JPH02308690A - Catv charged service viewing control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the viewing of a CATV network charged service by loading a magnetic card with a prescribed charge data stored thereon to a magnetic card control section to select a viewing channel for a time in matching with a residual call unit and releasing scrambling. CONSTITUTION:When a subscriber inputs viewing information from an operating section 15 and loads a magnetic card 6 to a magnetic card control section 7, a magnetic card residual call unit read section 8 detects a residual call unit and stores it into a magnetic card read call unit storage section 9. The stored residual call unit is outputted to a charge data collation section 11. The collation section 11 collates the propriety of the viewing information designated by an operation section 15 to output the result to an operating call unit section 12. A control section 5 receives the viewing allowable information generated by the operating call unit count section 12 to generate a channel selection control signal and a scramble release signal, they are outputted to a channel selection section 16 and a scramble release section 17 to start a timer section 14. Then a normal TV signal is outputted to a receiver via an output terminal 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a viewing system for paid services on a CATV network, and particularly to a viewing control system that uses a magnetic card in a subscriber terminal device.

[Conventional technology].

CATV systems include free services and paid services, and subscriber terminal devices installed in subscriber homes have means for selecting a paid service from a large number of TV channels transmitted from a CATV center. Paid service is CAT
The signal is scrambled and transmitted from the CATV center, and at the start of the broadcast of the program, a pay service viewing permission signal is sent from the CATV center to subscriber terminal devices that have made a prior contract for the pay service. Paid services are billed in various contract formats, including monthly, per course, and per 9-hour degree program. In the case of such a contracted paid service, the contents of the contract, such as the program to be viewed and the viewing time, are known in advance, so based on the contract, the CATV center sends out a paid service viewing permission signal and the subscriber's terminal device is activated. Unscramble. If there is no advance contract, the viewing time will not be known in advance, so it is necessary for many subscribers to complete contracts with different viewing contents before the broadcast starts.
Due to confusion on the part of the CA TV center and the difficulty of making accurate contracts, predetermined reception times are set before the start of the program. In addition, viewing fees are calculated based on the pre-approval contract.
A computer at the TV center calculates the amount and periodically charges and collects the fee from the subscriber at a preset time, such as at the end of the month.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional paid service viewing control system described above, subscribers are required to make advance contracts individually with the CATV center for each month, each channel, each hour of each program, etc. Viewing requests other than advance contracts will not be accepted.
Therefore, it was impossible to watch paid services in an emergency. Even if it is possible to make an additional contract for a predetermined time slot set before the start of broadcasting, the CATV center will have to deal with various contract actions in order to promptly respond to viewing requests for the paid service, so it will be difficult for the CATV center to respond. It was difficult. Furthermore, since it was an emergency contract, there was a risk that it would be difficult to collect the viewing fee because the subscriber's memory was not connected to the iP, or that the fee could not be collected at a later date due to the subscriber moving.

An object of the present invention is to allow subscribers to freely watch paid services as appropriate by using a magnetic card issued by the CATV center in advance without making a prior contract between the CATV center and the subscriber when viewing paid services of the CATV system. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a viewing control method for CATV network pay services that allows users to view and view paid services on a CATV network.

[Means to solve the problem]

The CATV network paid service viewing control system of the present invention includes viewing information specifying means by which a subscriber specifies viewing information;
billing information detection means for detecting billing information sent from the center; billing information storage means for storing the detected billing information; and viewing time counting means for counting the viewing time of the paid service specified by the viewing information specifying means. , a magnetic card storing predetermined charge data, a magnetic card residual power reading means for detecting the charge data stored in the magnetic card, a magnetic card reading power storing means for storing the reading power, and the reading power. charge data collation means for checking whether or not the paid service information specified by the viewing information specifying means can be viewed from the stored information and the charge information in the charge information storage means and generating one degree of frequency information; a usage frequency counting means for counting the usage frequency from the viewing time counted by the viewing time counting means and generating viewing permission information; a usage frequency storage means for storing the usage frequency count; and a usage frequency storage means for storing the usage frequency count; Magnetic card control means for subtracting and punching the usage frequency, and receiving viewing availability information from the usage frequency counting means for selecting the viewing channel specified by the viewing information specifying means and enabling/disabling descrambling of the designated channel. and a control signal generating means.

