JP2009049467A - Program selection device, control method for program selection device, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To designate a program to be processed by a program processor, such as television, without missing a scene desired to view. <P>SOLUTION: A portable telephone set 1 includes: a program display part 130 for acquiring a program from a television station 200 and displaying it; an external program designation instruction acquisition part 124 for receiving an external program designation instruction to be an instruction for designating a program to be processed by a television 300 and a video recorder 400; and an external program designation instruction transmission part 101 for transmitting the external program designation instruction received by the external program designation instruction acquisition part 124 to the television 300 or the video recorder 400. Thus, a program displayed or recorded by the television 300 or the video recorder 400 can be designated while checking a program by the portable telephone set 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program selection device, a program selection device control method, a program, and a recording medium that can perform zapping more easily.

  A television viewer performs zapping for switching programs displayed on the television one after another in order to find a program that suits his / her preference.

  As a technique related to this zapping, in Patent Document 1, the largest number of viewers among the viewers constituting the group are viewing in order to facilitate the sharing of the topic of the group formed by a plurality of viewers. A system for zapping that guides a program to be viewed by other viewers is also disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a system that allows a plurality of programs to be easily looked down by displaying the contents of a viewable program in a short character string.

By the way, in recent years, small devices capable of viewing a program are becoming widespread. For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a remote controller for a bath having a TV function.
JP 2006-5896 A (published January 5, 2006) JP 2006-237883 A (published September 7, 2006) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-17289 (released on June 30, 1997)

  However, the above-described conventional configuration has a problem that a scene to be viewed is missed while an operation such as zapping is performed on a television or the like.

  For example, while the program being watched is being aired, after checking the program content of other channels by zapping and then returning to the program that was originally watched, the CM is over and you miss an important scene The problem arises. Especially in digital television, since it takes time to switch programs, such a situation often occurs with the spread of digital television.

  However, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 induces program switching according to information set according to the group to which the viewer belongs. That is, this problem cannot be solved because program switching is guided regardless of the desires of individual viewers.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 is a technique that shows an outline of the entire program as character information. This makes it impossible to grasp what scene is being broadcast at any time, and the viewer misses the scene he / she wishes to view.

  Since Patent Document 3 is a technique related to a bath remote control in the first place, it cannot even perform zapping of a television provided separately.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program capable of instructing a program to be processed by a separate program processing device such as a television without missing a scene to be viewed. To provide a selection device.

  In order to solve the above problems, a program selection device according to the present invention separately obtains a program display unit that acquires a program from a program providing device and displays the program while the program display unit displays the program. An external program designation instruction accepting means for accepting an external program designation instruction which is an instruction for designating a program to be processed by the provided program processing apparatus, and the external program designation instruction accepted by the external program designation instruction accepting means And an external program designation instruction transmission unit for transmission to the apparatus.

  Further, a control method of a program selection device according to the present invention is a control method of a program selection device that selects a program, while the program is displayed on a program display unit provided in the program selection device. An external program designation instruction receiving step for receiving an external program designation instruction which is an instruction for designating a program to be processed by a program processing device provided separately from the program selection device, and an external program received in the external program designation instruction receiving step And a program designation instruction transmitting step for transmitting the designation instruction to the program processing apparatus.

  According to said structure, while the said program display part is displaying a program, the program which the said program processing apparatus processes can be designated. Accordingly, it is possible to specify a program to be processed by the program processing device while displaying a program that may display a scene to be viewed on the program display unit. For example, even when a TV that displays a digital broadcast that requires a long time for zapping is used as the program processing device, the user confirms a program that may display a scene that the user wants to view on the program display unit, Since the program displayed on the television can be switched and zapped, the risk of missing a scene to be viewed can be reduced. In addition, by switching the programs displayed by the program display unit one after another and zapping while displaying a program that may display a scene to be viewed on the television, it is possible to prevent the scene to be viewed from being missed. .

  Therefore, a program to be processed by a separate program processing apparatus such as a television can be instructed without missing a scene to be viewed.

  Furthermore, the program selection device according to the present invention further comprises external program identification information acquisition means for acquiring external program identification information that is information for identifying a program being processed by the program processing device, and the program display unit includes: A program corresponding to the external program identification information may be acquired from the program providing apparatus and displayed.

  According to said structure, the said program display part displays the program which the said program processing apparatus processed, when the said external program identification information acquisition means acquires the said external program identification information. Therefore, it is possible to specify a program to be processed by the program processing device while confirming the program being processed by the program processing device.

  Furthermore, the program selection device according to the present invention further includes a transmission history recording unit that records a history of the external program designation instruction transmitted by the external program designation instruction transmission unit, wherein the external program identification information acquisition means includes the transmission The history may be acquired from a history recording unit, and the external program identification information may be generated based on the history.

  According to said structure, the said external program identification information acquisition means produces | generates the said external program identification information based on the said log | history. Thus, for example, the program that has been processed by the program processing device can be easily obtained without acquiring the external program identification information from the program processing device or requesting the user to input the external program identification information. Can be displayed on the program display unit.

  Furthermore, the program selection device according to the present invention further includes an internal program designation instruction accepting unit that accepts an internal program designation instruction that is an instruction for designating a program displayed by the program display unit. Based on the internal program designation instruction, the program display unit generates the external program designation instruction that designates the program displayed by the program processing apparatus as a program to be processed. The external program designation instruction transmission unit The external program designation instruction generated by the external program designation instruction receiving means may be transmitted to the program processing apparatus.

  According to said structure, the program currently displayed by the said program display part can be designated as a program processed with the said program processing apparatus. As a result, for example, the program displayed on the program display unit can be switched to search for another program while the program processing apparatus is processing a program that may include a scene that the user wants to view. Since the program processing device can process the program displayed by the program display unit, the user can find a scene or the like that the user wants to view in another program displayed by the program display unit. When the expectation that a certain scene is displayed increases, it becomes possible to instruct the program processing apparatus to process the program.

  Further, in the program selection device according to the present invention, the user inputs the program designation instruction of either the internal program designation instruction or the external program designation instruction, and the program input to the input section Switching management means for switching whether to send a designation instruction as the internal program designation instruction to the internal program designation instruction accepting means or as an external program designation instruction to the external program designation instruction accepting means, The switching management means switches from a state in which the program designation instruction is transmitted to the internal program designation instruction receiving means as the internal program designation instruction to a state in which it is transmitted to the external program designation instruction receiving means as the external program designation instruction. The external program designation instruction accepting means receives the program displayed by the program display unit based on the internal program designation instruction and performs the program processing. Specified as a program for processing apparatus may be configured to generate the external program designation instruction.

  According to the above configuration, the switching management means changes from a state where the switching management means is transmitted to the internal program designation instruction receiving means as the internal program designation instruction to a state where the switching management means is transmitted to the external program designation instruction receiving means as the external program designation instruction. By simply switching, the program processing device can process the program displayed by the program display unit. As a result, for example, when the program displayed by the program display unit discovers a scene or the like that the user desires to view or when the expectation that such a scene or the like is included increases, the program is quickly displayed. It can be processed by a processing device.

  Furthermore, in the program selection device according to the present invention, after the internal program designation instruction accepting unit accepts the internal program designation instruction, it does not accept the next internal program designation instruction for a time longer than a preset set time. The external program designation instruction accepting unit is configured to cause the program processing device to process the program displayed by the program display unit based on the internal program designation instruction received by the internal program designation instruction accepting unit. The above-mentioned external program designation instruction may be generated that is designated as

  According to the above configuration, the program processing device can process the program displayed by the program display unit by not instructing the internal program designation instruction for a certain period of time. Thereby, for example, when a program including a scene or the like to be viewed is displayed on the program display unit, the user can cause the program processing apparatus to process the program simply by waiting.

  Furthermore, in the program selection device according to the present invention, the program display unit extracts a frame constituting each program from a plurality of programs that are moving images acquired from the program providing device, and extracts the corresponding frame of each program. A list may be displayed.

  According to said structure, the said frame comprises the said program, and the said program display part displays this as a list. As a result, the user can comprehensively check the contents of a plurality of programs by the program display unit.

  Furthermore, in the program selection device according to the present invention, the program display unit may extract a plurality of frames from each of the plurality of programs and continuously reproduce the plurality of frames.

