JP2006352438A - Broadcast receiving terminal, and system and method for gathering audience information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve precision of an audience rating survey of a broadcast for a mobile terminal and to protect privacy. <P>SOLUTION: A broadcast receiving terminal (4) gathers audience information and transmits the information to a communication device (25) on a network (24). A dedicated survey machine is not necessary, so it does not cost much to increase survey samples and reliability of survey precision can be improved. In addition, the broadcast receiving terminal (4) displays choices of whether a user participates in the audience rating survey, receives a choosing operation that the user does for a choice, holds received choosing operation information of the user, and allows a gathering means to gather audience states and a transmitting means to transmit them only when the held choosing operation information indicates that the user participates in the audience rating survey. Further, the privacy of a user who does not desire to participate in the audience rating survey can be protected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving terminal, a viewing information collection system, and a viewing information collection method. Specifically, the present invention relates to, for example, a portable broadcast receiving terminal having a receiving function of a digital data broadcasting service by satellite or terrestrial waves, and a viewing information collecting system and a viewing information collecting method for examining “viewing status” of each terminal.

  Audience rating is a measure of how many households and people watch TV programs and commercial broadcasts. The actual audience rating is the result of a sample survey based on statistical theory. For example, in the case of the current terrestrial analog broadcasting, there are a total of 6,600 households in 27 districts nationwide (in the Kanto, Kansai, and Nagoya districts). This is only a sampling result of 600 households each (200 households in other areas) (thus including considerable errors), but this audience rating is lacking for commercial transactions (advertisement transactions) between advertisers, advertising companies and television stations. In order to become a basic material that cannot be used, accurate survey results that are more in line with actual viewing conditions are being sought.

  Outline the basics of the current audience rating survey (applied to terrestrial analog broadcasting). Hereinafter, this current audience rating survey will be referred to as a basic survey or a basic audience rating survey for convenience.

  Broadcasting refers to a service that “broadcasts” arbitrary information using radio waves or electrical signals as a medium. That is, it is a service that performs one-to-many electrical communication (unidirectional communication) unlike one-to-one opposing communication (bidirectional communication) such as a telephone. Thus, since the broadcast is unidirectional communication, it is impossible to grasp the reception status of the terminal on the broadcast distribution side.

  In the basic survey, a dedicated survey machine (people meter or online meter) will be installed at the sample household. This survey machine collects the viewing status (channel number, viewing start time, end time, and viewer identification information) of the broadcast receiver at the sample household, and also regularly (such as early morning every day) It has a function of automatically dialing up and uploading collected data via a telephone line.

  In the basic survey, a diary questionnaire survey by writing is also used, but the description is omitted because it is not directly related to the present invention.

  Now, in the above basic survey, a dedicated survey machine must be installed in each household. In order to obtain accurate survey results, it is necessary to increase the number of samples, that is, increase the number of installed survey machines, but this is not practical because it requires enormous costs.

  On the other hand, terrestrial analog broadcasting is shifting to digital data broadcasting using satellites and terrestrial waves (hereinafter simply referred to as “digital broadcasting”), and in the near future (July 24, 2011) Is scheduled to end.

  Digital broadcasting is “broadcasting”, as is terrestrial analog broadcasting. Therefore, the broadcast data is not changed in that it is “broadcast” using radio waves and electrical signals as a medium, but a digital broadcast receiving terminal has a one-to-one opposing communication (bidirectional communication) function. This is different from the receiving terminal for terrestrial analog broadcasting.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a BS digital broadcast receiver that can receive broadcast data from a broadcast satellite and output it to a television monitor, and can transmit necessary information to a customer center via an “uplink”. Are listed. The “required information” includes audience rating data.

That is, this BS digital broadcast receiver collects the selection status of the broadcast channel by remote control operation, the viewing start time and end time of the channel, and transmits the collected result to the customer center via the “uplink”. It is possible to collect all audience rating data of all households where this BS digital broadcasting receiver is installed without requiring a dedicated survey machine, and a highly accurate audience rating survey. It can be performed.
JP 2002-271286 A

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 cannot be applied to a portable digital broadcast receiving terminal (for example, a mobile phone with a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving function) as it is. In the BS digital broadcast receiver described in Patent Document 1, identification as to whether or not it is a viewer rating collaborator is performed based on the information of the IC card inserted into the receiver. This is because the receiving terminal does not have such an IC card reading function (such as an insertion slot).

