JP2009535882A - Sharing content between personal video recorders - Google Patents

Abstract

  The present invention relates generally to sharing content between personal video recorders. The present invention is a method for sharing broadcast content, comprising: receiving a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by a personal video recorder; and Checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person using the broadcast content, and transmitting the content to the user when the user is a legitimate person using the broadcast content. A method is provided. The present invention assists the user in accessing the broadcast content that the user has the right to use, and the broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the personal video recorder. On the other hand, by preventing illegal distribution of broadcast content recorded by the personal video recorder, it also helps protect the rights of the broadcast content broadcaster.

Description

  The present invention relates generally to personal video recording, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to digital rights management for sharing content between PVRs.

  Philips Electronics has marketed a personal video recorder (PVR) with TiVo (R) service. The PVR allows the user to pause, rewind, slow motion playback, and even fast forward and rewind the live TV. Fast forwarding with “SmartScan” allows the user to select what to watch or skip.

  The PVR is compatible with direct broadcast satellites, cables and antennas. The PVR digital video recorder is connected between a TV set and a cable box (digital or analog), a satellite receiver, and / or an antenna. Via the user's existing telephone line, the PVR downloads the latest program information such as an electronic program guide (EPG) from the TiVo service. The service also allows users to manage and generate their own TV schedules through automatic digital recording of favorite programs stored on a hard disk drive (HDD) without explicitly setting a timer. It can be so.

  International patent application publication WO02080552 for a virtual personalized TV channel has been filed on March 15, 2002 by Koninkl Philips Electronics NV. The document relates to a data management system that generates a personalized content information channel for an end user by allowing a plurality of cascaded content information segments to be automatically played.

  These segments or programs are selected based on criteria that are independent of the respective resources of each one of these segments. The cascade connection allows substantially continuous or continuous playback as if the personalized channel is a conventional TV or radio channel. Each resource, for example, each TV channel with a live broadcast, and playback of at least one particular program on a personalized channel or recorded content information (eg on a DVD in a PVR or DVD jukebox or (E.g., stored on CD or solid-state memory, or video-on-demand service, etc.) with a recording device for time shifting to match the cascade of programs.

  The user can also allow more than two favorite programs being broadcast to be recorded simultaneously. However, the user's PVR capability sometimes meets the user's need to record more than two favorite programs because of the PVR's limited tuner or because of the PVR's limited storage capacity. For that, it may not be enough.

  The present invention provides users with greater flexibility and enjoyable viewing experience by allowing users to share broadcast content between PVRs.

  One object of the present invention is a method for sharing broadcast content, comprising: receiving a request from a user to share broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by PVR with the user; Checking whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content, and transmitting the content to the user if the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content; It is in providing the method which has.

  In one embodiment according to the present invention, the method further includes a step of notifying the user of rejection of sharing of the broadcast content when the user is not a valid person who views the broadcast content.

  The present invention can assist the user in accessing the broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the PVR when the user has the right to view the broadcast content. On the other hand, by preventing illegal distribution of the broadcast content in which the PVR is recorded, it also supports protecting the rights of the broadcast content broadcaster.

  In another embodiment according to the present invention, the step of checking comprises: checking if the broadcast content is from a free channel; and if the broadcast content is from a free channel, Determining that the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.

  The checking step may further include a step of checking whether the request includes authentication information indicating that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content.

  The checking step also includes generating an authentication request for checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, and transmitting the authentication request to a broadcaster of the broadcast content. And a step of receiving an authentication response from the broadcaster, and a step of determining whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content according to the authentication response. .

  In yet another embodiment according to the present invention, the broadcast content is scheduled to be broadcast and determining whether the broadcast content is scheduled to be recorded by the PVR; If so, the method further comprises the step of recording the broadcast content. If the broadcast content is not scheduled to be recorded by the PVR, the recording of the broadcast content is scheduled.

