JP2002218417A - Program related information providing system using program specification identifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for enabling a broadcasting station to provide additional information in relation to a scene included in a broadcast program at a low cost and for enabling a user to easily acquire the additional information. SOLUTION: This program related information providing system is further provided with an information providing device for storing the additional information in relation to programs and providing the additional information in response to a request from the user of a receiver in a program broadcasting system comprising broadcast equipment for broadcasting the programs and the receiver for receiving the programs. The broadcast equipment transmits a program identification identifier for specifying a program in broadcasting the program, the receiver transmits an additional information request including the program specification identifier for specifying the program and information for specifying a designated scene to the information providing device in receiving the designation of the scene whose additional information, by the user, desired to be acquired from the user within the received program, and the information providing device transmits corresponding additional information to the receiver in response to the received additional information request.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for providing information related to a program being broadcast in a program broadcasting system such as a television broadcast.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, digital broadcasting has been put to practical use, and broadcasting using a broadcasting satellite has started. In data broadcasting that is carried out along with the digitization of broadcasting, it is possible to provide various information to users by broadcasting information related to a program together with the program.

[0003]

However, for example, when this data broadcasting is performed, the following problems occur. (1) Broadcasting stations require more program production costs to broadcast information related to a program together with the program than before. (2) Since the user receives only the information broadcast by the broadcasting station together with the program, the information desired by the user is not always obtained.

[0004] On the other hand, with the development and spread of the Internet in recent years, users have been able to search for various information by themselves and acquire information. However, in an environment using the Internet, there are the following problems.・ Searching for and obtaining information you want from a vast amount of information
Requires considerable effort and time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a broadcast station with additional information on scenes included in a broadcast program at a low cost and a program which can be easily obtained by a user. A related information providing system is provided.

[0006]

A program-related information providing system according to the present invention is a program broadcast system comprising a broadcast device for broadcasting a program and a receiver for receiving the program, and accumulates additional information relating to the program. And an information providing device for providing the additional information in response to a request from a user of the receiver, wherein the broadcasting device is a program specifying identifier for specifying the program when broadcasting the program. When the user receives a selection of a scene from which the user desires to acquire additional information in the received program, the receiver specifies the program identification identifier for identifying the program and the selected scene. Transmitting an additional information request including information specifying the above to the information providing apparatus, and in response to the received additional information request, the information providing apparatus transmits corresponding additional information to the receiver. And butterflies.

In the program-related information providing system according to the present invention, when broadcasting the program, the broadcasting device adds common additional information frequently requested by a user who views the program to a specific scene of the program. Broadcasting in association, the receiver has storage means for storing the common additional information, and when receiving a request for additional information from a user, searches for the common additional information stored in the storage means, Outputting the common additional information when the corresponding common additional information is stored, and transmitting the additional information request to the information providing apparatus when the corresponding additional information is not stored in the storage device; It is characterized by.

A receiver according to the present invention receives a program broadcasted from a broadcast device and a program identification identifier for identifying the program, and transmits predetermined information to an information providing apparatus to associate the program with the program. A receiver for acquiring additional information, a means for extracting a program identification identifier of a program selected by a user, and a means for receiving input of user request information indicating a type of additional information on a program requested by the user; Means for transmitting, to the information providing apparatus, an additional information request including the program identification identifier and the user request information together with the personal information for specifying the user, and transmitting the additional information from the information providing apparatus in response to the transmission of the additional information. Means for receiving the returned additional information.

Further, in the receiver according to the present invention, the receiver includes means for specifying a relative time to a scene selected by the user based on the received program start time, and Means for specifying position information, wherein the relative time and the position information are included in the additional information request and transmitted to the information providing apparatus.