  For this reason, when the technique described in Patent Document 1 is applied to a portable digital broadcast receiving terminal as it is, it is impossible to identify whether or not it is a cooperator of the audience rating survey. Will be handled as a survey target (100% survey). However, 100% survey is preferable because it provides highly accurate survey results, but information such as who viewed which broadcast belongs to the privacy of individuals, so privacy protection There are the above problems.

  In particular, terrestrial digital broadcasting has attractiveness that is not available in current terrestrial analog broadcasting and satellite digital broadcasting in broadcasting for mobile devices (simple video broadcasting), and future development is highly expected. There is a need for a technology that balances the improvement of audience rating surveys for mobile terminals and privacy protection.

  Therefore, the present invention is to provide a technology that achieves both improvement in the accuracy of the audience rating survey of broadcasting for portable terminals and privacy protection.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first receiving means for receiving the viewing survey information, the second receiving means for receiving the broadcast signal, and the viewing situation by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means. Viewing status storage means for storing, display means for displaying options for selecting participation / nonparticipation in audience rating survey, accepting means for accepting a user's selection operation for the options, and user accepted by the accepting means A holding means for holding the selection operation information, and information stored in the viewing status storage means only when the selection operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey. A broadcast receiving terminal comprising a transmitting means for transmitting via a communication line.
The invention according to claim 2 is a viewing information collection system including a broadcast receiving terminal and a viewing information management device connected via a wireless communication line, wherein the broadcast receiving terminal stores identification information of the terminal An identification information storage means, a first receiving means for receiving viewing survey information, a second receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal, and a viewing situation by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means are stored. Viewing status storage means, display means for displaying choices for selecting participation / nonparticipation in audience rating survey, accepting means for accepting a user's selection operation for the choices, and user selection accepted by the accepting means Holding means for holding operation information, and the viewing situation only when the selected operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey Transmission means for transmitting information stored in the storage means via a wireless communication line, wherein the viewing information management device receives the identification information and the viewing situation transmitted by the transmission means. And a recording means for recording the identification information received by the third receiving means in association with the viewing situation.
The invention according to claim 3 is a viewing information collecting method performed by a broadcast receiving terminal and a viewing information management apparatus connected via a wireless communication line, wherein the broadcast receiving terminal receives viewing survey information. 1 receiving step, a second receiving step for receiving a broadcast signal, a viewing status storage step for storing a viewing status by receiving a broadcast signal in the second receiving step in a first memory, A display step for displaying choices for selecting participation / non-participation in the rate survey, a reception step for accepting a user's selection operation for the choices, and a holding step for retaining the user's selection operation information accepted in the acceptance step And the viewing situation only when the selection operation information held in the holding step indicates participation in the audience rating survey. A transmission step of transmitting the information stored in the storing step via a wireless communication line, wherein the viewing information management device receives the identification information and the viewing situation transmitted in the transmission step. A viewing information collecting method comprising: a receiving step; and a recording step of associating the identification information received in the third receiving step with a viewing state and recording it in a database.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the first receiving means for receiving the viewing survey information, the second receiving means for receiving the broadcast signal, and the viewing situation by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means. Is stored in the first memory, display means for displaying options for selecting participation / non-participation in the audience rating survey, receiving means for accepting a user's selection operation for the options, accepted by the accepting means Holding means for holding the selected user's selection operation information, information stored in the viewing status storage means only when the selection operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey Is a viewing information transmission program that is executed as a transmission means for transmitting a message via a wireless communication line.

