JP2002359789A - Digital broadcast receiver and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital broadcast receiver that can display program information divided into a plurality of items while easily selecting them with a simple operation so as to make the handling of a user convenient for practical use, and to provide a control method for the digital broadcast receiver. SOLUTION: The digital broadcast receiver receiving program information associated with a broadcast program in a form of a plurality of division items (program explanation, detailed explanation and attribute or the like) can select program information of other items while program information of a prescribed items is displayed and selects the display state of the program information of the selected item.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus for receiving, for example, digital television broadcasts using satellites and displaying the television broadcast programs and program information, and a control method therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, digital television broadcasting using satellites has recently been put to practical use. In this digital television broadcasting, a corresponding digital broadcast receiving apparatus can not only view a television broadcast program but also present various kinds of program information to a user by data broadcasting.

[0003] The program information includes information on the contents of the program (for example, highlights, synopsis, performers, etc.) and information on the broadcasting mode (for example, viewing fee, Recording possible / not possible, resolution, etc.). Then, the user can selectively obtain desired information by operating the digital broadcast receiving device.

[0004] By the way, this kind of program information has a very large amount of information, so that it is difficult to display all information contents on a screen at once. For this reason, in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the program information is, for example, "program description",
Each item such as "detailed description" and "attribute" is selectively displayed.

In this case, in the conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus, a desired item is designated by displaying a menu screen for selecting each item. Therefore, for example, when the item of “detailed description” is selected while the item of “detailed description” is displayed, the display of “detailed description” is terminated, the menu screen is opened, and the “detailed description” is opened. Has to be performed, and as a result, there is a problem that the number of operations by the user is large and handling is complicated.

Conventionally, a display form of program information in which a menu screen is not used by expanding the contents of each item on one sentence and scrolling the sentence on the screen is also conceivable. ing. However, in such a display form, it is necessary to sequentially scroll a long sentence using a cursor movement key or the like, so that there is an inconvenience that it takes a long time to move between items.

[0007] Incidentally, as a known technique relating to a display form of program information in a digital television broadcast receiving apparatus, there are those disclosed in, for example, JP-A-11-261908 and JP-A-2000-270276.

[0008] However, the former relates to seamless display of program information across broadcast media and distribution media, and the latter relates to visibility and operability of an EPG screen for program selection. However, there is no description about solving the above-mentioned problems.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and enables program information divided into a plurality of items to be easily switched and displayed by a simple operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an extremely good digital broadcast receiving apparatus which is convenient for a user and suitable for practical use, and a control method thereof.

[0010]

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention is intended for receiving program information on a broadcast program in a form divided into a plurality of items. Then, while the program information of a predetermined item is displayed, it is possible to select program information of another item,
There is provided control means for switching to a display state of the program information of the selected item.

[0011] A control method of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention is directed to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items. When program information of another item is selected while program information of a predetermined item is displayed, the display is switched to a display state of program information of the selected item.

According to the above configuration and method, when program information of another item is selected while program information of a predetermined item is displayed, the display state of the program information of the selected item is changed. Since the switching is performed, the program information divided into a plurality of items can be easily switched and displayed by a simple operation, so that the handling for the user is convenient and practically suitable.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a digital television broadcast receiver described in this embodiment. That is, the received television broadcast wave is supplied to the tuner 11.

The tuner 11 outputs a CPU (Central Procedures) described later from the input television broadcast waves.
sing unit) 12 to select a channel and output a television signal of that channel.

The television signal output from the tuner 11 is subjected to demodulation processing by a decoding circuit 13, supplied to an image processing circuit 14, subjected to predetermined image processing, and then supplied to a mixing circuit 15. Is done.

The mixing circuit 15 applies an OSD (On Screen Displa) generated by the graphics generation circuit 16 to the television signal output from the image processing circuit 14.
y) It superimposes graphics data for display.

The television signal output from the mixing circuit 15 is supplied to an image display section 17 for image display, where a television broadcast program of a desired channel can be viewed. Become.

The operation of receiving such a television broadcast is generally controlled by the CPU 12 described above. The CPU 12 performs control corresponding to the operation information by inputting operation information from an operation unit (including a remote controller not shown) 18.

A program information acquisition circuit 19 is connected to the decoding circuit 13. The program information acquiring circuit 19 acquires program information from the television signal demodulated by the decoding circuit 13 and supplies the program information to the CPU 12.