  According to said structure, the said program display part will display more information regarding a program by reproducing | regenerating the said flame | frame continuously. Therefore, the user can grasp the contents of each program in more detail and comprehensively.

  Furthermore, in the program selection device according to the present invention, the program processing device may be at least one of a video playback device and a video recording device.

  According to said structure, after selecting a program using the said program selection apparatus, it can be made to reproduce | regenerate on the said video reproduction apparatus, or can be recorded on the said video recording apparatus. Thereby, the selection result of the program using the program selection device can be utilized for wider applications. For example, a program selected by zapping or the like using the program selection device can be displayed or recorded as it is.

  Furthermore, the program selection apparatus according to the present invention further comprises non-corresponding program identification information acquisition means for acquiring non-corresponding program identification information that is information for identifying a non-corresponding program that is a program that cannot be acquired by the program display unit. The display unit displays the incompatible program identification information, and the external program designation instruction accepting unit can accept an instruction for designating a program specified by the incompatible program identification information as the external program designation instruction. It may be anything.

  According to said structure, although the said program processing apparatus is processable, even if it is a program which the said program display part cannot acquire, the said program display part can be displayed so that the content can be identified, and further, The program processing apparatus can be instructed to process the program. Therefore, the program treatment apparatus can be used even if it displays a program that cannot be acquired by the program display unit. In addition to the program processing apparatus, an apparatus for displaying a program that cannot be acquired by the program display unit can be used. Therefore, a more versatile program selection apparatus can be provided.

  The program selection device may be realized by a computer. In this case, by causing the computer to operate as each means, a program for realizing each means of the program selection device by the computer, and A recorded computer-readable recording medium also falls within the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the program selection device according to the present invention is provided separately from the program display unit that acquires and displays the program from the program providing device and the program display unit displaying the program. An external program designation instruction accepting means for accepting an external program designation instruction that is an instruction for designating a program to be processed by the program processing apparatus, and the external program designation instruction accepted by the external program designation instruction accepting means are transmitted to the program processing apparatus. An external program designation instruction transmitting unit.

  In addition, as described above, the control method for the program selection device according to the present invention is provided separately from the program selection device while the program is displayed on the program display unit provided in the program selection device. An external program designation instruction accepting step for accepting an external program designation instruction which is an instruction for designating a program to be processed by the program processing device and an external program designation instruction accepted in the external program designation instruction accepting step. And a program designation instruction transmission step for transmission.

  Accordingly, it is possible to specify a program to be processed by the program processing device while displaying a program that may display a scene to be viewed on the program display unit. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to instruct a program to be processed by a separate program processing apparatus such as a television without missing a scene to be viewed.

<Embodiment 1>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the program selection apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a mobile phone 1 and a home network 1000 constructed using the mobile phone 1.

  Further, in this specification, switching the programs displayed on the display 132 and the television 300 described later one after another is referred to as “zapping”.

[Configuration of home network 1000]
First, the configuration of the home network 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of home network 1000 constructed using mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the home network 1000 includes a mobile phone (program selection device) 1, a television (program processing device) 300, and a video recorder (program processing device) 400.

  The mobile phone 1 will be described in detail later. Note that the mobile phone 1 includes a tuner 131 that can acquire a digital terrestrial broadcast program transmitted from a television station (program providing apparatus) 200 as described later.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the program selection apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a mobile phone as in this embodiment. By utilizing a remote control function for a TV tuner or an external TV already provided in the mobile phone, the program selection device according to the present invention can be manufactured easily and at low cost. Moreover, since it can be easily handled even at a place away from a television or the like, convenience is further improved.

  Note that the program selection device according to the present invention is not limited to application to a mobile phone, but a conventionally known remote control such as a remote control attached to a television or a video recorder, a notebook personal computer having a program display function, a PDA, etc. It is preferable to apply to the portable terminal. The user can perform zapping simply by operating the program selection device at hand, and consequently, the program selected by zapping can be processed by various program processing devices in the home network 1000.

  The television 300 is a device for displaying a program. The television 300 and the mobile phone 1 are configured to be able to transmit and receive infrared rays. Accordingly, the mobile phone 1 can display a program specified by the external program designation instruction on the television 300 by transmitting an external program designation instruction to be described later using infrared rays. Further, as described later, the mobile phone 1 can also acquire external program identification information related to a program displayed on the television 300 from the television 300. In addition, the television 300 includes a tuner that can acquire a terrestrial digital broadcast program transmitted from the television station 200.

  The video recorder 400 is a device for recording a program. The video recorder 400 and the mobile phone 1 are configured so that data can be transmitted and received by Bluetooth (registered trademark). Accordingly, the mobile phone 1 can record the program specified by the external program designation instruction in the video recorder 400 by transmitting the external program designation instruction. The video recorder 400 may be constituted by a conventionally known video recorder, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorder, or the like. In addition, the video recorder 400 includes a tuner capable of acquiring a program distributed by the terrestrial digital broadcasting and satellite method transmitted from the television station 200.

  Hereinafter, an apparatus that is a target for specifying program processing by the program selection apparatus according to the present invention, that is, a program processing apparatus, is also referred to as an “external device”. Note that external devices that construct the home network 1000 are not limited to the television 300 and the video recorder 400. A video display device such as a portable terminal or a personal computer capable of displaying a television program, or a video recording device such as a server capable of recording a television program may be used as the external device.

  In the following description, the case where the television 300 and the video recorder 400 are mainly used as external devices will be described. However, for convenience of description, other external devices may be used as appropriate.

  Further, the connection between the mobile phone 1 and the television 300 and the connection between the mobile phone 1 and the video recorder 400 are not limited to infrared communication or Bluetooth (registered trademark) as described above. For example, it may be configured by conventionally known data transmission / reception means such as 802.11 wireless, wireless LAN (Local Area Network), and PLC.

  Note that if the mobile phone 1 includes a tuner or the like that can receive broadcasts corresponding to a tuner or the like included in at least one of the external devices, the program acquired by the mobile phone 1, the television 300, and the video recorder 400 can be obtained. It is not limited to this. For example, a conventionally known tuner corresponding to cable TV, CS broadcasting, 3 segment broadcasting, etc. may be provided, or a function for connecting to the Internet may be provided to support program distribution by streaming or the like. Good.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the mobile phone 1, the television 300, and the video recorder 400 are used as follows by constructing the home network 1000 described above will be mainly described. That is, when zapping is performed on the mobile phone 1, a program that has been displayed on the television 300 until then is displayed on the mobile phone 1 and then displayed on the television 300 using the channel input unit 113 of the mobile phone 1 described later. Zapping is performed by switching the screen to be switched one after another. When a program is selected as a result of zapping, the video recorder 400 records the program, and the television 300 displays again the program that was displayed immediately before zapping.

  In addition, the aspect which uses the mobile telephone 1, the television 300, and the video recorder 400 is not limited to this. For example, the program selected as a result of zapping may be displayed on the television 300 as it is, and the video recorder 400 may record the program displayed on the television 300 before zapping. Further, zapping may be performed by switching the programs displayed on the mobile phone 1 one after another without switching the programs displayed on the television 300.

[Configuration of mobile phone 1]
Next, the configuration of the mobile phone 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the mobile phone 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 includes an external program designation instruction transmission unit 101, an input unit 110, a control unit 120, a program display unit 130, and a recording unit 140.

  The external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 functions as an external program designation instruction transmission unit included in the program selection device according to the present invention. Specifically, the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 transmits an external program designation instruction to the television 300 and the video recorder 400. Is. Thereby, the mobile phone 1 can designate a program displayed on the television 300 or a program recorded on the video recorder 400. In the present embodiment, an infrared transmission device capable of transmitting an external program designation instruction to TV 300 and a device capable of transmitting an external program designation instruction by Bluetooth (registered trademark) are provided (not shown).

  In the present specification, “external program designation instruction” refers to a program processing device (also referred to as “external device” in the present embodiment) provided separately from the program selection device according to the present invention. This means an instruction for designating a program to be processed.

  The non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102 acquires non-corresponding program identification information that is information for identifying a program that cannot be acquired by the tuner 131 among programs processed by the video recorder 400. The non-compatible program display device connection unit 102 can receive data by Bluetooth (registered trademark), and thereby receives data from the video recorder 400. The specific configuration of the non-compatible program display device connection unit 102 is not limited as long as non-compatible program identification information can be acquired. What is necessary is just to comprise so that data can be received from the said external apparatus according to the kind of external apparatus.