The information providing apparatus of the present invention is an information providing apparatus for returning additional information related to a program in response to an additional information request transmitted from a receiver for receiving a broadcasted program. The information request includes, based on the program start time, a relative time to a scene selected by the user, a program identification identifier for specifying a broadcast program, position information in the scene selected by the user, The information providing apparatus includes a user request ID corresponding to the type of information related to the user and personal information of the user, and the information providing apparatus broadcasts a plurality of additional information DBs each storing additional information classified for each predetermined category. A set of a database ID for selecting the additional information DB and an additional information key for specifying the additional information stored in the additional information DB prepared for each program is stored in the relative time and the user information. Additional information key DB accumulated for each ID
When receiving the additional information request, the program identification identifier and the relative time from the additional information request,
Extract location information, user request ID, and personal information,
The received program is specified by the program specifying identifier, and an additional information key DB for the program is selected.

Further, in the information providing apparatus according to the present invention, the relative time,
Using the user request ID and the position information as search keys, search for a database ID and an additional information key for selecting the additional information DB, and select an additional information DB to be searched using the database ID; A search for additional information is performed from the additional information DB selected using the additional information key as a search key.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a program-related information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, first, an outline of the program-related information providing system of the present embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a program-related information providing system according to the present embodiment includes a receiver 1 on the user side, a transmitter (broadcasting device) 2 provided in a broadcasting station, and information provision provided in a service provider. It comprises a device (information providing device) 3 and a server 4 provided in a content holder, which is a provider of various contents. The exchange of information between a broadcasting station and a user, between a user and a service provider, between a broadcasting station and a service provider, and between a content holder and a service provider is performed using a transmission path.
(Compact Disc) and DVD (Digita
There is also a method of recording information on a medium (recording medium) such as 1 Versatile Disc) and exchanging the information by motorcycle service or the like. In addition, information can be exchanged between the user and the content holder using a transmission path.

The broadcasting station broadcasts programs to users by satellite broadcasting or the like. When the user wants information related to the received program or a certain scene in the program (hereinafter referred to as additional information), the user requests the additional information from a service provider using a public network or the like. And obtain the requested additional information. And the service provider
The additional information requested by the user is provided to the user using a public network or the like.

[0015] The user can also inquire of the content holder using the public network or the like for further information related to the additional information provided by the service provider. In addition, the broadcasting station can request a service provider for additional information of a program to be broadcast using a public network or the like. Further, the content holder provides the service provider with additional information using a public network or the like.

Next, the system configuration of the program-related information providing system will be described with reference to FIG. The details of the functions of each device will be described later in the operation description, and the outline of the system configuration will be described here.

The broadcasting station is provided with a transmitter 2. The broadcasting station has a database for storing a program identification identifier for identifying a program to be broadcast.
Broadcasts a program and a program identification identifier corresponding to the program. The receiver 1 is installed on the user side. The receiver 1 includes a display device that displays a program and a menu described later,
It comprises an input device such as a remote controller, a storage device for storing received video content, a storage device for storing user's personal information, and a control device A for controlling these.

The information provider 3 is installed on the service provider side. The information providing device 3 includes an additional information key DB prepared for each broadcasted program and associated with a program identification identifier, and a plurality of additional information DBs (map information) storing additional information classified into predetermined categories. DB,
Sightseeing spot information DB, product information DB, ...). The additional information key DB uses a set of a database ID (DBID) for selecting a plurality of additional information DBs and an additional information key for specifying the additional information stored in the additional information DB with a time stamp described later. Is stored for each user request ID. Further, as the information providing device 3, an additional information key search device for searching an additional information key from the additional information key DB;
An additional information search device that searches for additional information from the additional information DB, an additional information key management device that manages an additional information key,
There is an additional information management device that manages additional information.
There is a control device B for controlling these.

The content holder is provided with a server computer (server 4) for providing the content held by the content holder to the user.
Note that the storage device, the storage device, and each database are configured by a non-volatile recording device such as a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. Further, the input device refers to an input device such as a remote controller. What is a display device CRT
(Cathode Ray Tube) or a liquid crystal display device.

