JP5146491B2 - Mobile terminals and servers - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal having a function of receiving a broadcast and a server used together with the mobile terminal.

  Conventionally, television receivers that receive paid television broadcast programs are known, and various techniques have been proposed for such receivers. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique that pays attention to a problem that a fee is collected even if a pay broadcast cannot be viewed when a broadcast reception environment is poor. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, pay broadcast program data is stored in a storage unit on the receiving terminal side, error detection is performed on the stored data, and when an error is detected, the data is stored again. Only when the error is completely eliminated, guides the program to the viewer.

  In recent years, television broadcast programs can be viewed not only on stationary television receivers but also on mobile terminals such as mobile phones.

JP 2001-119680 A

When viewing a television broadcast on a mobile terminal, a problem different from that of a stationary television receiver occurs. That is, the reception state of a mobile terminal incorporating a television receiver (receiver) generally changes from moment to moment depending on the movement of the mobile terminal itself. For this reason, the reception state of the television is likely to fluctuate, and it is difficult to always receive the television in a good state. However, considering the use of broadcasting such as television, a poor reception state may lead to a great disadvantage for the user. For example, if the broadcast content is
1. Broadcast for disaster areas and weather forecasts for the current area (I want a lot of information in any situation)
2. Paid broadcast (I don't want to pay if I don't know if I can watch it while moving)
And so on.

  Here, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, data is stored again until there is no error, and then the program guide to the viewer is performed. However, since the technique described in Patent Document 1 only stores broadcasts transmitted on the receiver side without considering the reception environment on the receiver side, the receiver has a poor communication environment. When in a location, there is a problem that it takes time until the broadcast can be received.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to construct a mobile terminal and a system that can prevent a user's profit as much as possible even in such a case.

  In order to solve the conventional problem, a mobile terminal according to the present invention includes broadcast receiving means for receiving a broadcast from a broadcast station, determination means for determining the type of content of the received broadcast, and reception quality of the received broadcast. And recording means for notifying the broadcast station of content information indicating the type of the content and quality information indicating the reception quality when the content is a predetermined type of content. .

  According to this configuration, in the case of a specific type of content (such as broadcasting for a specific region or pay broadcasting), the mobile terminal notifies the reception quality to the broadcast station. As a result, the broadcast station can check which content is received badly, and performs control that does not impair the user's profit (for example, resending or discounting the usage fee). It becomes possible. In the present invention and other aspects described below, “quality information indicating reception quality” includes information indicating reception quality itself and information indicating “reception quality is bad”.

  Moreover, the reporting means of the mobile terminal according to another aspect of the present invention further provides, when the content is a pay broadcast, content information indicating the type of the content and quality information indicating the reception quality on the broadcast station side. To notify.

  The server according to another aspect of the present invention includes: a receiving unit configured to receive content information indicating a type of broadcast content and quality information indicating reception quality of the content from a mobile terminal; and In the case of indicating a pay broadcast, an instruction means for instructing a broadcasting station that broadcasts the content so as to discount the usage fee of the content according to the reception quality of the content.

  According to these configurations, the viewer can receive a discount on the usage fee of the pay broadcast depending on the reception status of the pay broadcast.

  The reporting means of the mobile terminal according to another aspect of the present invention notifies the broadcast station side of content information indicating the type of the content and quality information indicating the reception quality when the content is disaster information. To do.

  The server according to another aspect of the present invention includes: a receiving unit configured to receive content information indicating a type of broadcast content and quality information indicating reception quality of the content from a mobile terminal; and Indication means for indicating disaster information and instructing a broadcasting station that broadcasts the content to retransmit the content if the reception quality of the content is worse than a predetermined quality.

  According to these configurations, the viewer can receive the disaster information more reliably. In this aspect and other aspects described below, “the reception quality is worse than the predetermined quality” is reported when it is determined that the reception quality report itself is unconditionally bad when the reception quality report itself is received. Both the case where the server itself evaluates the reception quality and determines that the reception quality is worse than the predetermined quality are included.

  In addition, the mobile terminal according to another aspect of the present invention further includes position detection means for acquiring position information indicating a current position of the mobile terminal, and the reporting means includes the type of content and the reception quality. In addition, the position information is notified.

