JP2000231528A - Web program browsing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a web program browsing device which realizes unification and simplification of operations by making it possible to handle web documents in the same manner as television programs with an operation corresponding to a normal channel operation in a television receiver. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a television tuner 13, a network device 11, a web program display device 12 which converts a web document into a format which can be displayed on a monitor device 20, a program data accumulating device 14 which accumulates the information about television programs and the information about web documents, a video output device 15 which outputs the television programs and the web documents to the device 20 and a controller 16 which controls each component. The controller 16 uses the information about the television programs and the information about the web documents stored in the device 14 to perform program selection control in which a web document is made selectable as one of programs to be displayed on the device 20 without distinguishing it from television broadcasting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a web program browsing method capable of receiving a television broadcast and displaying it on a monitor device, acquiring a web document on the Internet, and displaying the web document on the monitor device in the same manner as a television broadcast. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, with the spread of the Internet, its use environment is rapidly expanding, and there is already a television receiver having a function of accessing the Internet. In addition, regarding a television system of this type and a computer system having a function of receiving television broadcasting, it is possible to associate television broadcasting with information on the Internet by utilizing the ability to receive television broadcasting and obtain information on the Internet. Various proposals have been made. For example, from a received image of a television broadcast, a WWW (World Wide Web) displayed in the image is displayed.
Site URL (Uniform Resource)
It has been proposed to extract a locator, access the WWW site, and browse a web document. Conventional techniques of this kind are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-10-98654, JP-A-10-177532, JP-A-10-257401, and JP-A-10-257401.
No. 257455, JP-A-10-285460, and the like.

[0003] Conventionally, in this type of television receiver or computer system (hereinafter, these devices are referred to as web document browsing devices), when browsing a desired web document, a user performs a predetermined operation. Or a file 200 defining the display order of the web documents as shown in FIG. 7 is prepared in advance, and the web documents are displayed in order according to the definition file. . When the definition file of the display order of the web document is prepared, for example, the web document browsing apparatus sequentially switches the display of the web document at predetermined time intervals according to the display order defined in the definition file.

[0004]

However, the above-described conventional web document browsing apparatus has an operation method for browsing a web document and a TV program because of a difference in information format between a web document and a television broadcast. Operation method is completely different. As a result, the user needs to consciously distinguish between browsing a web document and viewing a television program and perform different operations, which has a disadvantage that the operations are complicated.

[0005] The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional disadvantages, and makes it possible to handle a web document in the same manner as a television program by an operation corresponding to a normal channel operation in a television receiver. It is an object of the present invention to provide a web program browsing device that realizes simplification.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a web program browsing apparatus for receiving a television broadcast, a web document acquiring means for acquiring a web document, and a web document acquiring means for acquiring a web document. Means for converting the web document obtained by the means into a format that can be displayed on a monitor device that displays the television program received by the television broadcast receiving means; and information on the television program received by the television broadcast receiving means. An information storage unit for storing information about the web document acquired by the web document acquisition unit; and a television program received by the television broadcast receiving unit and a converted web document output from the conversion unit, to a monitor device. Video output means for outputting, and control means for controlling each of the components, wherein the control means Using the information on the TV program and the information on the web document stored in the information storage means, the web document is displayed on the monitor device without discrimination from the TV broadcast received by the TV broadcast receiving means. It is characterized in that program selection control that can be selected as one of the programs is performed.

In another aspect, the control means uses the information on the television program and the information on the web document stored in the information storage means to the video output means as the program selection control. A list of selectable TV programs and web documents is created and displayed on the monitor device, and the specified TV program or web program is displayed in response to an operation of specifying a predetermined TV program or web document. It is characterized by performing control for displaying on a monitor device.

In another aspect, the control means allocates, as the program selection control, a channel for switching the display of a monitor device to a web document in addition to each broadcasting station in a television broadcast, and displays the channel on a monitor device. Accepting a selection of a web document to be displayed on a monitor device by the same operation as a channel operation for selecting a program, and performing control to display the specified television program or web program on the monitor device according to the selection specification. It is characterized by.

[0009] In another aspect, a set of Web documents having a specific theme is posted in the program list or a channel is allocated to the Web documents.

[0010] In still another aspect, the apparatus further comprises speech synthesis means for creating speech data corresponding to text data in the web document received by the web document acquisition means,
The control means controls the sound data generated by the sound synthesis means to be reproduced when a corresponding web document is displayed.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a web program browsing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The web program browsing device 10 of the present embodiment is connected to a monitor device 20 for displaying a TV program or a program composed of web documents (hereinafter, referred to as a web program). You.