The service provider has an additional information DB previously classified into categories such as maps and tourist spots (see FIG. 2). In FIG. 2, a map information DB (DBI) storing information on maps such as electronic map information and GPS information is shown.
D: 00) and a sightseeing spot information DB storing information on sightseeing such as local attractions and travel agencies handling the area.
(DBID: 01), an article and a product information DB (DBID: 02) that stores detailed information about the article, and a store information DB that stores detailed information about shops such as restaurants.
(DBID: 03) and an example of a cast information DB (DBID: 04) in which detailed information on a person such as a talent is stored.

These additional information DBs store the additional information classified according to the type (category) of the additional information content as described above, and an additional information key for specifying the additional information. By using this, the additional information corresponding to the additional information key can be searched. The additional information is searched within the range of the type of the additional information content prepared.

The contents of the additional information may be created independently by the service provider or provided from a content holder. Therefore, the additional information provided by the content holder may include link information to the content holder. In this case, the service provider or the user can directly refer to or inquire the corresponding content stored in the content holder by using the link information. If the additional information provided by the service provider to the user is information provided by the content holder, the content holder:
It can provide users with their own content (map information, tourist spot information, etc.) through a service provider. As a result, the distribution of the content held by the content holder can be promoted more than before.

The service provider has an additional information key DB prepared in advance for each program broadcast from a broadcasting station (see FIG. 3). As shown in FIG. 3, additional information key DB
Has a plurality of sets of a database ID (DBID), which is an identifier for selecting an additional information DB, and an additional information key for each time stamp of a scene (still image) of a program and a user request ID. The time stamp is a relative time to the scene selected by the user, based on the start time of the program. In the additional information key DB, as shown in FIG. 4, a place in the scene is selected (defined as selection of position information).
In such a case, there are a plurality of pieces for each position information (X / M, Y / N).

The position information is obtained when the screen (scene) is divided into M parts in the vertical direction and N parts in the horizontal direction, and the position (coordinates (X, Y)) in the scene selected by the user. Is selected, the number of divisions (M, N)
And coordinates (X, Y). The position information in the example shown in FIG. 4 is (5 / M, 4 / N).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the user request ID identifies a user request (user request) as to what kind of information is desired for a certain scene in a program. For example, requests for map information, store information, sightseeing spot information, product information, and performer information are requested. This is a user request ID. The additional information key DB may be requested and provided by the service provider to the broadcasting station, or may be created by the service provider.

Next, a more specific processing flow of the program-related information providing system will be described with reference to FIG.

[T1: Broadcasting Program Identifier and Program] Each broadcasting station broadcasts a program specific identifier and a program. Here, the program specifying identifier is information for specifying which broadcast station is the program to be broadcast. For example, BS
In digital broadcasting, (n
network_id, (omitted), broadcaste
r_id, etc.), and can be used as a program identification identifier also in the present embodiment.

[T2: Video Storage] When the user wants additional information of a received program or a certain scene in the program, the user uses an input device such as a remote controller to input the program or program for which additional information is desired. Select a scene in
The video content (moving image, still image, program data) is stored in the storage device. At this time, the video contents to be stored are a program specifying identifier, a moving image (the reason for storing the moving image is to reproduce it after storing it, and to slowly specify a scene), and a still image. The method of selecting a moving image is, for example, a method of accumulating a few seconds before and after the remote control is pressed, or a method of storing the corresponding
There is a method of accumulating an OP (Group Of Picture). In addition to the method of determining the scene using the stored video content, a method of determining the scene in real time while watching a program is also possible.

The following is an example of determining this scene. (Example) A user is watching a drama and has a strong interest in the scenery (such as a row of cherry trees) reflected in the drama. Therefore, when the user wants map information of a place where the scenery can be viewed, the user selects the scene in real time with a remote controller, or temporarily stores the video, reproduces and selects the video.

[T3: Selection of User Request] Controller A
Displays a menu on the display device and allows the user to select the following. (1) Selection of a portion of a certain scene in a program for which additional information is desired with respect to the video content stored in the storage device. (2) In a certain scene in the program specified in (1),
Choice of what information you want. The user determines a certain scene in the program for which additional information is desired from the displayed menu, and further selects a user request for what kind of information is desired.
D is determined (provided that only one user request can be selected). In addition, it is also possible to divide the scene selected for the scene selection of (1) into M × N and select a location in the scene (see FIG. 4).