  Another object of the present invention is a computer program for sharing broadcast content, for receiving a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by PVR. A code, a code for checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, and if the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, A computer program comprising: a code for transmitting a message.

  Still another object of the present invention is an apparatus for sharing broadcast content for receiving a request from a user to share broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by PVR with the user. A receiver, a checker for checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, and if the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, It is to provide an apparatus having a transmitter for transmitting content.

  Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tuner for receiving a transport stream including broadcast content, a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the transport stream into packetized basic streams, and the packetization. A decoder for decoding the received basic stream, a storage medium for storing the packetized basic stream, and an apparatus for sharing broadcast content, recorded or recorded by the user from the PVR A receiver for receiving a request for sharing broadcast content to be performed with the user, a checker for checking whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content, and the user Is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, Having a device comprising a transmitter, a for transmitting Ceiling is to provide a PVR.

  These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments and examples described hereinafter, and further with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to indicate similar parts.

  Further explanation is given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a process of sharing broadcast content in an embodiment according to the present invention.

  First, a request for sharing broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the PVR with the user is received from the user (S110).

The request for sharing the broadcast content includes content information of the broadcast content. For example, the content information may be service information (SI). In DVB-SI, there is a table called EIT for describing each episode broadcast in the same channel. Each episode is indicated by a unique event ID, and the start time and duration are also shown for each episode (event). As shown in Format 1, the DVB-SI also finds the name of the event and other information (parent rate, producer, etc.).

  The content information may be an ECG (electronic content guide) in TVAnytime, and the ECG is defined to present usable content to the consumer, and enables selection of desired content. Search conditions for broadcast content include content identification information (eg, title, ISDN), channel ID or other information (eg, provider, date, media type, rating, actor / director, etc.).

  The request for sharing the broadcast content may also include authentication information indicating that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content. For example, it may be certification information indicating the user's right to view the broadcast content of the channel for a specific period. For example, if the user has signed a contract with HNTV for 2006, the user may obtain certification information about the contract that proves the user's rights.

  The request may be sent by the user over the network. The network may be any type of communication network. For example, it may be a network implemented according to standards such as IEEE802.3, Category 5 Ethernet (registered trademark) 10/100, HPNA, Home Plug, IEEE802.11x, IEEE1394, and USB1.1 / 2.0.

  Secondly, it is checked whether or not the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content (S120).

  Checking whether a user is a legitimate person watching or recording broadcast content recorded by PVR protects the broadcast content from being redistributed to unauthorized users .

  The process of S120 is described in detail in FIG.

  If it is determined in S120 that the user is not a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content, the user is notified that the user's request to share the broadcast content has been rejected (S180). ).

  If the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content, the broadcast content is found in the next step (S130). There are three situations for content.

  The first situation is a situation in which broadcast content is stored on a PVR storage medium (S140). The broadcast content is acquired from the storage medium and transmitted to the user through the network (S170). The transmission technique may be streaming, or may be other known transfer techniques such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and the like.

  Different PVRs may record broadcast content in different formats, such as a high resolution format or a standard resolution format. There is a need to include the step of converting the broadcast content into a format compatible with the user's display device.

  The second situation is a situation where broadcast content is being broadcast (S150). In this case, it is determined whether or not the broadcast content is recorded in the PVR storage medium (S152). There are two types of storage media: volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory is memory that loses its contents when the computer or hardware device loses power, such as RAM (as a buffer). Nonvolatile memory, sometimes abbreviated as NVRAM, is a memory that retains its contents even when power is lost, such as a hard disk, DVD RW, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory.

  When the broadcast content is recorded on the PVR storage medium, the broadcast content is transmitted to the user through the network (S170).

  If the broadcast content is not recorded, it is checked whether the PVR is in an idle state (S154). If so, the content is recorded according to the content information (S156).

  To record a program, the PVR allocates a tuner to the client, allocates space on the storage medium for recording the broadcast content, and places the broadcast content on the storage medium for the time scheduled for the broadcast content. May need to be saved. The PVR may have a function to resolve any conflicts that occur when assigning available tuners or allocating space for recording broadcast content.