  In the present specification, the “non-compliant program” means a program that can be processed by an external device but cannot be acquired by the program display unit included in the program selection device according to the present invention. It means information for identifying unsupported programs.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the video recorder 400 can receive and record satellite broadcasts, while the program display unit 130 cannot receive satellite broadcasts. That is, in this embodiment, the satellite broadcast program is a non-compatible program. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program selection device according to the present invention may be configured such that a program by means such as a cable broadcast or CS broadcast program can be processed as an incompatible program. On the other hand, the program selection device according to the present invention may be capable of acquiring a program such as a cable broadcast or a CS broadcast. That is, the program selection apparatus according to the present invention can apply any program that can be displayed as a program to be displayed on the program display unit, and a program that cannot be acquired as an incompatible program.

  The external device state recognition unit 103 recognizes the state of the television 300 and the video recorder 400. For example, the external device state recognition unit 103 determines whether the television 300 and the video recorder 400 are performing processing based on the external program designation instruction transmitted by the mobile phone 1. The specific configuration of the external device state recognition unit 103 is not limited as long as the state of the television 300 and the video recorder 400 can be recognized, but in this embodiment, the state of the television 300 is received. An infrared receiving device and a Bluetooth (registered trademark) receiving device for recognizing the state of the video recorder 400 are configured. The external device state recognition unit 103 may be provided integrally with the non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102, but in the present embodiment, a case where the external device state recognition unit 103 is provided as a separate member will be described for the sake of simplicity.

  The input unit 110 is for a user to input an instruction to the mobile phone 1. The input unit 110 includes a zapping mode switching unit 111, a display setting switching unit 112, and a channel input unit 113. Each unit of the input unit 110 transmits the received instruction to the switching management unit 121.

  The zapping mode switching unit 111 inputs an instruction to switch the switching management unit 121 to function as a mode for performing zapping (hereinafter referred to as “zapping mode”) or as a mode for not performing zapping. Is to do. That is, in the zapping mode, since the switching management unit 121 performs an operation according to the zapping mode as described later, zapping using the mobile phone 1 becomes possible. The “zapping using the mobile phone 1” includes the case where zapping is performed on the display 132 and the case where zapping is performed by sequentially switching programs on the television 300 using the mobile phone 1.

  The display setting switching unit 112 treats a program designation instruction input by the user to the input unit 110 as a program designation instruction (internal program designation instruction) for the program display unit 130 or a program designation instruction for the television 300 (external program designation instruction). It is also for the user to input a switching instruction, which is an instruction to switch whether or not to handle.

  The mode for handling the program designation instruction as the internal program designation instruction is hereinafter also referred to as “internal program switching mode”, and the mode for treating the program designation instruction as the external program designation instruction is hereinafter also denoted as “external program switching mode”. To do.

  The display setting switching unit 112 also receives an internal display switching instruction that is an instruction to switch a screen to be displayed on the display 132 in the internal program switching mode. That is, the user can switch whether to display one program on the display 132 or list thumbnail images related to a plurality of programs by instructing the display setting switching unit 112 to switch the internal display.

  As described above, the user can instruct the input unit 110 to switch whether or not the zapping mode is selected and to switch between the internal program switching mode and the external program switching mode. The operation of each part of the mobile phone 1 in each mode will be described in detail later.

  The channel input unit 113 is for inputting a program designation instruction, which is an instruction for designating a program to be displayed on the program display unit 130 or the television 300, to the mobile phone 1.

  As a result of zapping, the decision instruction input unit 114 finds a decision instruction for causing the mobile phone 1 to recognize that the program has been selected when the program desired to be displayed on the television 300 or the program desired to be recorded on the video recorder 400 is found. It is a button for inputting.

  The specific configurations of the zapping mode switching unit 111, the display setting switching unit 112, the channel input unit 113, and the determination instruction input unit 114 are not limited as long as the above-described input is possible. For example, you may comprise by a conventionally well-known button and a touch panel.

  As a more specific configuration of the channel input unit 113, the cellular phone 1 is integrated with a numeric button for allowing the user to input a telephone number, an up / down / left / right button for moving a cursor, a selection range, or the like on a menu screen or the like. It may be configured. In addition, a channel input unit 113 for instructing a program may be provided separately, but it is preferable that the channel input unit 113 be integrated with the numeric buttons and the up / down / left / right buttons. This is because the mobile phone 1 itself can be further downsized and the number of parts can be reduced. In the following description, a case where the channel input unit 113 is provided integrally with a numeric button provided in the mobile phone 1 will be described.

  Here, the position of the zapping mode switching unit 111 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a position where the zapping mode switching unit 111 provided in the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment is provided. FIG. 3A shows the zapping mode switching unit 111 provided with a channel input unit 113. FIG. 6B shows a case where the zapping mode switching unit 111 is provided on the side surface in the longitudinal direction of the mobile phone 1.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, when the channel input unit 113 and the zapping mode switching unit 111 are provided at close positions on the same surface, the user operates the channel input unit 113 and the zapping mode switching unit 111 with the same finger. Cheap. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the zapping mode switching unit 111 is provided on the side surface in the longitudinal direction of the mobile phone 1, for example, when the mobile phone 1 is operated with both hands, the zapping mode switching unit is operated with the finger of the left hand. It is possible to perform an operation such as pressing 111 and pressing the channel input unit 113 with a finger of the right hand. Since there is a user's habit of handling the mobile phone 1 such as handling with one hand or both hands, a zapping mode switching unit 111 is provided at both positions shown in FIGS. You may choose which to use.

  The position where the zapping mode switching unit 111 is provided is not limited to the above position, but as described above, on the surface where the channel input unit 113 is provided and in the vicinity of the channel input unit 113. When it is provided or provided on the side surface in the longitudinal direction of the mobile phone 1, the operability is improved.

  The control unit 120 controls various operations of each unit included in the mobile phone 1. The control unit 120 includes a switching management unit (switch management unit) 121, an internal program designation instruction acquisition unit (internal program designation instruction reception unit) 122, an internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123, and an external program designation instruction acquisition unit (internal program designation instruction). Receiving means) 124, external program identification information acquisition unit (external program identification information acquisition unit) 125, thumbnail display management unit 126, non-corresponding program identification information management unit (non-corresponding program identification information acquisition unit) 127, external device state management unit 128. The specific configuration of the control unit 120 is not limited as long as the above-described units can be operated. For example, the control unit 120 is configured by an arithmetic device such as a CPU (central processing unit), and the arithmetic device includes the recording unit 140. The functions of the above units may be realized by executing a control program stored in the computer.

  The switching management unit 121 manages switching of each mode described above, and gives an instruction for controlling the mobile phone 1 according to each mode. For example, in the internal program switching mode, the program designation instruction received from the channel input unit 113 is treated as an internal program designation instruction and transmitted to the internal program designation instruction acquiring unit 122. In the external program switching mode, the channel input unit Whether the program designation instruction received from 113 is handled as an external program designation instruction and transmitted to the decision instruction input unit 114 is switched.

  Further, for example, when the mode is switched to the zapping mode in the external program switching mode, the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 (described later) displays the external program identification information in order to display the program displayed on the television 300 on the display 132. The acquisition of is instructed. Further, when the mode is switched to the external program switching mode after being in the zapping mode and the internal program switching mode, an internal program reflection instruction to be described later is generated in order to display the program displayed on the display 132 on the television 300. The internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 is instructed.

  In addition, when the internal display switching instruction is received from the display setting switching unit 112 to display a list of thumbnail images on the display 132, the internal program designation instruction acquiring unit is associated with the internal program designation instruction and the internal display switching instruction. 122. As a result, an internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 described later causes the tuner 131 to acquire a program based on the internal program designation instruction, and transmits the program to the thumbnail display management unit 126. Then, the thumbnail display management unit 126 generates a thumbnail image based on the program.

  The internal program designation instruction acquiring unit 122 functions as an internal program designation instruction receiving unit included in the program selection device according to the present invention. Specifically, an internal program designation instruction is acquired from the switching management unit 121 or the external program identification information acquisition unit 125, and the program displayed by the program display unit 130 is specified. Then, the tuner 131 acquires the program, and the display 132 displays the program. When the internal display switching instruction for displaying a list of thumbnail images is associated with the internal program designation instruction, the tuner is made to acquire the program and then transmitted to the thumbnail display management unit 126.

