program table permission status among the status information attached to the program meta information to “Allowed”. To "" (S2215).

  When the final confirmation of the program meta information is not performed on the broadcast station 102 side (S2215), the program guide configuration permission unit 231 utilizes an association application, for example, an electronic device having the corresponding broadcast station 102 as a transmission destination. A mail is generated and transmitted to the communication unit 233. The communication unit 233 transmits an e-mail as a reminder to the program registration terminal device 129 provided in the broadcasting station 102 via the network 103.

  Therefore, it is possible to prompt the broadcast station user to make final confirmation on program meta information that has not yet been final confirmed.

  In addition, since the program meta information not associated with the content meta information is the program meta information registered by itself, the permission process (S2215) is not executed. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. Even if it is, it can be implemented.

  When the permission process (S2215) ends for the program meta information associated with the content meta information included in the list shown in FIG. 24, the service providing apparatus 111 transfers the program meta information to the WWW server. The WWW server configures a program table immediately after transfer of program meta information or the like or on a predetermined date, and starts providing services to general users.

  Next, a search process for searching for program meta information by the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing an outline of an operation of searching for program meta information on the display unit of the content providing terminal device 113 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 26, the control unit 239 of the content providing terminal device 113 uses a use application for processing such as program table display / search, program meta information display / search, and the like according to an instruction from the input unit 241. Start up (S2601).

  When the application is activated, an initial screen (not shown) for searching for program meta information and the like is displayed on the display unit 237 of the content providing terminal device 113. The initial screen is assigned a search information input area for inputting the broadcast date and time necessary for searching the program meta information, keywords included in the program meta information, and the like using the input unit 241.

  In the search information input area, for example, a check box or radio button for selecting search information, a blank for inputting a keyword, and the like are displayed.

  Next, the date and time when the program is broadcast is designated by the input unit 241 by the operation of the content user (S2603). For example, the broadcast date and time is designated as “XXXX year XX month XX day 20: 00 to 22:00”. In addition to the broadcast date and time, for example, the present invention can be implemented even when a keyword included in meta information such as program meta information is designated.

  When the broadcast date and time of the program is specified (S2603), the content providing terminal device 113 requests the service providing device 111 to search for the corresponding program meta information.

  The program meta information extraction unit 267 of the service providing apparatus 111 searches for and extracts program meta information corresponding to the designated broadcast date and time (S2605). The search for the program meta information has almost the same configuration as that described with reference to FIG.

  The searched program meta information is transmitted from the service providing apparatus 111 to the content providing terminal apparatus 113 as the search request source via the network 103 and stored in the storage unit 245 (S2605).

  Next, the control unit 239 displays the stored program meta information on the display unit 237 according to a predetermined display mode (S2607). The display mode can be implemented in any mode, for example, a mode in which programs are displayed in a list format in order of each broadcasting station, or any other mode.

  As described above, the display unit 237 displays, for example, a screen similar to the registration status screen of program meta information shown in FIG. 20B, and a list of searched program meta information is displayed.

  When the content user refers to the program meta information displayed on the display unit 237 and selects an appropriate program, the content user displays detailed information on the program meta information on the display unit 237 to confirm further detailed contents of the program. (S2609).

  Further, when the content user refers to the program meta information displayed on the display unit 237 and selects an appropriate program, the content user displays the broadcast date and time information related to the program meta information on the display unit 237 so that the program is broadcast accurately. The correct date and time can be confirmed (S2611).

  Furthermore, when searching for another program meta information, it is necessary to set search information such as broadcast date and time again (S2603). When the search is not performed, a series of operations of the search process of program meta information according to the present embodiment ends.

  From the above, by applying the program information processing system 100 according to the present embodiment, a wide variety of program meta information can be provided directly to general users on the broadcasting station 102 side, and according to the strategy of the own station, You can advertise programs that clearly show your advantage over other stations.

  In addition, the timing for registering program meta information and the like can be freely determined for each program. Therefore, program meta information can be provided according to the characteristics of the program. For example, in the case of a feature-length documentary for a continuous program, detailed information is provided in stages according to the number of broadcasts of the program, or in the case of a drama, an outline of the program broadcast that has been broadcast is added depending on the genre. You can do it freely.

  It is not necessary to construct facilities for managing / providing program meta information in the broadcasting station, and if predetermined applications such as the program registration terminal device 129 and the program setting application are installed, the capital investment can be minimized. However, services can be provided.

  Since the use form of general users is a program guide service through programs, the purpose of use is clear, and broadcast station users can easily find directions for registering program meta information.

  Program meta information can be effectively used to provide high-performance services such as a recommendation function and a My Page function provided by the planning company 105. It becomes easier for consigned broadcasters who provide their own programs to advertise programs.

