JP3520267B2 - Program evaluation method and program evaluation system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program evaluation method and a program evaluation system. The present invention particularly relates to a technique of providing a user with information related to a broadcast program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to obtain information on programs broadcast on television, it is common to look at a program section of a newspaper or a magazine. In recent years, by acquiring EPG (Electronic Program Guide) through broadcast waves and the Internet,
The program guide can now be displayed on the screen of a TV screen or a personal computer. This EPG is provided with an index for identifying the program name and program content, so that the viewer can easily search for his or her favorite program using dedicated hardware. In this way, the EPG does not simply digitize the program guide that was previously provided on paper,
Useful information is added to assist the viewer in program selection.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, EPG
Is just information sent from the program provider,
Just by referring to the PG, I do not know if the program is interesting. In today's world where the Internet has become widespread and anyone can send information, viewers are not satisfied with only one-sided information, and viewers rather want live information such as so-called “word-of-mouth”. In particular, the present inventors have come to recognize that there is a potential demand for a technology that supports viewers' program selection, as satellite broadcasting and cable television have become multi-channel.

The present inventor has made the present invention based on the above recognition, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for assisting a viewer of a television broadcast in selecting a program.

[0005]

One aspect of the present invention relates to a program evaluation method. In this method, a chat room related to the program being broadcast is set up in advance on the network in association with the broadcast channel, the number of comments in the chat room is counted, and the evaluation of the program is made based on the number of comments. Is displayed on the screen at any time along with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.

[0006] Here, the "program being broadcast" is mainly assumed to be a television program in terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, CATV, Internet broadcasting and the like. "Chat room"
Means a virtual space in which viewers exchange messages with each other via a network to realize conversation.
It may also include a service capable of exchanging messages such as a bulletin board service and an instant message service.
"Network" may include the Internet.

"Speak" means a block of one message issued by a viewer. The number of utterances may be all counted while the program is broadcast, or the broadcast time of the program may be divided into several time zones and counted for each time zone. The “evaluation” increases as the number of utterances increases, and thus may be displayed as “incandescence” on the screen. This evaluation is subjective in that it increases as the viewer speaks, but it is objective in that it counts the comments of an unspecified number of viewers, and it is useful information for the back program. obtain.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program evaluation method, which receives channel information indicating a broadcast channel currently being viewed by a viewer, counts the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the channel information, Based on the number of viewers, we evaluate the programs being broadcast on the broadcast channel,
The evaluation is displayed on the screen at any time together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.

The "channel information" is issued from the viewer's terminal at the timing when the viewer starts the display of the television broadcast or when the broadcast channel is switched. The number of viewers can be calculated by counting this channel information. The number of viewers may be all counted while the program is broadcast, or the broadcast time of the program may be divided into several time zones and counted for each time zone. Since the "evaluation" increases as the number of viewers increases, it may be displayed on the screen as "viewing rate".

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a program evaluation system. This system consists of a chat processing unit that opens a chat room related to the program being broadcast on the network in correspondence with the broadcast channel, a counting processing unit that counts the number of comments in the chat room, and an evaluation of the program based on the number of comments. And a display processing unit for displaying the evaluation on the screen at any time together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel.

A program evaluation system according to still another aspect of the present invention includes a channel receiving section for receiving channel information indicating a broadcast channel currently being viewed by a viewer,
A counting processing unit that counts the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the channel information, and a determination unit that evaluates a program being broadcast on the broadcast channel based on the number of viewers,
A display processing unit for displaying the evaluation on the screen at any time together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel.

The program evaluation system in these aspects refers to either a server installed on a network or a viewer terminal, and a system composed of a server and a viewer terminal connected via the network. Including both, each functional block of the chat processing unit, the channel receiving unit, the counting processing unit, the determination unit, and the display processing unit may be provided on the server side or the viewer terminal side. It may be provided in both the server and the viewer terminal, and the functional blocks in that case may have the same name. Each of these functions is provided in the form of a program module, and may be executed by either or both of the server and the viewer terminal, or may be downloaded from the server to the viewer terminal when executing.

The viewer terminal may be capable of displaying both television broadcast and Internet contents on one screen. The evaluation of the program by this system may be displayed on the same screen as the television broadcast, or may be independently displayed on the screen.