  A server according to another aspect of the present invention provides content information indicating a type of content broadcast from a mobile terminal, quality information indicating the reception quality of the content, and a position indicating a position where the content is received. Receiving means for receiving information, and if the content information indicates a specific type and the reception quality of the content is lower than a predetermined quality, the content is rebroadcast to the position indicated by the position information And instructing means for instructing a broadcasting station that broadcasts the content.

  According to these configurations, the mobile terminal reports including its own location. Therefore, the broadcast content can be controlled so that the user can receive information more reliably, such as rebroadcasting the content to the area on the broadcast station side.

  In the mobile terminal according to another aspect of the present invention, the reporting unit may be configured such that the content is content for a specific area, and the position indicated by the position information is within the specific area. The broadcast station side is notified of the type, the reception quality, and the position information.

  According to this configuration, the mobile terminal can inform the broadcast station of the reception quality and the location of the mobile terminal when the reception status of the content for the area where the mobile terminal is located is poor. Therefore, the broadcast content can be controlled so that the user can receive the information more reliably, such as by rebroadcasting the content to the area on the broadcast station side that has received such information.

  In the mobile terminal according to another aspect of the present invention, the mobile terminal further includes a specifying unit that receives a specification of a region from a user, and the reporting unit is configured such that the content is content for a specific region. When the designated area is within the specific area, the type of the content and the reception quality are notified to the broadcasting station side.

  According to this configuration, the mobile terminal can inform the broadcast station of the reception quality when the reception status of the content for the area designated by the user is poor. Therefore, the broadcast station that receives this information controls the contents of the broadcast so that the user can receive information about the area important to the user, such as disaster information at the location of the relative, more reliably. can do.

Conceptual diagram of a mobile phone with a TV function in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which shows the detail of the report information generation function part in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the whole image of the system in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the system in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

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

(Embodiment 1)
First, an outline of a mobile terminal according to this embodiment will be described. In the following, a mobile phone with a TV function will be described as an example of a mobile terminal.

  The mobile phone according to the present embodiment records the reception quality of TV broadcast waves, that is, the received signal strength, error rate, total number of errors, and the like. In addition, the mobile phone according to the present embodiment determines the type of content with reference to a TMCC signal including control information and the like, BML information attached to data broadcasting, and the like. As a result of the determination, if it is found that specific content (for example, disaster information, regional broadcasting, pay program, etc.) has been received, the recorded reception quality information and the current position information of the mobile phone are broadcasted to the broadcasting station. Report to the side. Here, the information on the current position is acquired by the cellular base station information or the GPS function of the terminal. For the report to the broadcasting station, a cellular (mobile phone) function provided in the mobile phone is used. The broadcasting station collects data reported from the mobile phone and repeatedly sends out TV programs and data broadcasts (disaster information, weather forecasts, etc.) for areas with poor reception conditions. As a result, specific content can be transmitted intensively to areas with poor reception conditions, so that information can be obtained more reliably even with a mobile phone having a poor consultation environment.

  Next, the configuration of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile telephone 11 with a television function according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The cellular phone 11 includes an antenna 12, a television broadcast reception function unit 13, a display function unit 15, a speaker 17, a terminal information processing function unit 20, a current position detection function unit 25, and a cellular communication function unit 22. Note that an actual mobile phone is generally provided with other functions, but the description is omitted because it is not directly related to the description of this embodiment.

  The antenna 12 receives a television broadcast. The television broadcast wave received by the antenna 12 is output to the television broadcast reception function unit 13.

  The television broadcast receiving function unit 13 processes the received broadcast wave to obtain an image signal 14 and an audio signal 16. The image signal 14 is output to the display function unit 15, and the audio signal 16 is output to the speaker 17. Furthermore, the television broadcast reception function unit 13 outputs reception quality information 18 indicating the reception quality of the broadcast and content information 19 indicating the type of content. The reception quality information 18 is specifically the received signal strength, C / N, error rate (BER, FER), total number of errors, and the like. Further, the content information 19 is obtained by referring to BML information or the like. The BML information is information described in a page description language BML (Broadcast Markup Language) for data broadcasting, and describes information such as the type of content.

  The display function unit 15 outputs the image signal 14 output from the television broadcast reception function unit 13. Specifically, the display function unit 15 is realized by a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like.

