Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program

• US 7,584,214 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2004
• Issued: 09/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fujiwara, Nobuyuki, Narahara, Tatsuya, Sumiyoshi, Kazuhito, Asazu, Hideki
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Wilson
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHECHTMAN, CHERYL MARIA
• Application Number:
  US10/522,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20060173888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,938 Days
• Field of Search: 707/101, 707/102, 707/104.1, 386/83, 725/91, 725/38, 725/39, 725 43- 46, 725/52
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• 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 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• 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 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Each program content has a plurality of program states, such as “already recorded”, “not recorded”, “preset for recording”, “not preset for recording”, and “not received” states. In response to the selection of a related program on a starting-program-related information page, a detailed operation screen for the related program is presented. When the program state of the related program is “already recorded”, reproduction or erasure of the recording is presented on the detailed operation screen as a method of operation. When the program is not preset for recording yet, presetting for recording is presented on the detailed operation screen as a method of operation. Information related to a program that is being watched and listened to can be supplied without making the user less interested in something which the user was attracted to while watching the program, and the user can be smoothly guided to a subsequent preset recording operation.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus for supporting operations on program contents distributed at scheduled times, the information processing apparatus comprising:

a program information managing section which manages information on program contents;

a starting program setting section which sets a program at which the operations are started, wherein the starting program is set based on a user supplying a control signal for selecting, as the starting program, program content being audiovisually rendered for being watched and listened to by the user;

a starting-program-related information generating section which retrieves information on programs in all program states, and extracts programs related to the starting program to generate a starting-program-related information page using information identifying the starting program and in response to the supply of the control signal; and

a detailed operation screen presenting section which presents a detailed operation screen in response to the selection of a program related to the starting program on the starting-program-related information page, the detailed operation screen including a method of operation that can be used for the related program depending on the program state of the related program.

2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identifying information includes an ID of the set starting program.

3. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the starting-program-related information generating section generates the starting-program-related information page by extracting related programs from at least a date of broadcast, a time of broadcast, and a broadcast station name at the time the starting program is set.

4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the program information managing section manages program information including a plurality of items to which degrees of relationship to programs are assigned;

and

the starting-program-related information generating section retrieves programs related to the starting program with respect to each of the plurality of items based on the degrees of relationship to the starting program and generates the starting-program-related information page by arranging results of the retrieval.

5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the starting-program-related information generating section generates the starting-program-related information page from the results of the retrieval by arranging the related programs in descending order of the items in the degrees of relationship to the starting program.

6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a reception section which receives program contents; and

a recording section which performs recording and preset recording of the received program contents;

wherein the program states include at least one of a state in which program contents have already been recorded, a state in which the recording has not been made yet, a state in which presetting for recording has already been made, a state in which presetting for recording has not been made yet, or a state in which program contents have not been received yet.

7. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the starting-program-related information generating section displays the program state associated with each piece of related information on the starting-program-related information page.

8. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the starting-program-related information generating section displays an icon indicating the program state associated with each piece of related information on the starting-program-related information page.

9. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the detailed operation screen presenting section presents reproduction and/or erasure of record as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which program contents have already been recorded.

10. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the detailed operation screen presenting section presents cancellation of recording and/or confirmation of presetting as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which presetting for recording has already been made.

11. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the detailed operation screen presenting section presents presetting for recording as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which presetting for recording has not been made yet.

12. An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the detailed operation screen presenting section presents a plurality of methods for presetting for recording.

13. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a section which maintains a display history of the starting-program-related page.

14. An information processing method for supporting operations on program contents distributed at scheduled times where information on each program content is managed using a database, the method comprising:

setting a program at which the operations are started, based on a user supplying a control signal for selecting, as the starting program, program content being audiovisually rendered for being watched and listened to by the user;

searching the database for information on programs in all program states to extract programs related to the starting program, wherein the searching uses information identifying the starting program and is in response to the supply of the control signal;

generating a starting-program-related information page including the extracted related programs; and

presenting a detailed operation screen in response to the selection of a program related to the starting program on the starting-program-related information page, the detailed operation screen including a method of operation that can be used for the related program depending on the program state of the related program.

15. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the searching the database includes extracting related programs from an ID of the starting program.

16. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the searching the database includes extracting related programs from at least a date of broadcast, a time of broadcast, and a broadcast station name at the time the starting program is set.

17. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein

the database manages program information including a plurality of items to which degrees of relationship to programs are assigned;

and

the generating the starting-program-related information page includes retrieving programs related to the starting program with respect to each of the plurality of items based on the degrees of relationship with the starting program and generating a starting-program-related information page by arranging results of the retrieval.

18. An information processing method according to claim 17, wherein the generating the starting-program-related information page includes generating the starting-program-related information page from the results of the retrieval by arranging the related programs in descending order of the items in the degrees of relationship with the starting program.

19. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the program states include at least one of a state in which program contents have already been recorded, a state in which the recording has not been made yet, a state in which presetting for recording has already been made, a state in which presetting for recording has not been made yet, or a state in which program contents have not been received yet.

20. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein the generating the starting-program-related information page includes displaying the program state associated with each piece of related information on the starting-program-related information page.

21. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein the generating the starting-program-related information page includes displaying an icon indicating the program state associated with each piece of related information on the starting-program-related information page.

22. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein the presenting the detailed operation screen includes presenting reproduction and/or erasure of record as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which program contents have already been recorded.

23. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein the presenting the detailed operation screen includes presenting cancellation of recording and/or confirmation of presetting as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which presetting for recording has already been made.

24. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein the presenting the detailed operation screen includes presenting presetting for recording as the method of operation when the program state of a selected related program is the state in which presetting for recording has not been made yet.

25. An information processing method according to claim 24, wherein the presenting the detailed operation screen includes presenting a plurality of methods for presetting for recording.

26. An information processing method according to claim 14, further comprising maintaining a display history of the starting-program-related page.

27. A computer readable recording medium recorded with a computer program for executing a process for supporting operations on program contents distributed at scheduled times where information on each program content is managed using a database, the process comprising:

setting a program at which the operations are started, based on a user supplying a control signal for selecting, as the starting program, program content being audiovisually rendered for being watched and listened to by the user;

searching the database for information on programs in all program states to extract programs related to the starting program, wherein the searching uses information identifying the starting program and is in response to the supply of the control signal; and

generating a starting-program-related information page including the extracted related programs; and

presenting a detailed operation screen in response to the selection of a program related to the starting program on the starting-program-related information page, the detailed operation screen including a method of operation that can be used for the related program depending on the program state of the related program.