〔Example] Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. C
Service information sent from the ATV center is input terminal 1.
The signal arrives at . . The billing information detection section 4 detects billing information from the data signal demodulated by the demodulation section 3 and stores it in the billing information storage section 10 . On the other hand, the fee data stored in the magnetic card 6 loaded in the magnetic card control section 7 is detected by the magnetic card residual power reading section 8 and stored in the magnetic/node reading power storage section 9. The residual power of the magnetic card stored in the magnetic card reading power storage section 9 is output to the charge data collation section 11 . The charge data checking section 11 generates possession frequency information by comparing the billing information stored in the charging information storage section 10 and the storage frequency stored in the magnetic card reading frequency storage section 9 to determine whether or not viewing information specified by the operation section 15 can be viewed. and outputs it to the usage frequency counting section 12. If the magnetic card has residual power,
The usage frequency counting unit 12 generates viewing permission information and the control unit 5
Output to. If there is no remaining power on the magnetic card, the use frequency counting section 12 generates viewing-disabled information based on the possession frequency information from the charge data matching section 11 and outputs it to the control section 5. The control unit 5 receives viewing permission information from the usage frequency counting unit 12,
Drive the channel selection unit 16 and scrubber, pull release unit 17, and timer unit 14 to start viewing the paid service.
At the same time, the scrambled TV signal becomes a normal TV signal and is outputted to the image receiving device (not shown) via the output terminal 18. When the control unit 5 receives the viewing-disabled information from the usage frequency counting unit 12, the magnetic card control unit 7. Magnetic card residual power reading unit 8, magnetic card reading power storage unit 9. The reset information is sent to the charge data checking unit 11 to restore the initial state. The retained frequency information of the fee data collation section 11 generated by comparing the magnetic card residual power in the magnetic card reading power storage section 9 and the billing information in the billing information storage section 10 is counted by the timer section 14 in the usage frequency counting section 12. The number of possessions is subtracted by comparing it with the viewing time. When the viewing time ends as scheduled,
Alternatively, when the user finishes using up the number of times held on the magnetic card while viewing a paid service, the usage number counting section 12 sends viewing end information to the control section 5, and the control section 5 generates a descrambling stop signal. The descrambler 17 converts the normal T and V signals that have been output to the output terminal 18 into descrambling signals using the descrambling stop signal generated by the controller 5. At the same time, the viewing end information is output to the usage frequency storage section 13. be done. The magnetic card control section 7 subtracts and punches the usage frequency from the possession frequency of the magnetic card 0 based on the information stored in the usage frequency storage section 13, and then restores the magnetic card () to its initial state.

Next, the operation will be explained.

When watching a paid service, you can watch the paid service for a time corresponding to the remaining power of the magnetic card by simply loading the specified magnetic card into the magnetic card control unit without having to make a repeated viewing contract with the CATV center. can.

That is, when the subscriber inputs viewing information from the operation unit 15 and also loads the magnetic card 6 into the magnetic card control unit 7, the magnetic card residual power reading unit 8 detects the residual power of the magnetic card 6 and stores the magnetic card reading power. Stored in section 9. The stored residual power of the magnetic card 6 is determined by the fee data collation unit 11.
Output to.

