JP4432991B2 - Receiving apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a receiving apparatus and method capable of more efficiently and reliably providing individual information related to, for example, a pay broadcast contract form.

  In pay broadcasting, a so-called scrambled broadcasting system is often used. In this scrambled broadcasting, even if a person who is not contracted with the center station receives the broadcast by intentionally disturbing the original signal (transmitted signal) by a predetermined method on the broadcasting station (center station) side. Normal images, sounds, and other data cannot be used. In addition, a person who contracts with the center station (hereinafter referred to as a contractor) is provided with a decoder that descrambles (descrambles) using a predetermined key, and the contractor is scrambled using this decoder. Normal data, sound, and data can be obtained by descrambling the existing data to its original form.

  As a scrambled broadcast contract form (reception form), for example, there is a so-called flat system or pay-per-view system. The flat method refers to a method that pays a reception fee for each channel, and the pay-per-view method refers to a method that pays a reception fee according to a program that is viewed. That is, in the pay-per-view method, billing is performed every time a predetermined program is viewed.

Accordingly, in the case of the flat system, the center station side may basically perform a fixed amount of charge processing. However, in the pay-per-view system, where charging is performed after viewing the program, the program viewed by the contractor It is necessary to perform billing processing according to the program. For this reason, in the case of such a pay-per-view system, on the receiving side, the viewing history of the program viewed by the contractor is stored in a storage medium such as a memory, and this is stored in the center station, for example, a telephone line (public network) Is transmitted (uploaded), and the center station performs billing processing based on the viewing history.

  Information such as control of flat contracts, designation of upload destination telephone numbers, and control signals for forced calling when viewing information is not uploaded to the center station for a certain period of time are specific to the receiving terminal owned by the contractor. And are individually transmitted to each receiving terminal (decoder). This individual information (EMM: Entitlement Management Massage) is divided (packetized) into a length suitable for transmission at the center station, and is transmitted superimposed on the broadcast wave.

  By the way, with the digitization of pay broadcasting, the number of channels has become more than 100 channels. For this reason, the number of the individual information described above increases, the information included in the information increases, and the data length has increased.

  Since the bit rate that can be used for transmission of individual information is limited, there is a problem that the time required for receiving the necessary individual information on the receiving side increases.

  If the time required for receiving the individual information increases, a situation may occur in which the contractor switches the channel or the power of the receiving apparatus is turned off before the reception of the necessary individual information is completed. As a result, the necessary individual information is not normally received, and there is a problem that the control regarding the contract form from the center station side becomes incomplete.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and makes it possible to provide individual information related to a pay broadcast contract form to a contractor more efficiently and reliably.

