Television – Diverse device controlled by information embedded in video...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-05
2002-02-05
Lee, Michael (Department: 2714)
Television
Diverse device controlled by information embedded in video...
C348S725000, C386S349000, C725S050000, C725S055000, C725S058000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06344878
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus of reserving the recording of a television program in a broadcasting system for video data, audio data and meta data.
2. Description Of The Related Art
In a conventional video tape recorder (VTR), a viewer looks for his favorite television program listed in a television program table of a news paper, recording reservation information such as a television channel, a broadcasting start time and a broadcasting finish time or a G code is input to the VTR, so that the television program is recorded during a broadcasting time.
Also, a digital television broadcasting has been recently developed, a satellite digital television broadcasting has been already started, and a digital terrestrial television broadcasting is expected to be started in the near future. Because television contents expressed by digital data are broadcasted in the digital television broadcasting, a data broadcasting and the broadcasting of television program schedule information (or electronic program information) are performed in addition to the broadcasting of video and audio data.
In case of the digital television broadcasting, because a large number of television programs are broadcasted on hundreds of television channels, it becomes difficult to watch or record a desired television program selected from a large number of television programs. Therefore, it is desired that television program schedule information is broadcasted with the contents of the television programs for a viewer to easily watch or record his favorite television program.
Also, in case of the multichannel digital television broadcasting, contents of each television program is repeatedly broadcasted, so that the television program does not correspond to a broadcasting time (a broadcasting start time and a broadcasting finish time). Therefore, it is desired that a viewer is not required to specify a broadcasting time of a television program but the time for recording a television program is automatically set when the viewer selects the television program.
Also, in cases where a special television program is suddenly added or a broadcasting duration of a television program is suddenly prolonged, the television program schedule information is renewed. In this case, it is expected that the renewed television program schedule information is broadcasted to each viewer and a recording schedule of his favorite television program is adaptively changed according to the renewed television program schedule information.
As Japanese patent applications of the digital television broadcasting using the television program schedule information, a group of Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications “System for Changing VTR Reserving Video Recording Automatically” (No.5-54466 of 1993), “Information Record Reservation Device and Reservation Method” (No.6-276501 of 1994), “Reserving Device for Automatic Video Recording of Program” (No.7-65437 of 1995) and “Television broadcasting Picture Recording System” (No.9-44931 of 1997) are disclosed. In these applications, the recording reservation is changed according to the renewal of the television program schedule information. Also, a Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application “Video Recording Management Device” (No.7-21619 of 1995) is disclosed. In this application, when overlapping recording reservations are detected, one of the recording reservations is canceled or the recording reservation is treated as a reservation for another VTR. Also, a Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application “TV Program Reservation Method and Television Receiver with TV Program Reservation Function” (No.5-22673 of 1993) is disclosed. In this application, television program schedule information (or broadcasting program table) is displayed on a cathode-ray tube display part to simplify a reservation input.
2.1. Previously Proposed Art:
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a conventional television program recording reservation apparatus.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a conventional television program recording reservation apparatus
100
is composed of
a receiving unit
101
for receiving a broadcast signal S
1
;
a demultiplexing unit
102
for demultiplexing the broadcast signal S
1
into a television program signal S
2
and input television program schedule information I
1
i;
a television program schedule information storing unit
103
for storing television program schedule information I
1
previously output from the demultiplexing unit
102
;
a television program recording reservation receiving unit
104
for receiving input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
from a viewer;
a television program recording reservation information storing unit
105
for storing television program recording reservation information I
2
previously received in the receiving unit
104
;
a schedule managing unit
106
for managing the television program schedule information storing unit
103
to renew the television program schedule information I
1
stored in the storing unit
103
according to the input television program schedule information I
1
i
, and managing a schedule of the television program recording reservations to add the input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
to the television program schedule information I
1
on condition that a recording time (from a recording start time to a recording finish time) of the input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
does not overlap with that of any television program schedule information I
1
;
a timer
107
for outputting an interruption signal S
3
to the schedule managing unit
106
; and
a television program recording unit
108
for recording the television program signal S
2
output from the demultiplexing unit
102
in a recording medium
109
under the control of the schedule managing unit
106
.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram of the schedule managing unit
106
.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the schedule managing unit
106
is composed of
a broadcast signal reception control unit
111
for controlling the reception of the broadcast signal S
1
performed in the receiving unit
101
according to the interruption signal S
3
output from the timer
107
;
a television program schedule information comparing and renewing unit
112
for comparing the input television program schedule information I
1
i
output from the demultiplexing unit
102
with the television program schedule information I
1
previously stored in the television program schedule information storing unit
103
and renewing the television program schedule information I
1
to the input television program schedule information I
1
i
output from the demultiplexing unit
102
in cases where the input television program schedule information I
1
i
differs from the television program schedule information I
1
;
a television program recording reservation information comparing and renewing unit
113
for comparing the input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
newly received in the receiving unit
104
with the television program recording reservation information I
2
registered in the television program recording reservation information storing unit
105
and adding the input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
to the television program recording reservation information I
2
in cases where a recording time of the input television program recording reservation information I
2
i
does not overlap with any recording time of the television program recording reservation information I
2
already registered in the storing unit
105
; and
a television program recording control unit
114
for controlling the recording of the television program signal S
2
performed in the television program recording unit
108
.
In the above configuration, to periodically receive television program schedule information, the broadcast signal reception control unit
111
outputs a receiving unit control signal to the receiving unit
101
in synchronization with an interrupt
Gopstein Israel
Lee Michael
Matsushita Electrical Industrial
LandOfFree
Television program recording reservation apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Television program recording reservation apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Television program recording reservation apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2971059