The waka data collation unit 11 generates possession frequency information by comparing whether or not the viewing information specified by the operation unit 15 can be viewed from the billing information in the billing information storage unit 10 and the storage frequency in the magnetic card reading frequency storage unit 9. It is output to the usage frequency counting section 12. If there is a residual frequency corresponding to the viewed program and viewing time, the usage frequency counting unit 12 generates viewing permission information and the control unit 5
Output to. 'fra' If there is no residual frequency corresponding to the listening program and viewing time, the usage frequency counting section 12 generates viewing disable information and outputs it to the control section 5. When the control section 5 receives the viewing permission information from the usage frequency counting section 12, it generates a channel selection control signal and a descrambling signal, and sends the channel selection section 16. and - At the same time as outputting to the descrambler 17, the timer section 14 is activated. The scrambled TV signal selected by the channel selection section 16 is descrambled and becomes a normal TV signal.
(not shown) output. When the control unit 5 receives the viewing-disabled information from the usage frequency counting unit 12, it generates reset information and sends the magnetic card control unit 7. Magnetic card residual power reading section 8. Magnetic card reading frequency storage unit 9. Charge data matching section 11. It is sent to the usage frequency counting unit 12 and restored to the m-concave state. The usage frequency counting section 12 calculates the possession frequency of the charge data sorting section 11 + fT.
The information is compared with the viewing time from the timer unit 1.1, and the subtraction of the number of possessions is started. The magnetic card control section 7 subtracts and punches the residual power of the magnetic card based on the usage power stored in the usage power storage section 13, restores the magnetic card 6 to its initial state, and finishes viewing the paid service. At the end of viewing, the magnetic card residual power reading section 8 and the magnetic card reading power storage section 9. Charge data collation unit 11, 1 importance counting unit 12
．． A reset signal is sent from the control unit 5 to the usage frequency storage unit 13 and the timer unit 14 to clear all stored information and restore the initial state.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention eliminates the need to conclude a one-fee service viewing contract in advance between the CAT"V center and the subscriber terminal, and only requires the purchase of a predetermined magnetic card in advance. This has the effect that you are free to watch as much time as you want without being bound by the contract details.Also, C
By simply selling magnetic cards in advance at the ATV center, there is no need for complicated viewing regulations for each subscriber as in the past, and there is no need to worry about I/Rabble when signing a viewing contract or collecting viewing fees. There are various effects such as no.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

1...Input terminal, 2...Distributor, 3.
... Demodulation section, 4 ... Billing information detection section, 5
...Control unit, 6...Magnetic card, 7.
...Magnetic card control unit, 8...Magnetic card residual power reading unit, 9...Magnetic card reading power storage unit, 10...Billing information storage unit, 11...
...Charge data collation section, 12...Usage frequency counting section, 13...Usage frequency storage section, 14...
... Evening/Imma part, 15... Operation part, 16...
. . . Channel selection section, 17 . . . Scramble canceling section, 18 . . . Output terminal.

Friend Patent Attorney Oto Uchi

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the CATV network paid service viewing control system in which the subscriber selects a paid service from various service information transmitted from the CATV center including a mixture of paid services and monitors and charges the viewing time, the subscriber specifies viewing information. viewing information specifying means, charging information detecting means for detecting charging information sent from a CATV center, charging information storage means for storing the detected charging information, and viewing time of the paid service specified by the viewing information specifying means. A viewing time counting means for counting, a magnetic card storing predetermined charge data, a magnetic card residual power reading means for detecting the charge data stored in the magnetic card, and a magnetic card reading power for storing the reading power. a storage means; a charge data matching means for generating possession frequency information by comparing whether the paid service information specified by the viewing information specifying means can be viewed from the reading frequency storage information and the billing information in the billing information storage means; a usage frequency counting means for counting the usage frequency from the possessed frequency information and the viewing time counted by the viewing time counting means and generating viewing availability information; a usage frequency storage means for storing the usage frequency count; and a usage frequency storage means for storing the usage frequency count; Magnetic card control means for subtracting and punching the usage frequency from the magnetic card; and receiving viewing availability information from the usage frequency counting means, and allowing or not to select a viewing channel designated by the viewing information designation means and descramble the designated channel. 1. A CATV network paid service viewing control system, characterized in that it has a control signal generation means for controlling the viewing of a CATV network.