A receiving apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes content data related to a pay-per-view pay broadcast program scrambled with a first key, and common information including the first key encrypted with a second key. Receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave multiplexed with the first individual information including the second key encrypted by the third key, and provided to the contractor. First decryption means for decrypting the second key included in the first individual information received by the reception means using the key, and using the decrypted second key A second decryption unit for decrypting the first key received by the reception unit; and a descrambling of the scrambled content data received by the reception unit using the decrypted first key. Do And scrambling means, and viewing history information storage means for storing viewing history information of the pay broadcast program of the pay-per-view that is descrambled by the descrambling means, the viewing history information stored by the viewing history information storage unit, Sending time storage means for storing time information to be sent to the outside via a line; and the viewing history information stored by the viewing history information storage means at the time stored in the sending time storage means, Sending means for sending to the outside via a line, and the sending means sends the viewing history information stored by the viewing history information storage means to the outside via the line. The second individual information including the information on the time to send the viewing history information next time is supplied and acquired. In the second time information included in the individual information, and updates and stores the information of the time stored in the transmission time storing means.
The sending means includes second individual information including a time when the viewing history information is sent next time when the viewing history information stored in the viewing history information storage means is sent to the outside via the line. A request flag for requesting the request is sent together, the second individual information supplied based on the request flag is acquired, and the time information included in the second individual information is stored in the sending time storage means It is possible to update and store the information of the time that has been set.
The receiving apparatus may further include a detecting unit that detects whether the line is unconnected. When the line is detected as unconnected by the detecting unit, the viewing / listening is performed. The history information storage means can store the viewing history information until the capacity of the viewing history information reaches the predetermined threshold.
In addition to the time when the viewing history information is transmitted, the second individual information can include information on a time interval for re-calling the viewing history information and the number of times, When the viewing history information cannot be sent to the sending means at the time stored in the sending time storage means, the watching history information stored by the storage means is sent via the line to the time interval. Thus, it is possible to repeat the call in order to send the same number of times to the outside.
Control means for detecting a remaining capacity of the viewing history information in the viewing history information storage means and displaying a viewing restriction message on a display unit when the remaining capacity is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value is further included. can do.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reception method comprising: content data relating to a pay-per-view pay broadcast program scrambled by a first key; and common information including the first key encrypted by a second key. A receiving step of receiving a broadcast wave multiplexed with the first individual information including the second key encrypted by the third key; provided to the contractor; A first decryption step of decrypting the second key included in the first individual information received by the processing of the reception step using the key of A second decryption step for decrypting the first key received by the processing of the reception step; and the scrambled conceal received by the reception means using the decrypted first key. A descrambling step of descrambling the Ntsudeta, and viewing history information storage step of storing the viewing history information of pay broadcast program of the de the pay-per-view, which is de-scrambled by a scrambling process steps, the process of the viewing history information storage step The viewing history information storage at the time stored in the sending time storing step for storing the information on the time to send the viewing history information stored in step 2 to the outside via a line and the processing in the sending time storing step A transmission step of transmitting the viewing history information stored in the processing of the step to the outside via the line, and the processing of the transmission step includes the viewing history stored in the processing of the viewing history information storage step When sending history information to the outside via the line, The second individual information including the time information for sending the next viewing history information to be supplied is acquired, and the processing of the sending time storage step is performed with the time information included in the acquired second individual information. The time information stored in is updated and stored .

In the receiving apparatus and method according to one aspect of the present invention, the content data related to the pay-per-view pay broadcast program scrambled by the first key and the first key encrypted by the second key are included. A broadcast wave in which common information and first individual information including the second key encrypted by a third key are multiplexed is received and provided to a contractor. The second key included in the first individual information received by the receiving unit is decrypted using the key of the key and received by the receiving unit using the decrypted second key. The pay-per-view method in which the first key is decrypted and the scrambled content data received using the decrypted first key is descrambled and descrambled Paying stored viewing history information of a broadcast program, the viewing history information stored is stored time information sent to the outside through the line, in the stored time, the viewing history information stored Is sent to the outside via the line, and when the stored viewing history information is sent to the outside via the line, the next viewing history information supplied from the outside is sent. The second individual information including the time information to be acquired is acquired, and the stored time information is updated and stored with the time information included in the acquired second individual information .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide individual information to a contractor more efficiently and more reliably. Moreover, it becomes possible to acquire individual information more reliably.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an embodiment of a scramble broadcasting system (paid broadcasting system) to which the present invention is applied. In the center station 1, the program is scrambled, further processed, and transmitted as a radio wave from the antenna (parabolic antenna) 2. This radio wave is received by a receiver-side antenna (parabolic antenna) 4 via a satellite (broadcast satellite or communication satellite) 3 and supplied to a receiving terminal 5. In the receiving terminal 5, the received signal (program) supplied from the antenna 4 is descrambled, and after further processing is performed, the corresponding image is displayed on the monitor and the sound is output from the speaker (both Not shown). In the receiving terminal 5, the descrambled program, that is, the viewing history of the viewed program is stored in the memory 54 described later with reference to FIG. 6, for example, periodically or via the public network 6. It is transmitted to the center station 1 when necessary. When the center station 1 receives the viewing history from the receiving terminal 5, for example, a billing process and a viewing rate calculation process are performed based on the viewing history. In this figure, only the receiving terminal 5 is shown as the receiving-side apparatus, but it is conceivable that there are actually a larger number of receiving terminals.

  FIG. 2 shows a detailed configuration example of the center station 1. Video, audio and other data constituting the program are input to the encoder 11 (encoders 11A to 11E) and digitized there. Further, the encoder 11 compresses the digitized data in units of programs under the control of the program control system 12 (for example, compression processing conforming to the MPEG standard) and other necessary processing (for example, audio Depending on whether the mode is the stereo mode or the bilingual mode, different processing depending on whether there is an independent voice or the like is performed, and the result is output to the multiplexing unit 15 (hereinafter referred to as encoder 11 as appropriate). The data output from is called program data).

