Patent Publication Number: US-2007122110-A1

Title: Receiver provided with electronic program guide

Description:
The present application is based on and claims priority of Japanese patent application No. 2005-342499 filed on Nov. 28, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a receiver provided with an electronic program guide (EPG), and more particularly, to a television receiver which makes reservations of viewing using an electronic program guide, DVD decoder, HDD decoder, video cassette recorder or the like which makes reservations of recording.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      The electronic program guide (EPG) is designed to receive electronic program guide information on program names, broadcasting times, explanations of the programs (performers, outline of the program or the like) and display these items on the screen so as to facilitate selections, reservations of viewing, reservations of recording.  
      Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-36846 (patent document 1) discloses a technology of making a series of reservations on a weekly or daily basis using an electronic program guide. More specifically, this technology regards programs that have the same program name, the same channel number or programs to be broadcast on the same day of the week or at the same time as a certain specified program as targets for a series of reservations. According to this technology, it is possible to set reservations for a program which is broadcast at a scheduled time every week or every day through a single reservation operation.  
      Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-187328 (patent document 2) discloses a technology of searching for a program including keywords entered by the user beforehand from electronic program guide information and reserving recording of a detected program automatically. According to this technology, once keywords are entered, it is possible to collectively reserve recording of a plurality of programs including the keywords.  
      In the case of a program with a long broadcasting time, another program may be inserted in the middle thereof.  FIG. 4A  shows an example where short news programs are inserted between quarters of an American football game being broadcast. In such a case, many users may want to watch all quarters but not the news programs inserted in the middle thereof. Especially, in the case of reserved recording, considering the amount of space of a recording medium used, it is preferable to avoid recording programs of no interest whenever possible.  
      Conventional reserved recording as shown in  FIG. 4A  requires reservation settings to be made a plurality of times so as to prevent news programs inserted in the middle from being recorded, which causes a problem of being quite troublesome. Since such broadcasting is not repeated every week or every day, using the technology disclosed in the patent document 1 cannot solve this problem. Furthermore, since there is a possibility that there may be different programs which contain the same keywords, even using the technology disclosed in the patent document 2 cannot solve this problem.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been implemented in view of the above described problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a receiver provided with an electronic program guide which can easily make a reservation even when other programs are inserted in the middle by displaying programs closely related to an initially reserved program as reservation candidates and setting the reservation.  
      The receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to a first aspect of the present invention is a receiver provided with an electronic program guide, comprising an electronic program guide information receiving function of receiving electronic program guide information which has a program name, broadcasting time and program explanations, an inputting function of inputting reservation information which specifies a program to be reserved, a storage function of storing the electronic program guide information and reservation information, a video processing function of outputting a video signal and a control function of controlling the electronic program guide information receiving function, inputting function, storage function and video processing function, wherein the control function causes the video processing function to output the video signal of the electronic program guide information stored by the storage function, and causes, when the reservation information which specifies the program to be reserved is inputted by the inputting function, the storage function to store the reservation information, the control function searches, when the reservation information is inputted by the inputting function, programs closely related to the program to be reserved specified by the inputted reservation information from the electronic program guide information stored in the storage means, causes, when closely related programs are found within a range a predetermined number of programs before and after the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information, the video processing function to output the video signal of the information which specifies the closely related programs and causes, when the reservation information which specifies the closely related programs is inputted by the inputting function, the storage function to store the reservation information of the closely related programs.  
      According to the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the first aspect of the present invention, programs closely related to the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are displayed automatically, and therefore it is possible to easily reserve these programs.  
      The receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to a second aspect of the present invention is the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein programs having program explanations identical or similar to those of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are defined as closely related programs.  
      According to the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the second aspect of the present invention, programs having program explanations identical or similar to those of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are displayed automatically, and therefore it is possible to easily reserve these programs.  
      The receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to a third aspect of the present invention is the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein programs having program names identical or similar to that of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are defined as closely related programs.  
      According to the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the third aspect of the present invention, programs having program names identical or similar to that of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are displayed automatically, and therefore it is possible to easily reserve these programs.  
      The receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein programs having an identical transmitting broadcasting station of the programs having program names identical or similar to that of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are defined as closely related programs.  
