Program information broadcasting method program information display method, and receiving device

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A program information broadcasting method comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of classification items, each including a plurality of detailed items for recognizing broadcasting programs per se or program elements included in each of the broadcasting programs,

forming scheduled program information by representing the contents for each of said broadcasting programs with said classification items and detailed items, and representing said classification items and detailed items with first and second identification data, respectively; and

broadcasting said scheduled program information and corresponding table data for the data for the character display of said classification items and said detailed items corresponding to said first and second identification data.

2. A program information broadcasting method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduled program information includes information for recognizing broadcasting start time and broadcasting end time on each program to be broadcast.

3. A program information broadcasting method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduled program information includes information for recognizing broadcasting start time and broadcasting end time on each program element unit included in each of the programs to be broadcast.

4. A program information display method comprising the steps of:

extracting, from received broadcast wave signals, scheduled program information in which the contents of programs to be broadcast are represented by a plurality of classification items and detailed items for each of said classification items, and said classification items and said detailed items are represented by first and second identification data, respectively, and corresponding table data for character display of said classification items and said detailed items corresponding to said first and second identification data

replacing said extracted identification data of said scheduled program information with data for corresponding character display by using said extracted corresponding table data, thereby generating program schedule data; and

displaying the program schedule for the contents of the program to be broadcast by character display on a display based on the program schedule data.

5. A program information display method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises the step of extracting, from said scheduled program information, a program having identical classification items or detailed items with those designated by a user as program information and displaying said extracted program on a display in a form recognizable to the user.

6. A program information display method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises the step of extracting, from said scheduled program information, program element comprising identical classification items or detailed items with those designated by a user, generating program schedule data including the extracted program element and displaying the program schedule on the display based on the program schedule data.

7. A program information display method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises the step of extracting, from said received broadcast wave signals, information for recognizing broadcasting start time and broadcasting end time for each program to be broadcast, and displaying information regarding the broadcasting time of the program in a wherein the broadcasting start time and the broadcasting end time can be recognized corresponding to each of the corresponding programs in the broadcasting schedule.

8. A program information display method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises the step of extracting, from said received broadcast wave signals, information for recognizing broadcasting start time and broadcasting end time for each program element in each program to be broadcast, and displaying the information regarding the broadcasting start time and the broadcasting end time corresponding to each of the elements in the program schedule.

9. A receiving device for displaying a program schedule comprising:

a program information extraction means for extracting, from received broadcast wave signals, scheduled program information in which the contents of programs to be broadcast are represented by a plurality of classification items and detailed items for each of said classification items, and said classification items and the detailed items are represented, respectively, by first and second identification data, and corresponding table data for the data for character display of said classification items and said detailed items corresponding to said first and second identification data,

a program schedule data generation means for replacing said identification data of said scheduled program information with the data for corresponding character display by using the corresponding table data thereby generating program schedule data; and

a display control means for displaying the program schedule based on said program schedule data generated by said program schedule data generation means on a display screen.

10. A receiving device according to claim 9, further including key input means for selecting said classification items or detailed items

wherein said program schedule data generation means extracts programs or program elements having identical classification items or detailed items with those selectively designated depending on the selective designation at said key input means from the scheduled program information for putting the extracted program or the program elements in a form recognizable to a user; and

wherein said display control means conducts display based on said display data.

11. A receiving device according to claim 10, wherein said program information extraction means also extracts the time information regarding the scheduled broadcasting time for each program to be broadcast,

said key input means has a key input section for designating a program or program elements desired by a user with reference to the program schedule displayed on the display screen, and said device further comprises;

a control means for selectively receiving the program or the program elements designated by said key input section at the scheduled broadcasting time of the program or the program elements by using the time information regarding said extracted scheduled broadcasting time.

12. A receiving device according to claim 11, wherein the device further includes a recording/reproducing device section; and

a program or program elements designated by said key input section and selectively received by said control means at the scheduled broadcasting time are recorded in said recording/reproducing device section.

13. A receiving device according to claim 12, wherein said recording/reproducing device section records the information regarding the decoded content in a recording area separate from the main recording data, and said device further comprises:

a recording means for recording received signals of the program or the program elements designated by said key input section and selectively received by said control means at the scheduled broadcasting time by said recording/reproducing device section in a main recording data area of the recording medium and recording information regarding said recorded received signals in a recording area separate from said main recording data area of said recording medium; and

a reproducing means for reproducing the information regarding the received signals from said recording medium and displaying the same on a display screen.