  In addition, the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 transmits the internal program designation instruction used when displayed on the program display unit 130 to the recording unit 140. Thereby, the recording unit 140 records an internal program display history that is a history of the program displayed by the program display unit 130.

  In addition, when a thumbnail image display instruction is associated with the internal program designation instruction received from the switching management unit 121, the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 transmits the internal program designation instruction to the thumbnail display management unit 126.

  The internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 generates an internal program reflection instruction that is an instruction for causing the television 300 to display the program displayed on the display 132. The internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 acquires an internal program reflection instruction generation instruction from the switching management unit 121 to generate an internal program reflection instruction.

  The external program designation instruction acquiring unit 124 functions as an external program designation instruction receiving unit provided in the program selection device according to the present invention. Specifically, an external program designation instruction is received from the switching management unit 121, and the external program designation instruction is transmitted to the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101.

  Further, the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124, based on the internal program reflection instruction received from the internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123, specifies an external program designation for causing the television 300 to display a program specified by the internal program reflection instruction. It also generates instructions. More specifically, a program based on the internal program designation instruction last received by the internal program designation instruction obtaining unit 122 is associated with the internal program reflection instruction, and the external program designation instruction obtaining unit 124 is based on the program. An external program designation instruction is generated. The method for specifying the program corresponding to the internal program reflection instruction is not particularly limited. When the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 receives the internal program reflection instruction, the internal program display history may be acquired to identify the program.

  The external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 also transmits the external program designation instruction transmitted to the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 to the recording unit 140. The recording unit 140 records the external program designation instruction as an external program designation instruction transmission history.

  The external program identification information acquisition unit 125 functions as an external program identification information acquisition unit provided in the program selection device according to the present invention. Specifically, external program identification information for specifying a program displayed on the television 300 is generated from the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140. When it is impossible to generate external program identification information from the external program designation instruction transmission history, the external program identification information is acquired from the television 300 via the external device state recognition unit 103. The configuration of the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 is not limited to this. When it is impossible to generate the external program identification information from the external program designation instruction transmission history, the external program identification information is input to the user. It may be configured to encourage.

  The external program identification information acquisition unit 125 also has a function of generating an internal program designation instruction based on the external program identification information and transmitting it to the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122.

  The thumbnail display management unit 126 acquires a thumbnail image from the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 or creates a thumbnail image based on the program acquired from the program display unit 130. The thumbnail display management unit 126 is configured to display a list of thumbnail images on the program display unit 130 when receiving the internal program designation instruction from the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122. The thumbnail display management unit 126 transmits the thumbnail image to the recording unit 140 for recording, and then records the thumbnail image in accordance with the internal display switching instruction instruction received from the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122. The display 132 is instructed to acquire thumbnail images from the list and display them as a list.

  The non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 functions as non-corresponding program identification information acquisition means provided in the program selection device according to the present invention. Specifically, the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 can be processed by an external device such as the television 300 and the video recorder 400, but the non-corresponding program identification of the non-corresponding program that cannot be acquired by the program display unit 130. Information is managed. The non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 instructs the non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102 to acquire non-corresponding program identification information, and obtains the non-corresponding program identification information via the non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102. get. From which external device the non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102 acquires non-corresponding program identification information, an external device to be acquired may be set in the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 in advance. The corresponding program identification information management unit 127 may acquire external device status information from the recording unit 140 described later and specify the acquisition-target external device.

  Further, the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 causes the display 132 to display non-corresponding program identification information. Non-corresponding program identification information includes character information indicating the title and channel number of a program, information on frames constituting a program as thumbnail images, and the like. In the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, when the non-corresponding program identification information is the thumbnail image, the thumbnail display management unit 126 displays a list on the display 132 as described above. Therefore, when the non-corresponding program identification information is the thumbnail image, the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 transmits the thumbnail image to the thumbnail display management unit 126. Then, the thumbnail display management unit 126 instructs the display 132 to display a list of thumbnail images.

  The external device status management unit 128 recognizes the status of an external device other than the mobile phone 1 existing in the home network 1000 via the external device status recognition unit 103, and sends the status of the external device to the switching management unit 121. The information is transmitted or the state is displayed on the display 132.

  The program display unit 130 functions as a program display unit provided in the program selection device according to the present invention. The program display unit 130 includes a tuner 131 and a display 132.

  The tuner 131 receives a program to be displayed on the display 132 from the television station 200. The tuner 131 is configured to be able to acquire terrestrial digital broadcasting from the television station 200. The specific configuration of the tuner 131 is not particularly limited as long as a program can be acquired, and may be configured with a conventionally known tuner.

  The display 132 displays a program acquired by the tuner 131. The specific configuration of the display 132 is not particularly limited. For example, the display 132 is configured by a display device such as an LCD (liquid crystal display), a PDP (plasma display), a CRT (cathode-ray tube) display, or an organic EL display. May be.

  The recording unit 140 functions as a transmission history recording unit provided in the program selection device according to the present invention. That is, the above-mentioned external program designation instruction transmission history is recorded.

  Here, the data structure of the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data structure of the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140. As shown in FIG. 4, the recording unit 140 records 10ch as the external program designation instruction transmitted last. The external program identification information acquisition unit 125 described above generates information specifying 10ch as the external program identification information by acquiring this history.

  When the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 transmits the external program designation instruction to the recording unit 140, the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140 until then is updated to the transmitted external program designation instruction. To do. As a result, the recording unit 140 is kept so as to record the recently transmitted external program designation instruction.

  In the present embodiment, the channel input unit 113 is configured with the numeric buttons as described above. Therefore, the recording unit 140 can record data with such a structure. Depending on the situation, the data structure of the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140 can also be changed. For example, when channels can be switched using the up / down / left / right buttons, the channels specified by the external program designation instructions that can be transmitted in advance may be registered in order. Thereby, for example, the recording unit 140 records the order of 2ch, 4ch, and 6ch. When the switching management unit 121 recognizes that the upper button or the right button has been pressed after 2ch is selected, the switching management unit 121 generates an external program designation instruction that specifies 4ch, which is the next channel of 2ch. You may transmit to the program designation | designated instruction | indication acquisition part 124. FIG. Note that there may be a case where the TV 300 is first operated by another remote controller, etc., so that the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 generates the external program identification information and is specified by the external program identification information on the display 132. A screen for confirming whether the program to be displayed matches the program displayed on the television 300 may be displayed.

  As described above, the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140 includes at least the external program designation instruction transmitted last by the external program designation instruction transmission unit. External program identification information can be generated by acquiring the last transmitted external program designation instruction from the external program designation instruction transmission history.

  The recording unit 140 also records internal program display history, zapping mode conditions, and external device status information.

  The internal program display history is a history of programs displayed by the program display unit 130 as described above, and the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 identifies a program based on the last received or generated internal program designation instruction. Contains information. As this information, in the present embodiment, a channel number is used in the same manner as the external program designation instruction transmission history described above.

  The zapping mode condition is a condition regarding what operation the input unit 110 accepts to shift to the zapping mode, how long the fixed time in step S708 described later is, and after the fixed time has elapsed. This is a condition indicating what kind of operation is performed. The data structure of the zapping mode condition recorded by the recording unit 140 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the zapping mode condition recorded by the recording unit 140.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the recording unit 140 records, as the zapping mode conditions, items regarding the zapping mode transition condition, the length of a certain time, and the operation when there is no operation for a certain time, and patterns that can be selected in the item. is doing. The recording unit 140 also records an item (denoted as “selected” in FIG. 5) indicating which pattern is selected for each item.

  For example, in this embodiment, when the zapping mode switching unit 111 is pressed, the mode is shifted to the zapping mode. Therefore, “pressing the zapping mode switching unit 111” is selected as shown in FIG. The transition to the zapping mode by “long pressing of the channel input unit 113” will be described in the section “Other patterns of zapping” described later.