  The speaker 17 outputs the audio signal 16 output from the television broadcast receiving function unit 13 so that the terminal user can hear it.

  The terminal information processing function unit 20 creates report information 21 including the obtained reception quality information 18 and content information 19 and outputs the report information 21 to the cellular communication function unit 22. Note that the report information 21 does not include the reception quality information 18 and the content information 19 itself, but may be information obtained by processing them or information including other information. For example, current position information 25 obtained by using a current position detection function unit 24 such as a GPS receiver or cellular base station information may be included. The terminal information processing function unit 20 also determines whether or not the report information 21 should be generated and transmitted. For example, the report information 21 is not generated when the type of content is not a report target. Details of these processes will be described later.

  The cellular communication function unit 22 realizes a data transmission function provided in the mobile phone 11, and specifically performs communication via the cellular network. The cellular communication function unit 22 according to the present embodiment sends report information 21 to the broadcasting station in addition to general communication via the cellular network. In addition, the cellular communication function part 22 is not restricted to what communicates via a cellular network. In order to achieve the object of the mobile phone 11 according to the present embodiment, it is sufficient that the cellular communication function 22 has a function of sending information from the mobile phone 11 with a TV function to the broadcasting station side. That is, a communication function other than cellular communication such as a so-called Bluetooth communication function or a wireless LAN function may be realized. Moreover, when communicating via a cellular network, you may report using the mail function of SMS or a mobile telephone. In this case, a system for collecting information on the broadcasting station side can be easily configured.

  The antenna 23 is an antenna that sends information to the cellular network. When the cellular communication function unit 22 is a function unit that performs communication such as Bluetooth or wireless LAN, the antenna 23 is an antenna corresponding to the communication method.

  Then, the function of the terminal information processing part 20 is demonstrated in detail here using FIG. The terminal information processing unit 20 includes a content information determination function unit that analyzes the content information 19, a reception quality information determination function unit that analyzes the reception quality information 18, a position information determination function unit that analyzes the current position information 25, And a report information generation function unit that generates report information 21 in response to the results of the analysis by the respective function units.

  The content information discriminating function unit analyzes the content information 19 (BML or the like) and discriminates whether or not the received content is a type of content for which reception quality or the like should be reported to the broadcasting station. In the present embodiment, it is determined that the information is information of a specific region (for example, disaster information and weather forecast) and the content to be reported for pay broadcasting.

  The reception quality information discrimination function unit analyzes the reception quality information 18 and discriminates whether or not the reception quality should be reported to the broadcasting station side. In the present embodiment, the reception quality information determination function unit determines that the reception quality information 18 should be reported when the reception quality is poor. In this embodiment, the case where the reception quality is bad refers to a case where the reception quality is clearly inferior to normal, or a case where the total number of errors and the time during which the reception quality is inferior for a certain period of time are long. . These evaluations are realized by, for example, a method of providing a threshold value that is a criterion for determining reception quality and comparing the threshold value with the reception quality at the current time or a predetermined time.

  The position information determination function unit analyzes position information obtained from the current position information 25 and determines whether or not the current position should be reported to the broadcasting station. In the present embodiment, it is determined that the received content should be reported when the received content is regional information, disaster information, or the like for a specific region and the current location matches the specific region.

  The report information generation function unit generates report information 21. The report information generation function unit may generate the report information 21 periodically, or may generate the report information 21 only when the reception state is bad. Further, as the reception quality information included in the report information 21, only the current reception quality may be reported, or the time (length) in which the reception state is bad in a specific time zone and the total number of errors are indicated. It may be reported. If it is assumed that the reception time (length) and the total number of errors in a specific time zone are reported, it is easy to specify to what extent the reception quality is bad in which section of the content. Therefore, when the reception quality of the pay broadcast is bad, it becomes easy to perform control such as discounting the usage fee of the content.

  The report information generation function unit generates report information 21 when any of the content information determination function unit, the reception quality information determination function unit, and the position information determination function unit determines that it is not necessary to report. You don't have to. If it is determined that one of these functional units does not need to be reported, the content is not subject to reporting or the reception quality is sufficiently good. This is because there is no need to obtain control or the like. Here, when content is not subject to reporting, the content type itself is not subject to reporting, while the content type itself is subject to reporting, but the content is for a specific region, and the current location is May not match the region. Thereby, since the frequency of reporting the reception status can be suppressed, the battery usage of the mobile phone 11 and the traffic to the cellular communication network can be suppressed.

