JPH0575998A - Pay television system of catv system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the application method of a pay program and to set the application period by sending a control instruction to control the application period of the pay program from a line controller, receiving an application starting instruction by a terminal device converter and performing the station selection of a pay program channel. CONSTITUTION:When a terminal device converter 8 receives a pay program application starting instruction (PO-A) from a controller 1 of a CATV transmitting part 22, the converter 8 obtains the condition to be able to perform the station selection of a pay program until a pay program application completion instruction (PO-B) is received. Next, when the pay program is station-selected, a channel number and a special mark are alternately displayed at a displaying part 17 of the terminal device converter 8. Thus, by the input of a confirmation key, both program number and channel number arc-inputted, the application can be executed, and the limit of the application period is easily performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pay television system of CATV system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, so-called pay television systems, which are subscription pay television systems, have begun to spread to the general public.

The pay television system of the conventional CATV system will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, the line controller 1 of the CATV transmission unit 22 at the center is for controlling and managing the terminal converter 8 and the scrambler 5, and sends control data via the control data interface 2. To do. Further, the downlink data for controlling the terminal device converter 8 is transmitted to the terminal device converter 8 via the data modulator 3.

Video / audio sources (hereinafter referred to as AV
A video / audio signal sent from a source (abbreviated as source) 4 is scrambled by a scrambler 5, and the processed video signal and audio signal are mixed as an RF television signal scrambled by a TV modulator 6. In the device 7, it is mixed with the RF data signal from the data modulator 3 and transmitted to the terminal converter 8 via the transmission cable 21.

The scrambled RF television signal input to the terminal converter 8 becomes a television signal which is frequency-converted by the tuner 10 and restored by the descrambling unit 11, and an image is displayed on the television receiver 9.
On the other hand, the RF data signal is separated by the filter by the tuner 10, demodulated by the data demodulation unit 12, input to the control unit 13 including a microcomputer, and the control command from the line controller 1 is received and processed. The data of the IR transmission unit 18 is input to the control unit 13 via the IR reception unit 16, and the display unit 17 displays the selected channel and the like. The control unit 13 uses a telephone module for transmitting channel selection control of the tuner 10, control of the descrambling unit 11, and pay program viewing data to the line controller 1 as upstream data via the telephone line 19 via the PLL unit 14. 15 are controlled. The upstream data is received and demodulated by the modem 20 and transferred to the line controller 1.

The pay TV system of the CATV system configured as described above will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the conventional pay program. FIG. 3 (a) is an operational diagram of the pay program. There is a preview (1) before the program (1) starts, and the program (1) ends. Then, the preview (2) and the program (2) are continuously operated. FIG. 3B shows the timing of control commands of the pay program from the line controller 1. That is, a program start command PS-A is issued for each pay program.
When the terminal converter 8 receives the pay program start command PS-A, the control unit 13 checks whether or not a pay program application has been applied. If so, the pay program channel can be selected. On the other hand, if you have not applied, you cannot select the pay program channel. To apply for a program, it is necessary to key in both the program number and the pay program channel number. FIG. 3C shows a period during which the video of the pay program is scrambled, and FIG. 3D shows a period during which the terminal converter 8 can select a channel.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional pay program method, when the pay program is started but no application is made yet, the channel shifts to the barker (specific) channel and the pay program channel is changed. Since it is not possible to tune in, it is necessary to enter both the pay program number and pay program channel number to apply for the pay program, so there are many key operations and there is no limit to the pay program application period. However, even though the program is nearing the end, there were problems such as inconvenient situation due to accepting the application.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize a simplified pay program application method and an application period setting.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the pay television system of the CATV system of the present invention sends a pay program application start command from the line controller, and when the command is received by the terminal converter, the pay program is started. The program channel can be selected and displayed at the same time, and the application waits for the pay program. Further, when the pay program application end command is received from the line controller, the pay program channel selection is disabled and the pay program application is disabled at the same time.