  If the PVR is not idle, the user is notified that the user's request to share the broadcast content has been rejected (S180).

  The third situation is a situation where broadcast content is scheduled to be broadcast (S160). In this case, it is determined whether or not the broadcast content is already scheduled by the owner of the PVR so that the broadcast content is recorded in the PVR at the time when the broadcast content is broadcast (S162). If so, the content is recorded according to the content information at the time when the content is broadcast (S168). If necessary, keep the recorded broadcast content in a storage medium until an appropriate time to transmit the broadcast content to the user (because the broadcast content requested by the user is always available on the network) Because it ’s not.) Next, the broadcast content is transmitted to the user through the network (S170).

  Some collision may occur during the recording of broadcast content. This is when the PVR receives a higher recording task (eg, a recording task from the home network to which the PVR belongs) than the current task for recording the content during the period of recording the broadcast content. The PVR may notify the user and temporarily stop the recording process through the network.

  If the broadcast content is not scheduled to be recorded in the PVR at the time when the broadcast content is broadcast, it is determined whether the PVR is idle at the time when the broadcast content is broadcast ( S164).

  If the PVR is idle at the time, recording of the broadcast content is scheduled according to the content information at the time when the content is broadcast (S166). Further, the broadcast content is recorded at the time when the content is broadcast (S168). After the recording, the broadcast content is transmitted to the user through the network (S170).

  If the PVR is not in the idle state at that time, the user is notified that the user's request to share the broadcast content has been rejected (S180).

  One application scenario of the present invention is to create a popular series of virtual channels that are broadcast by different broadcast channels in similar time slots. Usually, one broadcast channel broadcasts only two episodes overnight.

  For example, channel CCTV-1 broadcasts episodes 3 through 4 of “Ma Da Shuai” from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm, and STV-1 “Ma Da from 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm on the same day. "Shuai" episodes 5 to 6 will be broadcast, and BJTV-2 may also broadcast "Ma Da Shuai" episodes 7 to 8 from 8:50 to 10:20 pm. If the total number of episodes of “Ma Da Shuai” is 20, it takes 10 days for each physical channel to finish broadcasting all episodes. However, taking CCTV-1, STV-1 and BJTV-2 as a group, 20 episodes are broadcast in less than 10 days.

  The user is interested in “Ma Da Shuai” and may want to see all episodes of “Ma Da Shuai” in a shorter period of time. According to the present invention, when a user is authenticated as an authorized person for viewing broadcast content, the user is stored in, or is scheduled to be recorded in, another PVR storage medium. A certain “Ma Da Shuai” can be acquired. Thus, a virtual channel connected to the network of the “Ma Da Shuai” series is generated.

  When a user tunes to a networked virtual channel “Ma Da Shuai”, he / she watches more episodes compared to the normal virtual channel of PVR based only on the content recorded by the user. can do. This also does not make a difference for users between viewing from this type of virtual channel and viewing from a broadcast channel.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of the check step S120 shown in FIG. 1 in the embodiment according to the present invention.

  The step of checking whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content may comprise one or several of the following steps:

  (1) It is checked whether or not the broadcast content is from a free channel (S121). Check whether the broadcast content is from a free channel such as the free news channel CCTV-1. If the broadcast content is from a free channel, it is determined that the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.

  (2) It is checked whether or not the request includes authentication information indicating that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content (S122).

  The authentication information may be certification information indicating that the user is a subscriber to a specific broadcast channel of the broadcast content. The user may be provided with certification information by a broadcaster or operator to view the broadcast content because the user has paid and contracted for a channel such as CNN, HBO, BBV, Musixbox, etc. Further, for example, authorization for using the content during a specific period such as from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006 may be obtained.

  The authentication information may be specific proof information that the user has paid only for specific broadcast content of a special channel and has obtained authorization to view the specific broadcast content. The particular broadcast content may be video on demand (VOD) content or pay-per-view (PPV) content over a particular time period.