In the present invention, the position specified by the broadcast receiving terminal and the viewing situation are stored, and the viewing situation can be transmitted to the viewing information management apparatus when it exists in the target area of the audience rating survey.
Therefore, a dedicated survey machine (people meter or online meter) such as the basic audience rating survey at the beginning is not required. Therefore, the number of survey samples can be increased without cost, and the reliability of the survey accuracy can be improved.
In addition, in the present invention, an option for selecting participation / nonparticipation in the audience rating survey is displayed, and a user's selection operation for the option is received, and the received user's selection operation information is held and held. Only when the selected selection operation information indicates participation in the audience rating survey, the collection means allows the viewing status collection operation and the transmission means to transmit, so it is desired to participate in the audience rating survey. It is possible to protect the privacy of users who do not.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking application to terrestrial digital data broadcasting as an example. It should be noted that the specific details or examples in the following description and the illustrations of numerical values, character strings, and other symbols are only for reference in order to clarify the idea of the present invention, and the present invention may be used in whole or in part. Obviously, the idea of the invention is not limited. In addition, a well-known technique, a well-known procedure, a well-known architecture, a well-known circuit configuration, and the like (hereinafter, “well-known matter”) are not described in detail, but this is also to simplify the description. Not all or part of the matter is intentionally excluded. Such well-known matters are known to those skilled in the art at the time of filing of the present invention, and are naturally included in the following description.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a viewing information collection system described as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. In this figure, a broadcast station 1 produces a broadcast program of terrestrial digital broadcasting (ISDB-T: Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial) standard, and the broadcast signal 2 is transmitted to a terrestrial digital broadcast antenna. 3 is simultaneously distributed to terrestrial digital broadcast receiving terminals in the area. As will be described later, the broadcast signal 2 includes broadcast data such as a digital broadcast program, and also includes data for instructing the start and end of the audience rating survey as the viewing survey information. .

  The terrestrial digital broadcast receiving terminal has a “stationary” receiver (dedicated receiver or receiver with a built-in TV monitor or a receiver with a recording function) and a “mobile” receiver, which are compatible with terrestrial digital broadcasting. Divided into machines. The stationary type is exclusively used by being installed at home or the like, and the mobile type is similarly used by being installed on a moving body such as a vehicle.

  This mobile type includes a portable digital broadcast receiving terminal, but the portable digital broadcast receiving terminal is classified into a special category in terms of the reception form of the terrestrial digital broadcast program.

  That is, in terrestrial digital broadcasting, 13 transmission units called “segments” are multiplexed in the 6 MHz frequency band allocated to one broadcaster, and the broadcaster combines these segments. A normal-quality television program and a high-definition television program (a so-called high-vision program) are broadcast, and a simple moving image program is broadcast using a specific segment (seventh segment).

  Portable digital broadcast receiving terminals are dedicated to receiving “simple video programs”, and in this respect are fundamentally different from stationary and mobile types that can receive normal-quality television programs or high-quality television programs. .

  A cellular phone 4 in the figure is a representative of a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving terminal. In particular, it is an example of a portable digital broadcast receiving terminal having a function of receiving a “simple moving picture program”. Note that the “portable type” is merely for convenience of explanation. In short, it is only necessary to be a receiving terminal for the “simple moving picture program”, and it is not limited to its mobility and installation form. For example, it may be used fixedly or may be mounted on a moving body such as a vehicle.

  The mobile phone 4 includes, but is not limited to, a foldable lid portion 5 and a main body portion 6, and the illustrated state shows a state when the lid portion 5 is opened (folded open state). . In the folded open state, a main display unit 7 such as a liquid crystal display or an organic display having a size of about several inches and an earpiece 8 are provided on the front surface side of the cover unit 5. A sub display unit 9 having a size smaller than that of the main display unit 7 is provided.

  On the front side of the main body 6, there are provided an on-hook button 10, an off-hook button 11, a menu button 12, a television reception button 13, a cursor key 14, etc., as well as numeric keys 0 to 9 and a sharp (#) and an asterisk. A numeric keypad group 15 consisting of symbol keys such as (*) and a mouthpiece 16 are arranged. A battery replacement lid (not shown) is provided on the back side of the main body 6, and a terminal 17 for connecting a charger (not shown) is provided on the lower end of the main body 6.

  This mobile phone 4 can perform voice communication (voice call) with another telephone terminal (mobile phone 21 or subscriber phone 22) via the antenna 19 of the nearest base station 18 and the telephone line network 20. In addition to being possible, it is also possible to access a wide area communication network 24 including the Internet via a conversion device 23 connected to the base station 18, and further distributed simultaneously from the terrestrial digital broadcasting antenna 3. The 7th segment signal (broadcast signal of “simple moving picture program”) of the terrestrial digital broadcast signal is received, the program screen is displayed on the main display unit 7, and the audio information is amplified from the mouthpiece 8. It is possible to output and view the “simple video program”. That is, the cellular phone 4 can be used as a telephone, as an Internet terminal, and as a simple moving picture receiving terminal for terrestrial digital broadcasting.