[T4: Acquisition of Time Stamp] The control device A acquires the time stamp of the scene specified at t3. The time stamp to be acquired is a relative time to the scene selected by the user, based on the start time of the program as described above. For example, if the elapsed time from the start time of the program to the selected scene is 40 minutes and 32 seconds, the time stamp is 2432 (seconds) when expressed in seconds.

[T5: Transmission of User Request Data] The control device A transmits the program identification identifier of the program including the scene selected at t3, the position information obtained at t3, the user request ID determined at t3, The user request data is obtained from the time stamp acquired at t4 and the personal information (terminal ID, user ID, password, IC card information of the receiver (tuner) by the conditional access system, etc.) previously stored in the receiver 1. (= Additional information request, see FIG. 6) and transmit it to the service provider. As shown in FIG. 6, the user request data includes a program identification identifier, a time stamp, a user request ID, personal information, and location information. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the user selects a scene from the menu screen of the receiver 1, makes no selection of a scene location, and wants to know location information (map information) as a user request (FIG. 5). ,
This is an example of user request data generated when the user request ID is determined to be “00” (provided that the fields of personal information are a user ID (ohnuma) and a password (yys).
s003) is an example).

Here, the flow of generating the user request data from t3 to t5 is shown in FIG. 7 and will be briefly described.

First, a program identification identifier and position information are obtained from a program selected by the user or a scene in the program. Next, a user request ID for the selected scene is obtained (step S101). Next, a time stamp of the selected scene is obtained (step S102).
Then, the personal information stored in the receiver 1 is obtained,
User request data is generated using the program identification identifier, the position information, and the user request ID (step S103).

Next, the processing on the service provider side will be described with reference to FIG.

[T6: Judgment of Request, Personal Authentication] Controller B
Is a program identification identifier from the received user request data,
The time stamp, user request ID, personal information, and position information are extracted. If personal authentication is required, authentication is performed using the extracted personal information. Further, the service provider can perform a charging process such as collecting an information provision fee from the user by managing the user's personal information and usage history.

[T7: Search Request] The control device B transmits a program identification identifier, a time stamp, a user request ID, and position information to the additional information key search device. [T8: Search for additional information key] The additional information key search device specifies a program by a program specifying identifier and selects an additional information key DB for the program. Further, the selected additional information key DB is searched using the time stamp, the user request ID, and the position information as search keys. If the search is successful, the DBID and the additional information key are obtained.

[T9: Transmission of Search Result] The additional information key search device transmits the DBID and the additional information key to the control device B. [T10: Search request] The control device B sends the DBI received from the additional information key search device to the additional information search device.
D and the additional information key are transmitted.

[T11: Retrieval of Additional Information] The additional information retrieval device performs the additional information DB to be retrieved using the DBID.
Is selected, and the additional information is searched from the additional information DB using the additional information key as a search key. If the search is successful, additional information stored in the additional information DB is obtained.
In addition, in the additional information key DB, a plurality of sets of the DBID and the additional information key may be searched, and in such a case, the results can be summarized.

[T12: Transmission of Search Result] The additional information search device transmits the additional information to the control device B. [T13: Information Arrangement] The control device B processes the additional information received from the additional information search device into a format that can be displayed by the receiver 1 of the user. [T14: Transmission of Additional Information] The control device B executes the above-mentioned t13
Is transmitted to the control device A.

The service provider is provided with an additional information key management device and an additional information management device.
In addition to managing the additional information key DB and the additional information DB, for example, it is possible to collect information using a public network for maintenance and updating of the DB. In addition, the user,
If the additional information provided by the service provider is information provided by the content holder, for example, a request for further additional information or a commercial transaction may be performed on the content holder by using link information to the content holder. It is possible.

