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Automatic recording/reproducing method and automatic recording/reproducing apparatus

Automatic recording/reproducing method and automatic recording/reproducing apparatus description/claims

This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/400,218 filed Apr. 10, 2006, and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §121. This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 from Japanese Patent Applications No. 2005-113661, filed Apr. 11, 2005; and No. 2006-086284, filed Mar. 27, 2006. The entire contents of all applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

1. Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an automatic recording/reproducing method and an automatic recording/reproducing apparatus. For example, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a method or an apparatus which automatically records a desired program onto a recording medium by using electronic program guide (EPG) information.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, an information recording medium such as a hard disk and an optical disk as a recording medium has been increased in its storage capacity. Therefore, a method and an apparatus for automatically recording a desired program on a recording medium by connecting recording/reproducing equipment using such the recording medium to, for example, a television receiver have been prevailed. Program recording reservation information is prepared by using the EPG information so as to realize an automatic recording function and an automatic recording/reproducing apparatus. It has been taken into consideration for an apparatus to automatically set the recording reservation information by automatically searching for a program related to the concerned category from the EPG information when a desired category is specified (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2004-220696).

As mentioned above, the program recording reservation information (including such as a broadcast start time and a broadcast ending time of a reserved program) prepared by referring to the EPG information or an instruction manual is stored on a memory and the apparatus is brought into a stand-by state. Then, when a timer detects the broadcast start time of the reserved program, the apparatus executes recording of the reserved program in the corresponding broadcast time slot.

A conventional apparatus; however records all of a plurality of reserved programs or categories. For example, the reservation for a plurality of news programs different in time slot causes to record all these programs.

However, it may be sufficient for a user to view the latest news program, so that the recording of old news programs is a waste of time. And in terms of the weather forecast, it is sufficient for the user to view the latest forecast program, and thus recording old whether forecast programs is a waste of time.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic recording/reproducing method and an automatic recording/reproducing apparatus.

One embodiment of the present invention is configured to reproduce the latest program recorded according to a group recording reservation on the recording medium when a predetermined user operation is performed.

The embodiment of the present invention has a program reservation information registration unit which registers a group recording reservation of a part of a plurality of recording reservations; a recording control unit which records reserved programs corresponding to the group recording reservation on a recording medium; a reproduction control unit which reproduces the program at the last recorded according to the group recording reservation on the recording medium when a predetermined user operation is performed; and an output unit which outputs an output reproduced by the reproduction control unit to a display unit.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.

A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view for explaining an outline of a digital television broadcast receiver to which the present invention is adopted;

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