JP2002152702A - Pay program viewing control system for cable television - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pay program viewing control system for cable television that allows viewers to view cable television programs in the unit of pay programs. SOLUTION: An information terminal 28 installed at a subscribe side 26 has a pay program input processing section 29 that receives a pay program selected by a subscriber from a pay program selection menu displayed by a selection menu production processing unit 24 and has a view request transmission processing section 30 that generates pay program viewing request information including the received pay program and subscriber identification information and transmits the generated information to a cable television center 20 via cable television network 4. A view controller 21 of the cable television center 20 attaches a terminal number of a home terminal 6 possessed by the subscriber that has transmitted the pay program viewing request information to the cable television center 20 to a descramble signal that is used to descramble a scrambled pay program when broadcasting the pay program designated by the pay program viewing request information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cable television, and more particularly, to a viewing mode of a pay program scrambled.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a conventional cable television. Cable television refers to a cable television that transmits images using a coaxial cable or an optical fiber cable without using an antenna, and was introduced to eliminate hard-to-view areas. The cable TV center 1 has BS
A community antenna 2 for receiving broadcasts and CS broadcasts is provided. A television broadcast signal and various signals to be described later are modulated by a modulator called a head end 3 and sent to a subscriber side 5 via a cable television network 4 which is a signal transmission path. On the subscriber side 5, a home terminal 6 connected to the cable television network 4 is installed, and the subscriber can view a television program by operating the home terminal 6 and selecting a program to be viewed. . In recent years, by connecting an information terminal device 7 such as a personal computer to the cable television network 4 via a cable modem 8, an Internet service can be used. In addition,
The term “cable television” is defined as described above, but in the following description, a service that enables a user to view a television program via a cable television network or a system that provides this service will be referred to for convenience. Will be referred to as “cable television”.

By the way, in the cable television center 1,
Television programs that can be viewed only by subscribers who have separately paid a contract fee (hereinafter referred to as “paid programs”) are also broadcast, but the system currently charges for each channel.
Hereinafter, conventional pay program viewing control will be described.

[0004] A television broadcast signal to be paid for broadcast received by the community antenna 2 is scrambled by a scrambler 9 built in the head end 3, and the video modulator 1
0 and transmitted to each subscriber via the cable television network 4. On the other hand, the viewing control device 11
Adds the terminal number of the home terminal 6 owned by the pay program viewing contractor known by the contract management system 12 to the descrambling signal for descrambling the scrambled television broadcast signal, and is mounted on the head end 3. Modem 13 and cable TV network 4
To each subscriber side via. The scrambled television broadcast signal and the descrambling signal are mixed by the mixer 14 and transmitted to the subscriber side 5 simultaneously and in parallel.

On the subscriber side 5, a home terminal 6
When the pay program is selected by the channel selection operation of the subscriber, the pay program is demodulated by the modem 15 and then stored in the terminal and the terminal number added to the descrambling signal transmitted by the cable TV center 1. Compare with your own terminal signal. As a result, when they match, the descrambler 16 descrambles the television broadcast signal using the received descrambling signal. In this way, a cable TV subscriber who is a pay program viewing subscriber can view pay programs on cable TV.

[0006] By the way, a cable television divides a frequency and assigns a channel therein. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an arrangement of frequencies, wherein a frequency band of 70 MHz or more is used for communication in a downward direction from the cable TV center 1 to the subscriber side 5, and a lower band is transmitted from the subscriber side 5 to the cable TV center 1. Is used for upstream communication. However, the currently used home terminal 6
Does not use the upstream communication area because it is for reception only. The upstream communication area is only used by the cable modem 8 capable of two-way communication.