Here, a specific example of the processing in the search on the service provider side from t6 to t14 will be described with reference to FIG. The example shown in FIG. 8 is an example when the service provider receives the user request data shown in the example of FIG. 6 from the user.

From the user request data, the program identification identifier: “△ XX”, the time stamp: “2432”, the user request ID: “00”, and the personal information: “ohnuma, y”
yss003 ”and position information:“ none ”are extracted and transmitted to the additional information key search device (step S111, FIG. 1:
t6, t7).

Next, the additional information search key search device specifies the program of the broadcast station requested by the user by using the program specifying identifier: “△ OO”, and adds the additional information key D of the program.
Select B. Further, a time stamp: “2432”
Then, the DBID of the additional information DB and the additional information key are acquired from the additional information key DB using the user request ID: “00” (step S112, corresponding to FIGS. 1 and 8). Here, the DBID of the map information DB: “00” and the additional information key: “XX, Chuo-ku, Tokyo” are obtained.

Next, the control device B sets the DBID: "00".
And the additional information key: "XX, Chuo-ku, Tokyo" to the additional information search device (step S113, FIG. 1: corresponds to t10). Since the DBID is "00", the additional information search device selects the map information DB as the additional information DB, and uses the additional information key: "XX, Chuo-ku, Tokyo" to generate the map information D.
B to search for the corresponding additional information, and transmits the search result to the control device B (step S114, FIG. 1: t11, t1).
2). Then, the control device B transmits the map information (map,
GPS information) can be acquired as additional information, processed into a format that can be displayed by the receiver 1, and transmitted to the control device A (step S115, corresponding to FIG. 1: t13 and t14).

In the above-described embodiment, the user can obtain the additional information by requesting the service provider for the additional information each time the user wants the additional information. On the other hand, as another embodiment, the service provider has high popularity,
That is, additional information (common additional information) frequently requested by a user who views the program may be broadcast together with the program in advance. In this way, the user receives the additional information that many users will commonly request, and there is no need to request the additional information from the service provider using the public network. .

In the present embodiment, a set of information stored in an additional information key DB of a service provider and additional information related thereto (defined as local additional information) is broadcast together with a program, and the receiver 1 side And stores the local additional information received in the storage device. Then, a primary search for the additional information is performed on the local additional information accumulated before the request for the additional information is made to the service provider. If the desired additional information is found, the primary information is displayed. After the primary search, it is possible to make a request to request the service provider for additional information. The local additional information includes a time stamp, a user request ID, and additional information, and the time stamp and the additional information are associated with each other.

Here, the primary search on the receiver 1 side will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a processing flow of the primary search on the receiver 1 side. FIG.
0 indicates a conceptual diagram of the primary search.

First, a search (primary search) is performed on the local additional information stored in the receiver 1 by matching the time stamp and the user request ID, and the additional information associated therewith is searched (FIG. 9: Step S121,
Figure 10 :). Next, it is determined whether the primary search is successful (FIG. 9: step S122).

If it is determined in step S122 that the primary search has been successful (if there is any corresponding additional information in the local additional information), the display device on the receiver 1 side reads the local additional information in the local additional information. The additional information is displayed (FIG. 9: step S123). By the judgment of step S122,
When it is determined that the primary search has failed (when there is no corresponding additional information in the local additional information), the user request data is transmitted to the service provider (FIG. 9: step S124, FIG. 10 :). Then, the additional information is received from the service provider and displayed on the display device (FIG. 9:
Step S125).

Each operation flow described above is an example, and is not limited to the above processing flow.
In the above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design and the like within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention. It is.

