Program selecting method

• US 7,831,987 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2004
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Maruyama, Kazuna, Shikata, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hirl; Joseph P
• Assistant Examiner(s): RUSTEMEYER, BRETT J
• Application Number:
  US10/984,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20050114885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,190 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/40, 725/41, 725/42, 725/45, 725/46
• US Class Current: 725/41
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/18 Arrangements characterised by circuits or components specially adapted for receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42661 for reading from or writing on a magnetic storage medium, e.g. hard disk drive
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4448 for frame-grabbing

Abstract

A program selecting method includes the steps of: storing still pictures or motion pictures of specific scenes of a plurality of viewed programs selected in a predetermined period; presenting the pictures of the specific scenes corresponding to a plurality of programs viewed in the past, during operation of program selection; and selecting the viewed program corresponding to the picture selected by operation of selecting the pictures presented.

Claims

1. A program selecting method executed by a program selecting control apparatus, the method comprising:

an obtaining step of obtaining program related information related to a plurality of viewable broadcast programs through a broadcasting signal, the program related information containing program title information;

a first tuning and displaying step of tuning to a channel of a broadcast program to receive video data of the broadcast program, and displaying the received video data of the broadcast program on an entire screen;

a determining step of determining whether a viewer carries out a zapping operation or not, the zapping operation being a channel-selecting operation for the viewer to switch viewing broadcast programs at time intervals shorter than a predetermined period;

a first storing step of obtaining a still picture from the received video data of the broadcast program which had been viewed before a start of the zapping operation and storing the still picture;

a second storing step of obtaining a plurality of still pictures after the start of the zapping operation from video data of broadcast programs respectively viewed through the zapping operation, and storing the plurality of still pictures, wherein a number of still pictures of each broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation is obtained based on a view time of each respective broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation;

an arranging and displaying step of, in case that the zapping operation is repeated a predetermined number of times, (1) displaying the plurality of still pictures and program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation so that the broadcast programs are arranged in a row in the order of viewing in the zapping operation on a first partial area of the screen, (2) displaying video data of a broadcast program being viewed on a second partial area of the screen, and (3) displaying the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation, on a third partial area of the screen, wherein the number of still pictures obtained for each respective broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation is displayed so that the number of still pictures are stacked upon each other; and

a second tuning and displaying step of, when one still picture is selected from among the plurality of still pictures displayed by the arranging and displaying step, tuning to a channel of a broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture to receive video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture, and displaying the received video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture on the screen.

2. A program selecting method according to claim 1, further comprising, when one of the still pictures is selected by the viewer from among the plurality of still pictures displayed by the second tuning and displaying step, tuning to a channel of the broadcast program which corresponds to the selected still picture to receive video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture, and displaying the received video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture.

3. A program selecting method according to claim 1, wherein,

the arranging and displaying step displays the plurality of still pictures and the program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation so that the broadcast programs are arranged in a row horizontally on the screen, and displays the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation at a position adjacent to an upper side of the selected still picture corresponding to the broadcast program being viewed,

and wherein the plurality of still pictures corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation are selectable in series by the viewer'"'"'s operation of left and right keys of a remote controller, and

the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation is selectable by the viewer'"'"'s operation of an up key of the remote controller.

4. A program selecting method according to claim 1, wherein the arranging and displaying step displays a plurality of program titles of broadcast programs which are not viewed through the zapping operation in addition to the plurality of still pictures and the program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation in descending order of the viewer'"'"'s preference, wherein each of the plurality of program titles of each of the broadcast programs which is not viewed through the zapping operation is displayed without a still image.

5. A program selecting control apparatus comprising:

an obtaining unit that obtains program related information related to a plurality of viewable broadcast programs through a broadcasting signal, the program related information containing program title information;

a first tuning and displaying unit that tunes to a channel of a broadcast program to receive video data of the broadcast program, and displays the received video data of the broadcast program on an entire screen;

a determining unit that determines whether a viewer carries out a zapping operation or not, the zapping operation being a channel-selecting operation for the viewer to switch viewing broadcast programs at time intervals shorter than a predetermined period;

a first storing unit that obtains a still picture from the received video data of the broadcast program which had been viewed before a start of the zapping operation and stores the still picture;

a second storing unit that obtains a plurality of still pictures after the start of the zapping operation from video data of broadcast programs respectively viewed through the zapping operation, and stores the plurality of still pictures, wherein the second storing unit obtains a number of still pictures of each broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation based on a view time of each respective broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation;

an arranging and displaying unit that, in case that the zapping operation is repeated a predetermined number of times, (1) displays the plurality of still pictures and program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation so that the broadcast programs are arranged in a row in the order of viewing in the zapping operation on a first partial area of the screen, (2) displays video data of a broadcast program being viewed on a second partial area of the screen, and (3) displays the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation, on a third partial area of the screen, wherein the arranging and displaying unit displays the number of still pictures obtained for each respective broadcast program viewed through the zapping operation so that the number of still pictures are stacked upon each other; and

a second tuning and displaying unit that, when one still picture is selected from among the plurality of still pictures displayed by the arranging and displaying unit, tuning to a channel of a broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture to receive video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture, and displays the received video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture on the screen.

6. A program selecting control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising, when one of the still pictures is selected by the viewer from among the plurality of still pictures displayed by the second tuning and displaying unit, a unit that tunes to a channel of the broadcast program which corresponds to the selected still picture to receive video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture, and displays the received video data of the broadcast program corresponding to the selected still picture on the screen.

7. A program selecting control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein,

the arranging and displaying unit displays the plurality of still pictures and the program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation so that the broadcast programs are arranged in a row horizontally on the screen, and displays the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation at a position adjacent to an upper side of the selected still picture corresponding to the broadcast program being viewed,

and wherein the plurality of still pictures corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation after operation are selectable in series by the viewer'"'"'s operation of left and right keys of a remote controller, and

the still picture corresponding to the broadcast program which had been viewed before the start of the zapping operation is selectable by the viewer'"'"'s operation of an up key of the remote controller.

8. A program selecting control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the arranging and displaying unit displays a plurality of program title of broadcast programs which are not viewed through the zapping operation arranged in descending order of the viewer'"'"'s preference in addition to the plurality of still pictures and the program titles corresponding to the broadcast programs viewed through the zapping operation, wherein each of the plurality of program titles of each of the broadcast programs which is not viewed through the zapping operation is displayed without a still image.