System for processing program information
To provide a system for processing program information in which the display structure of a program table can freely be changed in accordance with a requirement or a taste of an audience, the system for processing program information is constructed to include program information storage means 1 for storing program information, and program table display means 4 for two-dimensionally displaying a program table following two axes in accordance with two attributes 102 and 103 among attributes given to each piece of program information, to make the program table 101 for two-dimensionally displaying programs with two axes of free attributes. For the audience, program tables of various constructions can be displayed on the display means at will and in respective program retrieval operations, the program table easy to look for a program can be obtained. An objective program can be found in a short time by coming up with ideas for the extraction of the program or the like, and this is useful for making a broadcast view plan of himself.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for processing program information capable of efficiently displaying program information to audience.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, programs and image information are broadcast and transmitted through a large number of channels because of the spread and progress of satellite broadcasting, satellite communication and so on. In the case of sending information of such a program or the like, that is, program information (program guide) to audience, because of the large number of the channels, of course, the number of frames of a program table also becomes large. There are various proposals for sending or displaying easily to understand and efficiently this program table to the audience. As such a prior art, for instance, there is a program information processor (display device) shown in the Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 83888/1997. This program information processor includes first memory means for storing program information, second memory means for storing designation information for a program retrieval input by an audience, retrieving means for retrieving a program in program information on the basis of designation information, program construction control means for constructing a program table based on the retrieval result and displaying it, and program selection means in which the audience selects a program from the program table. When the audience inputs designation information, a program meeting the condition of the designation information is retrieved from large quantities of program information to make the program table. Designation information called in this prior art includes, for instance, the present time, established charge information and information of a viewed program. As an instance, when the present time is input as designation information, a program capable of being broadcast at present is retrieved. As another instance, when information of the viewed program is input as designation information, a program which has not been retrieved is retrieved. Of course, plural items of designation information can be input in one operation. As the program table made as a result of the retrieval, a table in which various channels are arranged along the vertical axis and time slots are shown along the horizontal axis as described in the above official gazette, is provided. As a matter of course, the relationship between the vertical and horizontal axes may be reversed. It is also possible that the time slots are arranged along the vertical axis and the various channels are shown along the horizontal axis as a program table carried on a general newspaper even at present.
However, in such a prior art program information processor, because a program based on the condition of designation information is retrieved by inputting various pieces of designation information and a program is focused in accordance with the taste or demand of the audience, there is the advantage that the audience as a user becomes easy to select a program, but the program table made by this program information processor has merely the two-dimensional display construction in which two attributes of channel and time slot are used as two axes of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis as described above. After all, it is a table of merely deleting or culling programs needless to select, from a program table generally used so far. Because of this, under the condition that the number of channels is about to become 100 or more as recent satellite broadcasting, if the program table as shown above is made, the two-dimensionally displayed program table itself occupies an extremely large area and the audience cannot look everywhere when searching a program or has need of a huge time for searching the program. Furthermore, if the whole program table is displayed as the program table itself though a program in a specific time zone is to be searched, there is the defect that it is hard to search the aimed program because program columns of other time zones catch his eye.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is made in view of such a prior art problem and its object is to provide a system for processing program information in which the display structure of a program table can freely be changed in accordance with a requirement or a taste of an audience.
For attaining the above object, the present invention has the gist that a system for processing program information has a construction comprising program information storage means for storing program information, and program table display means for two-dimensionally displaying a program table following two axes in accordance with two attributes among attributes given to each piece of program information, and the program table two-dimensionally displaying programs by using the attributes at will as two axes, is made.
For the purpose that an audience can determine the two-axes attributes at will, the system further comprises attribute input means through which the two-axes attributes used for two-dimensionally displaying the program table are input, and program table making means for retrieving program information in program information stored in the program information storage means on the basis of said input attributes to make the program table, and the program table display means can display the program table from the program table making means. By this manner, the program table making means retrieves program information stored in the program information storage means and can also have the function of classifying the above program information.
By this construction, although a conventional program table has merely the table structure in which time slots are arranged along the vertical axis and various channels are arranged along the horizontal axis, the program table having a free structure without being fixed to that can be displayed and the freeness of grasping and selecting a program for the audience increases.
The invention set forth in claim 1 is that a system for processing program information comprises program information storage means for storing program information, and program table display means for two-dimensionally displaying a program table following two axes in accordance with two attributes among attributes given to each piece of program information, and has the operation that the program table in accordance with a taste or a requirement of a user by arbitrarily establishing the two-axes attributes, is displayed and a program retrieval can easily and rapidly be carried out.
The invention set forth in claim 2 is that a system for processing program information according to claim 1, further comprises attribute input means through which the two-axes attributes used for two-dimensionally displaying the program table are input, and program table making means for retrieving program information in program information stored in the program information storage means on the basis of said input attributes to make the program table, and has the operation that the user can select and determine the program table having a formation suiting his taste by inputting the two-axes attributes through the attribute input means and the program table display means display the program table from the program table making means.
The invention set forth in claim 3 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the program table making means has the functions of retrieving program information stored in the program information storage means and classifying said program information.
The invention set forth in claim 4 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, another attribute is selected in addition to the two-axes attributes of the program table to change over the display.
The invention set forth in claim 5 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the display is performed at the condition of culling a portion needless to be displayed when displaying the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 6 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 5, the original program table is restored when displaying the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 7 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, an attribute relative to the program is selected to change over the display.
The invention set forth in claim 8 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, a new attribute can be added to and an attribute can be deleted from the program table in accordance with a selection of the attribute by a user or an input from another system.
The invention set forth in claim 9 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, information registered by a user is designated as an attribute of the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 10 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, when there are plural programs in a same time zone, they are displayed one upon another as they are shifted rearward little by little, and displayed at the front one by one, and has the operation that they can be used for a program check of the same time zone without expanding the display area.
The invention set forth in claim 11 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, three-axes attributes of the program table are selected by a user to display information as a three-dimensional shape.
The invention set forth in claim 12 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the attributive structure of a word relative to an attribute of the program table can be extracted from program information.
The invention set forth in claim 13 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, an outline so far, pictures or sounds of a program can be stored to display and play back them.