  Here, “Internet” refers to a large-scale network in which TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) packet-switched networks are interconnected on a global scale. An enormous number of various resources are connected on the Internet. For example, the audience rating information management server 25 in the figure is one of the resources.

  This audience rating information management server 25 is installed at a customer center 26 operated by a broadcaster 1 operator, an audience rating survey company, or other corporations, or a place related thereto. The audience rating information management server 25 is connected to a user database 27 that manages user information of audience rating surveys and an audience rating database 28 that stores the results of audience rating surveys. The viewing information (viewing situation) that is appropriately uploaded (transmitted) from the cellular phone 4 of the audience rating survey participant via the wide area communication network 24 is collected, and the audience rating survey participant's The user information is specified, and the user information and the viewing information sent from the mobile phone 4 are associated with each other and stored in the audience rating database 28.

  FIG. 2 is a conceptual block diagram of the mobile phone 4. In this figure, a cellular phone 4 includes a telephone transmission / reception antenna 29, a telephone transmission / reception radio frequency (RF) block 30, a terrestrial digital broadcast reception antenna 31, and a tuner for selecting a terrestrial digital broadcast channel. 32, an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) demodulator 33 that demodulates a specific segment (seventh segment) of terrestrial digital broadcast, a video decoder 34 of terrestrial digital broadcast, It includes an audio decoding unit 35, a terrestrial digital broadcasting data decoding unit 36, and the various buttons described above (on-hook button 10, off-hook button 11, menu button 12, television reception button 13, cursor key 14 and numeric keypad group 15). A control program for controlling the operation unit 37 and the overall operation of the mobile phone 4 A non-volatile storage unit (hereinafter referred to as ROM 38) for storing a program, and various functions of the mobile phone 4 by executing this control program, that is, a telephone function, an Internet terminal function, a terrestrial digital broadcast simple moving picture program receiving function, etc. Control unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU 39), a volatile storage unit (hereinafter referred to as RAM 40) used as a work area of CPU 39, and user-specific information (for example, a telephone number which is terminal identification information and an audience rating described later) A non-volatile storage unit (hereinafter referred to as PROM 41) that rewrites and stores non-volatile information such as survey participation information, and a display driver 42 that drives the main display unit 7 and the sub display unit 9 by output from the CPU 39; The microphone 43 provided in the mouthpiece 17 and the microphone amplifier 4 for amplifying the sound picked up by the microphone 43 The A / D 45 that converts the signal amplified by the microphone amplifier 44 into a digital signal and outputs it to the CPU, and the sound output from the CPU 39 (the incoming voice of the telephone or the terrestrial digital broadcast program) is converted into an analog signal. D / A 46, a speaker amplifier 47 that amplifies the output of D / A 46, a speaker 48 that is driven by the output of the speaker amplifier 47 and is provided near the mouthpiece 8, an AC adapter 49, and a rechargeable battery And a power supply IC 51 that receives a power supply from 50 and generates a power supply voltage necessary for the operation of each part of the mobile phone 4.

  In the configuration shown in the drawing, both the received voice and the voice of the terrestrial digital broadcast program are amplified from a speaker provided near the mouthpiece 8, but this is for convenience of explanation. Since the sound of the digital terrestrial broadcasting program is required to have a louder volume and better sound quality than the received voice, an amplifier or speaker of a system different from the received voice may be provided. Incidentally, many actual mobile phones have such a separate system configuration.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a storage space (memory map) of the mobile phone 4. In this figure, in the memory map 52, the storage space of the ROM 38, the storage space of the RAM 40, and the storage space of the PROM 41 are arranged in order from the head of the address, and the basic program (operating system) is stored in the storage space of the ROM 38. In addition, various control programs for realizing various functions of the mobile phone 4, that is, a telephone function, an Internet terminal function, a simple moving picture program receiving function of digital terrestrial broadcasting, and the like are stored. The CPU 39 reads out a basic program or a required control program from the ROM 38, loads it into the work area of the storage space of the RAM 40, and executes these programs, thereby making a simple moving picture of a telephone function, an Internet terminal function, or terrestrial digital broadcasting. Realize program reception function.

  A part of the storage space of the RAM 40 is used as a viewing information storage area 40a. This viewing information storage area 40a is a case where the mobile phone 4 functions as a simple moving picture program receiving terminal for terrestrial digital broadcasting, and the user of the mobile phone 4 participates in an audience rating survey for terrestrial digital broadcasting. When explicitly selected, information (channel, viewing start time and end time) regarding the viewing status of the terrestrial digital broadcast program is temporarily stored.