  In the present embodiment, the encoder 11 is composed of a total of five encoders, encoders 11A to 11E, and accordingly, a program for five channels can be simultaneously supplied to the multiplexing unit 15. It is made like that. However, the number of encoders 11 is not limited to five.

  On the other hand, in the customer management system 22, the individual key is read from the individual key storage unit 24 by the processing unit 25 and supplied to the scramble control system 13. Here, the individual key is a key unique to the receiving terminal 5 owned by the viewer who has subscribed to the reception, and therefore, the individual key storage unit 24 stores the individual keys of all the receiving terminals having the receiving contract. ing. The individual key storage unit 24 may be installed in the scramble control system, or may be distributed in the customer management system 22 or the scramble control system 13 when there are a plurality of individual keys. . Then, the customer management system 22 generates contract information corresponding to the viewer's contract and outputs it to the scramble control system 13.

  In the scramble control system 13, individual information A or individual information B used by each receiving terminal is generated according to the contract status of each receiving terminal, and the individual information A is supplied to the multiplexing unit 15. It is supplied to the modem 21. Further, in the scramble control system 13, a work key for encrypting the scramble key is generated and output to the related information transmission unit 14. At the same time, this work key is encrypted using the individual key supplied from the customer management system 22, is included in the individual information A, and is supplied to the multiplexing unit 15.

  Here, the individual information A is mainly information relating to a flat contract, and is multiplexed with program data and other data in the multiplexing unit 15 and transmitted to each receiving terminal via the satellite 3. Yes. In addition to the work key described above, the individual information A includes a decoder identification number for identifying each receiving terminal attached to the receiving terminal that uses the individual information. The contractor first requests the individual information B. The telephone number of the center station 1 and the contract information used when the contract information is supplied from the customer management system 22 are updated according to the contract information.

  On the other hand, the individual information B is mainly information relating to a pay-per-view contract, and is an upload time (transmission time) as a time at which each receiving terminal should transmit a viewing history to the center station 1 and a viewing history transmission destination. Upload information such as the telephone number of the center station 1 and the number of times that a call is retried when the line connection with the center station 1 fails when the viewing history is transmitted (number of retries) and the re-call interval (retry interval). Are transmitted as the individual information B by the modem 21 via the public network 6 (telephone line) when there is a transmission request from each receiving terminal. The individual information will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In the related information transmission unit 14, a scramble key for scramble the program is generated and supplied to the scrambler 16. At the same time, this scramble key is encrypted using the work key supplied from the scramble control system 13 and is included in common information (program information) which is information accompanying each program. In addition to the work key from the scramble control system 13, a program number as a unique number for identifying the program processed by the encoder 11 is supplied from the program control system 12 to the related information transmission unit 14. In the related information sending unit 14, this program number is also included in the common information. The program number includes information for identifying a broadcast station (in this embodiment, the center station 1) that broadcasts the program corresponding to the program number, as necessary, and the program is video, audio, Alternatively, information for identifying which of the data is included is included.

  Further, the related information sending unit 14 arranges other necessary information regarding the program in the common information and outputs it to the multiplexing unit 15.

  The multiplexing unit 15 multiplexes the program data from the encoder 11, the individual information A from the scramble control system 13, and the common information from the related information sending unit 14, and multiplexes the multiplexed data in the form of packets. To the scrambler 16. In the scrambler 16, the program portion of the multiplexed data from the multiplexing unit 15 is scrambled using the scramble key from the related information sending unit 14 and output to the error correction unit 17.

  In the error correction unit 17, an error correction code is added to the output of the scrambler 16 and supplied to the modulation unit 18. In the modulation unit 18, the output of the error correction unit 17 is phase-modulated (for example, four-phase phase modulation, for example), and the resulting modulation signal is output to the up-converter 19. In the up-converter 19, the frequency of the modulation signal is up-converted to a predetermined frequency and output to the power amplification unit 20. In the power amplifying unit 20, the modulation signal from the up-converter 19 is power amplified and supplied to the antenna 2. From the antenna 2, a signal from the up-converter 19 is radiated as a broadcast wave, and this broadcast wave is transmitted to the receiving side (in this case, the receiving terminal 5) via the satellite 3.