The invention set forth in claim 14 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, when a channel or a program is selected as an attribute of the program table, it is possible that the channel is changed over to the picture of the program and program relation information is displayed if the program is on the air at present, and only information relative to the program is displayed if the program is off the air.
The invention set forth in claim 15 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, a channel is selected as an attribute of the program table, advertisements and program relation information are displayed in accordance with the time schedule of programs in the channel.
The invention set forth in claim 16 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, program information, program relation information, program information renewal information, information registered by a user, a program, a picture, or a sound is transmitted and received.
The invention set forth in claim 17 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, an image sequence made by a user is transmitted and received to be displayed in a portion of the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 18 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, program information selected by a user is transmitted and the number of people viewing the same program is calculated to display the result in a portion of the program table as an audience rating or the number of audience.
The invention set forth in claim 19 is a system for processing program information, wherein program information including an index for retrieving a program can be transmitted and received.
The invention set forth in claim 20 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 19, a user attribute is maintained at the receiver side to retrieve program information including an index for retrieving a program, on the basis of the user attribute.
The invention set forth in claim 21 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 19, when a retrieval was unsuccessful with program information including an index for retrieving a program, at the receiver side, a retrieval and an automatic classification are carried out at the transmitter side and the result is transmitted to the receiver side.
The invention set forth in claim 22 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 20, when a retrieval according to the user attribute was unsuccessful with program information including an index for retrieving a program, at the receiver side, a retrieval and an automatic classification according to the user attribute are carried out at the transmitter side and the result is transmitted to the receiver side.
The invention set forth in claim 23 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, a designated program can be recorded, reserved for recording or played back in accordance with a designation of a user or an input from another system.
The invention set forth in claim 24 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, programs recorded or reserved for recording are displayed along the time of the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 25 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, a recorder is provided for recording information of the program viewed by a user, and has the operation. that a relationship with recorded program information is examined in all programs and the program is displayed when it is judged that the relationship is high.
The invention set forth in claim 26 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, it is shown whether a performer of the program appears at a certain time of a certain day or not.
The invention set forth in claim 27 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the system includes fitting degree calculation means for calculating a fitting degree between program information and each piece of program classification information, and program classification means in which, to one given piece of program classification information and a program information set, a fitting degree of each piece of program information in the program information set to program classification information, is calculated by using the fitting degree calculation means to obtain a subset of the program information set having a fitting degree not less than a given threshold value, and has the operation that a line of the program classification predetermined or designated by a user is taken as one or more attributes of the program table to display it by the program table display means.
The invention set forth in claim 28 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the system includes fitting degree calculation means for calculating a fitting degree between program information and each piece of program classification information, and program classification means in which, as to one given piece of program classification information and a program information set, a fitting degree of each piece of program information in the program information set to program classification information, is calculated by using the fitting degree calculation means to obtain a subset of the program information set having a fitting degree not less than a given threshold value, and has the operation that the program table display means displays only a program classified into a program classification predetermined or designated by a user so that it can be distinguished from another program in the program table without depending on the form of the program table.
The invention set forth in claim 29 is that, in a system for processing program information according to claim 2, the system includes program information designation means for designating a subset as to a program information set stored in the program information storage means, relative key word extraction means for extracting a characteristic word set characterizing the subset from the subset of program information designated by the program information designation means, and program information extraction means for extracting characteristic word information from the designated subset by using the relative key word extraction means and extracting program classification information for discriminating and classifying program information similar to program information in the subset, and has the operation that a user can designate a proper program group and easily user-define new program classification information, and the trouble of designating a characteristic word can be omitted and a program can be classified more accurately because the characteristic word is extracted from actual program information.
The invention set forth in claim 30 is that, in a system for processing program information according to any of claims 27 to 29, program classification information is transmitted from a user side terminal to a server side terminal, program information is classified by the program information classification means at the server side, and only program information classified into program classification information transmitted from the user side terminal is transmitted to the user side terminal, and has the operation that, by transmitting only program information classified into program classification information transmitted from the user side terminal in a remote place, to the user side terminal to display it on the program display means of the user side terminal, the data quantity to be transmitted can remarkably be reduced in comparison to the case of transmitting all program table.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other objects and features will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.
First Embodiment
Here, in attribute information to be used as the two-axes attributes, although it goes without saying that time slots (hereinafter, merely called time) and channels conventionally used are included, not limited to those attributes, there are various attributes, for instance, attributes such as days of week and prime times in relation to time, and category (type) attributes such as news, weather reports, dramas, sports (may be by event), song programs, cooking programs and education programs in relation to the type of program, furthermore, attributes in relation to sponsors, attributes in relation to performers or producers, information relative to programs (such as home pages, books and CDs), program forms (such as live, rebroadcast, bilingual, teletext, digest, high-definition broadcasting, wide-vision broadcasting and stereophonic broadcasting), an audience rating, broadcasting areas, commentaries, G-codes, and so on.
As the detailed content of program information, data as follows is housed. This is an example using program information of the pro baseball broadcast from nineteen to twenty fifty-four of May 31, 1997, on the fourth line in
As for the system for processing program information constructed as above, the operation will be described hereinafter.
If an audience designates the respective attributes “prime time” and “day of week” from the change attribute display columns 106 and 107, those attributes are considered input through the attribute input means and the program information retrieval/classification means 3 makes a program table using the respective attributes as the two-axes attributes and the program table by day of week relative to only the prime time (eight o'clock to ten o'clock), that is, the program table 108 in which the time slots only of the prime time (eight o'clock to ten o'clock) are arranged along the vertical axis 102 and the days of week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, . . . ) are arranged along the horizontal axis 103, is displayed on the program table display means 4. In
Here, the operation of the program information retrieval/classification means 3 used in the present invention will be described. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 has either or both of the functions of retrieval and classification in addition to the function of making a program table. Here, the retrieval function will be described first (the classification function will be described in the sixth embodiment).
As the attributes input through the attribute input means 2, there are various pieces of attribute information, for instance, the time (the date, the day of week, the prime time, the start time, and the end time), the channel, the type (such as news, weather reports, dramas, and sports), the subtype, the title, the sponsor, the performer (the role, and the number of appearance), the producer, program relation information (such as home pages, books and CDs), program forms (such as live, rebroadcast, bilingual, teletext, digest, high-definition broadcasting, wide-vision broadcasting and stereophonic broadcasting), an audience rating, broadcasting areas, commentaries, G-codes, and so on. Not merely the attributes but also attribute values can be considered.