The display processing section may display an evaluation for a program on a broadcast channel registered in advance for each viewer, or may display an evaluation for a program in a preset genre for each viewer. The determination unit may record the evaluation together with the correspondence with the program, and may give a new evaluation that reflects the evaluation when the program is broadcast again.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a computer program. This program is a process of pre-establishing a chat room related to the program being broadcast on the network corresponding to the broadcast channel, a process of counting the number of comments in the chat room, and a process of evaluating the program based on the number of comments. And the process of displaying the evaluation on the screen at any time along with the correspondence with the broadcast channel,
Causes the computer to execute.

A computer program according to still another aspect of the present invention counts the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the process of receiving channel information indicating the broadcast channel currently being viewed by the viewer. The computer is caused to perform the steps of: performing the evaluation, evaluating the program currently being broadcast on the broadcast channel based on the number of viewers, and displaying the evaluation on the screen together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel.

Any combination of the above components,
It is also effective as an aspect of the present invention that the components and expressions of the present invention are mutually replaced among methods, devices, systems, computer programs, recording media storing computer programs, and the like.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The program evaluation system in the present embodiment displays the evaluation of a program being viewed and other programs on the screen of a viewer terminal capable of displaying both TV broadcast and Internet contents. As the evaluation of the program, the number of chat remarks and the number of viewers are used. A chat room will be opened for each program in advance. The number of viewers uses the channel information transmitted from the viewer terminals when the viewers display the program.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a program evaluation system.
The program evaluation system 10 includes a program evaluation server 14 and a plurality of viewer terminals 12 connected via the Internet 16. Each of the plurality of viewer terminals 12 receives a television broadcast from the broadcast station 18.

The program evaluation server 14 and the viewer terminal 12
The hardware can be realized by an element such as a CPU of a computer in terms of hardware, and can be realized by a program having a data transmitting / receiving function in terms of software. However, in FIG. 2 and FIG. It depicts the functional blocks that will be implemented. Therefore, these functional blocks can be realized in various ways depending on the combination of hardware and software. The program evaluation server 14 may be configured to include a web server, and the viewer terminal 12 may be configured to include a personal computer and a web browser installed therein.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the program evaluation server. The program evaluation server 14 uses the communication unit 2
0, EPG acquisition unit 22, channel reception unit 24, chat processing unit 26, viewer information holding unit 28, counting processing unit 3
0, the determination unit 32, the display processing unit 34, and the viewer authentication unit 58. Each unit transmits / receives data to / from the viewer terminal 12 on the Internet 16 via the communication unit 20. The communication unit 20 may have a router function and a server function in addition to the data transmission / reception function.

The viewer authentication section 58 authenticates the viewer who uses the viewer terminal 12. The EPG acquisition unit 22 uses the EPG
To get the program guide. The channel receiving unit 24 receives the channel information from the viewer terminal 12.

The chat processing unit 26 establishes a chat room related to the program being broadcast on the network in association with the broadcast channel. The chat processing unit 26 includes a statement receiving unit 36, a display data generating unit 37, and a display data transmitting unit 38. The utterance receiving unit 36 receives utterance data from the viewer terminal 12. The display data generation unit 37 generates display data for displaying the utterance data for each program. The display data transmitting unit 38 transmits the display data to the viewer terminal 12.

The counting processing unit 30 counts the number of utterances in the chat room, and also counts the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the channel information. Count processing unit 3
0 is the speech counting unit 46 and the viewer counting unit 48.
including. The utterance counting unit 46 counts the number of utterances, and the viewer counting unit 48 counts the number of viewers.

The viewer information holding section 28 holds the personal information of the viewer. The viewer information holding unit 28 includes a viewer attribute holding unit 40, a channel registration holding unit 42, and a genre setting holding unit 44. The viewer attribute holding unit 40 holds attribute information such as a viewer's name, age, and sex, and information such as a field of interest.

The channel registration holding unit 42 holds, for each viewer, a registration regarding a channel for which an evaluation should be displayed.
For example, a channel may be registered according to the viewer's preference, or a channel broadcast in the area may be automatically registered according to the viewer's place of residence. The genre setting holding unit 44 holds, for each viewer, the setting related to the genre of the program whose rating is to be displayed. For example, the genre may be set according to the viewer's preference, or the genre may be automatically set according to the viewer's attributes.

The judging section 32 evaluates the program on the basis of the number of utterances, and evaluates the program being broadcast on the broadcast channel on the basis of the number of viewers. The determination unit 32 includes an incandescence derivation unit 50, an audience rating derivation unit 52, and an evaluation data storage unit. The whiteness degree deriving unit 50 derives the chat whiteness degree according to the number of utterances, and the audience rating deriving unit 5
2 derives an audience rating according to the number of viewers. The evaluation data storage unit stores the incandescent degree and the audience rating for each program.