  However, the report information 21 may be generated even when it is determined that any functional unit does not need to report. In this case, since the base station side can obtain more detailed information about the reception status, finer control can be performed when performing retransmission of contents and charge control. In this case, the report information 21 may be generated in a form in which information determined to be unnecessary is extracted from the report information 21. Since the amount of information to be transmitted can be reduced compared to the case where all information is always transmitted, communication resources can be used efficiently.

  FIG. 3 shows the relationship among the mobile phone, cellular base station, television broadcast station, and server function in the present embodiment. The server function may be included in the cellular base station, may be an independent server, or may be included in the television broadcasting station. In the present embodiment, since the mobile phone transmits report information via the cellular network, the cellular base station receives the report information. Therefore, when the server function is provided as a device different from the cellular base station, the cellular base station transfers report information to the server function. When transmitting report information using a communication method other than a cellular network such as a wireless LAN, the server function receives the report information via an access point near the mobile phone 11.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the entire system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, a mobile phone that has received a television broadcast wave transmitted from a television broadcast station discriminates and records the type of program (content) based on data broadcast part information (BML, etc.) included in the television broadcast wave. Also, the received quality is digitized and recorded based on the received TV broadcast wave signal intensity, error rate (or number of errors), C / N, and the like. A mobile phone with a TV function has a poor recorded reception quality (for example, when the reception quality is clearly inferior to normal, or when the total number of errors in a certain period of time or the reception quality is inferior) When the content type is the type of content to be reported, report information including information indicating the content type and information indicating the reception quality is obtained by the cellular communication function (via a cellular base station if necessary). Report to server function. At this time, the GPS function of the cellular phone with the TV function and the position information obtained from the cellular base station can be sent together. In addition, for the report to the server function, other communication functions such as a Bluetooth communication function and a wireless LAN function that the mobile phone with a TV function has separately from the cellular communication function can be used.

  The server function collects report information from multiple TV terminals (including mobile phones with a TV function according to the present invention), organizes the collected results by analysis and analysis, and responds to the analysis results to the TV broadcasting station Instructions.

  Examples of the contents of the instruction include the following.

  (1) If the reception situation is bad in a specific area, an instruction is given to repeatedly broadcast information for the area (such as weather information and disaster information).

  (2) If the reception status of the pay broadcast is bad, an instruction is given to reflect the charge on the charge of the pay broadcast (such as a discount on the pay broadcast fee).

  Next, the operation of the system according to the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, steps S401 to S404 are processing by the mobile phone, and steps after step S405 are processing by the broadcasting station side (cellular base station, server function, broadcasting station shown in FIG. 3).

  When receiving the television broadcast (step S401), the mobile phone according to the present embodiment detects (discriminates) the content type (program genre) by referring to the received television broadcast BML information (step S402). When the program is predetermined specific content (information for a specific area such as disaster information and weather information, or pay broadcasting) (YES in step S403), information on the type of specific content, reception quality information (C / N, BER, signal strength (RSSI)) and terminal location information are compiled and reported to the broadcasting station side (more specifically, the server function) (step S404).

  At this time, the mobile phone may report the reception status (reception quality information) periodically, or may report only when the reception status is bad. In addition, the mobile phone may report only the reception quality at the present time, or may report the time (length) in which the reception state is bad in a specific time zone and the total number of errors. As means for reporting to the broadcasting station, for example, data communication using a cellular network or short mail is used. Note that non-cellular communication means such as Bluetooth or wireless LAN may be used instead of communication using the cellular network.

  If the received program is not specific content (NO in step S403), it is determined that there is no need to report, and the process returns to step S401 to continue receiving the program.

  When receiving the report from the mobile phone, the broadcast station side (cellular base station, server function, broadcast station) confirms the type of program that is the subject of the report (step S405). If the reported program is content for a specific region, the content for the region with poor reception status is repeatedly broadcast (or the frequency of repetition is increased to increase the number of broadcasts). As a result, information can be provided more reliably even in a terminal in an area where the reception status is poor (step S406).

  Also, if the program that received the report is a pay broadcast, the charge of the pay broadcast to the terminal having a bad reception status is discounted according to the reception quality. As a result, viewers on the move can subscribe to pay broadcasting without resistance.