  (3) An authentication request for checking whether the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content is generated (S213), and the authentication request is transmitted to the broadcast content broadcaster (S214). ), An authentication response is received from the broadcaster (S215), and it is determined whether or not the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content according to the authentication response (S126).

  The authentication request may be sent to a distribution operator that manages distribution of the broadcast content, such as a cable operator.

  The broadcaster or operator may maintain a database of user authentication information. The user authentication information indicates whether or not the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content. The authentication response is generated according to the authentication information.

  The database indicates that the user is a subscriber to a channel having the broadcast content from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, and the broadcast content was broadcast on May 1, 2006. The user may be determined to be a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.

  The database indicates that the user was a subscriber to a channel having the broadcast content from July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005, and the broadcast content was broadcast on November 11, 2005. Even in such a case, it can be determined that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content.

  FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an apparatus 30 for sharing broadcast content in an embodiment according to the present invention. Device 30 may be part of a home network media center or may be part of a PVR.

  The apparatus 30 includes a receiver 312, a checker 320 and a transmitter 314. The apparatus 30 further includes a notifier 370, a searcher 330, a scheduler 340, a buffer 350, and a hard disk 360.

  The receiver 312 receives a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the PVR.

  The checker 320 checks whether or not the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content. The checker 320 preferably includes a first check unit 322, a second check unit 324, and a third check unit 326.

  The first check unit 322 checks whether the broadcast content is from a free channel. The first check unit 322 confirms whether the broadcast content is from a free channel such as a free news channel. If the broadcast content is from a free channel, the user determines that the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.

  The second check unit 324 checks whether the request includes authentication information indicating that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content.

  The authentication information may be certification information indicating that the user is a subscriber of the broadcast content, that is, a music channel or a sports channel. The authentication information is also specific proof that the user has paid only for specific broadcast content (eg, video on demand (VOD) content or pay-per-view (PPV) content for a specific time period). There may be.

  The third check unit 326 checks whether or not authentication information indicating that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content can be obtained from the broadcaster. The third check unit 326 generates an authentication request for checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, transmits the authentication request to the broadcaster of the broadcast content, An authentication response is received from the broadcaster, and then it is determined according to the authentication response whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.

  When the checker 320 determines that the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content, the searcher 330 searches for the state of the broadcast content in the PVR.

  When the broadcast content is recorded content such as content stored in the PVR hard disk, the content is transmitted to the user via the transmitter 314. It can be seen that broadcast content recorded by PVR can be stored on other storage media that are not part of PVR.

  When the broadcast content is being broadcast and the PVR buffer that receives the packetized basic stream (PES) is buffering the broadcast content, the content is transmitted to the user via the transmitter 314. To do. Another method is to transmit the content to the user via the transmitter 314 until the broadcast content is stored in a non-volatile memory (eg, hard disk) of the PVR.

  If the broadcast content is scheduled to be broadcast, the scheduler 340 is checked to determine whether the broadcast content is scheduled to be recorded in the PVR at the time the content is broadcast. If so, the content is recorded according to the content information at the time when the content is broadcast.

  If the scheduler 340 determines that the broadcast content is not scheduled to be recorded in the PVR and that the PVR is not idle at that time, it sends a response to the notifier 370 and the notifier 370 notifies the user of the rejection via transmitter 314. If the scheduler 340 is not scheduled to record the broadcast content in the PVR and determines that the PVR is idle at that time, the scheduler 340 schedules the recording of the broadcast content. .

  The transmitter 314 transmits the content to the user when the user is an authorized person who views the broadcast content.

  Receiver 312 and transmitter 314 may be part of any modern or future wired / wireless communication network transceiver 310, such as an Internet connection, an intranet connection, GSM, or the like.

  The present invention may also be implemented by a suitably programmed computer with a computer program for sharing broadcast content. The computer program is a computer program for sharing broadcast content, and a code for receiving a request from a user to share the broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the PVR with the user, the user For checking whether or not the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content, and to transmit the content to the user when the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content Have the code.