  In FIG. 5, “Generate Internal Program Reflection Instruction” is selected as the operation when there is no operation for a certain period of time. In this case, when the pressing of the channel input unit 113 or the zapping mode switching unit 111 is not detected for a certain time, the internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 generates an internal program reflection instruction. As a result, the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 generates an external program designation instruction based on the internal program reflection instruction. That is, when the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 receives the internal program designation instruction and does not accept the next internal program designation instruction for a time longer than a preset set time, the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 The external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 generates an external program designation instruction based on the received internal program designation instruction. As a result, the program displayed on the display 132 is displayed on the television 300. If “continuation of the program displayed on the television 300 when the zapping mode ends” is selected, the television 300 continues to display the channel after being switched by zapping. Therefore, when this pattern is selected, the cellular phone 1 does not perform an operation such as transmitting an external program designation instruction to the television 300 after the predetermined time has elapsed.

  The external device status information is information indicating the status of an external device other than the mobile phone 1 in the home network 1000. The external device status information recorded by the recording unit 140 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of external device status information recorded by the recording unit 140.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the recording unit 140 records the external device type, priority, tuner, receiving unit, and transmitting unit in association with each other as external device state information. The priority order indicates the priority order of external devices to which the mobile phone 1 tries to connect. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in the present embodiment, the television 300 has the priority order 1 and the video recorder 400 has the priority order 2. Thereby, when the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 acquires the external program identification information from the external device, the external program identification information is first acquired from the television 300.

  Alternatively, the external device state recognition unit 103 may acquire external device state information at regular time intervals and transmit the external device state information to the recording unit 140. As a result, the external device status information is updated to the latest status at regular time intervals via the external device status recognition unit 103. Furthermore, in the case of such a configuration, the external device state recognition unit 103 acquires external program identification information related to a program processed by the external device, and the external program identification information also configures the external device state information. The information may be transmitted to the recording unit 140 as one piece of information, and the recording unit 140 may record the external device status information. If the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 is configured to generate the external program identification information from the external device status information rather than from the external program designation instruction transmission history, the external program identification information is generated more accurately. It becomes possible. Accordingly, for example, even when a plurality of users use the home network 1000 or there is a separate remote controller for operating an external device, the external program identification information can be generated more accurately.

  The recording unit 140 also records the above-described thumbnail image and external device management program. The external device management program describes an instruction to be sent to the television 300 or the video recorder 400 when the user finds a program to be played back or recorded by the television 300 or the video recorder 400 by zapping with the mobile phone 1. It is a program. For example, when one program is selected as a result of zapping, the program is displayed on the television 300 and the video recorder 400 is instructed to record the program that the television 300 has displayed so far. Is mentioned. In this example, the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 may identify the program that the television 300 has displayed so far.

  The specific configuration of the recording unit 140 is not limited as long as the above-described thumbnail image or the like can be recorded. For example, a flash memory, a RAM (random access memory), an HDD (hard disk drive), or the like may be used. In the present embodiment, recording unit 140 is built in mobile phone 1, but may be externally attached. The recording unit 140 may be provided integrally with a recording unit provided in a conventionally known mobile phone for storing telephone numbers, mails, images, and the like.

[Operation of mobile phone 1]
Next, when the user performs zapping using the mobile phone 1 and, as a result, finds a program or the like including a scene to be viewed and operates an external device, the mobile phone 1 performs zapping and a series of operations performed accordingly. This process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing performed by the control unit 120. In this embodiment, a case where zapping is performed on the television 300 after the program displayed on the television 300 as described above is displayed on the mobile phone 1 will be described. Further, it is assumed that the mobile phone 1 is initially in the external program switching mode.

  First, the user presses the zapping mode switching unit 111 in order to perform zapping with the mobile phone 1.

  The switching management unit 121 detects pressing of the zapping mode switching unit 111 (S701). As a result, the switching management unit 121 enters the zapping mode. Thereby, the switching management unit 121 instructs the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 to acquire external program identification information for identifying a program displayed on the television 300.

  The external program identification information acquisition unit 125 instructed to acquire the external program identification information determines whether the external program identification information can be created from the external program designation instruction transmission history recorded by the recording unit 140 (S702). If external program identification information can be created (YES in S702), external program identification information acquisition unit 125 generates external program identification information (S703).

  From the external program designation instruction transmission history, the program based on the external program designation instruction last transmitted by the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 cannot be specified, or the recording unit 140 does not record the external program designation instruction transmission history. If it is impossible to create external program identification information (NO in S702), external program identification information acquisition unit 125 acquires external program identification information from television 300 via external device state recognition unit 103. (S704). The configuration for acquiring the information for identifying the program from the television 300 is not limited to the configuration via the external device state recognition unit 103 as in the present embodiment. For example, the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 acquires the external program identification information by prompting the user to input information that can generate the external program identification information such as the channel number displayed on the television 300. Also good.

  When the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 acquires the external program identification information in step S703 or step S704, the external program identification information acquisition unit 125 generates an internal program designation instruction based on the external program identification information, and specifies the internal program designation. It transmits to the instruction | indication acquisition part 122 (S705). Next, the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122 displays the program specified based on the internal program designation instruction on the display 132 (S706).

  Through the above steps, the program display unit 130 displays the program displayed on the television 300. Next, if the switching management unit 121 does not detect pressing of the zapping mode switching unit 111 (NO in S707), the zapping mode continues. At this time, if the switching management unit 121 detects pressing of the zapping mode switching unit 111 (YES in S707), the zapping mode is ended (S709).

  Next, if the switching management unit 121 does not detect pressing of the channel input unit 113 or the decision instruction input unit 114 by the user for a certain period of time (NO in S708), the zapping mode automatically ends (S709). In this case, the television 300 continues to display the program selected by zapping as it is. In this case, an internal program reflection instruction may be generated so that the program displayed on the display 132 is displayed on the television 300, and whether the program selected by zapping is continuously displayed on the television 300. The user may select whether to display the program displayed on the display 132 on the television 300. Moreover, you may move to the process of below-mentioned step S713.

  Further, the predetermined time may be set in advance or may be changed by the user. In the present embodiment, the switching management unit 121 recognizes the certain time by acquiring the zapping mode condition from the recording unit 140, and performs step S708.

  The switching management unit 121 detects that the user has pressed the channel input unit 113 or the decision instruction input unit 114 within a predetermined time (YES in S708), and if the press is a press on the channel input unit 113 (YES in S710). The switching management unit 121 transmits an external program designation instruction to the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 upon detection of pressing of the channel input unit 113 (S711). As a result, the zapping mode is continued.

  When the switching management unit 121 detects that the user has pressed the channel input unit 113 or the determination instruction input unit 114 within a predetermined time (YES in S708), and the pressing is not a pressing of the channel input unit 113 (NO in S710). Since the pressing is the pressing of the determination instruction input unit 114, the switching management unit 121 ends the zapping mode (S712), and proceeds to the next step S713.

  In step S <b> 713, each unit of the control unit 120 performs processing accompanying the end of the zapping mode by pressing the determination instruction input unit 114. Specifically, processing is performed in accordance with an external device management program described later and user instructions. Details will be described in detail.

  When step S713 ends, the mobile phone 1 ends the zapping mode and a series of processes associated therewith.

  Next, step S713 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing of step S713 shown in FIG.

  First, the switching management unit 121 determines whether an external device management program can be acquired from the recording unit 140 (S801). If the switching management unit 121 can acquire the external device management program, the switch management unit 121 acquires the external device management program and proceeds to step S803.

  If the switching management unit 121 cannot acquire the external device management program (NO in S801), the switching management unit 121 receives a selection result processing instruction regarding the program selected by zapping from the user via the input unit 110 (S802). ). Examples of the selection result processing instruction include an instruction to display the program on the television 300 and an instruction to record the program on the video recorder 400. After accepting the selection result processing instruction, the process proceeds to step S803.

  In step S803, the control unit 120 performs processing based on the external device management program or the selection result processing instruction.

  For example, when the control unit 120 executes an external device management program, the external device management program causes the video recorder 400 to record a program selected as a result of zapping, and the television 300 displays the program before zapping. A case will be described where an instruction to display the program that has been displayed on the television 300 again is described.

  In this case, first, the switching management unit 121 transmits the external program designation instruction last transmitted by the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 during the zapping mode to the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 again, and then The program designation finger is instructed to be transmitted to the video recorder 400. Thereby, the video recorder 400 starts recording the program selected as a result of zapping. Next, the switching management unit 121 transmits an external program designation instruction based on the program displayed on the display 132 during the zapping mode to the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124, and sets the external program designation finger to the television 300. To send to. As a result, the television 300 displays the program that was displayed until immediately before zapping. As for the program displayed on the display 132 during the zapping mode, the external program designation instruction transmitted immediately before zapping is acquired from the external program designation instruction transmission history is acquired from the internal program display history. Can be identified. Which is the case is not limited.