      According to the receiver provided with an electronic program guide according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, programs having an identical transmitting broadcasting station of the programs having program names identical or similar to that of the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are displayed automatically, and therefore it is possible to easily reserve these programs. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment;  
       FIG. 2  illustrates a remote controller of the embodiment;  
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing a processing flow of the embodiment;  
       FIGS. 4A  and B illustrate a program table displayed by an electronic program guide and contents displayed on a screen in reservation settings of the embodiment; and  
       FIGS. 5A , B, and C illustrate contents displayed on the screen in reservation settings of the embodiment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      An embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the attached drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiment is nothing more than a specific example of the present invention and the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing the configuration of a receiver of this embodiment. A receiver  1  provided with an electronic program guide is provided with a reception section  10 , a separation section  11 , an EPG decoding section  12 , a RAM  13 , a control section  14 , a remote control light receiving section  15 , a demodulation section  16 , an OSD processing section  17 , a video processing section  18 , an encoder  19 , a decoder  20 , an audio processing section  21  and a disk device  22 .  
      The reception section  10  receives a signal from an antenna  4 . The separation section  11  separates a signal including electronic program guide information from the signal received at the reception section  10 . The EPG decoding section  12  decodes the electronic program guide information from the signal including the electronic program guide information separated at the reception section  10 . The RAM  13  stores the electronic program guide information and the reservation information decoded at the EPG decoding section  12 . The control section  14  controls the respective sections provided for the receiver  1 . The remote control light receiving section  15  receives a control signal transmitted from the remote controller  3 . The demodulation section  16  demodulates the received signal and outputs a video signal and an audio signal. The OSD processing section  17  performs OSD processing (when there is no need for the OSD processing, the inputted video signal is let pass as is). The video processing section  18  outputs the inputted video signal. The encoder  19  converts the video signal and the audio signal to data which can be recorded into the disk device  22 . The decoder  20  converts the data recorded in the disk device  22  to a video signal and an audio signal. The audio processing section  21  outputs an audio signal. The disk device  22  records video and audio data.  
       FIG. 2  shows the remote controller  3 . When an EPG button  31  is pressed, a program table is displayed. The direction button (upward direction button  32   a , rightward direction button  32   b , downward direction button  32   c , and leftward direction button  32   d ) allows the cursor to move in the direction in which it is pressed or allows a selected part to be moved. Pressing an “Enter” button  33  confirms an item or state selected at that time.  
      According to this embodiment, the reception section  10 , separation section  11  and EPG decoding section  12  realize an electronic program guide information receiving function for receiving the electronic program guide information. Furthermore, the remote controller  3  and remote control light receiving section  15  realize an input function for inputting reservation information which specifies a program to be reserved. Furthermore, the RAM  13  realizes a storage function for storing electronic program guide information and reservation information. Furthermore, the video processing section  18  realizes a video processing function for outputting a video signal. Furthermore, the control section  14  realizes a control function.  
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing a processing flow of this embodiment. When power to the receiver is turned on, the processing shown in this flow chart starts. The control section  14  controls the flow of this processing.  
      In step S 110 , the control section  14  judges whether or not a program table (an example is shown in  FIG. 4A ) is displayed. When the EPG button  31  of the remote controller  3  is pressed and the program table is displayed, the control section  14  moves to step S 120  or moves to step S 110  otherwise.  
      In step S 120 , the control section  14  judges whether or not a program has been selected. When programs are moved by pressing the direction button and a program is selected by the Enter button  33 , the control section  14  moves to step S 130  or moves to step S 140  otherwise.  
      In step S 130 , the control section  14  displays detailed information (shown in  FIG. 4B ) on the program selected by the OSD processing section  17  and video processing section  18  and moves to step S 150 .  
      In step S 150 , the control section  14  judges whether or not a reservation has been set. When “Reserve viewing” or “Reserve recording” is selected out of selection items “Reserve viewing”, “Reserve recording”, “Return to program table”, “Close program table” on the left side of  FIG. 4B  by moving the item using the direction button and pressing the Enter button  33 , the control section  14  moves to step S 160  or moves to step S 170  otherwise.  