Referring to FIG. 1, a web program browsing apparatus 1
0 is a network device 11 connected to the Internet
And a web program display device 12 for displaying a web program received by the network device 11 on the monitor device 20.
A television tuner 13 for receiving television broadcasts, a program data storage device 14 for storing web programs and data related to television programs, a video output device 15 for displaying web programs and television programs on a monitor device 20, A control device 16 for controlling each device. Also,
In the present embodiment, the controller 30 and the web program browsing apparatus 10 are connected by infrared communication means.
The web program browsing apparatus 10 includes an infrared attendance unit 17 for receiving an infrared signal transmitted from the controller 30.
Is provided. In FIG. 1, only the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is described, and the description of other general configurations is omitted.

In the above configuration, the network device 11
Is realized by, for example, an interface device connected to the Internet via the network cable 40, and acquires a desired web document on the Internet under the control of the control device 16.

The web program display device 12 is realized by, for example, a CPU controlled by a program, and converts the web document acquired by the network device 11 into data in a format that can be displayed on the monitor device 20 as appropriate.

The TV tuner 13 tunes to a desired broadcasting station (matching the channel) under the control of the control device 16 and receives a TV broadcast via the antenna line 50.

The program data storage device 14 is realized by a semiconductor memory or other general storage device, inputs information on a web program from the network device 11, and receives information on a program being broadcast from the TV tuner 13 and a program to be broadcast. Obtain and retain information. Program data storage device 1
The information on the program stored in No. 4 (hereinafter referred to as program information) is used when generating a program selection screen described later.

The video output device 15 is realized by, for example, a program-controlled CPU, a memory, and an interface device. The video output device 15 receives web program and TV program data from the web program display device 12 and the TV tuner 13 and performs video output. The program is displayed on the monitor device 20. Further, the video output device 15 generates a program selection screen based on the program information received from the program data storage device 14 and displays the screen on the monitor device 20.

The control unit 16 is realized by, for example, a program-controlled CPU, and controls the operation of each component in accordance with an instruction from the controller 30 received via the infrared light receiving unit 17. That is, the program selection screen or the web program display device 12 is displayed on the video output device 15.
Alternatively, an image of each program acquired through the television tuner 13 is displayed on the monitor device 20, information on the program is acquired by the program data storage device 14, and the information is transmitted to the video output device 15. .

The controller 30 has a move button 31 for moving a cursor to select a desired program in accordance with a program selection screen displayed on the monitor device 20, and a button for browsing or viewing the selected program. Button 32 for canceling the selection of the program and a cancel button 33 for canceling the selection of the program
And an infrared light emitting unit 34 for transmitting an instruction to the web program browsing apparatus 10.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a program selection screen displayed on the monitor device 20. Referring to FIG. 2, a screen title 21 indicating the program selection screen and a program list 22 of web programs and television programs are displayed on the program selection screen. The program list 22 displays information on the program for each program.
Is selected by operation of the controller 30, the program is displayed on the monitor device 20. The information of each program displayed in the program list 22 includes, for a television program, a broadcast station (channel), a broadcast start time, a broadcast end time, a program title, a program content, and the like. In the case of a web program, a symbol indicating that the program is a web program, a program title, a program content, and the like are used.

An operation for selecting a desired program using the program selection screen will be described with reference to FIGS. As an initial condition, the network device 11 acquires information on a web program, and the TV tuner 13 acquires information on a program being broadcast and a program to be broadcast. First, the viewer operates the controller 30 to display a program selection screen on the display screen of the monitor device 20. At this time, the control device 16 of the web program browsing device 10 controls the program data storage device 14 and the video output device 15 in accordance with the display instruction of the program selection screen received via the infrared light receiving unit 17, Display the program selection screen.

The viewer refers to the program selection screen (see FIG. 2) displayed on the monitor device 20 and operates the move button 31 to select a desired program from the programs displayed on the program list 22. Then, the user presses the enter button 32 to confirm.

In the web program browsing apparatus 10, when the infrared light receiving section 17 receives an infrared signal transmitted from the controller 30, the control device 16 analyzes the instruction content of the signal. If the selected program is a television program, the television tuner 13 is controlled to tune to a channel (station) where the program can be viewed. The input video and audio of the television program are transferred to the video output device 15 via the bus, output to the monitor device 20, and displayed on the display screen.