In this case, the CPU 12 controls the graphics generation circuit 16 based on the input program information to generate graphics data corresponding to the program information and output the graphics data to the mixing circuit 15.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, when started (step S11), the CPU 12
Determines whether the user has operated the program information key of the operation unit 18 in step S12.

If it is determined in step S12 that the program information key has been operated (YES), the CPU 12
Displays a program information display screen for selecting and displaying program information divided into a plurality of items in step S13.

FIG. 3 shows a first display example of the program information display screen. That is, the program information is divided into three items: “program description”, “detailed description”, and “attribute”. These three items correspond to a plurality of color keys for the viewer to select an option sent from the broadcasting station in the data broadcasting.

More specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the item "program description" is associated with a blue color key, the item "detailed description" is associated with a red color, and the attribute is associated with a green color key. . In the vicinity of each item, color areas B, R, and G where the color is actually displayed are provided.

At the center of the program information display screen, a program information area A in which the contents of each item are selectively displayed.
(In FIG. 3, the content of “detailed description” is displayed), and the display content of the program information area A can be scrolled up and down. Note that this program information display screen has "Program information" as the title of the screen.
Is displayed, and the program name is displayed.

When such a program information display screen is displayed, the CPU 12 waits for any key of the operation unit 18 to be operated in step S14, and determines that any key has been operated. If (YES), step S1
At 5, it is determined whether or not the blue color key has been operated.

If it is determined that the blue color key has been operated (YES), the CPU 12 proceeds to step S1.
In step 6, control is performed so that the contents of the item "program description" are displayed in the program information area A from the top position.

If it is determined in step S15 that the blue color key has not been operated (NO), the CPU 1
2 determines in step S17 whether the red color key has been operated.

If it is determined that the red color key has been operated (YES), the CPU 12 proceeds to step S1.
In step 8, control is performed so that the contents of the item "detailed description" are displayed in the program information area A from the top position.

If it is determined in step S17 that the red color key has not been operated (NO), the CPU 1
In step S19, it is determined whether or not the green color key has been operated.

If it is determined that the green color key has been operated (YES), the CPU 12 proceeds to step S2.
At 0, control is performed so that the contents of the item of "attribute" are displayed in the program information area A from the head position. That is,
The blue, red, and green color keys function as shortcut keys for directly displaying the corresponding items of the program information.

If it is determined in step S19 that the green color key has not been operated (NO), the CPU 1
In step S21, it is determined whether or not the cursor up key is operated, and if it is determined that the cursor is operated (Y
ES), in step S22, control is performed to scroll the contents of the program information area A downward.

Further, if it is determined in step S21 that the cursor up key has not been operated (NO), C
In step S23, the PU 12 determines whether or not the cursor down key has been operated. If it is determined that the operation has been performed (YES), the PU 12 scrolls the contents of the program information area A upward in step S24. Control.

Then, steps S16, S18, S
After 20, S22 and S24, the CPU 12 proceeds to step S
25, each step S16, S18, S20, S22,
An image is displayed on the image display unit 17 so as to correspond to the process of S24, and the process returns to the process of step S14.

If it is determined in step S23 that the cursor down key has not been operated (NO),
In step S26, the CPU 12 determines whether or not the end key has been operated. If it is determined that the end key has not been operated (NO), the process returns to step S14.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S26 that the end key has been operated (YES), the CPU 12 terminates the program information display processing in step S27, and returns to step S12.

According to the above-described embodiment, each color key used in data broadcasting is used as a shortcut key for directly selecting and displaying a corresponding item of program information, and any one of the color keys is used. Is operated, the program information of the corresponding item is immediately displayed.

For this reason, for example, it is possible to directly switch from the item of “program description” to the item of “detailed description”, and to easily switch and display the program information divided into a plurality of items by a simple operation. This makes the handling convenient for the user and is suitable for practical use.

In the program information display screen, color areas B, R, and G in which the colors of the corresponding color keys are actually displayed are provided near each item of the program information. And the operation can be linked to each other, and also in such a point, the operation of the user can be facilitated.

Further, all items "program description", "detailed description", and "attribute" obtained by dividing the program information are displayed on the program information display screen in advance, so how the program information is divided. It is easy for the user to recognize whether or not the information is available, which is convenient for searching for necessary information.