  Since the program registration terminal device 129 provided in the broadcasting station 102 can set the broadcast date and time information alone in the program information at any timing even in the program meta information, the program information is input while shooting the program on the production side in the station. Such processing can be easily performed. Also, in the program information, common summary information and detailed information for each broadcast day are managed independently, so that it is not necessary to input all information for each broadcast day.

  Further, since the service providing apparatus 111 or the program registration terminal apparatus 129 can independently manage the broadcast date / time information in the program meta information, only the program summary information can be obtained without inputting the broadcast date or the like. Can be set. In addition, since the schedule can be managed by displaying the broadcast date etc. as an icon, the schedule can be visually grasped efficiently.

  The program registration terminal device 129 and the like can be easily operated regardless of the user by cooperating with the calendar screen when registering the program meta information. Furthermore, it is possible to easily manage broadcast days over a long period such as 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year.

  Furthermore, the program registration terminal device 129 and the like can call the program meta information registered in the past, thereby reducing the work man-hour for registering rebroadcast.

  A distribution schedule for providing program meta information for each program can be freely instructed to the program registration terminal device 129 or the like according to the program plan. In addition, information contents such as program meta information can be edited, such as change, deletion, and addition, until just before the provision. Furthermore, the program meta information can be edited even during broadcasting.

  Also, the content provider 104 can effectively use the program meta information and advertise / sell the content meta information it owns without negotiating with the broadcasting station 102 in advance, without much cost. realizable.

  For general users, it is not a program table that used to be a list of program titles and broadcast times, but a program table service that provides a wealth of information such as information about content entities related to programs and detailed information about programs. Can receive. Furthermore, although general users could not easily obtain information such as program rebroadcast schedules, they can easily obtain information such as program broadcast schedules from the past to the future by searching program meta information. It becomes possible.

  Finally, the planning company 105 side can construct a new business model in cooperation with the broadcasting station 102 and the content providing company 104, and can provide a general user 101 side with a network system that provides information about programs in a completely new form. Therefore, the planning company 105 can improve the ability to attract customers of the general user 101 as a portal by making many entries from the broadcasting station 102 and the content providing company 104.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, this invention is not limited to this example. It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be envisaged within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood that it belongs.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the television broadcast station 102 provides a program has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the present invention can be implemented even when a radio program is provided by a radio broadcasting station, a movie is provided by a movie distribution company, a book is provided by a publisher, or music such as a CD is provided by a record company.

  In the above-described embodiment, the registration of the program meta information has been described by taking as an example the case where the program registration terminal device 129 performs, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the present invention can be implemented even when the program confirmation terminal device 121 or the content providing terminal device 113 registers the program meta information.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the program table configuration permission for the program meta information is performed by the program confirmation terminal device 121 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, even when the program registration terminal device 129 permits it, it can be implemented.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the program meta information is generated by the program registration terminal device 129 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the present invention can be implemented even when the service providing apparatus generates program meta information based on program information.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the content meta information has been described by taking as an example the case where the content meta information is generated by the content providing terminal device. For example, the present invention can be implemented even when the service providing apparatus generates content meta information based on information including the contents of content transmitted from the content providing terminal apparatus 113.

  In the above embodiment, the case where each unit included in the program registration terminal device 129, the program confirmation terminal device 121, the service providing device 111, and the content providing terminal device 113 is made up of hardware has been described as an example. It is not limited to such an example. For example, each unit may be a program composed of one or two or more modules or components.

  The present invention is applicable to a program information processing system connected to a network.

It is a block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the program information processing system concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of operation | movement of the program information processing system concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the service provision screen displayed on the display part of the user terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the service provision screen displayed on the display part of the user terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the service provision screen displayed on the display part of the user terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the service provision screen displayed on the display part of the user terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the program registration terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the program confirmation terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the content provision terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the user terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the service provision apparatus concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of the program meta information concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of the content meta information concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of the link | attachment meta information concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of the operation | movement which registers the program meta information concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the schematic structure of the program meta information processing screen concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of the copy process of the detailed information applied to the program information processing system concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the modification of the addition process of a broadcast day shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the registration status screen of the program meta information concerning this Embodiment. FIG. 20 is a modification of the program meta information registration status screen according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the correlation of the content provision terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the display screen of the display part of the content provision terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of operation | movement of the advance maintenance process concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the service management screen displayed on the display part of the program confirmation terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of the display screen displayed on the display part of the program confirmation terminal device concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of the operation | movement which searches program meta information on the display part of the content provision terminal device 113 concerning this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Program information processing system 101 General user 102 Broadcast station 103 Network 104 Content providing company 105 Planning company 107 User terminal device 109 Broadcast station facility 111 Service providing device 113 Content providing terminal device 121 Program confirmation terminal device 129 Program registration terminal device