  The processing unit 25 constituting the customer management system 22 performs data read / write control on the individual key storage unit 24 and the viewing information storage unit 28, as well as the viewing history upload time at each receiving terminal, the telephone number of the center station 1, the retry Generation processing such as the number of times and the retry interval, reception processing of viewing history transmitted from each receiving terminal, and the like are performed. The upload time is set to a time at which viewing history uploads from the receiving terminals are not excessively concentrated at the same time. Specifically, for example, when the processing unit 25 can accept access from M receiving terminals at a time, the same upload time is set for M or less receiving terminals. .

  Here, the time (upload time) in this specification includes, for example, a year, a month, a day, a day of the week, and the like, if necessary, in addition to those expressed in hours, minutes, or seconds. Thus, if the time is expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds, for example, it means that time of day, and if the time is expressed in days, hours, and minutes, for example, It means that time. Furthermore, when the time is expressed in year, month, day, hour, minute, and second, it means that time.

  The upload time set in the processing unit 25 is supplied to the scramble control system 13 as upload information together with the telephone number of the center station 1, the number of retries, and the retry interval, and is included in the individual information B as described above. The viewing information storage unit 28 constituting the customer management system 22 is configured to store a viewing history transmitted from the receiving terminal 5 via the public network 6.

  Here, FIG. 3 shows a packet format at the time of transmission of individual information A, individual information B, and common information (hereinafter collectively referred to as related information as appropriate). In the present embodiment, the related information is transmitted in a packet (transport packet) conforming to the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 standard, for example. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, one packet is composed of 188 bytes, the first 4 bytes (32 bits) being a header, and the remaining 184 bytes being a data portion.

  The header is composed of a synchronization byte, a packet ID, and other information. From the head, the header is an 8-bit synchronization byte, three 1-bit information, a 13-bit packet ID, two 2-bit information, and one 4 Bit information is sequentially arranged. Information for synchronization on the receiving side is arranged in the synchronization byte, and information for identifying whether the packet is related information or other information is arranged in the packet ID The Note that the program data packet output from the multiplexing unit 15 is also a packet similar to the format shown in FIG. 3, and when the packet is that of program data, information for identifying the packet is: It is arranged in the packet ID of the header.

  Here, in MPEG2, the transport stream is defined as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4A, the transport stream (MPEG_transport_stream ()) is composed of transport packets (transport_packet ()), and the details thereof are defined as shown in FIG. 4B. In FIG. 4B, the definition from the sync_byte to the 11th line represents the header definition.

  Information as described above is appropriately arranged in the data portion. That is, when the packet is common information, for example, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), the data portion includes a scramble key (encrypted using a work key), a program number, and other programs. Information is arranged. If the packet is of the individual information A, for example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the data part includes a decoder identification number, a work key (encrypted using the individual key), the center station 1 The contract form of the subscriber of the receiving terminal corresponding to the telephone number and the decoder identification number is arranged. If the packet is for the individual information B, the upload time, the telephone number of the center station 1, the number of retries, the retry interval, etc. are arranged as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 shows a detailed configuration example of the receiving terminal 5. Here, it is assumed that the contractor who owns the receiving terminal 5 has a pay-per-view contract, for example. The receiving terminal 5 is mainly composed of a tuner 30, a decoder 40, and a security module 50. The tuner 30 includes a demodulation unit 31 and an error correction unit 32, and the decoder 40 includes a separation unit 41, a descrambler 44, a transmission / reception control unit 45, a modem 48, and a selection button 49. Further, the security module 50 includes decryption units 42 and 43, memories 51 to 54, an EEPROM 55, an upload control unit 56, and a separation unit 59. Note that the security module 50 is detachable from the receiving terminal 5 so that it can be exchanged as necessary. Further, the security module 50 is provided only to contractors who have a reception contract.

  A broadcast wave transmitted from the center station 1 via the satellite 3 is received by the antenna 4, converted into a signal of a predetermined intermediate frequency (hereinafter referred to as an IF signal as appropriate), and supplied to the tuner 30. In the tuner 30, the demodulator 31 performs down-conversion and other necessary processing on the IF signal from the antenna 4, and then demodulates the signal of a predetermined channel. The demodulated signal is sent to the error correction unit 32. Is output. In the error correction unit 32, error correction processing is performed on the demodulated signal from the demodulation unit 31 and supplied to the decoder 40.