[0007]

As described above, conventional cable television pay broadcasting means that some programs in BS television and CS television can be viewed by paying a viewing fee. Although it is a so-called pay program, contracts for viewing these pay programs are made on a channel basis and basically on a monthly basis. In CS television, it is possible to make a so-called spot-like contract, so that only a desired television program can be viewed for a fee, but not in cable television.
This is a limitation on the functions of the popular home terminal 6, specifically, since the home terminal 6 does not have an upstream transmission function from the subscriber side 5 to the cable television center 1, A request to temporarily release the scramble signal and view the spot as a spot cannot be transmitted to the cable television center 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has as its object the purpose of viewing a pay TV program in units of pay programs even if the cable TV subscriber does not have a contract to view the pay program. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable television pay program viewing control system which enables the following.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, a pay TV program viewing control system for a cable television according to the present invention comprises a scrambled pay program and a descrambling signal corresponding to a pay program viewing subscriber. A cable television center that broadcasts to a cable television subscriber side via a cable television network, and a pay program that is installed at the cable television subscriber side and receives and receives a pay program and a descrambling signal broadcasted by the cable television center. In a pay TV program viewing control system having a home terminal for descrambling a program based on a descrambling signal, the cable TV subscriber side includes a pay program input processing means for receiving a pay program to be viewed as specified. , Said pay program input processing means Viewing request transmission processing means for generating pay program viewing request information including the received pay program and subscriber identification information and transmitting the request to the cable TV center via the cable TV network, the cable TV center comprising: Viewing control for transmitting a descrambling signal corresponding to the cable TV subscriber who transmitted the pay program viewing request information when the pay program specified in the pay program viewing request information sent from the cable TV subscriber side is broadcast. Means for enabling viewing in pay program units.

[0010] Further, the cable television subscriber side is connected to the cable television center via a cable modem capable of two-way communication, and is equipped with the pay program input processing means and the viewing request transmission processing means. It has.

Further, the cable television center has selection screen generation processing means for displaying a pay program selection screen for allowing a cable television subscriber to select a pay program to be viewed, and the pay program input processing means comprises: A pay program selected from a pay program selection screen displayed on the information terminal device is input.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a pay television program viewing control system according to the present invention. The same components as those in the conventional example include:
The same reference numerals are used.

The cable television center 20 is a service center for broadcasting television programs via the cable television network 4. The cable TV center 20 has B
A community antenna 2 for receiving S broadcasts and CS broadcasts is provided. The head end 3 modulates a scrambler 9 for scrambling a television broadcast signal of a pay broadcast object received by the communal antenna 2, a video modulator 10 for modulating the television broadcast signal, a descrambling signal transmitted by the viewing control device 21, and the like. A cable modem 23 for connecting the modem 13, a mixer 14 for mixing signals to be transmitted to the cable television network 4 and a server 22 for accessing the Internet to the cable television network 4 to realize two-way communication with the subscriber side; I have. The selection screen generation processing device 24 is connected to the LAN 25 that connects the server 22 and the cable modem 23, and is provided as selection screen generation processing means for displaying a pay program selection screen. The selection screen generation processing device 24 can be realized by an information terminal device such as a personal computer. The viewing control device 21
In addition to the conventional function of generating a descrambling signal for cable TV subscribers and constantly transmitting them on a channel basis, broadcasting of pay programs specified in the pay program viewing request information sent from the subscriber side It has a function of transmitting a descrambling signal corresponding to the cable television subscriber who transmitted the pay program viewing request information at times.

On the other hand, by installing the home terminal 6 on the subscriber side 26, a television program broadcast by the cable television center 20 can be viewed on a television 27 connected to the home terminal 6. The information terminal device 28 realized by a personal computer or the like includes:
It is connected to the cable modem 8 capable of two-way communication, and can use the Internet service provided by the cable TV center 20 via the cable TV network 4. The information terminal device 28 in the present embodiment
When a pay program desired to be viewed is specified by the subscriber, a pay program input processing unit 29 for receiving and inputting the pay program and pay program viewing request information including the pay program and the subscriber identification information received by the pay program input processing unit 29 are transmitted. A viewing request transmission processing unit 30 for generating and transmitting the generated request to the cable television center 20;

The present embodiment is characterized in that the information terminal device 28 capable of bidirectional communication with the cable television center 20 is used on the subscriber side 26, so that the conventional cable television has a channel unit and a monthly unit. This means that a program that could only be viewed on a pay program can be viewed on a pay program basis. Hereinafter, the viewing control of the pay program in the present embodiment will be described.

