BROADCAST RECEIVING DEVICE

• US 20080163325A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: KINOSHITA, Kosuke, YAMAMOTO, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 8,381,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/131
• 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 21/4532 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 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• 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 21/8402 involving a version number, e.g. version number of EPG data arrangements for version control in computers G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A broadcast receiving device includes a table storage component, a viewing control acquisition component, a first determination component, a table acquisition component and a table updating component. The first determination component determines whether or not one of a following is satisfied: a column determination condition that a column number of a program viewing control information is greater than a first specific number of a first viewing control table, and a row determination condition that a row number of the program viewing control information is greater than a second specific number of the first viewing control table. The table acquisition component acquires a second viewing control table via a television broadcast when the first determination component determines that one of the column determination condition and the row determination condition is satisfied. The table updating component replaces the first viewing control table with the second viewing control table.

Claims

1. A broadcast receiving device for receiving a television broadcast, comprising:

a table storage component configured to store a first viewing control table having a first specific number of columns and a second specific number of rows, with viewing control conditions for viewing control;

a viewing control acquisition component configured to acquire program viewing control information that specifies the viewing control conditions for a program using a column number and a row number;

a first determination component configured to determine whether or not one of a following is satisfied;

a column determination condition that the column number of the program viewing control information is greater than the first specific number of the first viewing control table, and a row determination condition that the row number of the program viewing control information is greater than the second specific number of the first viewing control table;

a table acquisition component configured to acquire a second viewing control table via the television broadcast when the first determination component determines that one of the column determination condition and the row determination condition is satisfied; and

a table updating component configured to replace the first viewing control table with the second viewing control table.

2. The broadcast receiving device according to claim 1, wherein

the table storage component is further configured to store each of the viewing control conditions according to a column number of the first viewing control table and a row number of the first viewing control table.

3. The broadcast receiving device according to claim 2, wherein

the table updating component is further configured to delete the first viewing control table stored in the table storage component when the second viewing control table is acquired by the table acquisition component, and store the second viewing control table in the table storage component.

4. The broadcast receiving device according to claim 3, further comprising

a version storage component configured to store first version information indicating a version of the first viewing control table;

a version acquisition component configured to acquire second version information indicating a version of the second viewing control table via the television broadcast; and

a second determination component configured to determine whether or not the second version information acquired by the version acquisition component matches the first version information stored in the version storage component,

the table acquisition component being further configured to acquire the second viewing control table via the television broadcast when the second determination component determines that the second version information does not match the first version information, and

the table updating component being further configured to replace the first viewing control table and the first version information with the second viewing control table and the second version information, respectively.

5. The broadcast receiving device according to claim 4, wherein

the table updating component is further configured to delete the first viewing control table stored in the table storage component and the first version information stored in the version storage component when the second viewing control table is acquired by the table acquisition component, and store the second viewing control table in the table storage component and the second version information in the version storage component, respectively.

6. The broadcast receiving device according to claim 1, further comprising

a version storage component configured to store first version information indicating a version of the first viewing control table;

a version acquisition component configured to acquire second version information indicating a version of the second viewing control table via the television broadcast; and

a second determination component configured to determine whether or not the second version information acquired by the version acquisition component matches the first version information stored in the version storage component,

the table acquisition component being further configured to acquire the second viewing control table via the television broadcast when the second determination component determines that the second version information does not match the first version information, and

the table updating component being further configured to replace the first viewing control table and the first version information with the second viewing control table and the second version information, respectively.

7. A viewing control method for a broadcast receiving device for receiving a television broadcast, comprising:

providing a first viewing control table having a first specific number of columns and a second specific number of rows, with viewing control conditions for viewing control;

acquiring program viewing control information that specifies the viewing control conditions for a program using a column number and a row number;

determining whether or not one of a following is satisfied;

a column determination condition that the column number of the program viewing control information is greater than the first specific number of the first viewing control table, and a row determination condition that the row number of the program viewing control information is greater than the second specific number of the first viewing control table;

acquiring a second viewing control table via the television broadcast upon determining that one of the column determination condition and the row determination condition is satisfied; and

replacing the first viewing control table with the second viewing control table.