Patent Application
20070255703
Referring to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
A user interface unit 8 receives, from a viewer who uses a remote controller 3, an instruction as a remote control signal via an input terminal 5 and a remote control signal reception unit 7. The user interface unit 8 controls operation of the TV reception unit 6 according to the viewer's instruction. The viewer operates the remote controller 3 to provide instructions such as “Select a channel” and “Activate an electronic program guide” and to provide various instructions via an operation screen that displays choices such as “YES” and “NO”.
A view determining unit 9 monitors and stores channel selection operations of the TV reception unit 6 and judges whether each segment in a program was “viewed” or “not viewed.” Detailed operations of the view determining unit 9 will be described later.
A program information holding unit 10 holds supplement data about programs received by the TV reception unit 6. The supplement data includes program supplement data about an entire program, such as the program title, broadcast time, broadcast channel, and program description, and segment supplement data about each segment in the program, such as the segment title, segment start position, and segment end position or duration time. For example, suppose that the program watched is a soccer game and the segments are shooting scenes. In this case, the segment title of a segment may be “shot 1”, the segment start position may be “15 minutes and 30 seconds after the start of the program”, and the segment description may be “a shot by a corner kick 10 minutes after the start of the program, but missed the goal”. The program information holding unit 10 holds supplement data about programs received in the past, as well as supplement data about programs (programs to be broadcasted) listed in an EPG (electronic program guide) from broadcast stations. For example, supplement data about all programs of all broadcast stations for the next eight days may be held in the program information holding unit 10. The program information holding unit 10 may be configured to automatically load the supplement data about all programs of all broadcast stations for the next eight days without being noticed by the viewer.
A search request detection unit 11 monitors the user interface unit 8 to detect that a search request for related programs has been input by the viewer with the remote controller 3. The search request detection unit 11 notifies a segment identification unit 12 to identify segments from which search words are to be extracted. The search request for related programs may be input by pressing a particular button on the remote controller 3 or by selecting and entering “Search related programs” via an operation screen such as a menu.
Upon the search request for related programs, the segment identification unit 12 uses the supplement data in the program information holding unit 10 to identify segments determined by the view determining unit 9 as “viewed.” Detailed operations of the segment identification unit 12 will be described later.
A search word extracting unit 13 analyzes segment supplement data about the segments identified by the segment identification unit 12 and extracts one or more search words. A search word proposing unit 14 presents a related-program search screen on which the search words extracted by the search word extracting unit 13 are displayed as choices. A program search unit 15 uses the supplement data in the program information holding unit 10 to search for programs (related programs) matching a search word selected by the viewer. A search result proposing unit 16 creates a search result screen on which programs (related programs) matching the search word are arranged to facilitate the viewer's recognition. The search result screen created by the search result proposing unit 16 is displayed on the display device 2 via the display control unit 17.
Now, processing of the view determining unit 9 for performing the view determination will be described below by way of example.
In step S301, the TV reception unit 6 starts the channel selection processing in response to an event such as power-on or a video switching request from an externally connected apparatus. The process proceeds to step S302, where the view determining unit 9 stores the channel selection state of the TV reception unit 6. The process proceeds to step S303, where the view determining unit 9 checks whether or not the channel selection state of the TV reception unit 6 has been changed. If the channel selection state of the TV reception unit 6 has been changed, the process proceeds to step S304 to store the changed channel selection state and then proceeds to step S305. If the channel selection state of the TV reception unit 6 has not been changed, the process proceeds from step S303 to step S305. The channel selection state stored in steps S302 and S304 includes at least a value identifying the selected channel (e.g., the channel number or channel ID) and the channel selection start time. This record of each change in the channel selection state will herein be referred to as a view history.
Returning to
As exemplary condition for starting the view determination may be “Has a predetermined period (e.g., 30 minutes or three hours) passed?” or “Has the number of history items stored as the view history reached a predetermined number (e.g., 10 or 50)?” Alternatively, the view determination may be started based on the fact that the TV reception unit 6 enters a specific state in response to an event such as a search request for related programs or a request to finish TV viewing. The reason of adopting the request to finish TV viewing here is to prevent the situation where the view determination based on the view history up to just before finishing viewing is performed the next time (at the time of a request to start TV viewing).