In the case of the present embodiment, the viewer needs to specify the pay program to be viewed before the pay program is broadcast. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a pay program selection screen configured by the selection screen generation processing device 24 in the present embodiment. In the program list display area 31 of the pay program selection screen, the broadcast date and time of the pay program, the program name, and the viewing fee required to view the program are displayed in a list, and a selection button 32 is clicked from the list. Can be selected. The detailed information of the program at the position where the mouse cursor is located in the list is displayed in the program information display area 3.
3 is displayed. The selection screen generation processing device 24 generates a pay program selection screen based on the program information organized in response to a request from a viewer, and causes the information terminal device 28 to display the screen. In practice, the selection screen generation processing device 24 generates an HTML file for displaying the pay program selection screen in response to a request or in advance. The information terminal device 28 displays a pay program selection screen by a browser constituting a part of the pay program input processing unit 29.

When one or a plurality of pay programs are selected from the pay program selection screen by the subscriber and the transmission button 34 is clicked, the pay program input processing section 29 accepts the selection. When the viewing request transmission processing unit 30 generates pay program viewing request information including the selected pay program and subscriber identification information, it transmits it to the cable television center 20.
The subscriber identification information may be a terminal number of the home terminal 6, a subscriber identification number, a payment credit number, an IP address, or the like. The actual information to be used depends on the system environment and the information held by the cable TV center 20. It will be determined appropriately according to the above.

The server 22 of the cable television center 20
When the pay program viewing request information transmitted from the subscriber side 26 is received, the information is passed to the contract management system 12 and the viewing control device 21. The contract management system 12 performs billing processing and bills the subscriber who has made a request in accordance with the pay program viewing request information, but the processing relating to billing of the viewing fee is not the gist of the present invention. Description is omitted. As described above, the subscriber makes preparations for viewing the pay program that he / she wants to view before the pay program is broadcast.

The processing relating to the broadcasting of a pay program is the same as the conventional one. That is, the pay television broadcast signal received by the community antenna 2 is scrambled by the scrambler 9 incorporated in the head end 3, modulated by the video modulator 10, and transmitted to each subscriber via the cable television network 4. Sent to On the other hand, the viewing control device 21 adds the terminal number of the home terminal 6 owned by the pay program viewing subscriber owned by the contract management system 12 to a descrambling signal for descrambling the scrambled television broadcast signal. , To the respective subscribers via the modem 13 mounted on the head end 3 and the cable television network 4. Here, the conventional pay program viewing contractor only exists on a monthly basis, but in the present embodiment, there is also a pay program unit contractor. Therefore, the viewing control device 2
1 transmits a scramble release signal corresponding to the subscriber who has requested viewing of the pay program at the time of broadcasting the pay program, after confirming the contract management system 12 regarding payment or the like of the pay program subscriber. I do. Specifically, the terminal number of the home terminal 6 owned by the subscriber is added to the descrambling signal for descrambling the television broadcast signal of the pay program. The scrambled television broadcast signal and the descrambling signal are mixed by the mixer 14 and transmitted to the subscriber side 26 in parallel.

The processing when a signal is received at the subscriber side 26 is the same as the conventional one. That is, when the pay program is selected by the channel selection operation of the subscriber, the home terminal 6 demodulates the modem 15 and then adds the terminal number added to the descrambling signal transmitted by the cable TV center 20 to the descrambling signal. The terminal compares its own terminal signal stored therein. As a result, when they match,
The descrambler 16 descrambles the television broadcast signal using the received descrambling signal. In this way, a cable TV subscriber who is a pay program viewing subscriber can view pay programs on cable TV.