  In the decoder 40, the output (packet) from the error correction unit 32 is input to the separation unit 41. The separation unit 41 identifies whether the packet from the error correction unit 32 is a program data packet or a related information packet by referring to its header (packet ID). When the packet from the error correction unit 32 is a program data packet, the packet is supplied to the descrambler 44.

  When the packet from the error correction unit 32 is a packet of related information, the separation unit 41 outputs the packet to the separation unit 59 of the security module 50. The separation unit 59 identifies whether the packet of related information supplied from the separation unit 41 is a packet of common information or a packet of individual information A by referring to its header (packet ID). . When the related information packet is a common information packet, the packet is output to the decoding unit 43. On the other hand, when the packet of the related information is the packet of the individual information A, the separation unit 59 reads the decoder ID unique to the receiving terminal 5 stored in the memory 51, and stores the decoder ID and the individual information A in the decoder ID. Compare with the included decoder identification number.

  Then, the separation unit 59 outputs the individual information A to the decoding unit 42 only when the decoder ID and the decoder identification number match. That is, only when the individual information A is to be used by the receiving terminal 5, the individual information A is output to the decoding unit 42.

  When receiving the individual information A, the decrypting unit 42 reads the master key from the memory 53. Here, the master key corresponds to an individual key stored in the individual key storage unit 24 of the center station 1. Therefore, according to the master key, the encrypted work key included in the individual information A can be decrypted. Then, the decryption unit 42 decrypts the work key included in the individual information A using the master key read from the memory 53, and outputs and stores the work key in the memory 52.

  When the owner of the receiving terminal 5 desires a pay-per-view contract, it is necessary to acquire the individual information B in addition to the common information and the individual information A. In this case, the owner (contractor) of the receiving terminal 5 activates the upload control unit 56, and a flag or decoder for requesting the individual information B via the transmission / reception control unit 45, the modem 48, and the public network 6. ID and the like are transmitted to the center station 1. At this time, a telephone number included in the individual information A is used as the telephone number of the center station 1. Correspondingly, the individual information B is transmitted from the center station 1 via the public network 6, and the transmission / reception control unit 45 causes the modem 48 to receive it. The received individual information B is supplied to the decryption unit 42 via the upload control unit 56 and decrypted here, and then the upload information is stored in the EEPROM 55. In the case of only flat contracts, such an operation is unnecessary.

  When a viewer (contractor or other person) wishes to view a program, he / she selects the program desired to be viewed by operating the selection button 49. When the selection button 49 is operated, an operation signal corresponding to the operation is output to the decoding unit 43. When receiving the operation signal from the selection button 49, the decryption unit 43 reads the work key from the memory 52, and uses this work key to obtain the encrypted scramble key included in the common information supplied from the separation unit 59. Decode and output to descrambler 44.

  When the descrambler 44 receives the scramble key from the decryption unit 43, the descrambler 44 descrambles the program data supplied from the separation unit 41 using the scramble key. The descrambled program data is output to a device (not shown), where necessary processing (for example, MPEG decoding processing, etc.) is performed, and as shown in FIG. 1, the corresponding image is displayed on the monitor. In addition, sound is output from the speaker.

  Therefore, the viewer can view the program desired to be viewed by operating the selection button 49.

  Note that after descrambling is started by the descrambler 44, when the descrambled program ends or when the selection button 49 is operated again, the decryption unit 43 stops decrypting the scramble key. To do. As a result, the program is disabled.

  When descrambling is started by the descrambler 44, the decoding unit 43 extracts the program number of the descrambled program from the common information, and supplies this as viewing information to the memory 54 for storage. Each time the viewer operates the selection button 49 to view the program, the above-described processing is performed, whereby the history of the program viewed by the viewer, that is, the viewing history is stored in the memory 54 by the program number. Is stored in the form of a list.

  The viewing history stored in the memory 54 as described above is uploaded to the center station 1 according to the flowchart of FIG. In other words, the transmission / reception control unit 45 first waits for a predetermined time (for example, N seconds) in step S1, and then proceeds to step S2, where the current time is equal to the upload time to the upload control unit 56 (the upload time has passed). Inquiries). When receiving an inquiry from the transmission / reception control unit 45, the upload control unit 56 reads the upload time from the EEPROM 55, and determines whether or not the current time is equal to the upload time in step S3. If it is determined in step S3 that the current time is not equal to the upload time, the process returns to step S1.

