JPH06132916A - Receiving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a receiving device which attains a so-called 'pay per view' system to receive each program for pay with no comprehensive contract. CONSTITUTION:A receiving device includes a tuner part which takes the scrambled signals out of the broadcast radio waves and a decoder part which cancels the scrambled states of the scrambled signals based on the decoding information supplied from the means except the broadcast radio waves. Then the receiving device stores the decoding information via the radio waves, the light or the sound waves. Furthermore the receiving device also can include a recording/ playing part to record the information obtained after the scrambled state is canceled or to record the scrambled information and to cancel this scrambled state in a playing state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a receiver used in a system for providing broadcasting contents for satellite TV broadcasting by broadcasting satellite (BS) / communication satellite (CS), cable TV broadcasting, or terrestrial TV broadcasting for a fee. It is related to.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, which is said to be in the information age, in addition to ordinary terrestrial TV broadcasting, BS (Broadcasting Satellite), C
Satellite TV called S (Communication Satellite)
CA using broadcasting, coaxial cable or optical cable
Cable TV broadcasting called TV (Cable Television) is becoming popular. In addition, character multiplex broadcasting, in which information such as characters is separately transmitted using these broadcast TV radio waves, is becoming popular.

Unlike conventional terrestrial TV broadcasting media, which can be viewed by anyone, these satellite TV broadcasts are scrambled so that only specific viewers who have a viewing contract can view them. Send TV broadcast programs,
Some viewers use a tuner / decoder having a descrambling function to receive data for a fee.

In order to view a program in this pay satellite TV broadcast, it is necessary to use a dedicated tuner / decoder. An ID code is given to this tuner / decoder, and an ID code is transmitted from the satellite periodically (for example, once a month), and only the tuner / decoder that has received this ID code has the descrambling function. Is configured.

Therefore, not only can the viewer not be able to view the contract at any time, but if he / she fails to receive the ID code for some reason, the viewer cannot view it despite the contract. Sometimes.
Further, since the tuner / decoder is dedicated, the number of tuners / decoders also increases when trying to listen to many pay satellite TV broadcasting stations.

[0006] In addition, in the CATV capable of simultaneously delivering several tens of channels, in addition to general channels that are not scrambled that can be viewed by a comprehensive contract, specializations in movies, sports, music, etc. Special channels are provided, and these specialized T
The V channel is a scrambled pay TV channel, and in order to watch this scrambled channel, it is necessary to make a contract to cancel the scramble, but this contract period is usually Since it is done in units of about one month, it is not possible to view it due to occasional contracts.

In order to view sports broadcast programs, movie programs, music programs, etc., which are broadcast on such scrambled satellite TV broadcasts or CATV channels in program units, a viewing time recording device is provided for each receiver. Although there is a system where payment is made and payment is made post-payment according to the viewing record, manpower is required to manage this system and collect fees.

Further, even if the terrestrial wave or the satellite TV broadcast is free for general viewers to watch, the received one is re-distributed to a large number of display devices for secondary use. May be charged for copyright reasons.

In this way, when watching terrestrial TV broadcasting for a fee, there is no means for making a viewing contract for each individual program like satellite TV broadcasting or CATV, so a channel for distributing a pay program desired to be viewed. You have to make a viewing contract every time.

In order to deal with such a problem, the inventors of the present invention have disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-199942 that "a charge is applied to a pay program viewing application made by a pay program viewing applicant through a telephone line. The center transmits the viewing permission code for viewing the pay program to the data communication device and collects the fee, and the receiving device that receives the viewing permission code checks the pay program according to the viewing permission code. "Characteristic Charging System" and "Charging Center redistributes the broadcast program to the data communication device in response to the application for the pay redistribution of the broadcast program from the applicant for the pay redistribution of the broadcast program over the telephone line. The re-delivery permission code is sent and the fee is collected. Provided the invention to adopt a configuration that it is a charging system wherein "to redistribute the broadcast program in accordance with over-de.

The contents of the above invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the TV billing system according to the present invention. This TV billing system is a satellite TV broadcasting system 1.
A CATV system 2, a character multiplex broadcasting system 3 using terrestrial TV broadcasting, and a billing system 4.