In
As described above, in this embodiment, as a manner of view other than the ordinary program table comprising the two axes of existing channel and time, the user can look the program table in the form that he likes to look, by designating by himself the two attributes (two-axes attributes) that he likes to look. Furthermore, he can designate the attribute by the data constituted by an attribute stored in the attribute structure storage means and the attribute value. From that, in conventional retrieving systems, there are many cases that the retrieval result is shown as a list by a certain attribute, for instance, an attribute such as ranking. In the case of the display in relation to two attributes by this manner, as the display, two lists or the display in relation to the attributes on or after the second in each item in the list is required. In contrast to this, by including the retrieval result in this table form, because at least the two attributes of the vertical and horizontal axes can be used, in the case of the two attributes, the display is possible by one table. As for attributes on and after the third, the displays in relation to those attributes can be inserted in the program display columns 109 in the table similarly to the list. As described above, the merit as the table can be utilized for the retrieval result, furthermore, the display can be proposed to the user without changing the display image.
If the audience designates the respective attributes of “NEWS” and “audience rating” from the attribute display columns 110 and 111, those attributes are considered input through the attribute input means, and the program information retrieval/classification means 3 makes a program investigation result table 112 along the respective attributes to display the audience rating investigation result table 112 of the news program by the date of week in relation to only the prime time (eight o'clock to ten o'clock), on the program table display means 4. By this manner, changing over the display becomes possible by selecting other attributes in addition to the two-axes attributes of the program table 101 or 108. In this case of
By this manner, in relation to relative attributes other than the attributes on the two axes of the program table 101, they can be looked with relation to the program table 108 or 112, and more various measures for viewing the program table can be proposed to the user.
Furthermore, as another operation form, for instance, in the condition that the ordinary program table 101 is displayed on the program table display means 4, if the user inputs “type” and “time” through the attribute input means 2, (because the time is not selected, it is input by default), from program information of
As described above, in this embodiment, as a manner of view other than the ordinary program table comprising the two axes of existing channel and time, the user can look the program table as changing the form of the program table one after another, by designating by himself the two attributes (two-axes attributes) that he likes to look. For instance, in the above operation, if “type” and “time” are selected as the two-axes attributes it becomes easy to find the weather report at the time nearest from now. If “type” and “audience rating” are selected, it is possible to select and view only highly popular ones among dramas. If “type” and “performer” are selected, it can be known that which performer often appears in which type. Furthermore, if “performer” and “relative information” are selected, it can be known that which performer does what activity.
Upon the input operation of the two-axes attributes for changing the form of the program table, any attributes cannot freely be input but there are combinations of attributes improper for the two-axes attributes.
In the conventional program information retrieval system, there are many cases that the retrieval result is shown as a list by a certain attribute, for instance, an attribute such as ranking. In the case of the display in relation to two attributes by this manner, as the display, two lists or the display in relation to the attributes on or after the second in each item in the list is required. Because that second attribute display is displayed in the form of depending on the first attribute, it cannot be considered an even display as to the attributes. That is, in contrast to laying emphasis on the first attribute, by including the retrieval result in this table form, because at least the two attributes of the vertical and horizontal axes can be used, because of an even display, in the case of the two attributes, the display is possible by one table and the manner of view from the user does not incline to one attribute. Furthermore, as for attributes on and after the third, the displays in relation to those attributes can be inserted in squares (correspond to the reference 109) in the table similarly to the list. As described above, the merit as the table can be utilized for the retrieval result, furthermore, the display can be proposed to the user without changing the display image.
2nd Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the second embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 9 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the second embodiment. In this second embodiment, as shown in
If the user selects and designate the corresponding attribute “baseball” from the retrieval attribute display column 113, this attribute is considered input through the attribute input means 2 and the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the program corresponding to the attribute as shown in
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the third embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 11 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the third embodiment. In this third embodiment, the program table shown in
After displaying the above omitting-over program table 115, if the audience instructs a restoration from the restoration instruction column 116, this command data are considered instructed and input through the restoration input means 7 and the restoration input means 7 reads out a restoration attribute from the attribute storage means 6 to send it to the program information retrieval/classification means 3 and gives an operation instruction to this program information retrieval/classification means 3. By this manner, as shown in
For instance, as a concrete operation successive from the second embodiment to the third embodiment, if “baseball” is selected in the program table 101 in
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the fourth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 13 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the fourth embodiment. In this fourth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
If the audience inputs the attributes of “performer” and “relative information” through the attribute input means 2 to select “performer” for the attribute of the vertical axis of the program table 101 and “relative information” for the attribute of the horizontal axis, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 makes a demand for data to the program relation information retrieval/classification means 9. With this, the program relation information retrieval/classification means 9 makes a demand for data to the program relation information storage means 8 to receive a delivery of data. The program relation information retrieval/classification means 9 retrieves and classifies relative information in program relation information to send it to the program information retrieval/classification means 3. By this manner, a relation program table 119 in which sets of performers (Yukiko Sakurai, Takuya Kimura, Arisa Mizuki, . . . are listed up on the vertical axis 102) and relative information (CD, book and home page are listed up on the horizontal axis 103) are two-dimensionally displayed in the form of a table as shown in
By this manner, not merely information directly relative to the program but information indirectly relative to it can be proposed to the user. For instance, in the case of the program relation information storage means 8 of a recording medium such as CD-ROM and DVD (digital video disk), in accordance with the program selection in the program table, it is possible that an image or a sound from the recording medium is played or information such as a text used in the program, a dictionary and an encyclopedia is displayed. If the program relation information storage means 8 is a home page or the like on a network, a page relative to the program can be retrieved by the program relation information retrieval/classification means 9 to be displayed. Although the selection of the attribute has been described here, the case of adding a certain attribute to another attribute can be considered. For instance, it is such as a combination of the attribute of audience rating and the attribute of type (drama) as shown in the following two tables.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the fifth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 15 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the fifth embodiment. In this fifth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
If the audience selects and designates the corresponding attribute “baseball” from the retrieval attribute display column 113, “baseball” is considered input through the attribute input means 2, and the attribute input means display means 10 picks out the part of “high-school baseball, pro baseball, major leagues” corresponding to “baseball” from the data of “baseball: high-school baseball, pro baseball, major leagues” stored in the attribute structure storage means 11 to display buttons (113a, 113b and 113c, respectively) of those attributes. By this manner, the attributes relative to the subtypes of so-called “baseball” are given as candidates and the attributes relative to the subtypes are displayed. If the audience further selects any (for instance, the high-school baseball 113a) of the subtypes, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves a program corresponding to the attribute as shown in
By this manner, although the subtype to the type is proposed to the user as the attribute and it becomes possible to focus the program, by displaying the attribute relative to the program, for instance, performers, rebroadcast, teletext, manager comment, time, channel, title, and key words such as 0-157, AIDS and earthquake as the attribute value relative to the program, as the attribute input 2 to be proposed to the user, a new manner of viewing the program table to the user can be proposed by combining those attributes.