Here, FIGS. 4 to 11 show second to ninth display examples of the program information display screen described above, respectively. First, the second display example shown in FIG. 4 displays each item of program information in the form of a tab.
The "Program description" tab is blue, the "Detailed description" tab is red,
The "attribute" tab is displayed in green to correspond to the color key.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the “program description” tab is selected, and the program information area A is enclosed in a blue frame integrated with the part “program description”. Is formed.

In the third display example shown in FIG. 5, the user operates a desired color key as in FIG.
The contents of the item corresponding to the color of the color key are displayed in the program information area A from the head position.

Thereafter, if the content of the item displayed in the program information area A is scrolled up or down and the end of the item is reached, the content of the next item is automatically updated. It is scrolled and displayed in the program information area A.

In FIG. 5, while the item of “detailed explanation” is displayed in the program information area A, the item is scrolled upward,
When the end of the “detailed description” is reached, the example of the “attribute” item is scrolled from the beginning.

In FIG. 5, a vertical scroll bar SB is displayed, and the position of the content displayed in the program information area A in the entire program information is indicated on the scroll bar SB. Is indicated by moving the cursor K1.

In the fourth display example shown in FIG. 6, in the same display form as in FIG. 5, the user can recognize the amount of each item by coloring the scroll bar SB in correspondence with each item. Is made possible.

In the fifth display example shown in FIG. 7, "program description" and "detailed description" in the display form described above with reference to FIG.
And "attribute" can be selected with the cursor K2. As a result, each item can be selected by two types of operation methods, the color key and the cursor K2, which is convenient for the user.

The sixth display example shown in FIG. 8 enables a text search in the display form of FIG. That is, an option “text search” is displayed on the program information display screen, and “text search” is selected by the cursor K3.
Is selected, an "item selection" screen is displayed.

When the user selects a desired text item from the program information by pop-up selection on the "item selection" screen with the cursor K4, the requested text item is searched from the program information and the program information area A is searched. Will be displayed.

In this way, the user can easily obtain necessary information without selecting each item of “program description”, “detailed description”, and “attribute” from the program information. Yes, you can expand the frame of the item to be shortcut.

In the seventh display example shown in FIG. 9, the "program description", "detailed description" and "detailed description" are displayed on the program information display screen first displayed when the program information key of the operation section 18 is operated. A plurality of items for performing a text search, such as "Performers", "Narratives", and "Locations" are directly displayed without displaying each item of "Attribute", and can be selected by the cursor K5. It is.

In this way, the user can directly obtain necessary information without being obsessed with the items of “program description”, “detailed description”, and “attribute” from the beginning. In this case, a plurality of character strings can be searched for as the same text item. For example, when searching by the item of "performer", if a search can be performed by inputting a plurality of character strings such as "performer", "performer", "cast", "CAST", etc. It is possible to improve the probability of performing.

The eighth display example shown in FIG. 10 is obtained by subdividing the "attribute" items of the program information. That is, in the fifth display example shown in FIG. 7, when the item of "attribute" is selected by the color key or the cursor K2, an attribute selection screen is displayed. The attribute selection screen further subdivides the content of the attribute, for example, "resolution",
The attribute items such as "screen size" and "viewing fee" are displayed. By selecting a desired attribute item with the cursor K6, the attribute item is searched and displayed.

In the ninth display example shown in FIG. 11, the presence / absence of information on an item which can be searched for when it is suitable is displayed in advance on a program information display screen. In the display example of FIG. 11, the presence / absence of the text items “performer” and “narration” is displayed. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate the waste of the user searching for a text item having no information, and to make the handling convenient.

In the above-described embodiment, a digital television broadcast receiver has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to a digital television broadcast receiver, and the image display unit 17 is omitted from this receiver. , Digital STB (Se
t Top Box) etc.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0058]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
An extremely good digital broadcast receiving apparatus and a control method thereof, which enable a user to easily switch and display program information divided into a plurality of items by a simple operation, and to make the handling convenient for the user and suitable for practical use. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention and schematically illustrating a digital television broadcast receiver.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart showing the operation of displaying program information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 shows a first example of a program information display screen according to the embodiment.
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 4 shows a second example of the program information display screen in the embodiment.
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 5 shows a third example of the program information display screen in the embodiment.
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 6 is a fourth example of the program information display screen according to the embodiment;
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 7 is a fifth example of the program information display screen according to the embodiment;
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 8 shows a sixth example of the program information display screen in the embodiment.
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 9 is a seventh screen of the program information display screen according to the embodiment;
The figure shown in order to explain the example of a display of.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary view shown for explaining an eighth display example of the program information display screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary view showing a ninth display example of a program information display screen in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11: Tuner, 12: CPU, 13: Decoding circuit, 14: Image processing circuit, 15: Mixing circuit, 16: Graphics generation circuit, 17: Image display unit, 18: Operation unit, 19: Program information acquisition circuit