Incandence deriving section 50 and audience rating deriving section 52
Makes a new evaluation that reflects the chat incandescence or the audience rating stored in the evaluation data storage when the program is broadcast again. As a result, it is possible to cope with the case where the broadcast time of the program differs depending on the region, and it is possible to utilize the past data even when the program is rebroadcast.

The display processing unit 34 displays the evaluation on the screen at any time together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel. The display processing unit 34 includes a list creation unit 54 and a list transmission unit 56. The list creation unit 54 makes a list of evaluations of programs on broadcast channels registered in advance for each viewer. The list may include only the evaluations of programs of a preset genre for each viewer. The list transmission unit 56 transmits the created list to the viewer terminal 12.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the viewer terminal. The viewer terminal 12 includes a communication unit 60, a viewer authentication unit 62, an EPG acquisition unit 64, and a channel transmission unit 6.
6, a chat processing unit 68, a channel designating unit 70, a broadcast processing unit 72, a viewer setting unit 74, a broadcast receiving unit 76, and a display processing unit 78. Each unit transmits / receives data to / from the program evaluation server 14 on the Internet 16 via the communication unit 60.

The viewer authentication unit 62 authenticates the viewer with the viewer authentication unit 58 shown in FIG. The EPG acquisition unit 64 is
Acquire the EPG program guide. The broadcast receiving unit 76 receives a television broadcast from the broadcasting station 18. Broadcast processing unit 72
Processes the television broadcast data received by the broadcast receiving unit 76. The broadcast processing unit 72 includes a video acquisition unit 86 and a broadcast display unit 88. The video acquisition unit 86 acquires video and audio of television broadcasting. The broadcast display unit 88 displays a television broadcast image at a predetermined position on the screen and outputs a sound. The channel instruction unit 70 instructs the broadcast processing unit 72 which broadcast channel to display based on the viewer's operation. The channel transmitter 66 transmits the channel information for specifying the instructed broadcast channel to the program evaluation server 14. When the broadcast channel is switched by the instruction of the channel designating unit 70, the channel transmitting unit 66 transmits the channel information indicating the channel after the switching to the program evaluation server 14.

The chat processing unit 68 is used by the program evaluation server 1.
Processes chat-related data with The chat processing unit 68 includes a statement transmitting unit 80 and a display data receiving unit 8
2 and a chat display unit 84. Statement transmitter 80
Transmits the utterance data to the program evaluation server 14, the display data receiving unit 82 receives the display data from the program evaluation server 14, and the chat display unit 84 displays the display data on the screen.

The viewer setting section 74 is a viewer attribute setting section 9
0, a channel registration unit 92, a genre setting unit 94, and a setting information transmission unit 96. The viewer attribute setting unit 90 sets the viewer attribute, and the channel registration unit 92 registers the broadcast channel to be evaluated. The genre setting unit 94 sets the genre of the program to be evaluated, and the setting information transmission unit 96 transmits the set or registered data to the program evaluation server 14.

The display processing unit 78 causes the evaluation to be displayed on the screen at any time together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel. The display processing unit 78 includes a list acquisition unit 98 and a list display unit 100.
including. The list acquisition unit 98 acquires the evaluation list from the program evaluation server 14, and the list display unit 100 displays the list on the screen. The evaluation of each program may be displayed near the channel switching button on the TV screen.

FIG. 4 shows the structure within the television screen of the viewer terminal. On the TV screen 110, the TV display unit 1
12, a channel column 114, a program name column 116, a chat display column 124, and a chat participation button 126 are included. The TV broadcast is displayed on the TV display unit 112, the channel number is displayed on the channel column 114, and the program name column 1 is displayed.
16 shows the name of the program currently being broadcast for each broadcast channel. The channel number displayed in the channel column 114 may correspond to the channel registration for each viewer. The channel number functions as the channel button 115,
When the viewer clicks this, the program of the channel is displayed on the television display unit 112.

The program name column 116 may correspond to the program genre setting for each viewer, or may correspond to the program guide by EPG. In the program name column 116, the program name 118
The chat incandescent degree 120 and the audience rating 122 are displayed below as a rating of the program. These evaluations may be displayed corresponding to channel registration or program genre setting for each viewer. As shown, the chat glow is 120
Alternatively, the longer the mark indicating the audience rating 122 is, the higher the evaluation is. This allows the viewer to easily obtain live information about the back program. Further, these evaluations are displayed in the vicinity of the channel button 115 and serve as useful information for supporting the viewer's program selection.