14. A receiving device according to claim 13, wherein

said key input means includes a key input section for optionally selecting a program or program element units to be reproduced by a user from the recording medium with reference to the information regarding the recorded contents and displayed on the display screen; and

wherein said device extracts and reproduces the program or the program element units selected by said key input section from said recording medium.

15. A receiving device according to claim 14, wherein said device is capable of designating a reproducing order for the selected program or the program element units by said key input means and has a function of reproducing the selected program or the program element units in accordance with the designated reproducing order.

16. A receiving device according to claim 9, further including means for receiving said broadcast wave signals from a satellite transmission.

17. A receiving device according to claim 9, further including a program selector for extracting index information from said broadcast wave signals.

18. A receiving device according to claim 17, further including a system control section which receives said index information from said program selector and recognizes at least one frequency to which a selected channel is allocated.

19. A receiving device according to claim 18, wherein said system control section includes a microcomputer.

20. A receiving device according to claim 12, wherein said recording/reproducing device section includes an opto-magnetic disc.

21. A method for searching for a desired program element, comprising the steps of:

receiving program scheduling information for a plurality of programs, each of said programs having associated program elements;

selecting a program type to search for said desired program element;

searching said program type to identify programs having said desired program element; and

displaying at least a portion of said program scheduling information for said searched programs having said desired program element.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein said selected program type is selected from a menu of available program types.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein said selected program type is selected by using a remote commander.

24. A method according to claim 21, wherein a desired searched program having said desired program element is selected from a menu of available searched programs.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein said desired searched program is selected by using a remote commander.

26. A method according to claim 21, wherein said program scheduling information includes channel information and broadcast start and stop times and said channel information and said broadcast stop and start times are displayed on ordinate and abscissa axes, respectively, of a display.

27. A method for searching for a desired program element to enable reserve recording, comprising the steps of:

receiving a program information data packet having program scheduling information for a plurality of programs each having program elements, wherein program elements indicative of a program type are grouped together to form a plurality of program type lists each identified by a program type designation indicative of associated program elements;

displaying each said program type designation on a first screen menu;

selecting a program type designation from said first screen menu which is indicative of said desired program element;

displaying a second menu of program elements associated with said selected program type designation, wherein said second menu of program elements includes said desired program element;

selecting said desired program element from said second menu of program elements;

searching said programs to identify programs which include said desired program element;

displaying a third menu of searched programs;

selecting at least one of said searched programs from said third menu of searched programs; and

registering said selected searched programs for reserve recording.

28. A method according to claim 27, further including a program table for displaying said searched programs, wherein said program table includes broadcasting stop and start times for said searched programs.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by a monochrome reversal display.

30. A method according to claim 27, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by changing display color.

31. A method according to claim 27, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by a pointer cursor.

32. A method according to claim 27, wherein said program type designations include general categories and performer.

33. A method according to claim 27, wherein said program information data packet is stored in memory.

34. A method according to claim 27, wherein said steps of selecting a program type designation, said desired program element and said at least one of said searched programs are performed by using a remote controller.

35. A method for searching for a desired program element to enable reserve recording, comprising the steps of:

receiving a program information data packet having program scheduling information for a plurality of programs each having program elements

receiving an identification data packet wherein said program elements are grouped together according to program type to form a plurality of program type lists each identified by a program type designation indicative of associated program elements, wherein said program information data packet and identification data packets are stored in memory; displaying each said program type designation on a first screen menu;

selecting a program type designation from said first screen menu which is indicative of said desired program element wherein said program type designations include general categories and performer;

displaying a second menu of program elements associated with said selected program type designation, wherein said second menu of program elements includes said desired program element;

selecting said desired program element from said second menu of program elements;

searching said programs to identify programs which include said desired program element;

displaying a third menu of searched programs;

selecting at least one of said searched programs from said third menu of searched programs; and

registering said selected searched programs for reserve recording.

36. A method according to claim 35, further including a program table for displaying said searched programs, wherein said program table includes broadcasting stop and start times for said searched programs.

37. A method according to claim 35, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by a monochrome reversal display.