  The storage space of the PROM 41 has, for example, a user data area for storing user-specific data such as identification information (telephone number) of the mobile phone 4, and the user of the mobile phone 4 can view the audience rating of digital terrestrial broadcasting. It has an audience rating survey participation / non-existence information storage area 41a for storing "view rating survey participation / non-existence information" for clearly indicating whether or not to participate in the survey. Here, “when participation in audience rating survey is explicitly selected” refers to a state in which predetermined information is stored in the audience survey participation information storage area 41a. That is, if predetermined information (“participate” described later) is stored in the audience survey participation presence / absence information storage area 41a, the mobile phone 4 becomes a participation terminal for audience rating survey, and other information (“described later” “ If “Not participated”) is saved or no information is saved, the mobile phone 4 becomes a participation refusal terminal for audience rating survey.

  The point of this embodiment is that the user of the mobile phone 4 can arbitrarily and freely select the audience rating participation / participation refusal.

Hereinafter, this point will be specifically described.
First, the signal frame structure of a simple moving picture program of terrestrial digital broadcasting will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram showing a signal frame structure of a simple moving picture program of terrestrial digital broadcasting. In this figure, the signal frames of the simple video program are between the subdivided broadcast data frames F1, F2, F3, F4 and any broadcast data frame (in the figure, between the broadcast data frame F1 and the broadcast data frame F2, And at least a pair of flag data frames F5 and F6 inserted between the broadcast data frame F3 and the broadcast data frame F4. The contents of the simple video program (image information, audio information, and data information) are stored in the broadcast data frame, and the flag data frame F5 located on the time axis ahead of the pair of flag data frames F5 and F6 includes The flag indicating the start of the audience rating survey (view rating survey flag = 1) is stored, and the flag data frame F6 located on the time axis after the pair of flag data frames F5 and F6 is terminated. (View rating survey flag = 0) is stored. In this case, the broadcast program (broadcast data frames F2 to F3) sandwiched between the pair of flag data frames F5 and F6 is the target of the audience rating survey.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a simplified flowchart of a menu processing program which is one of the control programs executed by the CPU 39 of the mobile phone 4. This program is executed when the menu button 12 is pressed down by the user. When this program is started, a menu screen (not shown) is displayed on the main display unit 7.

  On the menu screen, various menu items related to the operation and setting of the mobile phone 4 and an end button are displayed. The user selects a desired menu item or selects an end button. When the menu item is selected, the CPU 39 executes processing related to the menu item, or when the end button is selected, the CPU 39 performs the illustrated menu processing according to the operation determination result of the end button (“YES” in step S12). After completion, the original state (the standby state of the mobile phone 4 or the viewing state of terrestrial digital television broadcasting) is restored.

  One of the menu items displayed on the menu screen is “view rating survey setting”. The user of the mobile phone 4 selects the menu item (viewing rate survey setting) when he / she wants to participate in the audience rating survey or refuses to participate.

  In response to this selection operation, the determination result of the audience rating survey setting becomes affirmative (“YES” in step S11), and the following audience rating survey setting process is executed.

  In this audience rating survey setting process, first, an audience rating survey setting screen is displayed on the main display section 7 (step S13).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a preferred example layout of the audience rating survey setting screen. In this figure, an audience rating survey setting screen 57 displayed on the main display unit 7 includes a title object 58 made up of, for example, an arbitrary character string (“audit rating survey setting” in the figure), and two option button controls. An option group control 59 including 59a and 59b, and two command button controls 60 and 61 (hereinafter referred to as a determination command button control 60 and a return command button control 61) respectively named “OK” and “RETURN”. Prepare.

  The option button controls 59a and 59b are publicly known controls in which one of them is in a check state (a state in which a circle figure is displayed in black) and the other is in a non-check state (a state in which the circle figure is displayed in white). is there. The value (Value) property of the option button controls 59a and 59b takes either a true value (True) or a false value (False), and is generally a true value in the checked state and a false value in the unchecked state. The value property of the option group control 59 has the control identification information (control ID) of the two option button controls 59a and 59b which is in the checked state.