Claims (19)

  In a user terminal, program meta information including the broadcast date and time of a program to be broadcast is displayed as a program table, and when the program meta information is selected, content meta information associated with the program meta information is displayed. A system for providing program guide data to a user terminal device,
  A program registration terminal device for registering the program meta information in a database in response to an operation by a broadcast station user who provides the program;
  A content providing terminal device that registers the content meta information in the database in association with the program meta information in response to an operation by a content providing user who provides content related to the program;
  A program confirmation terminal device that generates the program guide data from the program meta information registered in the database and transmits the program guide data to the user terminal in response to an operation by a planning user who provides the program guide;
  Including
  The program registration terminal device allows the broadcast station user to check the program meta information registered in the database and the content meta information associated with the program meta information,
  The program confirmation terminal device causes the planning user to confirm whether or not the program meta information registered in the database and the content meta information associated with the program meta information are confirmed by the broadcast station user, A system for generating the program guide data from the confirmed program meta information. The program registration terminal device, the the program meta information comprises information adding unit for adding information of the broadcast date and time of the one or more selected by the operation said broadcast station user, system according to claim 1. The system according to claim 2, wherein the information adding unit adds a plurality of pieces of information on the broadcast date and time to the program meta information. 4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the broadcast date / time information includes broadcast date information related to a broadcast date of a program and / or broadcast time information related to a broadcast time. The program registration terminal device further includes a display unit for displaying a program meta information processing screen for processing the program meta information,
The information adding unit, when the display of the program meta information processing screen, processing the program meta information in accordance with the additional instruction information generated by the operation of the broadcast station user, any one of claims 2-4, The system described in. The display unit displays a date screen for selecting the broadcast date and time together with the program meta information processing screen,
The information adding unit, the out of date screen plurality of time information displayed on, the date and time information selected by the operation of the broadcast station user, the program meta information processing screen program meta information displayed on It added as information of the broadcast date, the system of claim 5.   The system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the additional instruction information is generated by at least copy and paste, drag and drop, or cut and paste. The program registration terminal device further includes a display unit for displaying a program meta information processing screen for processing the program meta information,
The information adding unit is configured to display detailed information about the first program displayed on the program meta information processing screen according to copy instruction information generated by an operation of the broadcast station user when the program meta information processing screen is displayed. The system according to claim 2, which is copied and added to the detailed information related to the second program displayed on the program meta information processing screen. The copy instruction information, the program meta information first information of the broadcast date and time displayed on the processing screen at least copy and paste the information of the second broadcast date, drag and drop or cut and, The system according to claim 8, wherein the system is generated by pasting. The system according to claim 1, wherein the program confirmation terminal device includes a display request receiving unit that receives a display request for the program meta information in units of programs. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the program confirmation terminal device further includes a display unit that displays program meta information acquired in units of the programs in a list form. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the display unit controls display of the program meta information according to status information indicating whether the program meta information is permitted or not included in the program meta information. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the status information further includes at least one of presence / absence of content meta information associated with the program meta information and validity / invalidity of the content meta information. The display unit in response to the status information, the color of the program meta information displayed in the program frame of said program guide, the pattern or controlling at least one display of the shape, according to claim 12 or 13, system. The program meta information may further include a summary of the program,該番set of summary, including the common information in all times in a continuous programs broadcast over a plurality of times, according to claim 1 system.   The system according to claim 1, wherein the program meta information includes a tag indicating a segment group for collectively managing segments obtained by dividing scenes in a program by a start time and a time interval.   The system according to claim 1, wherein an expiration date for limiting an accessible period is set in the program meta information or the content meta information. Program guide arrangement permission / status information disallow該番set meta information included in the program meta information, the said content meta information to the program meta information is ready to associate, registered in the program meta information database Used to determine that the registered program meta information has been confirmed, and that the period during which the content meta information can be associated with the program meta information has ended. The system of claim 1.   In a user terminal, program meta information including the broadcast date and time of a program to be broadcast is displayed as a program table, and when the program meta information is selected, content meta information associated with the program meta information is displayed. A method of providing program guide data to a user terminal device,
  A first step of registering the program meta information in a database in response to an operation by a broadcast station user who provides the program;
  A second step of registering the content meta information in the database in association with the program meta information in response to an operation by a content providing user who provides content related to the program;
  A third step of generating the program guide data from the program meta information registered in the database and transmitting it to the user terminal in response to an operation by a planning user who provides the program guide;
  A fourth step of allowing the broadcast station user to confirm the program meta information registered in the database and the content meta information associated with the program meta information;
  The planning user confirms whether or not the broadcast station user has confirmed the program meta information registered in the database and the content meta information associated with the program meta information, and the confirmed program meta information. A fifth step of generating the program guide data from information;
  Including methods.

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