Method and apparatus for producing program information and receiving apparatus for processing the program information

• US 6,486,920 B2
• Filed: 12/18/1998
• Issued: 11/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujita, Kenichi, Suzuki, Takayuki, Nagao, Takeshi, Arai, Yuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Trang U.
• Application Number:
  US09/215,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073425A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 348/563, 348/564, 348/569, 348/906, 725/39, 725/40, 725/41, 725/42, 725/43, 725/44, 725/45, 725/46, 725/47, 725/48, 725/49, 725/50, 725/51, 725/52, 725/53, 725/54, 725/55, 386/83
• US Class Current: 348/563
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/09 Arrangements for receiving desired information automatically according to timetables
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/04 Studio equipment; Interconnection of studios
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25435 involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 : Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 : between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 : on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing

Abstract

A program information storing section stores program information including program name, program start time, and channel discriminating information. A program information search section searches the program information stored in the program information storing section according to designated search conditions and produces personalized program information resulting from the search. A program guide display section displays a program guide including a personal channel consisting of the resultant program information. Thus, the receiving apparatus allows users to display their personal channels.

Claims

1. A receiving apparatus comprising:

a program information storing section for storing program information that has been broadcast from a plurality of broadcasters, said program information including program name, program start time, and channel discriminating information that are necessary for a standard program guide covering all programs of each broadcaster'"'"'s channel;

a search condition input section for inputting search conditions;

a program information search section for searching said program information stored in said program information storing section according to said search conditions entered by said search condition input section and for producing a personal channel consisting of programs resulting from said search and arranged so as not to overlap with each other in broadcast time; and

a program guide display section for displaying a combined program guide including said personal channel resulting from said search performed by said program information search section in addition to the broadcasters'"'"'channels comprising said standard program guide.

2. The receiving apparatus in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a tuning switch section for tuning in to a program of said personal channel displayed by said program guide display section in response to selection of said personal channel listed on said program guide.

3. The receiving apparatus in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a receiving section for receiving said program name, said program start time, and said channel discriminating information.

4. A receiving apparatus comprising:

a program information storing section for storing program information including program name, program start time, and channel discriminating information;

a program information search section for searching said program information stored in said program information storing section according to designated search conditions and for producing personalized program information resulting from the search; and

a program guide display section for displaying a program guide including a personal channel consisting of programs included in said personalized program information resulting from said search performed by said program information search section and arranged so as not to overlap with each other in broadcast time;

wherein said program information search section searches said program information by the order of broadcast time of program, and performs scheduling of programs of said personal channel so that broadcast times do not overlap with each other when the personalized program information includes programs of a plurality of broadcasters.

5. A The receiving apparatus in accordance with claim 4, wherein said program guide display section displays a charged sum amount of pay-per-view programs when said personalized program information involves any pay-perview program.

6. The receiving apparatus in accordance with claim 4, wherein said program information search section produces a plurality groups of program information when a plurality of schedules are found as a result of performed search.