According to the present embodiment, by using the information terminal device 28 capable of two-way communication with the cable TV center 20, a pay program to be viewed is transmitted to the cable TV center 20 via the cable TV network 4. Can be viewed on a pay-per-view basis that you want to watch without having to contract on a monthly basis. Of course, it can be used together with a conventional pay program viewing service based on a contract on a channel-by-month basis. Thus, for the cable television subscriber, it is possible to select a contract on a monthly basis or a contract on a program basis, whichever is more advantageous in terms of fee, depending on the frequency of viewing the pay program. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of pay program broadcasters, cable television subscribers who have hesitated to contract on a monthly basis, which is relatively expensive, may contract if they are on a relatively inexpensive program basis. Therefore, an increase in viewing fee income can be expected.

In the present embodiment, the selection screen as shown in FIG. 2 is generated by the selection screen generation processing device 24. However, at present, the TV program guide can be viewed via the Internet, so that a program that can be used to recognize a specified program from the program guide using an existing program guide without generating a dedicated selection screen A screen may be formed. Alternatively, it is also possible to designate a reservation date and a channel and use a G code, as in the case of reservation for recording a video of a television program.

Further, in the present embodiment, the pay program input processing unit 2 is provided in accordance with the current situation of the cable television in which the home terminal 6 having no upstream communication function is widespread.
9 and the viewing request transmission processing unit 30 are arranged not in the home terminal 6 but in the information terminal device 28 so that bidirectional communication with the cable television center 20 is realized. That is,
Only Internet service subscribers can use the services described above. However, the pay program input processing unit 29 and the viewing request transmission processing unit 30 can be provided in the home terminal 6 without considering the cost required for replacement of the home terminal 6 or renovation work. In this case, There is no need to prepare the information terminal device 28 separately.

[0025]

According to the present invention, since a contract can be made for each pay program without having to make a contract for each month, cable television subscribers can view the program on a pay program basis.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a pay television program viewing control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pay program selection screen configured by a selection screen generation processing device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a conventional cable television.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement of frequencies used in a cable television.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Community antenna, 3 headend, 4 cable television network, 6 home terminal, 8,23
Cable modem, 9 scrambler, 10 video modulator, 12 contract management system, 13, 15 modem, 1
4 mixer, 16 descrambler, 20 cable TV center, 21 viewing control device, 22 server, 24
Selection screen generation processing device, 25 LAN, 26 subscriber side, 27 television, 28 information terminal device, 29 pay program input processing unit, 30 viewing request transmission processing unit, 31 program list display area, 32 selection button, 33 program information display Area, 34 submit button.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cable television center for broadcasting a scrambled pay program and a descrambling signal corresponding to a pay program viewing subscriber to a cable television subscriber via a cable television network; and a cable television center installed at the cable television subscriber. And a home terminal for receiving the pay program and the descrambling signal broadcast by the cable TV center and descramble the received pay program based on the descrambling signal. The subscriber side generates pay program input processing means for receiving a pay program to be viewed as input and designated, and generates pay program viewing request information including the pay program and the subscriber identification information received by the pay program input processing means. The cable television network And a viewing request transmission processing means for transmitting to the cable TV center via a cable, the cable TV center transmits a pay program designated in the pay program viewing request information transmitted from the cable TV subscriber side. A cable television having a viewing control means for transmitting a descrambling signal corresponding to a cable television subscriber who has transmitted the pay program viewing request information at the time of broadcasting a program, thereby enabling viewing on a pay program basis. Paid program viewing control system. 2. An information terminal device connected to the cable television center via a cable modem capable of two-way communication with the cable television center, and including the pay program input processing means and the viewing request transmission processing means. The pay-program viewing control system for cable television according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The cable television center has a selection screen generation processing unit for displaying a pay program selection screen for allowing a cable television subscriber to select a pay program to be viewed, and the pay program input processing unit includes: The pay program viewing control system for cable television according to claim 2, wherein a pay program selected from a pay program selection screen displayed on the information terminal device is input.