38. A method according to claim 35, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by changing display color.

39. A method according to claim 35, wherein selection of said desired program type designation, said desired program element and said searched programs is shown by a pointer cursor.

40. A method according to claim 35, wherein said steps of selecting a program type designation, said desired program element and said at least one of said searched programs are performed by using a remote controller.

41. A method according to claim 35 further including the step of recording said selected searched programs.

42. A method according to claim 35 further including the step of playing back said recorded searched programs.

43. A method according to claim 35 wherein said identification data packet includes list data for the types of items, list data corresponding to the program title identification, list data corresponding to subtitle identification, list data corresponding to performer identification and list data corresponding to category identification.

44. A method according to claim 35, wherein said step of searching is initiated by selecting a find function from a fourth menu of available functions.

The disclosure of patent application entitled TWO-WAY BROADCAST AND RECEIVING SYSTEM, assigned to Sony Corporation and the inventors being Hitoshi Yoshinobu and Yoshitsugu Hattori is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a program information broadcasting system for broadcasting information of the kinds of each of programs to be broadcast and information of elements included in a program such as a performer, a program information display method for receiving the program information broadcast by the broadcasting system and display the same on a display screen, as well as a receiving device such as a television receiver.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Usually, when TV audiences view or listen a broadcast program by using a receiving device such as a television receiver or a radio receiver, they recognize the contents of a program to be broadcast and scheduled broadcasting time therefor by reference to a program schedule such as those found in television/radio columns of newspapers or magazines.

Then, when it is desired to reserve a program for reserved sound and video recording (i.e., program a VCR) information such as a broadcasting channel, scheduled broadcasting time and the like of the program to be broadcast which are included in the newspapers or magazines, are inputted and set. Accordingly, when such newspapers or magazines are not available at hand, input operation for program reservation can not be conducted since program schedule to be referred to is not present.

In view of the foregoing situations, it has been practiced, for instance, in a case of television broadcasting to broadcast a program schedule by superposing it on video signals by way of a multiplexed text broadcasting system or the like, so that the program schedule can be displayed on a screen of a television receiver having a multiplexed text recorder. Further, also in a digital satellite broadcasting started in North America (refer, for example, to Journal of "Nikkei Electronics, p 101-110, 1994. 3. 14 (No. 603)", information of a broadcasting schedule is broadcast in a predetermined channel.

It has also been proposed in a transmission method of a high performance teletext for providing information programs including mainly characters, to transmit data as the index for the search of each of programs together with the information for the contents of programs from broadcasting stations (menu tables of programs to be transmitted or key words for the search of programs to be transmitted) ITEJ Technical Report, Vol. 16, No. 71, pp. 1-6, BCS '92-38 (Oct. 1992) and pp. 7-12, BCS '92-38 (Oct, 1992).

However, the menu table in the index search system used for the high performance teletext the transmission method described above, is used only for the search and contains less information such as the program information of television or radio programs.

Further, due to the form in which character information is transmitted, the amount of transmitted data is relatively large. Further, in the multiplexed text broadcasting system or in a system of broadcasting program schedules in a channel separate from that for the broadcasting programs as in a digital satellite broadcasting, the broadcast program schedules are substantially identical with those included in newspapers or magazines and, in addition, data per se for such program schedules are delivered.

Accordingly, the amount of transmitted data is remarkably increased and it is difficult to transmit enough information regarding the detailed contents of broadcasting programs in addition to essential information as the information for program tables such as the name of broadcasting stations, the name of programs and the broadcasting starting time.

Further, even if the information for the program schedules also includes information regarding elements included in each of the programs, for example, information such as for names of singers and music numbers in a case of a musical program, a user has read information on every program when searching the program elements such as names of singers or music numbers and it is extremely troublesome and difficult, for example, to reserve all the programs in which a certain singer appears.

Further, in a case of program reservation such as for reserved video recording, it is necessary to input a broadcasting start time obtained from a program schedule and a presumed broadcasting end time, which makes the program reserving operation troublesome.