6th Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the sixth embodiment having this construction will be described.
If the audience selects and designates the corresponding attribute “user classifications” from the attribute display column 111, “user classifications” is considered input through the attribute input means 2 and, for instance, the part of “software, CG, personal computer, . . . ” is obtained from “computer: software, CG, personal computer, . . . ” stored in the attribute structure storage means 11, and the input to the program information retrieval/classification means 3 is performed by using those as the key word. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 performs the retrieval on the basis of the user attribute previously established to the program information storage means 1, and classifies information received from the program information storage means 1 to make the user classification program table 120 as shown in
As another operation, it is possible that the program information retrieval/classification means 3 previously classifies program information stored in the program information storage means 1 from “computer: software, CG, personal computer” stored in the attribute structure storage means 11 so that the classification item is “computer” if the key word of “software, CG, personal computer” is included, and, if “user classification” is selected through the attribute input means 2, the part of “computer” of “computer: software, CG, personal computer” is taken out of the attribute structure storage means 11, the retrieval is performed from the program information storage means 1 through the program information retrieval/classification means 3 by using this key word, and the user classification program table 120 is made by classifying the corresponding programs to display it on the program table display means 4. By this manner, because the program table is displayed in accordance with the user classification method previously registered, the program table fitting the audience can be made by making the user definition attribute.
As described above, in this embodiment, because the user definition attribute structure can be established, the manner of viewing program information by this attribute defined by the user can be expanded. Although the type of the program is defined in this example, it is also possible that, for instance, program titles to be classified are directly defined such as “child; Ponkikkies, Tales of old Japan”, or they are defined in levels such as
“child: animation, educational program”, . . . (the first level)
“animation: Doraemon, Sazae san”, “educational program: saga drama, English conversation”, . . . (the second level) and they are actually used as
“child: Draemon, Sazae san, saga drama, English conversation”.
By this manner, in addition to the conventional manner of viewing the program table, the manner from the point of view that the user likes to look is possible.
7th Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the seventh embodiment having this construction will be described.
In this display condition, if a program displayed with overlapping is selected (here, for instance, “Ii Hito” is selected), “Ii Hito” is considered input through the attribute input means 2 and the attribute becomes the attributes of the two axes of the table, “my taste” and “22 o'clock” and the corresponding programs are retrieved from the program information storage means 1 by this attribute to display them in order. In this retrieval and display operation of program information, in the initial overlap program display, the same time zone detection means 13 detects the programs broadcast in the same time zone from the program information storage means 1 through the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to display the images overlapped by the detected number, on the program table display means 4. By clicking the program information display item 109 in which the plural pieces of program information are overlapped and displayed, by the data input means, the overlapped programs can be looked in order as the pages are turned. By this manner, information of the programs in the same time zone can be looked without expanding the display area.
8th Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the seventh embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 21 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the eighth embodiment. In this eighth embodiment, in
If the audience selects the audience rating from the attribute display column 111, those attribute instructions are considered input through the attribute input means and the program information retrieval/classification means 3 performs the retrieval of the program information storage means 1 on the basis of the attribute. At this time, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the corresponding audience rating from the program information storage means 1 as to each set of attributes of “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday” and “8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock” of the attributes of the two axes of the program table. As shown in
As for the operation of the system for processing program information according to the ninth embodiment having this construction, the display operation of the program table like as described in relation to the above sixth embodiment, is performed. That is, because structure data relative to various attributes are stored in the attribute structure storage means 11, if the audience selects and inputs the user classification through the attribute input means 2 in
For instance, it is assumed that the following program information is stored in the program information storage means 1. Here, for simplicity, the form of “program title, program stamp” will be described. For instance, it is assumed that there are data of “pro baseball, Koshien Stadium, Hanshin vs Kyojin” and “pro baseball news, Ya-Chu, Han-Kyo, Hiro-Yoko”. “baseball” is commonly included in the program titles. In comparison with this, “Han”, “Kyo” and “−” are commonly included in the program details. The attribute structure extraction means extracts the commonly included program titles and program details as the attribute structure of “baseball; Han, Kyo, −”, and stores them in the attribute structure storage means 11 through the attribute structure establishment means.
By this manner, the attribute input means 2 can automatically be generated. For instance, the attribute structure such as “0-157: sprouts, patient, self-governing body” is extracted in program information, thereby, it becomes possible that the program of a topical event such as “0-157” is presented to the user.
10th Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the tenth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 24 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the tenth embodiment. In this tenth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
If the audience inputs a predetermined program (in the example of
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the eleventh embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 26 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the eleventh embodiment. In this eleventh embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
If the audience inputs a predetermined program or a channel (in the example of
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the twelfth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 28 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the twelfth embodiment. In this twelfth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
If the audience inputs a predetermined channel (in the example of
Although program relation information is displayed by the input by the user and the time in this example, it is also possible that previous inputs by the user are maintained to renew the display of program relation information by the time changing. For instance, if a specific broadcasting station (for instance, Nihon Television) is previously selected, it is also possible to retrieve and display program relation information by the time elapsing after that.
13th Embodiment
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The user information input means 27 is means for the audience to input his name, address or the like and those input data are transmitted through the transmission and reception means 26 and 28 to the server side terminal. The program table display means 4 and the program image display means 23 receive program table data and a program image from the transmission and reception means 26 and display them, respectively.
