Program information broadcasting system, broadcasting device, and receiving terminal unit
First Claim
1. A program information broadcasting system, comprising:
- means for assembling a master data compilation of program information for recognizing a broadcast program, wherein program elements of said broadcasting program are divided into a plurality of items and are converted to data at a broadcasting center;
means for assembling basic information with a minimum of necessary items sufficient for preparation of a program guide, wherein said basic information is extracted from said data constituting said master data compilation, said program basic information including extracted items of all of programs included in said master data compilation so that the amount of data in said basic program information is considerably smaller than that of said master data;
means for transmitting said master data and said program basic information simultaneously with broadcasting programs; and
means for receiving, reproducing and/or displaying said program basic information before completion of receipt of said master data at a receiving terminal unit.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a program information broadcasting system, it is aimed to minimize time for retrieval of program by viewers in operating an electronic program guide or time for waiting when applying for subscription. As a program information broadcasting system, program elements constituting a broadcasting program are divided into a plurality of items and are turned to data at a center, and a master data 21 of a program information to recognize the program is prepared. From the data constituting the master data, minimal necessary items for preparation of a program table are extracted, and a program basic information 22 is prepared. Said master data and said program basic information are transmitted simultaneously with the broadcasting, and said program basic information is received, reproduced and displayed before receiving of the master data at a receiving terminal unit 31 is completed. As a result, the program basic information having far less amount of data than the master data can be incorporated, and it is possible to minimize the time required for storage of the data in memory of the receiving terminal unit.
-
Citations
51 Claims
-
1. A program information broadcasting system, comprising:
-
means for assembling a master data compilation of program information for recognizing a broadcast program, wherein program elements of said broadcasting program are divided into a plurality of items and are converted to data at a broadcasting center; means for assembling basic information with a minimum of necessary items sufficient for preparation of a program guide, wherein said basic information is extracted from said data constituting said master data compilation, said program basic information including extracted items of all of programs included in said master data compilation so that the amount of data in said basic program information is considerably smaller than that of said master data; means for transmitting said master data and said program basic information simultaneously with broadcasting programs; and means for receiving, reproducing and/or displaying said program basic information before completion of receipt of said master data at a receiving terminal unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A broadcasting device, comprising:
-
program information data preparing means for dividing program elements, constituting a broadcasting program, into a plurality of items and turning them into data and for preparing a master data list of program information that is adapted to recognize the program; information retrieval means for retrieving minimal necessary items for preparation of a program guide from the master data list; program basic information preparing means for preparing program basic information using said minimal necessary items obtained by said information retrieval means, said program basic information including extracted items of all programs included in said master data so that the amount of data in said program basic information is substantially smaller than the amount of data in said master data; transmission data generating means for converting said master data and said program basic information to transmittable data; and transmitting means for transmitting said transmittable data. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A receiving terminal unit, comprising:
-
receiving means for receiving a master data list of a broadcast program information; program basic information preparing means for extracting a minimal number of items necessary for preparation of a program guide from the received master data, and for preparing a program basic information, said program basic information including extracted items of all programs included in said master data so that the amount of data in said program basic information is substantially smaller than that of said master data;
storage means for storing data of said program basic information;data reproducing means for reproducing data of the received program information and the program basic information; and control means for controlling various types of operations, whereby; when an instruction to display program information is inputted, said control means receives the master data of said program information, and prepares a summarized table of the programs by reading program basic information from said storage means. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A program information broadcasting method, comprising the steps of:
-
preparing a master data of program information for recognizing a broadcast program wherein program elements of said broadcasting program are divided into a plurality of items and wherein said items are converted to data at a broadcasting center; preparing a program basic information list, comprising a minimal number of items that are necessary for the preparation of a program guide, that are extracted from said master data, said program basic information including extracted items from all programs included in said master data so that the amount of data in said program basic information is substantially smaller than the amount of data in said master data; transmitting said master data and said program basic information simultaneously with broadcasting a program; and receiving, reproducing and/or displaying said program basic information before completion of receipt of said master data at a receiving terminal unit. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A program information broadcasting system, comprising:
-
means for preparing a master data of program information for recognizing a broadcast program, wherein program elements of said broadcasting program are divided into a plurality of items and means for converting said items to data at a broadcasting center; means for preparing a program basic information with a minimal number of items necessary for preparation of a program guide, including means for extracting said items from said data constituting said master data; means for transmitting said master data and said program basic information simultaneously with the broadcast program; and means for receiving, reproducing and/or displaying said program basic information before completion of receipt of said master data at a receiving terminal unit; further comprising; means to broadcast mail from said broadcast center in addition to transmission of the program information; means for linking said mail to said program information so that the receiving terminal unit can gain access to the linked data of the program information from the received mail, and a data to call function that enables viewer(s) to participate in voting and/or questionnaire data incorporated in the mail. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
-
-
41. A program information broadcasting method, comprising:
-
preparing program basic information including a title and an ID for each of a plurality of programs to be broadcast, preparing master information including a plurality of text data associated with each of said plurality of programs to be broadcast, wherein at least one text data includes a description of a program to be broadcast from among said plurality of programs; and transmitting said prepared master information and said prepared program basic information; wherein said program basic information further comprises an address that links said program basic information to said master information; and wherein said program basic information and said master information are derived only from said plurality of programs to be broadcast. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
-
-
49. A program information broadcasting method, comprising:
-
preparing program basic information and master information, wherein said program basic information includes a title and an ID of each program, and said master information includes text data of each program; transmitting said prepared master information and said prepared program basic information; and receiving said transmitted program basic information and said transmitted master information separately at a receiving terminal unit; wherein the combination of the program basic information and the master information comprises information of a same plurality of programs; and wherein said program basic information and said master information are derived only from the same plurality of programs to be broadcast.
-
-
50. A program information broadcasting method, comprising:
-
preparing program basic information including a title and an ID for each of a plurality of programs to be broadcast, preparing master information including a plurality of text data associated with each of said plurality of programs to be broadcast, wherein at least one text data includes a description of a program to be broadcast from among said plurality of programs; and transmitting said prepared master information and said prepared program basic information; wherein said program basic information further comprises an address that links said program basic information to master information; wherein said program basic information and said master information are derived only from said plurality of programs to be broadcast; and wherein said program basic information is received before completion of receipt of said master data.
-
-
51. A program information broadcasting method, comprising:
-
preparing program basic information and master information, wherein said program basic information includes a title and an ID of each program, and said master information includes text data of each program; transmitting said prepared master information and said prepared program basic information; and receiving said transmitted program basic information and said transmitted master information separately at a receiving terminal unit; wherein the combination of the program basic information and the master information comprises information of a same plurality of programs; wherein said program basic information and said master information are derived only from the same plurality of programs to be broadcast; and wherein said program basic information is received before completion of receipt of said master data.
-
Specification