In the chat display field 124, the chat corresponding to the program currently being viewed is displayed. In another form, the chat corresponding to the back program may be displayed. By clicking the chat join button 126, you can join the displayed chat room.

FIG. 5 shows a table regarding viewer attributes. The attribute table 128 is the viewer attribute holding unit 4 of FIG.
0 is a table recorded in 0, the viewer ID column 130,
Name field 132, Age field 134, Gender field 136, Occupation field 1
38, and an interest information section 140. Viewer ID column 1
Information such as an ID or a password for identifying a viewer is recorded in 30. The name of the viewer is recorded in the name column 132, and the age of the viewer is recorded in the age column 134. The gender column 136 records the gender of the viewer, and the occupation column 138 records the occupation of the viewer. In the interest information column 140, information such as fields in which the viewer is interested is recorded.

FIG. 6 shows a channel registration table. The channel registration table 142 is a table recorded in the channel registration holding unit 42 of FIG.
A D column 144, a residence column 146, and a registration channel column 150 are included. The viewer ID column 144 records the viewer ID, and the residence column 146 records the viewer's residence. In the registration channel column 150, information about broadcast stations or broadcast channels registered for each viewer is recorded.

FIG. 7 shows a genre setting table.
The genre setting table 158 is a table recorded in the genre setting holding unit 44 of FIG.
0 and set genre column 162 are included. Viewer ID column 1
The viewer's ID is recorded in 60, and the set genre column 16
In 2, the genre of the program set for each viewer is recorded.

FIG. 8 shows a list of evaluations. The list data 164 is data created by the list creation unit 54 of FIG. 2, and includes a broadcasting station column 166, a channel column 168,
An incandescent degree column 170 and an audience rating column 172 are included. The broadcasting station name is recorded in the broadcasting station column 166, and the channel column 168 is recorded.
The channel number is recorded in. The whiteness of chat is recorded in the whiteness column 170, and the audience rating is recorded in the audience rating column 172.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the viewer terminal. First, after the viewer is authenticated (S10), the EPG
Is acquired (S12). The channel information indicating the broadcast channel to be displayed is transmitted to the program evaluation server 14 (S1
4) The display of the television broadcast is started (S16). A list of evaluations of broadcast channels registered by the viewer or set programs is acquired from the program evaluation server 14 (S18), and the list is displayed on the screen (S20).
When the viewer gives an instruction to switch the channel (S22),
The channel information is transmitted to the program evaluation server 14 (S2
4). Until the TV viewing is completed (S26), the evaluation list is updated and displayed on the screen at any time (S18 to S2).
4).

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that this embodiment is an exemplification, that various modifications can be made to the combinations of the respective constituent elements and the respective processing processes, and that such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. . Hereinafter, modified examples will be described.

The channel transmitter 66 of the viewer terminal 12 in the present embodiment provides the channel information to the program evaluation server 1 at the time of starting the display of the television broadcast or switching the channel.
However, in a modification, the channel information may be continuously transmitted to the program evaluation server 14 at regular time intervals while the program is being broadcast.

In the present embodiment, the past evaluation is reflected in the new evaluation with respect to the program having a different broadcast time or the rebroadcast program depending on the region, but in the modified example, the past evaluation is displayed as it is. It may be configured.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the channel section 114 and the program name section 1 on the side of the television screen are shown.
At 16, the chat incandescence and the audience rating are displayed in correspondence with the channel button and the program name. In a modified example, the chat incandescence and the audience rating are displayed on a remote controller for television having a display unit such as a liquid crystal screen. Channel buttons and program names are displayed on the display unit, and chat incandescence and audience rating are displayed in correspondence with these. In this case, the display processing unit 34 of the program evaluation server 14 transmits the evaluation list at any time, and the display processing unit 78 of the viewer terminal 12 that receives the evaluation list transmits the list to the remote controller at any time. The user who saw the evaluation,
You can watch the channel immediately by pressing the channel button displayed next to the rating.