In the server side terminal, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves and classifies various data stored in the memory means 30 and sends the result to the transmission and reception means 28. The user information registration means 29 sends user information sent from the transmission and reception means 28 which received user information transmitted from the user side terminal, to the memory means 30 and registers it. The user registration operation is carried out at an optional time at the audience side. In the memory means 30, various data such as program information, relative information, renewal information, user information, programs, images and sounds. The renewal information means 31 is for maintaining various renewal matters such as the time change and the content change of a program to the memory means 30, and sending them to the memory means 30. The program image selection means 22 is for selecting and outputting a program image, that is, image and sound data to the memory means 30. The time measurement means 20 is for controlling with time the operation of the program image means 22. The memory means 30 is memory means like as the program information storage means 1 in the above storage means embodiment, and stores more kinds of data than that program information storage means 1.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the thirteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 30 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the thirteenth embodiment. In this thirteenth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
Here, if the audience inputs a predetermined program (in the example of
As another operation, the transmission operation of the program image is shown. By the above attribute input, a program before the time indicated by the present time “Now!>” is input as the attribute. In such a case, programs that had been on the air are recorded and, a favorite program is selected, images of the program can be looked. In this case, the set of the time measurement means 20 and the program image selection means 22 is constituted by a video device, which records all programs on the air and stores the data in the memory means 30. If a program that had already been on the air is selected through the attribute input means as described above, the program information is transmitted and received through the transmission and reception means 26 and 28, and image data of the corresponding program are retrieved from the memory means 30 through the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to transmit them back. On the reception side, an image picture 128 is displayed on the program image display means 23 as shown in
As still another operation, as described in the above eleventh embodiment, if the program meeting the time indicated by the present time “NOW!>” is input as the attribute through the attribute input means 2, because the program is on the air at present, the program image selection means 22 operates to select the image and sound of the program and instruct the memory means 30. By this manner, the corresponding image and sound (program image) are read out from the memory means 30 and sent through the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to the transmission and reception means 28 to be transmitted to the reception side. On the reception side, the image picture 128 of the program is displayed on the program image display means 23 by the similar manner to
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The image sequence input means 32 is means for inputting an image sequence made by the user and those input data are transmitted through the transmission and reception means 26 and 28 to the server side terminal. The program table display means 4 receives program table data from the transmission and reception means 26 and display them, respectively.
In the server side terminal, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves and classifies various data stored in the memory means 30 and the image sequence storage means 34 and sends the result to the transmission and reception means 28. The image sequence storage means 34 stores the image sequence received from the user side terminal and sends the image sequence data to the program information retrieval/classification means 3. The image sequence registration means 33 is for sending the image sequence transmitted from the user side terminal and received by the transmission and reception means 28 and registering it.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the fourteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 32 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the fourteenth embodiment. in this fourteenth embodiment, at first, a program table 131 in the condition that a station name is added to the basic program table is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
The image sequence made by the user is input by the image sequence input means 32 in the user side terminal and the data is sent to the transmission and reception means 26. The transmission and reception means 26 transmits them to the server side terminal. In the server side terminal, the transmission and reception means 28 receives the transmitted data of the image sequence to send those data to the image sequence registration means 33. The image sequence registration means 33 sends the image sequence transmitted from the user side terminal and received by the transmission and reception means 28, to the image sequence storage means 34 and registers it. The registered image sequence is stored in the image sequence storage means 34.
Here, if the audience inputs a predetermined program (in the example of
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The program table display means 4 receives program table data from the transmission and reception means 26 and display them, respectively.
In the server side terminal, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves and classifies various data stored in the memory means 30 and sends the result to the transmission and reception means 28. The selected program information registration means 35 is for sending information of the program selected by the user to the selected program information storage means 36 and registering it. The selected program information storage means 36 stores selected program information received from the user side terminal and sends the selected program information to the selected program information calculation means 37. The selected program information calculation means 37 is for calculating the number of people viewing the same program and the audience rating in relation to program information selected by the user and sending the result to the program information retrieval/classification means 3.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the fifteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. The description of the operation in this fifteenth embodiment is almost the same as the above description by using
Selected program information made by the user is input through the attribute input means 2 in the user side terminal and the data is sent to the transmission and reception means 26. The transmission and reception means 26 transmits them to the server side terminal. In the server side terminal, the transmission and reception means 28 receives the transmitted data of selected program information and sends the data to the selected program information registration means 35. The selected program information registration means 35 sends selected program information transmitted from the user side terminal and received by the transmission and reception means 28, to the selected program information storage means 36 and registers it. Selected program information registered is stored in the selected program information storage means 36.
Here, if the audience inputs a predetermined program in the above program table 108 through the attribute input means 2, after the server side transmission and reception means 28 receives the selected program, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 sends the program to the selected program information registration means 35 and performs the retrieval as to the memory means 30 to read out program information or relative information to the program. On the other hand, the selected program information registration means 35 which received selected program information from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 sends the data to the selected program information storage means 36. The selected program information calculation means 37 calculates the number of people viewing the same program and the audience rating as to the program on the basis of the data renewal in the selected program information storage means 36 and sends the result to the program information retrieval/classification means 3. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 sends the data of program information or the like read out from the memory means 30 and the calculation result sent from the selected program information calculation means 37 to the transmission and reception means 28 together and they are transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal. The selected program information picture that is the transmitted data is received by the transmission and reception means 26 and displayed on the program table display means 4 in the manner as shown in
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 is for retrieving and classifying program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. The program table display means 4 receives the program table data from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to display them.
In the server side terminal, the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index is for storing program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side. The generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index is for generating program information including a program retrieval index by adding an index for the program retrieval to program information sent from the program information storage means 1. The program retrieval index storage means 40 is for storing the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program retrieval index generation means 42 is for generating the data relative to the index to be added to program information.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the sixteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. In this sixteenth embodiment, on the server side, program information stored in the program information storage means 1 is received by the program retrieval index generation means 42 and the index for the program retrieval is generated based on the above program information and the generated program retrieval index is sent to the program retrieval index storage means 40 to be stored. The data from the program information storage means 1 and the data from the program retrieval index storage means 40 are sent to the generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index to generate program information including a program retrieval index.