[0011]

With the above-described structure, the present invention enables the selection of the pay program channel by the terminal converter receiving the application start command by the control command for controlling the pay program application period from the line controller. Can receive programs.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, CA shown in FIG.
The configuration of the TV system is exactly the same as that of the conventional example, and the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 2A shows an operation diagram of the pay program. The pay program starts after the preview, and the next preview appears when the program ends, which is the same as the conventional example. .. Figure 2
(B ') shows the timing of the control command related to the pay program from the line controller 1. The pay program application start instruction PO-A (however, the application start instruction for preview (1) is PO1-A. The same applies hereinafter) and the pay program application end instruction PO-B (however, the program (1) application end instruction is PO1-B. The same shall apply hereinafter), and pay program start command PS-
A pay program end command PS-B, the pay program application start command PO-A is sent 3 minutes before the pay program start command PS-A, and the pay program start command PS-A is then issued. It is sent together with the start of the pay program, and the pay program application end command PO
-B is sent 30 minutes after sending the pay program start command PS-A. The pay program end command PS-B is sent together with the end of the pay program. As described above, each program is sent in the order of PO-A->PS-A->PO-B-> PS-B.

FIG. 2E shows a pay program application valid period, and a pay program application start instruction P.
The period between O-A and the pay program application end instruction PO-B is the effective period of application. FIG. 2 (d ') shows the selectable period of the pay program channel of the terminal converter 8,
From the start of preview to the end of pay program application.

Upon receiving the pay program application start command PO-A, the terminal converter 8 enables the pay program channel to be selected and selects the pay program until it receives the pay program application end command PO-B. When a call is made, the channel number and "E-" are alternately displayed on the display of the terminal converter 8 to inform that the application is possible. Therefore, by selecting the pay program channel and inputting the confirmation key, it is possible to apply without inputting both the program number and the channel number. FIG. 2F shows an actual example. In the case of the pay program (1), the pay program application start instruction PO-A and the pay program start instruction PS-A are sent from the line controller 1 and the terminal device If the application from the converter 8 is after that, and the video is scrambled after the pay program start command PS-A is sent, the terminal device converter 8 outputs the video that is not descrambled. If there is an application (1), the terminal converter 8 performs a descrambling operation on the video, and the pay program (1) can be viewed.

Next, in the case of the pay program (2),
In the case where the application (2) is made from the terminal converter 8 immediately after the pay program application start instruction PO-A is sent from the line controller 1, the application (2) is sent before the pay program start instruction PS-A is sent. ) Is performed, the pay program (2) can immediately view the video signal without being scrambled. Although not shown, a pay program application end instruction PO-
If no application is made by the time B is sent, the terminal device converter 8 shifts the channel selection to the barker (specific) channel, and thereafter the channel selection of the pay program channel becomes impossible. The pay program application start instruction PO-A and the pay program start instruction PS- from the line controller 1
Although the time between A and the time between the pay program start command PS-A and the pay program application end command PO-B can be arbitrarily set, of course, although not shown,
It goes without saying that it is possible to operate a plurality of pay programs in parallel.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiments, according to the present invention, the pay program control command from the line controller is processed by the control unit of the terminal converter so that the pay program channel can be selected. Since a pay program can be selected and a pay program can be applied, an excellent CATV system that can easily realize the application of the pay program and the limitation of the pay program application period without using the program number and the program channel number Pay TV system can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pay TV CATV device.

FIG. 2 is an operation diagram of a pay program according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) is an operation diagram of the pay program. (B ') is a control command diagram of the pay program. (C) is a pay program video scramble period diagram (d'). Terminal program converter pay program selection period diagram (e) Pay program application period diagram (f) Terminal converter pay program operation diagram

FIG. 3 is an operation diagram of a conventional pay program. (A) is a pay program operation diagram. (B) is a pay program control command diagram. (C) is a pay program video scramble period diagram. (D) is a terminal converter pay program. Channel selection period diagram

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 line controller 3 data modulator 4 A / V source 5 scrambler 6 TV modulator 8 terminal device converter 10 tuner 11 descrambling unit 12 data demodulation unit 13 control unit 17 display unit 22 CATV transmission unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Nakanami 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Masami Tanaka, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control means for issuing a pay program start command and a pay program start command and a pay program application start command and a pay program end command as control commands sent from the line controller. The pay program application start command includes: The pay program start command is issued before it is issued, the pay program application end command is issued before the pay program end command, and the terminal converter is When the start instruction of the pay program application is received, it is possible to select the pay program channel and apply for the pay program.
A pay television system of a CATV system in which a digit symbol is displayed on each other, and when the pay program application end command is received, the pay program application cannot be applied and the pay program channel cannot be selected.