  Here, for convenience, the control ID of the upper option button control 59a in the figure is “join” the character string, and the control ID of the lower option button control 59b in the figure is similarly “participated”. ”.

  As shown in the figure, when the upper option button control 59a is in the checked state and the lower option button control 59b is in the unchecked state, the value property of the option group control 59 includes the upper option button control 59a in the figure. Control ID, that is, the character string “join” is set.

  In the control program of FIG. 5 again, this control program determines the operation of the determination command button control 60 or the operation of the return command button control 61 (steps S14 and S15). If no button is operated, step S13 (viewing rate survey setting screen 57 display processing) and subsequent steps are repeated, but if the return command button control 61 is operated, step S12 (end of control program) When the determination command button control 60 is operated, the setting value of the audience rating survey setting screen 57, that is, the value property content of the option group control 59 (“participate” / “participate”) “No” ”is recorded in the audience rating participation participation information storage area 41a (see FIG. 3) of the PROM 41 (step S16), and then the process proceeds to step S12 (control program end determination process).

  Thus, according to the menu processing shown in the figure, a user who wishes to participate in the audience rating survey checks the option button control 59a on the upper side of the audience rating survey setting screen 57 and operates the decision command button control 60. Thus, predetermined information (“participate”) can be stored in the audience rating participation information storage area 41 a of the PROM 41. Alternatively, a user who does not wish to participate in the audience rating survey checks the option button control 59b on the lower side of the audience rating survey setting screen 57 and operates the decision command button control 60 to check whether the audience rating survey participation in the PROM 41 is present. Other information different from the above-mentioned predetermined information (“do not participate”) can be stored in the information storage area 41a.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a simplified flowchart of an audience rating survey processing program which is one of control programs executed by the CPU 39 of the mobile phone 4. This program is continuously executed while the mobile phone 4 is used as a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving terminal. That is, when the TV reception button 13 is operated by the user, the mobile phone 4 is switched to a TV viewing mode in which a simple terrestrial digital broadcast video program is displayed on the main display unit 7 and waits for an incoming call. The processing program is continuously executed during the television viewing mode.

  When the audience rating survey processing program is started, the process waits until a flag data frame (see flag data frame F5 in FIG. 4) in the received signal frame is detected. When a flag data frame is detected, viewing in the flag data frame is performed. It is determined whether or not the rate survey flag is in a state (= 1) indicating the start of audience rating survey (step S21). If it is not in a state indicating the start of the audience rating survey, it waits until the flag data frame in the received signal frame is detected again, while the audience rating survey flag in the flag data frame starts the audience rating survey. If it is in the state shown (= 1), it is next determined whether or not the mobile phone 4 is set to “participate” in the audience rating survey (step S22). This determination is made based on the information recorded in the audience rating participation information storage area 41a of the PROM 41. That is, if “participate” is recorded in the audience rating survey participation presence / absence information storage area 41a, it is determined that the mobile phone 4 is set to “participate” in the audience rating survey. (For example, “do not participate”) is recorded, or if no information is recorded, the mobile phone 4 is a participation refusal that is not set to “participate” in the audience rating survey. Judge.

  In the case of participation refusal, it waits until the flag data frame in the received signal frame is detected again, but in the case of audience rating participation, the viewing status of the current simple video program, for example, the channel number and the current time Are recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a of the RAM 40 (step S23), and then the change of the channel is determined (step S24). If the channel is changed, the current viewing status of the simple video program, for example, The channel number, the current time, etc. are recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a of the RAM 40 (step S23).

  On the other hand, if the channel is not changed, the flag data frame in the received signal frame is detected, and the audience rating survey flag in the flag data frame is in a state (= 0) indicating the end of the audience rating survey. It is determined whether or not (step S25).

  Then, when the audience rating survey flag is not in a state (= 0) indicating the end of the audience rating survey, the user performs a digital terrestrial broadcast reception termination operation (for example, a re-pressing operation of the TV reception button 13 or the like). If it is not a reception end operation, step S24 (channel change determination processing) is repeated again. However, in the case of a reception end operation, the current time is recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a of the RAM 40 (step S26). After S27), the viewing information recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a of the RAM 40 is uploaded to the viewing rate information management server 25 of the customer center 26 via the wide area communication network 24 (step S28).

  FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of viewing information recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a. In this figure, viewing information 62 is table data composed of a time field 62a and a program field 62b. The time field 62a records the time from the start of viewing to the end of viewing, and the program field 62b. The number of the channel viewed during the time is recorded. For example, in the illustrated example, viewing information of 4ch from 19:00 to 19:15, 10ch from 19:15 to 19:16, 4ch from 19:16 to 19:55, and 8ch from 19:55 to 20:00 It is recorded. From these information, the viewing trend of the user of the mobile phone 4, that is, viewing 4 channels for 15 minutes from 7 pm, switching to 10 channels for 1 minute, returning the channel to 4 again and viewing until 7:55 pm After that, it can be seen that 8 channels were watched from 7:55 pm to 8 pm and the viewing of the TV broadcast was finished at the same time.

  The viewing information uploaded from the mobile phone 4 to the viewing rate information management server 25 of the customer center 26 via the wide area communication network 24 is viewing information 62 in FIG. The audience rating information management server 25 of the customer center 26 receives the viewing information 62 from the mobile phone 4, and after user authentication and the like, processes it into a predetermined table and records it in the audience rating database 28.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a main part schematic flowchart of a control program executed by the audience rating information management server 25. This control program stands by until viewing information uploaded from a terminal such as the mobile phone 4 is received (step S31). When viewing information is received, first, identification information of the upload source terminal (such as the phone number of the mobile phone 4). ), The user database 27 is searched and the corresponding user code is extracted (step S32). Once the user code is extracted, the user code and the received viewing information are associated with each other and additionally recorded in the audience rating survey list in the audience rating database 28 (step S33), and then again in step S31 (reception of viewing information). Return to standby mode.

  FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of the audience rating survey list 63 recorded in the audience rating database 28 of the customer center 26. In this figure, the audience rating survey list 63 is table data including a title field 63a and a user code field 63b, a time field 63c, and a program field 63d for each user.

  The title field 63a stores a title character string including the audience rating survey date (Δ year ○ month × day) and the survey time range (19; 00 to 20:00). Further, the user code field 63b includes the title character string. The user code of each user who wishes to participate in the audience rating survey (“U *** 1”, “U *** 2”... For convenience in the figure) is stored.

  Here, when the user code of the user of the mobile phone 4 is “U *** 1”, the time field 63c and the program field 63d on the right side of the user code (“U *** 1”) The contents of the viewing information uploaded from the mobile phone 4 (viewing information 62 in FIG. 8) are transcribed.

  Specifically, in the same time field 63c and the same program field 63d, 4ch from 19:00 to 19:15, 10ch from 19:15 to 19:16, 4ch from 19:16 to 19:55, 19:55 To 20:00, viewing information of 8ch is transcribed. Based on these information, on the operator side of the customer center 26, the viewing trend of the corresponding user (user of U *** 1) of the mobile phone 4, that is, viewing 4 channels for 15 minutes from 7:00 pm, 10 channels for 1 minute Switch to 4 again, watch the channel again to 7:55 pm, watch 8 channels from 7:55 pm to 8 pm, and know that they have finished watching the TV broadcast at the same time Can do.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a preferable viewing information collecting system can be constructed by being applied to a portable broadcast receiving terminal represented by the cellular phone 4. The viewing information collection system is configured to display the viewing status from the audience rating survey start flag to the end flag inserted in the broadcast signal frame while viewing the television on the cellular phone 4. The collected viewing information 62 can be uploaded from the mobile phone 4 to the viewing rate information management server 25 of the customer center 26 when the viewing rate survey ends or the television viewing ends. Accordingly, viewing information of various broadcast receiving terminals represented by the mobile phone 4 can be collected and managed at the customer center 26. In collecting the information, a dedicated research machine (in the basic viewing rate survey described at the beginning ( No need for people meter or online meter). For this reason, it is possible to easily increase the number of terminals to be investigated without incurring costs, and it is possible to easily improve the reliability and accuracy of the investigation.