Further, in existing program schedules, only the start time for the program to be broadcast is displayed and the broadcasting end time cannot be assumed from the start time for the next program. In addition, since information regarding the broadcasting time on every program element included in each of the programs is not available, it is impossible, for example, to extract and reserve only one to several music numbers in a musical program. Further, it is also impossible in such reserving operations such as recording all the music numbers of a certain singer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a program information broadcasting system capable of broadcasting program information in a relatively small capacity of data even if the number of broadcasting stations or the number of programs are increased.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a program information display method for displaying a program schedule on a display screen by using program information broadcast by the program information broadcasting system according to the present invention.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a receiving device capable of easily reserving a program by using program schedule data displayed by the program information display method according to the present invention.

The foregoing objects can be attained by a program information broadcasting system according to the present invention, which comprises providing a plurality of classification items each comprising a plurality detailed items for recognizing broadcasting program per se or programs elements included in each of the broadcasting programs, displaying the contents for each of the broadcasting programs with the classification items and the detailed items, forming information for program schedules by displaying these classification items and detailed items by identification data, respectively, to generate scheduled program information and broadcasting the scheduled program information and corresponding table data for the identification data and data for character display of the classification items and the detailed items corresponding to the identification data.

The scheduled program information may contain time information for recognizing the broadcasting start time and the broadcasting end time on every program to be broadcast or on every element unit included in each of the programs to be broadcast.

A program information display method according to the present invention comprises extracting, from received broadcasting wave signals, scheduled program information in which the contents of programs to be broadcast are represented by a plurality of classification items and detailed items on every classification items and the classification items and the detailed items are represented by identification data respectively, and a corresponding table data for the identification data and the data for character display of the classification items and detailed items corresponding to the identification data, replacing the identification data of the extracted scheduled program information with corresponding data for character display by using the extracted corresponding table data, to generate a program schedule data and displaying the program schedule for the character display of the contents of the program to be broadcast on a display based on the program schedule data.

When a classification item or a detailed item is designated by a user, a program having the designated classification item or the detailed items as the program information is extracted from the scheduled program information and the extracted program is display on a display in a state which can be recognized by the user. Alternatively, program schedule data only including the extracted program may be generated and the program schedule based on the program schedule data may be displayed on the display.

A receiving device according to the present invention comprises a program information extraction means for extracting, from received broadcasting wave signals, scheduled program information in which the contents of a program to be broadcast are represented by a plurality of classification items and detailed items on every classification items and the classification items and the detailed items are represented by identification data, respectively, and a corresponding table data for the identification data and data for character display of the classification items and the detailed item corresponding to the identification data; means for generating program schedule data for generating scheduled program data by replacing the identification data for the scheduled program information with corresponding data for character display by using the corresponding table data extracted by the program information extraction means; and a display control means for displaying a program schedule based on the program schedule data generated by the program schedule data generation means on a display screen.

In the receiving device according to the present invention, the program information extraction means has a function of extracting also time information regarding the scheduled broadcasting time for each of programs to be broadcast, the key input means has a key input section for designating a program or program element desired by a user with reference to the program schedule displayed on the display screen and also has a control means for receiving and selecting the program or the program element designated by the key input section at the scheduled broadcasting time for the program or the program element by using the time information regarding the extracted scheduled broadcasting time.

Further, the receiving device according to the present invention incorporates a recording/reproducing device 200, which records information regarding the recorded contents into a recording area (UTOC) separate from the main recording data, and comprises a recording means for recording the received signals for the program or the program element designated by the key input section and received and selected by the control means at the scheduled broadcasting time in a main recording data area of a recording medium by the recording/reproducing device section and recording the information regarding the recorded received signals in a recording area separate from the main recording data area of the recording medium and a reproducing means for reproducing the information regarding the received signals from the recording medium and displaying it on the display screen.

Further, in the receiving device, the key input means has a key input section for a user to optionally select a program or program constituent unit to be reproduced from the recording medium with reference to the information regarding the recorded contents displayed on the display screen and the receiving device has a function of extracting the program or the program element selected by the key input section from the recording medium and reproducing it by the designated sequence.

In the program information broadcasting system according to the present invention, contents for each of broadcasting programs are represented by the combination of a plurality of the classification items and the detailed items for each of the classification items, and the classification items and the detailed items are represented, respectively, by the identification data to form scheduled program information. Then, if the scheduled program information, and the corresponding table data for the identification data and the data for character display of the classification items and the detailed items corresponding to the identification data are applied, the amount of information is reduced as compared with transmitting the data for program table character data. The effect of reducing the amount of information is remarkable, particularly, when the number of broadcasting stations and