[0052]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a user can easily acquire additional information having a high added value relating to a program. Further, according to the present invention, the broadcasting station does not need to collect a lot of information related to the program to be broadcast and broadcast it together with the program. Also, the program production cost can be suppressed by creating the additional information key DB by a service provider having an information providing device. Further, according to the present invention, a business provided with an information providing device can obtain an information providing fee by providing additional information to a user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a program-related information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an additional information DB according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an additional information key DB according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating position information according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user request ID and a user request according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an example of user request data according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of generating user request data according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating additional information retrieval according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a processing flowchart of a primary search on the receiver side of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a primary search on the receiver side according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Receiver 2 ... Transmitter (broadcasting equipment) 3 ... Information providing equipment (information providing apparatus) 4 ... Server (server computer)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 7/173 610 640 // H04N 5/76 (72) Inventor Takayuki Nakao Toyosu 3-chome, Koto-ku, Tokyo No. 3 in NTT Data Corporation (72) Inventor Riki Ohori 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo Inside NTT Data Corporation (72) Inventor Saito Chapter 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo F-term in NTT Data Corporation (reference) 5C052 AA01 AB04 AB05 AC02 AC08 CC01 DD04 DD08 5C063 AA01 AB03 AC01 AC10 CA23 CA36 DA03 DA07 DA13 DB09 5C064 BA01 BA07 BB10 BC18 BC23 BC25 BD02 BD08 BD13

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A program broadcasting system comprising a broadcasting device for broadcasting a program and a receiver for receiving the program, wherein additional information on the program is stored, and in response to a request from a user of the receiver. The broadcasting device further includes an information providing device that provides the additional information, wherein the broadcasting device transmits a program specifying identifier for specifying the program when broadcasting the program, and the receiver includes: When the user receives a selection of a scene from which the user desires to acquire additional information, the user sends an additional information request including the program identification identifier for identifying the program and information for identifying the selected scene. A program-related information providing system, wherein the information providing device transmits corresponding additional information to the receiver in response to the received additional information request. 2. When broadcasting a program, the broadcasting device broadcasts common additional information frequently requested by a user who views the program in association with a specific scene of the program, and the receiver And a storage unit for storing the common additional information. Upon receiving a request for additional information from a user, the common additional information stored in the storage unit is searched, and the corresponding common additional information is stored. The method according to claim 1, wherein the common additional information is output in the case, and the additional information request is transmitted to the information providing apparatus when the corresponding additional information is not stored in the storage device. Program related information providing system. 3. A receiver for receiving a program broadcasted from a broadcast device and a program identification identifier for identifying the program, and transmitting predetermined information to an information providing apparatus to acquire additional information related to the program. Means for extracting a program identification identifier of a program selected by the user, means for receiving input of user request information indicating a type of additional information relating to a program requested by the user, and an individual for specifying the user Means for transmitting an additional information request including the program identification identifier and the user request information together with the information to the information providing apparatus; and transmitting the additional information returned from the information providing apparatus in response to the transmission of the additional information. Receiving means. 4. The receiver comprises: means for specifying a relative time to a scene selected by the user with reference to the received program start time; means for specifying position information in the scene selected by the user. The receiver according to claim 3, further comprising: transmitting the relative time and the position information to the information providing device by including the relative time and the position information in the additional information request. 5. An information providing apparatus for returning additional information related to a program in response to an additional information request transmitted from a receiver for receiving a broadcasted program, wherein the additional information request includes a program start time. Relative to the scene selected by the user, a program specifying identifier for specifying a broadcast program, position information in the scene selected by the user, and usage corresponding to the type of information related to the scene. Requester ID
The information providing apparatus includes a plurality of additional information DBs each storing additional information classified according to a predetermined category, and is provided for each program to be broadcast.
A set of a database ID for selecting the additional information DB and an additional information key for specifying the additional information stored in the additional information DB is stored in the additional information key DB stored for each of the relative time and the user request ID. When the additional information request is received, the program identification identifier, the relative time, the position information, and the user request I are received from the additional information request.
An information providing apparatus, wherein D and personal information are extracted, a received program is specified by the program specifying identifier, and an additional information key DB for the program is selected. 6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selected additional information key DB is a database ID for selecting the additional information DB using the relative time, the user request ID, and the position information as search keys. And searching for an additional information key to be searched using the database ID, and searching for additional information from the selected additional information DB using the additional information key as a search key. The information providing device according to claim 5, wherein