  Therefore, the above-described inquiry is made from the transmission / reception control unit 45 to the upload control unit 56 every N seconds. The waiting time N seconds in step S1 is set to a time that does not increase the load on the decoder 40, such as 10 seconds.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that the current time is equal to the upload time, the process proceeds to step S4, where the upload control unit 56 reads the viewing history from the memory 54 and the upload information from the EEPROM 55 for transmission / reception. It is supplied to the control unit 45. In the transmission / reception control unit 45, the viewing history is transmitted (uploaded) to the center station 1 in step S5. At this time, a request flag for newly required individual information B is simultaneously transmitted as necessary.

  That is, the transmission / reception control unit 45 controls the modem 48 to call the telephone number of the center station 1 in the upload information received from the upload control unit 56. When the communication link between the modem 21 of the center station 1 and the modem 48 is established via the public network 6, the transmission / reception control unit 45 sets the viewing history or the individual information B request flag to the decoder ID or the individual information. Upload to the center station 1 together with the B request flag.

  Here, it is assumed that, for example, date, hour, and minute are set as the upload time. Therefore, in this case, viewing history upload processing is performed at the time represented by the upload time of each month.

  The modem 21 of the center station 1 receives the viewing history and the decoder ID transmitted from the modem 48 via the public network 6. This viewing history and decoder ID are supplied to the customer management system 22. In the customer management system 22, the viewing history is associated with the decoder ID transmitted together with the viewing history, and after confirming that the viewing history is valid, the viewing history is stored in the viewing information storage unit 28. Supplied and stored.

  The reason why the viewing history is associated with the decoder ID is to make it possible to know from which receiving terminal the viewing history is transmitted.

  After the viewing history is stored in the viewing information storage unit 28, in the processing unit 25 built in the customer management system 22, as described above, based on the viewing history, for example, billing processing, viewing rate calculation processing, etc. Is done.

  When receiving the valid viewing history, the processing unit 25 of the center station 1 causes the modem 21 to transmit a clear code for clearing the viewing history stored in the memory 54 and the requested individual information B. These are received by the upload control unit 56 via the public network 6, the modem 48, and the transmission / reception control unit 45. Upon receiving the clear flag, the upload control unit 56 receives the viewing / listening stored in the memory 54 in step S6. Clear (delete) history. Thereby, a storage area of the memory 54 is secured, and a new viewing history can be stored in the memory 54. When the individual information B is received, it is decrypted by the decrypting unit 42, and the new upload information included therein is stored in the EEPROM 55 in step S7.

  The above processing is always executed in the receiving terminal 5. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, the viewing history is uploaded again at the upload time of the next month.

  As described above, the center station 1 distinguishes the individual information into the individual information A related to the flat-type contract and the individual information B related to the pay-per-view contract, and the individual information A is superimposed on the broadcast wave and transmitted. The individual information B is transmitted via a telephone line (public network 6) in response to a request from the receiving terminal 5, thereby reducing the data amount of the individual information A transmitted by being superimposed on the broadcast wave. Information can be reliably provided by the receiving terminal (contractor).

  In the center station 1, as described above, the charging process is performed based on the viewing history, and the reception fee is charged based on the result of the charging process. For this reason, there are cases where fraudulent acts, such as falsification of viewing history, are performed in an attempt to evade collection of reception charges, and in order to collect legitimate reception charges, it is necessary to prevent such fraudulent acts There is.

  Therefore, after the communication link between the modem 21 of the center station 1 and the modem 48 of the receiving terminal 5 is established, the center for authenticating the center station 1 is between the processing unit 25 and the transmission / reception control unit 45. The station authentication information and the module authentication information for authenticating the security module 50 are exchanged so that the viewing history is exchanged after it is confirmed that the other party is a valid communication partner. Has been made. As a result, a portion of the center station 1 imitated to the modem 48 is connected to the modem 48 to read the viewing history, the memory 54 is cleared, or a module impersonating the security module 50 is set in the receiving terminal 5 to obtain an unauthorized viewing history. It is made to be possible to prevent the transmission.

  Further, information transmitted from the receiving terminal 5 to the center station 1 is encrypted, for example, in the transmission / reception control unit 45 or the upload control unit 56, whereby the viewing history output from the modem 48 can be recorded. It is designed to prevent tampering. In the encryption process, it is preferable to obtain different ciphertexts every time encryption is performed even when the same information is encrypted.