On the other hand, if the selected program is a web program, the control device 16 controls the network device 11 to obtain a web document constituting the program. Then, the web program display device 12 is further controlled to sequentially send the obtained web documents to the video output device 15. Thereby, the web program constituted by the web document is output to the monitor device 20 and displayed on the display screen. The display order of the web documents in the web program and the display time of each web program can be set as appropriate.

Next, an operation for immediately switching from a web program or a television program already displayed on the monitor device 20 to a desired program will be described. In this case, as an initial condition, a channel that can be set in the web program browsing apparatus 10 is allocated to each web program and TV program in advance, similarly to the channel setting in a normal television receiver.

The viewer selects a desired web program or television program and displays it on the monitor device 20 by the same operation as switching the channel for the television program. Specifically, for example, the control device 16 assigns channels to web programs and television programs as shown in FIG. 3, and logically, as shown, such that each channel is continuous on a loop. Shall be treated. In this case, when the viewer operates the move button 31 of the controller 30, the control device 16 receiving the instruction via the infrared light receiving unit 17
Is a network device 11, a web program display device 12,
The TV tuner 13 and the video output device 15 are controlled to display on the monitor device 20 so as to switch successive channels in FIG. 3 one after another. In other words, the television program 1 previously assigned to the first channel is displayed, and if a downward movement is instructed by the move button 31, the television program assigned to the second channel is displayed. TV program 4 previously allocated to the fourth channel
Is displayed, and when a downward movement is instructed by the movement button 31, the web program assigned to the fifth channel is displayed, and the television program 1 previously assigned to the first channel is displayed. And the move button 31
When an upward movement is instructed by, the web program assigned to the sixth channel is displayed.

When the controller 30 has a channel button for directly specifying a channel set in the web program browsing apparatus 10, the channel button is used to directly select and instruct a channel. Monitor 2 to which the program assigned to the assigned channel is assigned.
The operation may be controlled so as to display 0.

Next, the configuration of a web program will be described. First, one web program can be composed of one web document. For example, when a web program is created indirectly by referring to the location of a web document by a URL, if the channel of the web program browsing apparatus 10 is assigned to two web programs as shown in FIG. Each web program of the fifth channel and the sixth channel is configured by a URL of only one web document corresponding to each web program.

Further, one web program can be constituted by a set of web documents having a specific theme. That is, one web program is composed of one or a plurality of web documents collected according to a specific theme such as sports or news. For example, when a web program is created indirectly by referring to the location of a web document by a URL, as shown in FIG. 3, the channel of the web program viewing apparatus 10 is assigned to two web programs, and If the theme of the web program of the fifth channel is sports and the theme of the web program of the sixth channel is news, the web program of the fifth channel is a URL of some web documents collected on the theme of sports.
The web program of the sixth channel is composed of URLs of several web documents collected on the theme of news.
It is composed of

One web program can be composed of all web documents accessible from the network device 11. In this case, the URLs of one or more web documents are arbitrarily collected in advance, and the web document having the URL is treated as an accessible web document. Also, since there is only one web program, only one channel is allocated to the web program as shown in FIG. When a web program is created indirectly by referring to the location of a web document by a URL, the web program is composed of URLs of all registered web documents.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a web program browsing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The web program browsing device 10 of the present embodiment is connected to the monitor device 20 and operated by the controller 30.

Referring to FIG. 5, the web program browsing apparatus 1
00 is a network device 1 connected to the Internet
1 and a speech synthesizer 1 that performs speech synthesis of text data
01, a web program display device 12 for displaying a web program received by the network device 11 on the monitor device 20, a television tuner 13 for receiving a television broadcast,
A program data storage device 14 for storing data relating to web programs and television programs, and a video output device 15 for displaying web programs and television programs on a monitor device 20
And a control device 16 for controlling these devices.
In the present embodiment, the controller 30 and the web program browsing apparatus 10 are connected by a communication unit using infrared rays.
An infrared receiving section 17 for receiving an infrared signal transmitted from the Internet is provided. FIG. 5 shows only the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment, and the description of other general configurations is omitted.

The speech synthesizer 101 creates speech data corresponding to text data in a web document constituting a web program received by the network device 11. The created audio data is sent to the web program display device 12 together with the web document, output to the monitor device 20 via the video output device 15, and reproduced from the monitor device 20 as audio.