  When the switching management unit 121 receives a selection result processing instruction in step S802, the switching management unit 121 performs processing based on the selection result processing instruction in step S803. For example, when the selection result processing instruction is an instruction to cause the video recorder 400 to record a program selected as a result of zapping, the switching management unit 121 transmits the external program last transmitted by the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 during the zapping mode. After the designation instruction is transmitted to the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 again, an instruction to transmit the external program designation finger to the video recorder 400 is given. Thereby, the video recorder 400 starts recording the program selected as a result of zapping.

  Next, the external device state management unit 128 recognizes whether the television 300 and the video recorder 400 have started displaying and recording a program in accordance with the corresponding external program designation instructions (S804). Specifically, the external device state management unit 128 instructs the external device state recognition unit 103 to recognize the state of the target external device to which the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 has transmitted the external program designation instruction in step S803. To do. As a result, the external device state recognition unit 103 acquires external program identification information corresponding to a program that is being processed by the target external device that has transmitted the external program designation instruction. Then, the external device state management unit 128 receives the program specified by the external program identification information acquired via the external device state recognition unit 103 and the external program designation instruction transmitted by the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 in step S803. It is determined whether the specified program matches. If the program processed by all the external devices to which the external program designation instruction is transmitted matches the program specified by the external program designation instruction transmitted by the external program designation instruction transmitting unit 101 in step S803, it is determined as normal. If there is an external device that does not match, it is determined that the external device is abnormal.

  For example, in the case of the external device management program exemplified in the description of step S803 above, the external device state recognition unit 103 records the external program identification information for identifying the program displayed on the television 300 and the video recorder 400. External program identification information for identifying a program is acquired and transmitted to the external device state management unit 128. The external device status management unit 128 acquires the external program designation instruction transmission history from the recording unit 140, collates it with the external program identification information received from the external device status recognition unit 103, and stores the external program designation command transmission history. It is determined whether or not the program specified by the program matches the program specified by the external program identification information.

  In the case of the selection result processing instruction exemplified in step S803, the external device state recognition unit 103 acquires external program identification information for identifying the program recorded by the video recorder 400, and sends it to the external device state management unit 128. Send. The external device status management unit 128 acquires the external program designation instruction transmission history from the recording unit 140, collates it with the external program identification information received from the external device status recognition unit 103, and stores the external program designation command transmission history. It is determined whether or not the program specified by the program matches the program specified by the external program identification information.

  When YES in step S804, the external device state management unit 128 displays that the instruction has been normally executed on the display 132 (S805), and proceeds to the process of step S806.

  When NO in step S804, the external device state management unit 128 instructs the external device state recognition unit 103 to search for an alternative device to be transmitted in the external program designation instruction transmitted to the external device determined to be abnormal. (S807). For example, in step S803, whether there is another device capable of “recording” or “displaying” the program in the home network 1000 by associating the function information indicating “recording” or “display” with the external program designation instruction. You may carry out by searching.

  In step S807, when the external device state management unit 128 finds an alternative device, the external device state management unit 128 displays a display indicating that an abnormality has been determined, a display indicating that a replacement device has been found, and an external device. A display prompting the user to select whether or not to give an instruction based on the management program and the selection result processing instruction to the alternative device is displayed on the display 132 (S808).

  Next, when the switching management unit 121 receives an alternative instruction to give an instruction to the alternative device based on the external device management program or the selection result processing instruction (YES in S809), the process returns to the process of step S804. If the substitute instruction has not been accepted (NO in S809), the process proceeds to step S806.

  In step S807, when the external device state management unit 128 has not found an alternative device, the external device state management unit 128 displays a display indicating that there is an abnormality and a display indicating that there is no alternative device on the display 132. (S810). Then, the process proceeds to step S806.

  In step S806, the switching management unit 121 determines whether the process performed in step S803 is a process based on an external device management program or a process based on a selection result process instruction. When the switching management unit 121 determines that the processing performed in step S803 is processing based on the external device management program, the control unit 120 ends the processing in step S713.

  In step S806, when the switching management unit 121 determines that the processing performed in step S803 is processing based on the selection result processing instruction, the processing proceeds to processing in step S811.

  In step S811, the switching management unit 121 causes the display 132 to display a screen that prompts the user to input a previous program processing instruction regarding the handling of the program displayed on the television 300 immediately before the zapping mode. Examples of the immediately preceding program processing instruction include an instruction to display the program on the television 300 and an instruction to record the program on the video recorder 400.

  When switching management unit 121 receives a previous program processing instruction via input unit 110 (YES in S811), it performs processing based on the previous program processing instruction (S812). For example, when the previous program processing instruction is an instruction to display on the TV 300 a program that was displayed on the TV 300 immediately before the zapping mode, the switching management unit 121 instructs the TV 300 to display the external program designation instruction. Is transmitted to the external program designation instruction transmission unit 101 via the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124.

  Next, the external device state management unit 128 determines whether the external device is performing processing based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction via the external device state recognition unit 103 (S813). Specifically, the same processing as step S804 is performed. For example, when the immediately preceding program processing instruction is the immediately preceding program processing instruction illustrated in the description of step S812 described above, the external device state management unit 128 receives the television 300 from the television 300 via the external device state recognition unit 103. External program identification information of the program being displayed is acquired. On the other hand, the external device state management unit 128 acquires an external program designation instruction transmission history from the recording unit 140. Then, it is determined whether the program specified from the last transmitted external program specifying instruction specified from the external program specifying instruction transmission history matches the program specified from the external program identification information.

  If the external device state management unit 128 determines in step S813 that the external device is performing processing based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction, the process proceeds to step S814.

  If the external device state management unit 128 determines in step S813 that the external device is not performing processing based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction, the process proceeds to step S815.

  In step S814, the external device state management unit 128 causes the display 132 to display a display indicating that the processing has been completed normally. And the control part 120 complete | finishes the process of step S713.

  In step S815, the external device state management unit 128 instructs the external device state recognition unit 103 to search for an alternative device, as in step S807.

  In step S815, when the external device state management unit 128 finds an alternative device, the external device state management unit 128 has found a display indicating that there is an abnormality in the processing based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction, and an alternative device. And a display prompting the user to select whether or not to give an instruction based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction to the alternative device is displayed on the display 132 (S817).

  Next, when the switching management unit 121 receives an alternative instruction to give an instruction based on the immediately preceding program processing instruction to the alternative machine (YES in S818), the process returns to the process of step S813. If the substitute instruction has not been accepted (NO in S818), the process proceeds to step S812.

  In step S815, when the external device state management unit 128 has not found an alternative device, the external device state management unit 128 displays a display indicating that it is determined to be abnormal and a display indicating that there is no alternative device on the display 132. (S816). And the control part 120 complete | finishes the process of step S713.

  In this way, by connecting the mobile phone 1 to an external device such as the TV 300 or the video recorder 400 via the home network, the processing of each external device based on the zapping and the selection result of the program by the zapping can be performed bidirectionally. it can. Thereby, the function of the external device can be utilized more effectively.

  Note that, when the display 132 displays a program, the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment can output audio information included in the program. The configuration for outputting the audio information is not particularly limited, but a conventionally known speaker may be used. In addition, when the switching management unit 121 is in the zapping mode, whether or not to output the audio information may be set by the user via the input unit 110, and the zapping mode condition recorded by the recording unit 140 may be set. Depending on the conditions, the presence or absence of voice information output may be associated. At this time, whether or not the television 300 outputs audio information accompanying the display of the program may be set in advance by the user. An instruction for designating whether or not audio information is output by the television 300 may be configured to be received by the input unit 110.

  In addition, the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment can be used as a remote control for the television 300, the video recorder 400, etc. even when the switching management unit 121 is not in the zapping mode.

[Screen example displayed on display 132]
Next, a screen displayed on the display 132 and a screen displayed on the television 300 during the operations described so far will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the mobile phone 1 and the television 300 when zapping is performed by the mobile phone 1.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the screen displayed on the display 132 is composed of areas A1 and A2. In the area A1, a program displayed on the television 300 immediately before zapping is displayed. In the area A2, an image showing a correspondence relationship between the channel input unit 113 provided in the mobile phone 1 and an operation when the mobile phone 1 functions as a remote control is displayed. The user can switch the screen displayed on the television 300 according to the image displayed on the area A2 while checking the program displayed on the television 300 immediately before zapping in the area A1 displayed on the display 132 at hand. it can.