Program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side is sent from the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index to the transmission and reception means 28 and transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal. In the user side terminal, the transmission and reception means 26 receives the transmitted data of the above program information including a program retrieval index and those data are stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index.
In the program information retrieval operation based on the program table, if the audience inputs a program retrieval index as to a predetermined program in the program table (it can be the program table 101 used in the above embodiments) through the attribute input means 2, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index to read out program information. The read-out program information is sent to the program table display means 4 to be displayed there.
17th Embodiment
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 is for retrieving and classifying program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. The program table display means 4 receives the program table data from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to display them. The user attribute storage means 44 is for maintaining the data relative to the user attribute in the user side terminal. The user attribute adaptation means is for examining whether the user attribute is adaptable or not upon the retrieval of program information.
In the server side terminal, the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index is for storing program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side. The generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index is for generating program information including a program retrieval index by adding an index for the program retrieval to program information sent from the program information storage means 1. The program retrieval index storage means 40 is for storing the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program retrieval index generation means 42 is for generating the data relative to the index to be added to program information.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the seventeenth embodiment having this construction will be described. In this seventeenth embodiment, on the server side, program information stored in the program information storage means 1 is received by the program retrieval index generation means 42 and the index for the program retrieval is generated based on the above program information and the generated program retrieval index is sent to the program retrieval index storage means 40 to be stored. The data from the program information storage means 1 and the data from the program retrieval index storage means 40 are sent to the generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index to generate program information including a program retrieval index.
Program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side is sent from the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index to the transmission and reception means 28 and transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal. In the user side terminal, the transmission and reception means 26 receives the transmitted data of the above program information including a program retrieval index and those data are stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index.
In the program information retrieval operation based on the program table, if the audience inputs a program retrieval index as to a predetermined program in the program table (it can be the program table 101 used in the above embodiments) through the attribute input means 2, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. At this time, the user attribute adaptation means 43 receives the user attribute data from the user attribute storage means 44 to examine whether the program subjected to the retrieval adapts to the user attribute or not. If the user attribute is adaptable, program information is read out. The read-out program information is sent to the program table display means 4 to be displayed there. On the other hand, if the user attribute is not adaptable, program information is not read out and the program information is not displayed on the program table display means 4.
18th Embodiment
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 is for retrieving and classifying program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. The program table display means 4 receives the program table data from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to display them.
In the server side terminal, the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index is for storing program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side. The generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index is for generating program information including a program retrieval index by adding an index for the program retrieval to program information sent from the program information storage means 1. The program retrieval index storage means 40 is for storing the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program retrieval index generation means 42 is for generating the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program information retrieval/classification means 45 is for retrieving program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the eighteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. In this eighteenth embodiment, on the server side, program information stored in the program information storage means 1 is received by the program retrieval index generation means 42 and the index for the program retrieval is generated based on the above program information and the generated program retrieval index is sent to the program retrieval index storage means 40 to be stored. The data from the program information storage means 1 and the data from the program retrieval index storage means 40 are sent to the generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index to generate program information including a program retrieval index.
Program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side is sent from the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index to the transmission and reception means 28 and transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal. In the user side terminal, the transmission and reception means 26 receives the transmitted data of the above program information including a program retrieval index and those data are stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index.
In the program information retrieval operation based on the program table, if the audience inputs a program retrieval index as to a predetermined program in the program table (it can be the program table 101 used in the above embodiments) through the attribute input means 2, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index to read out program information. The read-out program information is sent to the program table display means 4 to be displayed there. However, if, in the user side terminal, the corresponding program information is not retrieved even when the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index, the retrieval of program information is performed in the server side terminal. In this case, the attribute data input in the user side terminal are sent from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to the transmission and reception means 26, and after that, transmitted from the transmission and reception means 26 to the server side terminal. This attribute data are sent to the program information retrieval/classification means 45 in the server side terminal. The program information retrieval/classification means 45 on the server side performs the retrieval in the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index and if there is program information, it is read out. The read-out program information is transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal and sent to the program table display means 4 in the audience terminal to be displayed there. By this manner, even if the retrieval of program information including a program retrieval index ended in failure in the user side terminal, the similar program information retrieval can be performed in the server side terminal so the certainty of the operation increases.
19th Embodiment
In the user side terminal, the attribute input means 2 is for inputting various program information retrieval conditions or the like by the audience. The program information retrieval/classification means 3 is for retrieving and classifying program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. The program table display means 4 receives the program table data from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to display them. The user attribute storage means 44 is for maintaining the data relative to the user attribute in the user side terminal. The user attribute adaptation means is for examining whether the user attribute is adaptable or not upon the retrieval of program information.
In the server side terminal, the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index is for storing program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side. The generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index is for generating program information including a program retrieval index by adding an index for the program retrieval to program information sent from the program information storage means 1. The program retrieval index storage means 40 is for storing the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program retrieval index generation means 42 is for generating the data relative to the index to be added to program information. The program information retrieval/classification means 45 is for retrieving program information including a program retrieval index stored in the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index.
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the nineteenth embodiment having this construction will be described. In this nineteenth embodiment, on the server side, program information stored in the program information storage means 1 is received by the program retrieval index generation means 42 and the index for the program retrieval is generated based on the above program information and the generated program retrieval index is sent to the program retrieval index storage means 40 to be stored. The data from the program information storage means 1 and the data from the program retrieval index storage means 40 are sent to the generation means 41 for program information including a program retrieval index to generate program information including a program retrieval index.
Program information including a program retrieval index generated on the server side is sent from the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index to the transmission and reception means 28 and transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal. In the user side terminal, the transmission and reception means 26 receives the transmitted data of the above program information including a program retrieval index and those data are stored in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index.
In the program information retrieval operation based on the program table, if the audience inputs a program retrieval index as to a predetermined program in the program table (it can be the program table 101 used in the above embodiments) through the attribute input means 2, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index. At this time, the user attribute adaptation means 43 receives the user attribute data from the user attribute storage means 44 to examine whether the program subjected to the retrieval adapts to the user attribute or not. If the user attribute is adaptable, program information is read out. The read-out program information is sent to the program table display means 4 to be displayed there. On the other hand, if the user attribute is not adaptable, program information is not read out and the program information is not displayed on the program table display means 4.