Applying the view history shown in
Returning to
Next, it is determined in step S309 whether the view determination has been performed and the result has been stored for all identified programs. If the view determination has not been performed and the result has not been stored for all identified programs, the process returns from step S309 to step S306 to repeat the operations between steps S306 and S309. If the view determination has been performed and the result has been stored for all identified programs, the process proceeds to step S310 to finish the processing of the view determining unit 9.
For example, if the program A shown in
Now, by way of example, description will be given below of processing of the segment identification unit 12 for identifying “viewed” segments in a program being watched in response to notification from the search request detection unit 11.
If the program A is being watched and “crid://ch101/tips_xmas_newyear” in
In step S604, the segment identification unit 12 determines whether or not the program being watched has segments. If the program being watched has no segments, the process proceeds from step S604 to step S608, where the program supplement data about the program is set as supplement data from which search words are to be extracted. If the program being watched has segments, the process proceeds from step S604 to step S605 to identify segments determined by the view determining unit 9 as “viewed.” If segments determined to be “viewed” are identified in step S606, the process proceeds to step S607, where segment supplement data about the segments determined to be “viewed” are set as supplement data from which search words are to be extracted. However, if segments determined to be “viewed” are not identified in step S606, the process proceeds to step S608, where the program supplement data about the program is set as supplement data from which search words are to be extracted. The identification processing is finished in step S609.
Once the supplement data from which search words are to be extracted is identified, the search word extracting unit 13 extracts search words from information contained in the identified supplement data. The search word proposing unit 14 presents on the display device 2 a related-program search screen on which the search words extracted by the search word extracting unit 13 are displayed as choices. Conditions for extracting search words may be preset, or designated by the viewer in advance, or set based on preference information obtained from viewer's designation or the view determination results.
If the number of potential search words is greater than the set number of search words to be chosen (e.g., if two cast members are chosen out of six cast members), the search words may be narrowed down in order of appearance or in order of character code, for example. Alternatively, the search words may be narrowed down in order of usage record (how many times each word has been used as a search word) or in order of preference.
Once the viewer designates a desired search word on the related-program search screen, the program search unit 15 checks whether any supplement data about programs held in the program information holding unit 10 matches the designated search word. Basically, the supplement data about all programs of all broadcast stations loaded as EPG data is searched. The search result proposing unit 16 presents a search result screen on the display device 2.
If no programs match the designated search word, the display device 2 may display a search result screen with a message such as “No related programs are found.” or a search result screen with an empty list. If programs matching the designated search word are found, the display device 2 displays a search result screen with a program list containing information such as the title, broadcast channel, and broadcast time of each program obtained from the supplement data about the matching programs.
Thus, search words are extracted from segment supplement data about segments determined to be “viewed.” Therefore, different search words may be proposed as shown in
In addition, even when a search request for related programs is generated just after the start of a segment, search words are proposed from past segments determined to be “viewed” rather than from the current segment. This increases the probability of viewer-desired search words being proposed.
According to the above-described first embodiment, only by issuing a search request for related programs at any time, the viewer can search for programs using search words from segments determined to be “viewed” by the viewer.
The present invention covers the case where software program code for implementing the processing described in the above embodiment is stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) used for the method of searching for related-programs and the program code is executed.
The program code and a storage medium containing the program code (such as a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory, or ROM) also constitute the present invention.
The first embodiment has been described for the case where the view determination is performed based on the view history generated by monitoring channel selection operations. In a second embodiment, the view determination is performed based on a view history generated by monitoring other operations in addition to channel selection operations. The operations other than channel selection operations refer to operations performed while the channel selection state is maintained, such as displaying/operating the electronic program guide, viewing programs in double-screen, and so on. Operations that do not involve a channel selection operation, such as photograph display and web browsing in full-screen, are not be included in the view history.
Information that the view determining unit 9 stores as the view history by monitoring an operation while a channel is selected by the TV reception unit 6 includes at least a value identifying the selected channel (e.g., the channel number or channel ID), the start time of that operation, and a value identifying that operation (e.g., the action name or action ID).