  Thereby, as shown in FIG. 9, the television 300 can display a program different from the program displayed immediately before zapping.

[Other patterns of zapping]
Here, a case will be described in which the switching management unit 121 switches to the zapping mode by detecting a long press of the channel input unit 113. That is, when the long press of the channel input unit 113 is detected, the switching management unit 121 shifts to the zapping mode, and the switching management unit 121 subsequently detects the pressing of the channel input unit 113 or the decision instruction input unit 114 within a certain time. To continue the zapping mode.

  Processing performed by the mobile phone 1 when zapping is performed using the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing another pattern process performed by the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment.

  When the switching management unit 121 first recognizes a long press of the channel input unit 113, the switching management unit 121 switches to the zapping mode (S1001). The subsequent processing in steps S702 to S706 is the same as that in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, after step S706, the process proceeds to step S1007.

  In step S1007, after the switching management unit 121 detects that the channel input unit 113 has been pressed for a long time, if the switching management unit 121 does not detect pressing of the channel input unit 113 or pressing of the decision instruction input unit 114 for a certain period of time, zapping is performed. The mode ends.

  Steps other than those described above are the same as the operations of the mobile phone 1 shown using FIGS.

  Note that the mode of switching to the zapping mode by long-pressing the channel input unit 113 is not limited to the pattern described here. For example, the following pattern may be used. That is, when the channel input unit 113 is pressed for a long time, the display 132 displays the program displayed on the television 300, and the TV 300 displays the program corresponding to the channel input unit 113 that is pressed for a long time. When the long press of the channel input unit 113 is released, the television 300 displays the program before the long press of the channel input unit 113, and the display 132 corresponds to the long-pressed channel input unit 113. Display the program. Zapping may be performed by repeating this.

  In addition, the mode in which the switching management unit 121 shifts to the zapping mode regardless of an instruction via the zapping mode switching unit 111 is not limited to the long press of the channel input unit 113. It may be set in advance so that the switching management unit 121 shifts to the zapping mode when the channel input unit 113 is pressed. That is, when the switching management unit 121 detects that the channel input unit 113 is pressed, the switching management unit 121 shifts to the zapping mode, instructs generation of external program identification information, and displays the program displayed on the television 300 on the display 132. The TV 300 displays a program based on the pressed channel input unit 113. After that, zapping is performed by switching the program to be displayed on the television 300 when the channel input unit 113 is pressed while the display 132 displays the program displayed on the television 300. When a scene to be viewed is found, the zapping mode may be terminated by not performing an operation for a certain period of time, and the zapping mode is activated by pressing a button assigned so that the user can input a zapping mode termination instruction. You may comprise so that it may complete | finish. For example, the determination instruction input unit 114 may be used as the button.

  In the case of manufacturing a program selection apparatus specialized for the pattern described here, the zapping mode switching unit 111 may not be provided.

[Other patterns of zapping 2]
In the above description, the case where zapping is performed by switching the programs displayed on the television 300 using the mobile phone 1 one after another has been described. Here, zapping is performed by switching the programs displayed on the display 132 one after another. The case where it performs is demonstrated.

  In this case, the user first presses the zapping mode switching unit 111. As a result, the switching management unit 121 shifts to the zapping mode. Then, the user inputs to the display setting switching unit 112 to switch to the internal program switching mode. Thereby, the switching management unit 121 switches to the internal program switching mode. Therefore, when the user inputs a desired channel to the channel input unit 113, the display 132 displays the program specified by the channel.

  Specifically, since the switching management unit 121 is in the internal program switching mode, a program designation instruction detected by pressing the channel input unit 113 is transmitted to the internal program designation instruction acquiring unit 122 as an internal program designation instruction. As a result, the user can perform zapping with the cellular phone 1 at hand while continuously checking the program displayed on the television 300 on the television 300.

  When the user finds a program that the user wants to display on the television 300 or a program that the video recorder 400 wants to record, the user inputs to the display setting switching unit 112 to switch to the external program switching mode. As described above, the switching management unit 121 instructs the internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 to generate an internal program reflection instruction when the zapping mode is set and the internal program switching mode is switched to the external program switching mode. Thereby, the internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123 generates an internal program reflection instruction. Next, the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124 generates an external program designation instruction based on the program specified by the internal program reflection instruction, and the external program designation instruction transmission unit transmits the external program designation instruction. Thereby, the television 300 displays the program.

  In this pattern 2, the mobile phone 1 can perform the same operation without switching the switching management unit 121 to the zapping mode. In this case, after discovering a program to be displayed on the television 300, the user may designate the channel again after switching the switching management unit 121 to the external program switching mode. However, when the zapping mode is set, the internal program reflection instruction generating unit 123 automatically generates the internal program reflection instruction when the mode is switched to the external program switching mode, so that the operation becomes simple.

[Other zapping patterns 3]
When zapping is performed by switching the programs displayed on the display 132 one after another, information indicating a plurality of programs may be displayed in a list (thumbnail display) as shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen when the display 132 displays a plurality of programs as thumbnails. FIG. 11A illustrates an example of a screen when thumbnails of program frames are displayed as still images, and FIG. An example of a screen when only information for identifying a program is displayed as a thumbnail will be described. In this specification, still images to be displayed as thumbnails are referred to as “thumbnail images”.

  As shown in FIG. 11A, the mobile phone 1 can extract a plurality of program frames and display them as thumbnail images as thumbnails. The thumbnail image is generated or acquired by the thumbnail display management unit 126.

  For example, the thumbnail display management unit 126 acquires a program via the tuner 131. Then, the program frame is extracted and used as a thumbnail image. The thumbnail image generated by the thumbnail display management unit 126 is once transmitted to the recording unit 140. This operation may be performed for all programs that can be acquired by the tuner 131, or may be performed only for the channel based on the setting by the user.

  The thumbnail display management unit 126 can also acquire a thumbnail image via the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127. The non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 acquires a thumbnail image of the non-corresponding program via the non-corresponding program display device connection unit 102. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which video recorder 400 can extract a frame of a program from a received satellite broadcast program and transmit it to non-compatible program display device connection unit 102. Then, the non-compatible program display device connection unit 102 acquires the frame as a thumbnail image. Similarly, if there are external devices having tuners for CS broadcasting, cable television, and one-segment broadcasting in home network 1000, thumbnail images corresponding to these broadcastings can be acquired. Therefore, FIG. 11A also shows a case where thumbnail images corresponding to these broadcasts are acquired.

  The thumbnail image displayed on the display 132 changes the background color of each thumbnail image according to the type of broadcast, and also changes the font of the character information when displaying the character information of the channel number. May be.

  The display 132 does not display thumbnail images one by one for each program, but generates and / or acquires a plurality of thumbnail images for each program, and continuously reproduces the plurality of thumbnail images. May be.

  Further, the information may be displayed after recognizing how each program is processed via the external device state recognition unit 103. For example, “REC: PC”, “REC: mobile”, and “REC: HDD” are displayed in the three thumbnail images shown in the lower part of FIG. This indicates that there are a personal computer, a mobile terminal different from the mobile phone 1, and a hard disk recorder different from the video recorder 400 in the home network 1000, and these are recording each program. .

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11B, the mobile phone 1 can also display only the character information indicating the channel number as a thumbnail. In this case, the thumbnail display management unit 126 recognizes the channel numbers of programs that can be acquired via the tuner 131. Further, the channel number related to the non-compliant program is recognized via the non-compliant program identification information management unit 127 and the non-compliant program display device connection unit 102. Then, the thumbnail display management unit 126 displays the recognized channel number on the display 132 as a thumbnail. At this time, the display 132 displays each channel number in the form of an icon as shown in FIG. 11B, and the background color of the icon according to the type of broadcast and the type of device capable of acquiring the program. May be changed.