The other components in the present embodiment are the same as the components in the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. Further, operations other than the sound reproduction in the present embodiment are the same as the operations in the first embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration format of a web program. In the illustrated format, the URI (Uniform R) of the music associated with each web document together with the URL of the web document are included as components of the web program.
resource Identifier) is described. When a web program is played, the web document is displayed on the screen according to a predetermined playback order, and at the same time, the corresponding U
Play the music specified by RI. The URI may be described in the form of a URL as shown in FIG. 6, in which case the URI is reproduced with reference to the file at the reference position specified by the URL.

Further, a plurality of CDs are stored in the web program browsing apparatus.
A device that can take out any one of them and play it is connected, and the UP used in the United States
By identifying a CD (Compact Disc) using a predetermined code such as a C code, and defining a URI for the desired CD, the URL is referred to instead of the above URL, and is recorded on the designated CD. You can also play music that you have.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above embodiments. For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, a web document is acquired by a network device. However, when a web document is superimposed on a television signal, a web document can be acquired by controlling a television tuner.

[0039]

As described above, according to the web program browsing apparatus of the present invention, a web program (web document) and a television program are handled in the same manner by an operation corresponding to a normal channel operation in the television receiver. It becomes possible.
For this reason, there is an effect that the operation can be unified and simplified in browsing a web program and watching a television program.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a web program browsing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program selection screen used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a channel is allocated to a program by the control device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a state in which the control device according to the present embodiment has assigned a channel to a program.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a web program browsing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration format of a web program used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional web document browsing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Web program browsing device 11 Network device 12 Web program display device 13 TV tuner 14 Program data storage device 15 Video output device 16 Control device 17 Infrared light receiving section

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A television broadcast receiving unit for receiving a television broadcast, a web document acquiring unit for acquiring a web document, and a television receiving the web document acquired by the web document acquiring unit by the television broadcast receiving unit. A conversion unit for converting the program into a format that can be displayed on a monitor device for displaying the program; and an information storage for storing information on the television program received by the television broadcast reception unit and information on the web document acquired by the web document acquisition unit. Means, a video output means for outputting a television program received by the television broadcast receiving means and a converted web document output from the conversion means to a monitor device, and a control means for controlling the components. The control means includes: information on the television program stored in the information storage means; and Using the information about the web document, the web document is subjected to program selection control that can be selected as one of the programs displayed on the monitor device without being distinguished from the TV broadcast received by the TV broadcast receiving unit. A web program browsing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The television which can be selected by the control means as the program selection control using the information on the television program and the information on the web document stored in the information storage means for the video output means. A program list in which programs and web documents are listed is created and displayed on the monitor device, and the specified TV program or web program is displayed on the monitor device in response to an operation of specifying a predetermined TV program or web document. The web program browsing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus performs control. 3. The web program browsing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the web program browsing device is listed in the program list in units of a set of web documents having a specific theme. 4. A channel for selecting a television program to be displayed on a monitor device, wherein the control means allocates, as the program selection control, a channel for switching the display of a monitor device to each broadcast station in addition to each broadcast station in the television broadcast, and Receiving a selection designation of a web document to be displayed on the monitor device by the same operation as the operation, and performing control for displaying the designated television program or web program on the monitor device according to the selection designation. Item 2. A web program browsing device according to item 1. 5. The web program browsing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein channels are assigned to the web documents in units of a set of web documents having a specific theme. 6. The television which can be selected by the control means as the program selection control using the information on the television program and the information on the web document stored in the information storage means for the video output means. A program list in which programs and web documents are listed is created and displayed on the monitor device, and the specified TV program or web program is displayed on the monitor device in response to an operation of specifying a predetermined TV program or web document. In addition to performing control, the channel for switching the display of the monitor device is also assigned to the web document in addition to each broadcasting station in the television broadcast, and displayed on the monitor device by the same operation as the channel operation for selecting the television program to be displayed on the monitor device. Receiving a selection of a web document to be selected, and according to the selection, the specified television program or web Web program viewing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the performing control to display the program on the monitor. 7. The web program according to claim 6, wherein a list of web documents having a specific theme is listed as a unit, and a channel is allocated to the web document. Browsing device. 8. A voice synthesizing unit for generating voice data corresponding to text data in the web document received by the web document acquiring unit, wherein the control unit generates the voice data by the voice synthesizing unit. 8. The web program browsing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data is controlled to be reproduced when a corresponding web document is displayed.