In the above retrieval operation, the different retrieval result is obtained according to the adaptation or non-adaptation of the user attribute. In the case of the adaptable user attribute, if, in the user side terminal, the corresponding program information is not retrieved even when the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the selected program in the storage means 38 for program information including a program retrieval index, the retrieval of program information is performed in the server side terminal. In this case, the attribute data input in the user side terminal are sent from the program information retrieval/classification means 3 to the transmission and reception means 26, and after that, transmitted from the transmission and reception means 26 to the server side terminal. This attribute data are sent to the program information retrieval/classification means 45 in the server side terminal. The program information retrieval/classification means 45 on the server side performs the retrieval in the storage means 39 for program information including a program retrieval index and if there is program information, it is read out. The read-out program information is transmitted from the transmission and reception means 28 to the user side terminal and sent to the program table display means 4 in the audience terminal to be displayed there. By this manner, in addition to performing the certain retrieval in the user side terminal by examining the adaptation of the user attribute, even if the retrieval of program information including a program retrieval index ended in failure, the similar program information retrieval can be performed in the server side terminal so the certainty of the operation increases.
20th Embodiment
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the twentieth embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 39 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the twentieth embodiment. In this twentieth embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
Here, if the audience selects a certain program through the attribute input means 2, the program information retrieval/classification means 3 retrieves the program as to the program image storage means 1. If the program is recorded, a play back button 135 is displayed with program information on the program information picture 134 of the program table display means 4 as shown in
FIGS. 40 show display conditions of the program table display means 4 in the case of performing the above recording reservation operation. In these drawings, if the recording reservation button 136 is operated by clicking in the program information picture 134 shown in
The operation of the system for processing program information according to the twenty-first embodiment having this construction will be described. FIGS. 42 are diagrams for illustrating the display operation of the program table in the system for processing program information according to the twenty-first embodiment. In this twenty-first embodiment, at first, the basic program table 101 is two-dimensionally displayed on the program table display means 4 as shown in
Here, if the audience clicks the above operation button 140, on the program table display means 4, as shown in
The structure of program classification information 55 will be described. Program classification information 55 comprises, for instance, a set of a representative word (example: fishing) representing the meaning of the classification and a line of characteristic words (example: FISHING, spot, fishing, Fishing) for the collation with program information. By collating these characteristic words with program information, the adaptation degree of each piece of program information with the program classification information can be calculated. For instance, the sum of the numbers of times of the appearances of the characteristic words can be used as the value of the adaptation degree. In the adaptation degree calculation means 53, by comparing this value with the threshold value of the adaptation degree established as to the program classification, the set of program information to be classified in program classification information of a certain program can be specified. In this case, as for one piece of program classification information, all pieces of program information the adaptation values of which exceed the threshold value are classified.
Program classification information itself may be predetermined for the system, or established by the user with the program classification information establishment means. They may also be mixed.
By the construction with including such program information classification means 52, program information 54 can be classified as to program classification information 55, the program table having the line of established program classification information as one axis of the program table can be made and displayed on the program table display means 4. On the other axis of the program table, the order of the adaptation degrees as to respective pieces of program classification information may be shown, or by showing the line of other pieces of program classification information, the accuracy of the program can be grasped from plural points of view, and it can be grasped more accurately.
In any form of the program table, among the programs displayed therein, it becomes possible separately to display only those classified into a certain piece of program classification information.
23rd Embodiment
In the operation of this twenty-third embodiment, a specified set of program information in program information stored in the program information storage means 1, for instance, “program liked by a certain person” or the like is designated. A characteristic word is extracted from the designated set of program information by the relative key word extraction means 59, and by establishing an appropriate representative word by the user, program classification information can be generated. There are various methods for the practical equipment of the relative key word extraction means 59.
By including such program classification information extraction means 57 and program classification information generation means 58, a new piece of program classification information can easily be defined by user by designating a proper program group by the user so the trouble of designating a characteristic word can be omitted. Because the characteristic word is extracted from real program information, there is also the advantage that it is easy to obtain program classification information capable of classifying the program more accurately.
24th Embodiment
Because of having this construction, the system for processing program information that includes the program information classification means 52 according to this embodiment and is constructed to classify program information, can be used in the surroundings that the server and the user terminal cooperate with each other. In this case, program classification information is transmitted from the user side terminal to the server side terminal. Program classification information to be transmitted may be any of those predetermined in the system, established by the user, and extracted from the program information group designated by the user.
The server side terminal that received program classification information classifies the program information groups stored in the program information storage means 1 in accordance with those pieces of program classification information. By transmitting only program information classified into program classification information transmitted from the user side terminal, to the user side terminal to be displayed on the program table display means 4 in the user side terminal, in comparison with the case that all program tables are transmitted, the data quantity to be transmitted can remarkably be decreased.
As described above, according to the present invention, because the system for processing program information is constructed to include the program information storage means for storing program information, and the program table display means for two-dimensionally displaying the program table following two axes in accordance with two attributes among attributes given to each piece of program information, to make the program table for two-dimensionally displaying the programs with two axes of free attributes, for the audience, the program tables of various constructions can be displayed on the display means at will and in respective program retrieval operations, the program table easy to look for the program can be obtained. The effect that the objective program can be found in a short time by coming up with ideas for the extraction of the program or the like, and the effect of being useful for making the broadcast view plan of himself are obtained.
While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in the above, various variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention claimed hereinbelow.
Claims
1-35. (canceled)
36. A system for processing program information, comprising:
- a program information storage means that is adapted to store program information relating to program attributes;
- a program table display that is adapted to display a two-dimensional table of programs; and
- an attribute selector that is adapted to select attributes for the two axes of the two-dimensional table,
- wherein the attributes of the two axes of the two-dimensional table are attributes of said program.
37. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 36, wherein the attribute selector has attribute input means through which attributes of the two axes of the two-dimensional table are adapted to be inputted, and a program table making means that is adapted to retrieve program information relating to program attributes stored in the program information storage means on the basis of the inputted attributes to make the two-dimensional program table, wherein said program table is adapted to display a program table made in the program table making means.
38. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, wherein the program table making means is adapted to retrieve program information related to program attributes stored in the program information storage means and is adapted to classify the program information.
39. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, wherein the attribute input means is adapted to select another program attribute as an attribute of an axis of the two-dimensional table to change the table.
40. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- program table omission means that is adapted to cull needless portion(s) of said table.
41. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 40, further comprising:
- an attribute storage means that is adapted to store program attribute information; and
- restoration input means that is adapted to read out stored attribute information from the attribute storage means and is adapted to send stored attribute information to the program table making means whereby enabling an original program table to be made.
42. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- a program relation information storage means that is adapted to store information relative to the program; and
- program relation information retrieval/classification means that is adapted to retrieve and classify information relative to the program and is further adapted to send the information relative to the program to the program table making means where it is adapted to be used as an attribute of an axis of the table.
43. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- an attribute structure storage means that is adapted to store data relative to a structure of program attributes; and
- an attribute input means that is adapted to display attribute information.
44. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- an attribute structure storage means that is adapted to store data relative to a structure of program attributes; and
- attribute structure establishment means that is adapted to enable a user to establish an attribute structure whereby attribute information registered by the user is adapted to be designated as an attribute of an axis of the table.
45. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- same time zone detecting means that is adapted to detect programs in the same time zone,
- wherein, when programs in the same time zone relating to the same axis attribute are detected by the same time zone detecting means, program information relating to the programs is adapted to be displayed overlapping each other, and program information relating to each of the programs is adapted to be displayed at the front.
46. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- a three-dimensional program table display that is adapted to display a three-dimensional table.
47. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 44, further comprising:
- an attribute input means that is adapted to display attribute information;
- attributive structure extraction means that is adapted to extract an attributive structure from the program information and an attribute input means display.
48. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- past program information preservation means that is adapted to preserve past information about a program that has been broadcast in the past;
- a past program information storage means that is adapted to store the past information about the previously broadcast program;
- a past program information selector which selects past program information; and
- means adapted to acquire information about a past program and to send the past program information to the program table display whereby enabling that information to be displayed in a table.
49. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- time measurement means;
- program confirmation means that is adapted to confirm whether a program is on air at present;
- a program image selector; and
- a program image display that is adapted to display the program if it is on air.
50. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- a program relation information storage means;
- time measurement means; and
- program relation information retrieval/classification means that is adapted to retrieve program relation information from the program relation information storage means according to a time measured by the time measurement means whereupon it is adapted to receive program information from the program table making means and to send the program relation information to the program table displaying means whereby the program relation information is adapted to be displayed.
51. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- transmission and reception means that are adapted to transmit and receive program information, program relation information, program information renewal information, information registered by a user, a program, a picture or a sound.
52. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- image sequence input means that is adapted to enable a user to input an image sequence; and
- transmission and reception means that are adapted to transmit and receive a program image.
53. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- transmission and reception means that are adapted to transmit and receive program information; and
- program image and selected program information calculation means that are adapted to calculate the number of people viewing the same program and an audience rating.
54. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- program video-recording means;
- time measurement means; and
- a program image display that is adapted to display the program image,
- wherein a program to be recorded can be designated by a user or inputted from another system.
55. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 54, further comprising:
- program video-recording retrieval-classification means,
- wherein programs recorded or reserved for recording are adapted to be displayed along a time axis of the program table.
56. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:
- a program image selector that is adapted to select a program image;
- time measurement means; and
- a viewed program information storage means that is adapted to store information about a viewed program,
- wherein the program information that is about programs that had previously been viewed is adapted to be distinctly indicated in the two-dimensional table.
57. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 36, further comprising:
- fitting degree calculation means that is adapted to calculate a degree of fitting between program information and each piece of program classification information stored in said program classification information storage means; and
- program classification means in which, as to one given piece of program classification information and a program information set, a degree of fitting of each piece of program information in the program information set to the program classification information is adapted to be calculated by using the degree of fitting calculation means to obtain classified program information,
- wherein a subset of the program information set has a degree of fitting that is not less than a given threshold value, and the subset of the program information having said degree of fitting that is not less than the given threshold value is adapted to be displayed in the program table display.
58. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 36, further comprising:
- means for calculating a degree of fitting between program information and each piece of program classification information stored in a program classification information storage means; and
- program classification means in which, as to one given piece of program classification information and a program information set, a degree of fitting of each piece of program information in the program information set to the program classification information is adapted to be calculated by using the degree of fitting calculation means to obtain classified program information,
- wherein a subset of the program information has a degree of fitting that is not less than a given threshold value, and the program table display is adapted to display only a program classified into a program classification that has been predetermined or designated by a user so that it can be distinguished from another program in the program table without depending on the form of the program table.
59. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 36, further comprising:
- program information designation means that is adapted to designate a subset of a program information set that has been stored in the program information storage means;
- relative key word extraction means that is adapted to extract a characteristic word set, characterizing the subset, from the subset program information that has been designated by the program information designation means; and
- program information extracting means that is adapted to extract characteristic word information from the designated subset by using the relative key word extraction means and is adapted to extract program classification information for discriminating and classifying program information similar to program information in the subset.
60. The system for processing program information as claimed in claim 58, wherein program classification information is adapted to be transmitted from a user side terminal to a server side terminal by transmission and reception means, program information is adapted to be classified by the program information classification means at the server side, and only program information classified into program classification information transmitted from the server side terminal is adapted to be transmitted to the user side terminal by said transmission and reception means.
61. A television receiver including a system for processing program information, wherein the system comprises:
- a program information storage means that is adapted to store program information relating to program attributes;
- a program table display that is adapted to display a two-dimensional table of programs; and
- an attribute selector that is adapted to select attributes for two axes of the two-dimensional table,
- wherein the attributes of the two axes of the two-dimensional table are program attributes.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 27, 2005
Publication Date: Nov 29, 2007
Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. (Osaka)
Inventors: Hideki Yasukawa (Tokyo), Yoshihiro Noguchi (Ichikawa-shi), Masaki Hoshida (Tokyo), Tsuyoshi Ueno (Tokyo), Takao Isogawa (Sagamihara-shi)
Application Number: 11/259,521
International Classification: G06F 3/00 (20060101);