      Instep S 160 , the control section  14  reserves the selected program, erases a display “Reserved” and moves to step S 180 . Here, the information on the selected program is stored in the RAM  13  and “Reserved” is displayed by the OSD processing section  17  and video processing section  18  in a short time.  
      In step S 180 , the control section  14  extracts programs closely related to the reserved program from among the electronic program guide information stored in the RAM  13  and moves to step S 190 .  
      In step S 190 , the control section  14  judges whether or not there is a program closely related to the reserved program before and after the reserved program and when there is such a program, the control section  14  moves to step S 200  or moves to step S 120  otherwise.  
      In step S 200 , the control section  14  displays a screen (shown in  FIG. 5A  or  FIG. 5B ) which prompts the user to select whether or not to reserve a program closely related to the reserved program using the OSD processing section  17  and video processing section  18  and moves to step S 210 . Here,  FIG. 5A  shows a screen example when the number of closely related programs is one and  FIG. 5B  shows a screen example when the number of closely related programs is two and on both screens, a selected part is moved using the direction button and a reservation is set by confirming it using the Enter button  33 .  
      In step S 210 , the control section  14  judges whether or not “Reserve” has been selected and if “Reserve” has been selected, the control section  14  moves to step S 220  or moves to step S 120  otherwise.  
      In step S 220 , the control section  14  reserves the selected program, erases the display of “Reserved” and then moves to step S 120 . Here, the information on the selected program is stored in the RAM  13 , and the OSD processing section  17  and video processing section  18  display “Reserved” for a short time.  
      In step S 140 , the control section  14  judges whether or not “Close program table” has been selected and if “Close program table” has been selected, the control section  14  moves to step S 240  or moves to step S 120  otherwise.  
      In step S 170 , the control section  14  judges whether or not “Return to program table” has been selected and if “Return to program table” has been selected, it moves to step S 120  or moves to step S 230  otherwise.  
      In step S 230 , the control section  14  judges whether or not “Close program table” has been selected and if “Close program table” has been selected, it moves to step S 240  or moves to step S 150  otherwise.  
      In step S 240 , the control section  14  erases the display of the program table and moves to “End.” 
      Here, the extraction of a closely related program can be realized by extracting a program having the name identical, program whose program name contains first three characters identical or program whose program name includes words identical to those of the reserved program within a range a predetermined number of programs before and after the reserved program.  
      As described above, according to the present invention, programs closely related to a program to be reserved specified by the inputted reservation information are automatically displayed, it is possible to provide a receiver provided with an electronic program guide which can easily reserve these programs. Furthermore, in the case of a program configuration whereby other programs are inserted in the middle, it is possible to provide a receiver provided with an electronic program guide which can easily reserve a necessary program excluding the programs inserted in the middle.  
      Note that to extract programs closely related, only programs having a broadcasting station identical to that of the reserved program may be displayed or only programs of the same genre may be displayed or only programs of the same broadcasting format (stereo broadcasting, bilingual broadcasting, captioned broadcasting, dubbed broadcasting, video multiplex telecasting, data broadcasting, bidirectional broadcasting or the like) may be displayed.  
      Furthermore, closely related programs may also be extracted by extracting programs including displays which suggests continuous programs (“Part 1”, “Part 2”, “First half”, “Second half”, “Prequel”, “Sequel”, “Story 1”, “(1)”, “(2)”, “⅕”, “⅖”, “Final episode” or the like).  
      Furthermore, closely related programs may also be extracted by extracting programs having the same broadcasting time (15-minute program, 30-minute program or the like) or programs including the same performers as those of the reserved program.  
      Furthermore, when closely related programs are displayed, it is also possible to display the degree of relatedness together as shown in  FIG. 5C .  
      The effects of the present invention are as follows.  
      According to the present invention, programs closely related to the program to be reserved specified with the inputted reservation information are displayed automatically, and therefore it is possible to provide a receiver with an electronic program guide which can easily reserve these programs. Moreover, in the case of a program configuration where other programs are inserted in the middle thereof, it is possible to provide a receiver provided with an electronic program guide which easily reserves necessary programs in the form excluding the programs inserted in the middle thereof.