  In addition, in the viewing information collection system of this embodiment, it is possible to freely set whether to participate in the audience rating survey on the receiving terminal (mobile phone 4) side or not, that is, the survey. A user who does not participate in the user can easily open the audience rating survey setting screen 57 from the menu of the mobile phone 4, check the option button control 59b on the lower side, and press the enter button command control 60 to perform a simple operation. Since the audience rating can be rejected, there is no privacy problem.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a viewing information collection system of the present embodiment. 3 is a conceptual block diagram of a mobile phone 4. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a storage space (memory map) of the mobile phone 4. FIG. It is a simplified schematic diagram which shows the signal frame structure of the simple moving image program of terrestrial digital broadcasting. It is a figure which shows the simple flowchart of the menu processing program which is one of the control programs performed by CPU39 of the mobile telephone 4. FIG. It is a figure which shows a preferable example layout of an audience rating investigation setting screen. It is a figure which shows the simple flowchart of the audience rating investigation process program which is one of the control programs performed by CPU39 of the mobile telephone 4. FIG. It is a conceptual diagram of viewing information recorded in the viewing information storage area 40a. It is a figure which shows the principal part schematic flowchart of the control program performed with the audience rating information management server. 4 is a conceptual diagram of an audience rating survey list 63 recorded in an audience rating database 28 of a customer center 26. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

F5 flag data frame (viewing survey information)
F6 flag data frame (viewing survey information)
4 Mobile phone (broadcast receiving terminal)
24 Wide area communication network (wireless communication line)
25 audience rating information management server (viewing information management device, third receiving means)
28 audience rating database (recording means)
29 Antenna for transmitting and receiving telephones (transmission means)
30 RF block (transmission means)
31 Antenna for receiving terrestrial digital broadcast (first receiving means, second receiving means)
32 tuner (first receiving means, second receiving means)
39 CPU (first determination means, second determination means)
43 RAM (viewing status storage means, first memory)
44 PROM (identification information storage means)
57 audience rating survey setting screen (display means)
59a Option button control (reception means)
59b Option button control (accepting means)

Claims (4)

First receiving means for receiving viewing survey information;
Second receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal;
Viewing status storage means for storing the viewing status by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means;
A display means for displaying options for selecting participation / nonparticipation in the audience rating survey;
Accepting means for accepting a user's selection operation for the option;
Holding means for holding user selection operation information received by the receiving means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the information stored in the viewing status storage means via a wireless communication line only when the selection operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey; A broadcast receiving terminal characterized by comprising. A viewing information collecting system including a broadcast receiving terminal and a viewing information management device connected via a wireless communication line,
The broadcast receiving terminal is
Identification information storage means for storing identification information of the terminal;
First receiving means for receiving viewing survey information;
Second receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal;
Viewing status storage means for storing the viewing status by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means;
A display means for displaying options for selecting participation / nonparticipation in the audience rating survey;
Accepting means for accepting a user's selection operation for the option;
Holding means for holding user selection operation information received by the receiving means;
Transmitting means for transmitting information stored in the viewing status storage means via a wireless communication line only when the selection operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey; Prepared,
The viewing information management device includes:
Third receiving means for receiving the identification information and the viewing situation transmitted by the transmitting means;
A viewing information collecting system comprising: recording means for associating and recording the identification information received by the third receiving means and the viewing situation. A viewing information collecting method performed by a broadcast receiving terminal and a viewing information management device connected via a wireless communication line,
The broadcast receiving terminal is
A first receiving step of receiving viewing survey information;
A second receiving step of receiving a broadcast signal;
A viewing status storage step of storing the viewing status by receiving the broadcast signal in the second reception step in the first memory;
A display step for displaying options for selecting whether or not to participate in the audience rating survey;
A receiving step of accepting a user's selection operation for the option;
A holding step for holding the user's selection operation information received in the receiving step;
A transmission step of transmitting the information stored in the viewing status storage step via a wireless communication line only when the selection operation information held in the holding step indicates participation in the audience rating survey. Including
The viewing information management device includes:
A third receiving step for receiving the identification information and the viewing situation transmitted in the transmitting step;
A viewing information collecting method, comprising: a recording step of associating the identification information received in the third receiving step with the viewing state and recording it in a database. On the computer,
First receiving means for receiving viewing survey information;
Second receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal;
Viewing status storage means for storing the viewing status by receiving the broadcast signal by the second receiving means in the first memory;
Display means for displaying options for selecting participation / nonparticipation in audience rating survey,
Accepting means for accepting a user's selection operation for the option;
Holding means for holding the user's selection operation information received by the receiving means;
Only when the selection operation information held in the holding means indicates participation in the audience rating survey, the information stored in the viewing status storage means is executed as a transmission means for transmitting via a wireless communication line. A viewing information transmission program characterized in that the program is transmitted.

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