  Further, when the remaining storage capacity (remaining capacity) of the memory 54 is reduced (or the remaining capacity is exhausted) and the viewing history cannot be stored, the descrambler 44 does not perform descrambling. It is made like that. As a result, when the telephone line is disconnected from the modem 48 so as not to collect the reception fee so that the viewing history cannot be transmitted, the memory 54 is not cleared. Can be prevented from being illegally received.

  However, in this case, even if it is a legitimate receiver, when a large number of programs are viewed before the next viewing history is transmitted, the viewing history cannot be stored in the memory 54. As a result, it may be impossible to view the program. Therefore, when there is an inquiry from the transmission / reception control unit 45 in step S2 of FIG. 7, the upload control unit 56 not only performs a comparison process between the current time and the upload time, but also the remaining capacity of the memory 54. The detection process is also performed. Then, the upload control unit 56 determines whether or not the detected remaining capacity of the memory 54 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value. If the remaining capacity of the memory 54 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the receiving terminal 5 performs FIG. The process after step S4 is performed. As a result, it is possible to prevent a legitimate recipient from being unable to view the program.

  In this case, since the viewing history is not transmitted at the upload time, the communication link with the center station 1 is not established, and thus the memory 54 may not be cleared immediately. In this case, even if the selection button 49 is operated, descrambling is not performed in the descrambler 44. Therefore, a legitimate recipient may misunderstand that the part is out of order. Therefore, when the remaining capacity of the memory 54 becomes a predetermined value or less, a message that the viewing of the program is restricted because the memory 54 is not cleared (hereinafter referred to as a viewing restriction message as appropriate) is sent to the security module 50. Can be transmitted to the decoder 40, and a display unit can be provided in the decoder 40, and a viewing restriction message can be displayed on the display unit. As a result, it is possible to prevent a legitimate recipient from misunderstanding that the part is out of order.

  In the above, the case where the present invention is applied to a scrambled broadcasting system that digitally broadcasts scrambled information has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a system based on a broadcasting system that performs broadcasting without scrambled. It is. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to digitally transmitting information, but also to an apparatus that transmits information in analog, or an apparatus that transmits information in a mixed digital and analog manner.

  In the present embodiment, the program data is transmitted via the satellite line (satellite 3). However, the program data is transmitted via the CATV network or other transmission line in addition to the satellite line. It is possible.

  In the present embodiment, the individual key is stored in the individual key storage unit 24 built in the customer management system 22. However, the individual key is stored and managed by the scramble control system 13, for example. It is possible to

  In FIG. 6, the decoder 40 and the security module 50 are illustrated as being connected by a plurality of lines. However, when the receiving terminal 5 is actually configured, the decoder 40 and the security module 50 are For example, it is possible to physically connect with one line and exchange data between them by, for example, half-duplex communication.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the format of the packet at the time of transmission is made compliant with MPEG2, but the format of this packet is not limited to this.

  Further, when the receiving terminal 5 makes a call to the center station 1 at the upload time, for example, when traffic on the public network 6 increases, a communication link between the receiving terminal 5 and the center station 1 is established. May not be established. Therefore, in such a case, the communication control unit 45 can control the modem 48 so that the call is retried at most at the retry interval included in the upload information.

  In the present embodiment, a call is made from the receiving terminal 5 and the viewing history is transmitted to the center station 1. In addition, for example, a call is made from the center station 1, and the receiving terminal 5 is It is also possible to instruct to transmit the viewing history.

  Further, in the present embodiment, after viewing history is read from the memory 54 of the security module 50 and transmitted to the transmission / reception control unit 45 of the decoder 40, a communication link between the receiving terminal 5 and the center station 1 is established. The viewing history is uploaded. Alternatively, for example, after establishing a communication link between the receiving terminal 5 and the center station 1, the viewing history is read from the memory 54 and transmitted to the center station 1. Is possible. However, in this case, when the receiving terminal 5 communicates with the center station 1, an overhead of exchanging viewing history occurs between the decoder 40 and the security module 50. In addition, it is preferable that after the viewing history is transmitted to the transmission / reception control unit 45, a communication link between the receiving terminal 5 and the center station 1 is established and the viewing history is transmitted.