  As described above, the mobile phone 1 allows the tuner 131 to acquire the program corresponding to the channel number by allowing the user to designate the channel number via the channel input unit 113 after displaying only the channel number as a thumbnail. If there is, the program may be received and displayed on the display 132. Moreover, displaying thumbnails in this manner also falls within the category of “the program display unit displays a program” according to the present invention. That is, the user uses the mobile phone 1 to comprehensively grasp programs that can be viewed in the entire home network 1000 by thumbnail display, and then picks up some programs and uses the mobile phone 1 for details. After confirmation, it can be displayed on the television 300 or recorded on the video recorder 400. As described above, by displaying thumbnails of programs that can be acquired not only by the mobile phone 1 but also by the external device via the home network 1000, the functions of the external device and the mobile phone 1 can be used more effectively.

  Whether the thumbnail image or the like is displayed on the display 132 as a thumbnail, and whether the information to be displayed in the thumbnail is a thumbnail image, character information, or a plurality of thumbnail images is continuously displayed is displayed by the user. Settings can be made via the setting switching unit 112.

  By using the mobile phone 1 described above as a device constituting the home network 1000, information about programs can be transmitted and received bidirectionally between the functions of other external devices and the mobile phone 1. Although the function of the external device can be used more effectively, the present invention is not limited to the form of constructing such a home network 1000. The mobile phone 1 can be suitably used as an apparatus for selecting a program to be processed by an external device such as the television 300 without constructing the home network 1000. That is, even if an external device that does not have a means for connecting to a network is used, if the mobile phone 1 is used, the user can check the program processed by the external device on the display 132 while checking the program being processed by the external device. Instructing to process another program or processing the program processed by the external device as it is, zapping on the display 132 and finding the scene you want to watch in another program It is also possible to instruct the device to process.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Finally, each block of the mobile phone 1, particularly the switching management unit 121 in the control unit 120, the internal program designation instruction acquisition unit 122, the internal program reflection instruction generation unit 123, the external program designation instruction acquisition unit 124, and external program identification information acquisition The unit 125 and the non-corresponding program identification information management unit 127 may be configured by hardware logic, or may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  That is, the mobile phone 1 includes a CPU (central processing unit) that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program, a RAM (random access memory) that expands the program, A recording device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data is provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium on which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the mobile phone 1 which is software that realizes the above-described functions is recorded in a computer-readable manner, This can also be achieved by supplying the mobile phone 1 and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. Card system such as IC card, IC card (including memory card) / optical card, or semiconductor memory system such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  The mobile phone 1 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication. A net or the like is available. Also, the transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, even in the case of wired such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL line, etc., infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth ( (Registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, and the like can also be used. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  The program selection apparatus according to the present invention can specify a program to be displayed on a television or a program to be recorded on a video recorder without missing a scene to be viewed. Therefore, an apparatus for zapping a program to be displayed on a television or a program to be recorded on a video recorder Available as Since this is more convenient when applied to an apparatus that can be easily handled even at a place away from a television or a video recorder, it can be suitably applied as a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the mobile telephone which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the home network constructed | assembled using the mobile telephone shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the position which provides the zapping mode switching part with which the mobile telephone shown in FIG. 1 is provided, (a) is a surface where the zapping mode switching part is provided with a channel input part, The case where it provided in the vicinity is shown, (b) has shown the case where the zapping mode switching part is provided in the side surface of the longitudinal direction of a mobile telephone. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the external program designation | designated instruction | indication transmission history which the recording part with which the mobile telephone shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the zapping mode conditions which the recording part with which the mobile telephone shown in FIG. 1 is recorded. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the external apparatus state information which the recording part with which the mobile telephone shown in FIG. 1 is recorded records. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process which the control part with which the mobile telephone shown in FIG. 1 is provided. It is a flowchart which shows the process of step S713 shown in FIG. 7 in detail. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between a mobile telephone and a television when zapping is performed with the mobile telephone shown in FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing another pattern processing performed by the mobile phone shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a screen when a display provided in the mobile phone shown in FIG. 1 displays a plurality of programs as thumbnails, (a) shows an example of a screen when thumbnails of program frames are displayed as still images; (B) shows an example of a screen when only information for identifying a program is displayed as a thumbnail.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mobile phone (program selection device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 External program designation | designated instruction | indication transmission part 110 Input part 111 Zapping mode switching part 112 Display setting switching part 113 Channel input part 114 Determination instruction | indication input part 120 Control part 121 Switching management part (switching management means)
122 Internal program designation instruction acquisition unit (internal program designation instruction receiving means)
123 internal program reflection instruction generation unit 124 external program designation instruction acquisition unit (external program designation instruction receiving means)
125 External program identification information acquisition unit (external program identification information acquisition means)
126 thumbnail display management unit 127 non-corresponding program identification information management unit (non-corresponding program identification information acquisition means)
128 External device state management unit 130 Program display unit 131 Tuner 132 Display 140 Recording unit (transmission history recording unit)
200 TV station (program providing device)
300 TV (program processing device)
400 Video recorder (program processing device)

Claims (13)

A program display unit for acquiring and displaying a program from the program providing device;
An external program designation instruction receiving means for receiving an external program designation instruction which is an instruction for designating a program to be processed by a separately provided program processing apparatus while the program display unit is displaying a program;
A program selection apparatus comprising: an external program designation instruction transmitting unit that transmits the external program designation instruction received by the external program designation instruction receiving means to the program processing apparatus. An external program identification information acquisition means for acquiring external program identification information which is information for identifying a program being processed by the program processing device;
The program selection device according to claim 1, wherein the program display unit acquires and displays a program corresponding to the external program identification information from the program providing device. A transmission history recording unit that records a history of the external program designation instruction transmitted by the external program designation instruction transmission unit;
3. The program according to claim 2, wherein the external program identification information acquisition means acquires the history from the transmission history recording section and generates the external program identification information based on the history. Selection device. An internal program designation instruction receiving means for receiving an internal program designation instruction which is an instruction for designating a program displayed by the program display unit;
The external program designation instruction receiving means is
Generating the external program designation instruction for designating the program displayed by the program display unit based on the internal program designation instruction as a program to be processed by the program processing device;
2. The program selection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external program designation instruction transmitting unit transmits the external program designation instruction generated by the external program designation instruction receiving unit to the program processing apparatus. An input unit for the user to input either one of the internal program designation instruction and the external program designation instruction;
The program designation instruction input to the input unit is switched between being transmitted as the internal program designation instruction to the internal program designation instruction receiving means or being transmitted as the external program designation instruction to the external program designation instruction receiving means. Switching management means, wherein the switching management means receives the external program designation instruction as the external program designation instruction from a state in which the program designation instruction is transmitted to the internal program designation instruction acceptance means as the internal program designation instruction. When switching to the state to send to the means,
The external program designation instruction receiving means generates the external program designation instruction for designating a program displayed by the program display unit as a program to be processed by the program processing device based on the internal program designation instruction. The program selection device according to claim 4, wherein there is a program selection device. When the internal program designation instruction accepting unit has not accepted the next internal program designation instruction for a time longer than a preset time after accepting the internal program designation instruction,
The external program designation instruction accepting means designates the program displayed by the program display unit as a program to be processed by the program processing device based on the internal program designation instruction received by the internal program designation instruction accepting means. 5. The program selection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the external program designation instruction is generated. The program display section
2. The frame of each program is extracted from a plurality of programs that are moving images acquired from the program providing apparatus, and the frames of each program are displayed in a list. Program selection device. The program display section
8. The program selection apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of frames are extracted from each of the plurality of programs, and the plurality of frames are continuously reproduced.   2. The program selection device according to claim 1, wherein the program processing device is at least one of a video reproduction device and a video recording device. A non-corresponding program identification information acquisition means for acquiring non-corresponding program identification information, which is information for identifying a non-corresponding program that is a program that cannot be acquired by the program display unit,
The program display unit displays the non-corresponding program identification information,
2. The program selection according to claim 1, wherein the external program designation instruction receiving means is capable of receiving, as the external program designation instruction, an instruction for designating a program specified by the incompatible program identification information. apparatus. A control method of a program selection device for selecting a program,
External program designation instruction which is an instruction to designate a program to be processed by a program processing apparatus provided separately from the program selection apparatus while a program is displayed on the program display unit provided in the program selection apparatus. An external program designation instruction acceptance process for accepting,
A program selection apparatus control method comprising: a program designation instruction transmitting step of transmitting an external program designation instruction received in the external program designation instruction receiving step to the program processing apparatus.   The program which operates a computer as each means of the program selection apparatus of any one of Claims 1-10.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 12 is recorded.

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