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 7/035 // G06F 3/00 651 F term (reference) 5C025 BA18 BA28 CA09 CA12 CB09 CB10 DA01 DA10 5C063 AB03 AB05 CA23 DA03 EB33 EB36 EB42 EB43 5E501 AB06 AC12 AC18 AC33 BA05 CA02 CC02 EA01 EB05 FA03 FA06 FA10 FA25 FB32 5K061 AA09 BB06 BB07 BB10 DD12 FF01 JJ06

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A digital broadcast receiving apparatus in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items, wherein program information of a predetermined item is displayed while program information of another item is displayed. A digital broadcast receiving apparatus comprising: control means for enabling selection of a selected item and switching to a display state of the program information of the selected item. 2. The control means includes a plurality of operators corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, and selectively operates the plurality of operators to correspond to the operated operator. 2. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display state is switched to a display state of the program information of the item. 3. The control means displays, on a screen, a plurality of color regions color-coded corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, respectively, and displays a plurality of color regions color-coded corresponding to the plurality of color regions. 2. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display is switched to a display state of program information of an item corresponding to the operated operator by selectively operating the operator. 4. The control means displays all of the plurality of items of program information on a screen and selects the displayed plurality of items to change the display state of the program information of the selected item. The digital broadcast receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the digital broadcast receiving device is switched. 5. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means is capable of searching for further subdivided items in a display state of the program information of the selected item. 6. A digital broadcast receiving apparatus in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items, wherein: a first area for displaying a plurality of items of the program information; A digital broadcast receiving apparatus, comprising: a control unit for forming, on a screen, a second area for displaying program information of an item selected from the areas. 7. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first area has a plurality of color areas which are color-coded corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, respectively. 8. A digital set-top box in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items, wherein program information of a predetermined item is displayed and program information of another item is displayed. A digital set-top box comprising control means for enabling a user to select the selected item and switching to a display state of the program information of the selected item. 9. The control unit includes a plurality of operators corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, and selectively operates the plurality of operators to correspond to the operated operator. 9. The digital set-top box according to claim 8, wherein the display is switched to a display state of the program information of the item. 10. The control means displays on a screen a plurality of color regions which are color-coded corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, respectively, and displays a plurality of color regions which are color-coded corresponding to the plurality of color regions. 9. The digital set-top box according to claim 8, wherein by selectively operating the operator, the display is switched to a program information display state of an item corresponding to the operated operator. 11. The control means displays all the plurality of items of the program information on a screen, and selects the displayed plurality of items to change the display state of the program information of the selected item. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the switching is performed.
Digital set-top box as described. 12. The digital set-top box according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is capable of searching for further subdivided items in a display state of the program information of the selected item. 13. A digital set-top box in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items, wherein: a first area for displaying a plurality of items of the program information; A digital set-top box comprising control means for forming, on a screen, a second area for displaying program information of an item selected from the areas. 14. The digital set-top box according to claim 13, wherein the first area has a plurality of color areas that are color-coded corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, respectively. 15. A digital broadcast receiving apparatus in which program information on a broadcast program is received in a form divided into a plurality of items, wherein program information of another item is displayed while program information of a predetermined item is displayed. And selecting a display state of the program information of the selected item when the item is selected. 16. By selectively operating a plurality of operators respectively corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information,
16. The control method for a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the display state is switched to a display state of program information of an item corresponding to the operated operator. 17. Displaying on a screen a plurality of color areas which are color-coded corresponding to a plurality of items of the program information, respectively.
16. The display state of the program information of an item corresponding to the operated operator is selectively operated by selectively operating the plurality of operators that are color-coded corresponding to the plurality of color areas. The control method of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the above. 18. A display state of the program information of the selected item by displaying all of the plurality of items of the program information on a screen and selecting the displayed plurality of items. The method for controlling a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 15, wherein 19. The control method for a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 15, wherein in the display state of the program information of the selected item, a further subdivided item can be searched.