It is a figure which shows the structure of one Example of the pay broadcasting system to which this invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of a center station 1 in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the format of a packet. It is a figure which shows a transport stream and a transport packet. It is a figure which shows the packet of common information, individual information A, and individual information B. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structural example of the receiving terminal 5 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an upload process.

Explanation of symbols

  1 center station, 2 parabolic antenna, 3 satellite, 4 parabolic antenna, 5 receiving terminal, 6 public network, 11 encoder, 12 program control system, 13 scramble control system, 14 related information transmission section, 15 multiplexing section, 16 scrambler , 21 modem, 22 customer management system, 25 processing unit, 28 viewing information storage unit, 30 tuner, 40 decoder, 41 separation unit, 42, 43 decoding unit, 44 descrambler, 45 transmission / reception control unit, 48 modem, 50 security module , 51 to 54 memory, 55 EEPROM, 56 upload control unit, 59 separation unit

Claims (6)

Content data related to pay-per-view pay broadcast programs scrambled by the first key, common information including the first key encrypted by the second key, and encrypted by the third key Receiving means for receiving a broadcast wave multiplexed with the first individual information including the second key;
First decryption means for decrypting the second key included in the first individual information received by the reception means using the third key provided to a contractor;
Second decryption means for decrypting the first key received by the reception means using the decrypted second key;
Descrambling means for descrambling the scrambled content data received by the receiving means using the decrypted first key;
Viewing history information storage means for storing viewing history information of the pay-per-view pay broadcast program descrambled by the descrambling means;
Sending time storage means for storing time information for sending the viewing history information stored by the viewing history information storage means to the outside via a line;
Sending means for sending the viewing history information stored by the viewing history information storage means to the outside via the line at the time stored in the sending time storage means;
The sending means sends out the next viewing history information supplied from the outside when sending the viewing history information stored in the viewing history information storage means to the outside via the line. Receiving apparatus for acquiring the second individual information including the information and updating the time information stored in the transmission time storage means with the time information included in the acquired second individual information .   The sending means, when sending the viewing history information stored in the viewing history information storage means to the outside via the line, includes second individual information including a time for sending the next viewing history information. A request flag to be requested is also sent out, the second individual information supplied based on the request flag is acquired, and the time information included in the second individual information is stored in the sending time storage means. Update and memorize the current time information
  The receiving device according to claim 1. The receiving device further includes:
Detecting means for detecting whether the line is unconnected,
2. The viewing history information storage unit stores the viewing history information until the capacity of the viewing history information reaches the predetermined threshold when the detecting unit detects that the line is not connected. The receiving device described in 1. The second individual information includes, in addition to the time at which the viewing history information is transmitted, a time interval for re-calling for transmitting the viewing history information, and information on the number of times,
When the sending means cannot send the viewing history information at the time stored in the sending time storage means, the watching history information stored by the storage means is sent at the time interval via a line. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the call is re-issued so as to be transmitted to the outside the number of times .   Control means for detecting a remaining capacity of the viewing history information in the viewing history information storage means and displaying a viewing restriction message on a display unit when the remaining capacity is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value.
  The receiving device according to claim 1. Content data related to pay-per-view pay broadcast programs scrambled by the first key, common information including the first key encrypted by the second key, and encrypted by the third key A reception step of receiving a broadcast wave multiplexed with the first individual information including the second key;
A first decryption step of decrypting the second key included in the first individual information received by the processing of the reception step using the third key provided to a contractor;
A second decryption step of decrypting the first key received by the processing of the reception step using the decrypted second key;
A descrambling step of descrambling the scrambled content data received by the receiving means using the decrypted first key;
Viewing history information storage step for storing viewing history information of the pay-per-view pay broadcast program descrambled by the descrambling step;
A sending time storage step for storing information on a time for sending the viewing history information stored in the processing of the viewing history information storage step to the outside via a line;
A sending step of sending the viewing history information stored in the processing of the viewing history information storage step to the outside via the line at the time stored in the processing of the sending time storage step;
In the process of the sending step, when the viewing history information stored in the process of the viewing history information storing step is sent to the outside via the line, the next viewing history information supplied from the outside is sent. The second individual information including the information on the time to send the message is acquired, and the information on the time stored in the process of the sending time storage step is updated with the information on the time included in the acquired second individual information. receiving method for and stored.

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