Patent ID: 8429698

Claim:
A digital broadcast reception device for receiving a digital broadcast signal transmitted from a transmission device, the digital broadcast signal representing a bulk program, a non-bulk program, and control information, the bulk program being a broadcast program subjected to bulk transmission using a plurality of physical channels, the non-bulk program being a broadcast program transmitted using a single physical channel, the control information including at least identification information identifying whether a transmitted broadcast program is the bulk program or the non-bulk program and bulk-channel information indicating physical channel numbers of the plurality of physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, wherein on at least one of the physical channels on which the bulk program is transmitted, a lower-layer program is subjected to hierarchical transmission, the lower-layer program being the same in program material as the bulk program and different in video standard from the bulk program, the digital broadcast reception device comprising: a plurality of tuners; operation reception means for receiving a predetermined operation from a user; channel selection instruction means for, based on the operation received by the operation reception means, causing the tuners to select physical channels specified by the user; bulk channel detection means for detecting, based on the control information, whether or not the bulk program is transmitted on the physical channel selected in accordance with the channel selection instruction means; tuner usage detection means for, when the bulk channel detection means detects that the bulk program is transmitted, detecting usages of the plurality of tuners; receivability determination means for detecting, based on the detection result of the tuner usage detection means, whether or not, among the plurality of tuners, a sufficient number of tuners are available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for bulk transmission of the bulk program detected by the bulk channel detection means; and program reproduction means for, when the receivability determination means determines that a sufficient number of tuners are available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for the bulk transmission, performing a process of reproducing the bulk program detected by the bulk channel detection means and for, when the receivability determination means determines that a sufficient number of tuners are not available for selecting all the plurality of physical channels used for the bulk transmission, performing a process of reproducing the lower-layer program subjected to hierarchical transmission with the bulk program.