  Above, description of Embodiment 1 of this invention is complete | finished.

  In the first embodiment described above, the broadcast received by the mobile phone is a television broadcast. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Other types of broadcasts may be used as long as the type of broadcast can be determined by the mobile phone.

  In the first embodiment described above, the mobile phone has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, other terminals such as a PDA, a portable PC, and a game machine may be used. Note that these apparatuses may not have a communication function via the cellular network used to transmit the report information 21, but as described above, the report information 21 is transmitted using another communication function such as a wireless LAN. do it.

  In Embodiment 1 described above, the type of content is determined using BML information, but the present invention is not limited to this. You may judge using the other information transmitted from a broadcasting station. For example, similar information can be obtained by searching and analyzing information on a program guide obtained via the Internet using the current time and viewing channel.

  In the first embodiment described above, the disaster information is a kind of information for a specific area and has been described as information for a current location. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, there may be a case where a particularly large disaster occurs, or an emergency notification is required even for disaster information in a remote location such as the location of a relative. Therefore, for disaster information, the content type and the reception quality may be reported even when the content is for content different from the current location or for content specified by the user.

  Moreover, in Embodiment 1 mentioned above, although the mobile terminal reported reception quality itself, it is not restricted to this. For example, information indicating that “reception quality is bad” may be transmitted.

  In Embodiment 1 described above, the broadcast station side resends the content or discounts the charge if there is a report of the reception quality. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The reported quality may be evaluated again on the broadcast station side, and retransmission or fee discount may not be performed only when the reported quality is worse than a predetermined quality.

  The present invention is directed to a system that receives a broadcast by a mobile terminal. In particular, it is useful when transmitting / receiving content that is surely transmitted to a mobile terminal or content that causes a great disadvantage to the user if reception quality is poor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Cellular phone 12, 23 Antenna 13 Television broadcast reception function part 15 Display function part 17 Speaker 20 Terminal information processing function part 22 Cellular communication function part 25 Current position detection function part

Claims (9)

Broadcast receiving means for receiving a broadcast from a broadcasting station;
Determining means for determining the type of content of the received broadcast;
Recording means for recording the reception quality of the received broadcast;
A mobile terminal comprising: reporting means for notifying a broadcast station side of content information indicating the type of content and quality information indicating the reception quality when the content is a predetermined type of content . The movement according to claim 1, wherein when the content is a pay broadcast, the reporting unit notifies the broadcast station side of content information indicating the type of the content and quality information indicating the reception quality. Terminal. The movement according to claim 1, wherein, when the content is disaster information, the reporting unit notifies the broadcast station side of content information indicating the type of the content and quality information indicating the reception quality. Terminal. The mobile terminal further includes position detection means for acquiring position information indicating a current position of the mobile terminal,
The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the reporting unit notifies the location information in addition to the type of content and the reception quality. When the content is content for a specific area and the position indicated by the position information is within the specific area, the reporting means broadcasts the type of the content, the reception quality, and the position information. The mobile terminal according to claim 4, wherein the mobile terminal is notified. The mobile terminal further comprises designation means for accepting designation of a region from a user,
The reporting means notifies the broadcasting station of the type of the content and the reception quality when the content is content for a specific region and the designated region is within the specific region. The mobile terminal according to claim 1. Receiving means for receiving content information indicating the type of broadcast content and quality information indicating the reception quality of the content from a mobile terminal;
Instructing means for instructing a broadcasting station that broadcasts the content so as to discount the usage fee of the content according to the reception quality of the content when the content information indicates pay broadcasting. A featured server. Receiving means for receiving content information indicating the type of broadcast content and quality information indicating the reception quality of the content from a mobile terminal;
Instructing means for instructing a broadcasting station that broadcasts the content to resend the content if the content information indicates disaster information and the reception quality of the content is worse than a predetermined quality. A featured server. Receiving means for receiving, from a mobile terminal, content information indicating the type of broadcast content, quality information indicating the reception quality of the content, and position information indicating a position where the content is received;
If the content information indicates a specific type and the reception quality of the content is worse than a predetermined quality, a broadcast station that broadcasts the content may re-broadcast the content to the location indicated by the location information And an instruction means for giving an instruction to the server.

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