Transmitter system and transmitting method, receiver system and receiving method and transmission media

• US 7,607,153 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Terakado, Tomoko, Hanai, Tomoyuki, Nishina, Yasutomo
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller; John W
• Assistant Examiner(s): PARRY, CHRISTOPHER L
• Application Number:
  US11/510,913
• Publication Number:
  US 20060294544A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,149 Days
• Field of Search: 725/43, 725/54, 725/47, 725/49, 725/50
• US Class Current: 725/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4351 involving reassembling additional data, e.g. rebuilding an executable program from recovered modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• 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 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

There is provided a system which allows information related to a broadcasting program to be processed efficiently. The program related information related to the certain program created on the transmitter side is composed of Event Data, Channel Data, Character Data, CM data and the like and is converted into EPG_contents_data. Further, display related information concerning on a layout and the like in displaying the program related information created on the transmitter side on a screen is composed of Layout Data, Color Data, Font Data and Operation Data and is converted into EPG_control_data. The receiver side generates EPG_management_data as necessary from the EPG_contents_data and the EPG_control_data transmitted from the transmitter side and generates EPG_display_data which is display information from the EPG_contents_data and the EPG_control_data.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for transmitting program related information relating to program information, said computer program when executed performs a method comprising the steps of:

generating said program related information and layout information relating to displaying said program related information; and

transmitting said program related information and said layout information separately;

said generating step composing said program related information and said layout information, wherein said program related information and said layout information are each divided into a first part and a plurality of second parts, wherein each first part includes identification information for identifying the program related information or the display related layout information, and wherein the plurality of second parts are each composed of label data for identifying a type of block data, size data, and the block data, wherein each of the plurality of second parts is further divided into a third part composed of identification information for identifying a type of second block data and second size data and a plurality of fourth parts composed the second block data;

wherein said layout information includes information for initiating an operation in response to selection of a displayed item; and

wherein the displaying of said program related information includes partitioning a display space according to a hierarchical structure having at least three levels, a main page level, a box level and a cell level, wherein main pages are linked to boxes via main-box link information and boxes are linked to cells via box-cell link information; and

wherein each main page is associated with a main layout tag that includes a display position for said page and an ID of a box composing the page, each box is associated with a box layout tag that includes a display position for said box and an ID of a cell composing the box, and each cell is associated with a cell layout tag that includes an ID of a data format of the cell, a display position of the cell, and one or more IDs of information related to the cell.

2. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for receiving program related information relating to program information, said computer program when executed performs a method comprising the steps of:

receiving separately said program related information and layout information relating to displaying said program related information, wherein said program related information and said layout information are each divided into a first part and a plurality of second parts, wherein each first part includes identification information for identifying the program related information or the display related layout information, and wherein the plurality of second parts are each composed of label data for identifying a type of block data, size data, and the block data, wherein each of the plurality of second parts is further divided into a third part composed of identification information for identifying a type of second block data and second size data and a plurality of fourth parts composed the second block data; and

generating fourth information for displaying said program related information based on said program related information and said layout information;

wherein said layout information includes information for initiating an operation in response to selection of a displayed item; and

wherein the displaying of said program related information includes partitioning a display space according to a hierarchical structure having at least three levels, a main page level, a box level and a cell level, wherein main pages are linked to boxes via main-box link information and boxes are linked to cells via box-cell link information; and

wherein each main page is associated with a main layout tag that includes a display position for said page and an ID of a box composing the page, each box is associated with a box layout tag that includes a display position for said box and an ID of a cell composing the box, and each cell is associated with a cell layout tag that includes an ID of a data format of the cell, a display position of the cell, and one or more IDs of information related to the cell.

3. The computer readable medium according to claim 2, further comprising a second generating step for generating fifth information from said program related information and said layout information.