  Such a computer program may be stored on a storage carrier.

  These parts of the program code may be supplied to the processor forming the machine, so that the code running on the processor generates the means for implementing the functions defined above.

  FIG. 4 schematically shows an apparatus for PVR in an embodiment according to the invention.

  The PVR 40 includes a tuner 410, a demultiplexer 420, a decoder 430, a storage medium 440, and a sharing device 30.

  The tuner 410 receives a transport stream including broadcast content.

  The demultiplexer 420 demultiplexes the transport stream into packetized basic streams, and outputs the packetized basic streams.

  The audio / video decoder 430 decodes the packetized basic stream audio and video and transmits them to the display device for display.

  The storage medium 440 stores the packetized basic stream.

  The device 30 is for sharing broadcast content with a user. The device 30 obtains the packetized elementary stream from the demultiplexer 420 or from the storage medium 440. The device 30 includes a receiver 312 for receiving a request from a user to share broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by the PVR with the user, and a legitimate person with which the user views the broadcast content. And a transmitter 320 for transmitting the content to the user when the user is a valid person who views the broadcast content.

  It is noted that the above-described embodiments are illustrative rather than limiting, and that one skilled in the art could design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Should be. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word “comprise” does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The present invention may be implemented by hardware having several distinct elements and by a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claims enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The use of words such as “first”, “second” and “third” does not imply any order. These words should be interpreted as names.

It is a flowchart which shows the process which shares the broadcast content in the Example by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the check step shown by FIG. 1 in the Example by this invention. 1 schematically illustrates an apparatus for sharing broadcast content in an embodiment according to the present invention. 1 schematically shows an apparatus for PVR in an embodiment according to the present invention.

Claims (13)

A method for sharing broadcast content comprising:
(A) receiving a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by a personal video recorder;
(B) checking whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content;
(C) if the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content, sending the content to the user;
Having a method. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: (d) notifying the user of refusal to share the broadcast content when the user is not a valid person who views the broadcast content. The step (b)
Checking whether the broadcast content is from a free channel;
Determining that the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content when the broadcast content is from a free channel;
The method of claim 1, comprising:   The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises checking whether the request includes authentication information indicating that the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content.   The method according to claim 4, wherein the authentication information indicates that the user is a subscriber of the broadcast content. The step (b)
Generating an authentication request for checking whether the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content;
Transmitting the authentication request to a broadcaster of the broadcast content;
Receiving an authentication response from the broadcaster;
Determining whether the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content according to the authentication response;
The method of claim 1, comprising:   The method of claim 6, wherein the authentication response indicates that the user is a subscriber of the broadcast content. The broadcast content is to be broadcast,
(E) determining whether the broadcast content is scheduled to be recorded by the personal video recorder;
(F) if scheduled, recording the broadcast content;
The method of claim 1 further comprising: If the broadcast content is not scheduled to be recorded by the personal video recorder,
9. The method of claim 8, comprising the step of (g) scheduling recording of the broadcast content. A computer program for sharing broadcast content,
Code for receiving a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by a personal video recorder;
A code for checking whether the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content;
A code for transmitting the content to the user when the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content;
A computer program comprising:   A storage carrier comprising the computer program according to claim 10. An apparatus for sharing broadcast content,
A receiver for receiving a request from a user to share with the user broadcast content recorded or to be recorded by a personal video recorder;
A checker for checking whether the user is a legitimate person who views the broadcast content;
A transmitter for transmitting the content to the user when the user is a legitimate person viewing the broadcast content;
Having a device. A tuner for receiving a transport stream including broadcast content;
A demultiplexer for demultiplexing the transport stream into packetized elementary streams;
A decoder for decoding the packetized elementary stream;
A storage medium for storing the packetized elementary stream;
An apparatus for sharing broadcast content according to claim 12,
A personal video recorder.

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