[0047]

According to the present invention, it is possible to assist a viewer of a television broadcast in selecting a program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a program evaluation system.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a program evaluation server.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a viewer terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration in a television screen in a viewer terminal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a table relating to viewer attributes.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a channel registration table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a genre setting table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a list of evaluations.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation in the viewer terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 program evaluation system, 12 viewer terminal, 14
Program evaluation server, 24 channel receiver, 26
Chat processing unit, 30 counting processing unit, 32 determination unit, 34 display processing unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP 2001-69098 (JP, A) JP 2002-135809 (JP, A) Special table 2002-524934 (JP, A) International publication 00/013415 (WO, A1) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 17/00 H04N 7/173 H04H 9/00

Claims (14)

(57) [Claims] 1. A chat room relating to a program being broadcast is preliminarily established on a network in association with a broadcast channel, the number of comments in the chat room is counted, and the program is evaluated based on the number of comments. A program evaluation method, wherein the evaluation is displayed on a screen at any time together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel. 2. A channel information indicating a broadcast channel currently being viewed by a viewer is received, the number of viewers for each broadcast channel is counted based on the channel information, and the number of viewers is used as a reference. Evaluate the programs currently being broadcast on the broadcast channel, and check the broadcast channel number registered in advance for each viewer.
A program evaluation method, wherein the evaluation of a set is displayed on a screen at any time together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel. 3. A chat processing unit that opens a chat room related to a program being broadcast on a network in association with a broadcast channel, a counting processing unit that counts the number of messages in the chat room, and a number of messages as a reference. A program evaluation system comprising: a determination unit that evaluates the program; and a display processing unit that displays the evaluation together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel on a screen at any time. 4. A channel receiving unit that receives channel information indicating a broadcast channel that the viewer is currently viewing, a counting processing unit that counts the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the channel information, A judging unit that evaluates a program being broadcast on the broadcast channel based on the number of viewers, and a broadcast channel number registered in advance for each viewer.
A program evaluation system, comprising: a display processing unit that displays the evaluation of the set on the screen at any time together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel. 5. The program evaluation system according to claim 3, wherein the display processing unit displays the evaluation for a program on a broadcast channel registered in advance for each viewer. 6. The program evaluation system according to claim 3, wherein the display processing unit displays the evaluation for a program of a genre preset for each viewer. 7. The determination unit stores the evaluation together with a correspondence relationship with a program as a past evaluation, and when the program is rebroadcast, the number of utterances at the time of rebroadcasting or
Contrary to previous evaluations against new evaluations based on the number of viewers.
7. The program evaluation system according to claim 3, which is displayed . 8. A process of preliminarily establishing a chat room on a network corresponding to a broadcast channel on a network, a process of counting the number of utterances in the chat room, and a process for the program based on the utterance number. A computer program that causes a computer to execute a step of making an evaluation and a step of displaying the evaluation on a screen at any time together with a correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel. 9. A process of receiving channel information indicating a broadcast channel currently being viewed by a viewer, a process of counting the number of viewers for each broadcast channel based on the channel information, The process of evaluating programs currently being broadcast on the above-mentioned broadcast channel as a reference, and the number of broadcast channels registered in advance for each viewer.
A computer program for causing a computer to execute the step of displaying the evaluation of the set on the screen at any time together with the correspondence relationship with the broadcast channel. 10. The evaluation made to the program is telecasted.
Remote control with remote control function for
Send it to Laura, The screen of the display unit of the remote controller is
The evaluation is displayed at any time, or the evaluation is performed.
The program evaluation method described in 2. 11. A hand for remotely controlling a television.
Dan, It is established on the network corresponding to the broadcasting channel
Comments on programs being broadcast in chat rooms
Receive a rating based on a number for the program
Means, Image the evaluation together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.
A display unit that displays on the surface at any time, A remote controller comprising: 12. A hand for remotely controlling a television.
Dan, Channel indicating the broadcast channel that the viewer is currently watching
Viewing by broadcasting channel counted based on channel information
Broadcast on the broadcast channel based on the number of people
Means for receiving ratings for programs in Image the evaluation together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.
A display unit that displays on the surface at any time, A remote controller comprising: 13. A machine for remotely controlling a television.
Noh, It is established on the network corresponding to the broadcasting channel
Comments on programs being broadcast in chat rooms
Receive a rating based on a number for the program
Function, Image the evaluation together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.
A function to display on the surface at any time, Computer that realizes
Data program. 14. A machine for remotely controlling a television.
Noh, Channel indicating the broadcast channel that the viewer is currently watching
Viewing by broadcasting channel counted based on channel information
Broadcast on the broadcast channel based on the number of people
Ability to receive ratings for the programs in Image the evaluation together with the correspondence with the broadcast channel.
A function to display on the surface at any time, Computer that realizes
Data program.