Applying the view history shown in
Therefore, since the ratio of the total viewed time length of 60 minutes to the program time length of 60 minutes is 100%, the program A is determined to be “viewed” (determination “O”). It can be seen from the view history Nos. 2, 3, and 4 in
Using the weighting factor to calculate the total viewed time length used for the view determination allows these differences in the viewing state to be reflected on the result of the view determination.
The supposed viewed time length of the program B shown in
In this manner, in the second embodiment, the view determination is performed based on the view history generated by monitoring other operations in addition to channel selection operations. Even if a channel was selected, no search words are extracted from its segments determined to be “not viewed” (segments whose content was not grasped by the viewer such as during EPG browsing). Therefore, the viewer will not feel that proposed search words are inappropriate.
According to the above-described second embodiment, only by issuing a search request for related programs at any time, the viewer can search for programs using search words from segments determined to be “viewed” (segments whose content was grasped by the viewer).
The foregoing first and second embodiments have been described for the case where segments determined to be “viewed” in the view determination using the view history are identified. In a third embodiment, segments are identified depending on the presence or absence of the viewer's explicit indication. The explicit indication refers to the viewer's specific operation (hereafter referred to as a designated request), which may be pressing a particular button on the remote controller 3 or may be selecting and entering “Search for related programs later” via an operation screen such as a menu.
The designated request holding unit 20 holds a history of designated requests issued by the viewer. Detailed operations of the designated request holding unit 20 will be described later. The segment identification unit 12 identifies a segment at the time of generation of a search request for related programs based on the designated history in the designated request holding unit 20 and the supplement data in the program information holding unit 10. Detailed operations of the segment identification unit 12 will be described later.
By way of example, description will be given below of processing of the designated request holding unit 20 for holding the designated history based on designated requests issued by the viewer. Information treated as the designated history includes at least a value identifying a selected channel (e.g., the channel number or channel ID) and the time a designated request was generated.
By way of example, description will be given below of processing of the segment identification unit 12 for identifying viewer-designated segments based on the designated history and the supplement data in the program information holding unit 10.
Once notified of a search request for related programs by the search request detection unit 11, the segment identification unit 12 starts the processing in step S801. In step S802, the segment identification unit 12 searches for segment supplement data about designated segments based on the designated history held in the designated request holding unit 20 and the supplement data held in the program information holding unit 10. In step S803, the segment identification unit 12 determines whether or not the corresponding program has the designated segments. If the program has the designated segments, the process proceeds from step S803 to step S804, where the segment supplement data about these segments are set as supplement data from which search words are to be extracted. If the program does not have the designated segments, the process proceeds from step S803 to step S805 to finish the segment identification processing.
The search word extracting unit 13 extracts search words from the segments SEG1 and SEG3 explicitly designated by the viewer. The case assumed here is that “the viewer wants to search for related programs but does not want the viewing to be disturbed by display of the related-program search screen or the search result screen.” The viewer can designate segments by issuing a designated request and thereafter issue a search request at any time after the viewer comes to be able to permit the viewing to be disturbed by display of the related-program search screen or the search result screen.
According to the above-described third embodiment, by issuing designated requests and a search request for related programs at any time, the viewer can search for programs using search words extracted from segments explicitly designated by the viewer.
It is to be understood that the objects of the present invention may be accomplished by supplying a system or apparatus with a storage medium containing program code of software which implements the functions of the above-described embodiments, that is, by causing a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus to read out and execute the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read out from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiments, and hence the storage medium containing the program code constitutes the present invention.
Examples of the storage medium that may be used for supplying the program code include a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and ROM. The functions of the above-described embodiments may also be implemented by causing the computer to execute the read-out program code.
Further, it is to be understood that the present invention covers the case where an OS (Operating System) or the like running on the computer performs part or all of actual processing under instructions of the program code to implement the functions of the above-described embodiments.
Further, it is to be understood that the present invention covers the case where after the program code read out from the recording medium is written to memory provided in a function extension board inserted into the computer or in a function extension unit connected to the computer, a CPU or the like provided in the function extension board or function extension unit performs part or all of actual processing under instructions of the program code to implement the functions of the above-described embodiments.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-127885, filed May 1, 2006 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-127885 | May 2006 | JP | national |