In the satellite TV broadcasting system 1 such as BS or CS, 11 is a satellite TV broadcasting ground station, and a satellite communication transmitting antenna 12 scrambles a geostationary satellite 13 in a geostationary orbit about 30,000 km above the equator. A TV radio wave composed of the generated TV signal and program code is transmitted. The geostationary satellite 13, which has received the TV radio wave transmitted from the satellite communication transmission antenna 12, amplifies the received TV radio wave, converts it into a frequency in the 10 GHz range, and transmits it to the ground.

[0013] The viewer receives 1 transmitted from the geostationary satellite 13.
The satellite radio reception antenna 14 receives 0 GHz TV radio waves, converts them to 1 GHz frequencies, and sends them to the satellite TV broadcast reception tuner / decoder 15. The satellite broadcast reception tuner / decoder 15 receives the video and audio signals from the TV radio waves. Is taken out and converted as it is as a video signal and an audio signal, or converted again to a frequency that can be received by the TV receiver and sent to the TV receiver.

This satellite TV broadcasting system itself is the same as the conventional one, but in this satellite TV broadcasting, the program to be broadcast is scrambled, and a specific viewer who has a viewing permission code for descrambling. Only can watch TV programs.

In the CATV system 2, 21 is C
ATV transmission center, 22 is a coaxial cable or optical fiber cable for transmitting TV signals, and 23 is CATV
An adapter / decoder, which is a CATV adapter / decoder that extracts a video signal and an audio signal from a CATV signal and descrambles the decoded signal and can directly receive the video signal and the audio signal or a TV receiver. Convert the frequency again and send it to the TV receiver.

In the character multiplex broadcasting system 3, 31 is a terrestrial character multiplex broadcasting station for transmitting a TV signal obtained by multiplexing a character signal to a TV program as a terrestrial TV radio wave from a TV transmitting antenna 32. Wave TV wave is T
The character multiplex signal is received by the V radio wave receiving antenna 33, the character multiplex signal is taken out from the TV signal by the character multiplex adapter 34, and the display devices 35, 35, 35 such as a video monitor, an LED display device, an LCD display device, a display phone, and a personal computer display device. Deliver to ...

On the other hand, the charging system 4 includes a charging center 4
1, a public telephone line 42 and a data communication device 43. In this billing system 4, a person who wants to watch a pay program is a data communication device 4 such as a display phone.
3 is used to make a viewing application to the charging center 41 via the public telephone line 42. When the viewer of the pay program makes a viewing application, the billing center 41 transmits a viewing permission code for viewing the pay program to the data communication device 43.

The viewing permission code transmitted to the data communication device 43 is supplied online through a parallel data communication line, a serial data communication line of RS232C standard, or an ordinary public telephone line using a modem, or an IC card, a memory card or the like. Off-line, satellite broadcasting tuner / decoder 15, CAT
It is sent to the V adapter / decoder 23 or the character multiplex adapter.

The satellite broadcast tuner / decoder 15 and the CATV adapter / decoder 23 that have received the viewing permission code
Alternatively, the character multiplex adapter 34 descrambles the program assigned with the program code corresponding to the viewing permission code, and sends the TV signal to the TV receiver 16 or 24.
The character signal is sent to the display devices 35, 35, 35, ...
A viewable image is displayed on the V receiver 16 or 24, and a character signal is displayed on the display devices 35, 35, 35 ....

On the other hand, from the satellite broadcasting ground station 11, the CATV center 21 or the terrestrial broadcasting station 31, the charge of each pay program and the viewing permission code of each pay program are sent in advance to the charge center 41 and the charge is charged. The center sends the viewing permission code to the viewer who has applied for viewing, and collects the charges on behalf of the satellite broadcasting ground station 11, the CATV center 21, or the terrestrial broadcasting station 31.

[0021]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of each invention of the present application to provide a receiving device used in this charging system.

[0022]

In order to solve this problem, in the present application, a decoder unit is built in a television receiver, a television tuner, a radio receiver, an FM tuner, a video tape recorder, etc. Is supplied from the outside of the device, that is, "a tuner for taking out a scrambled signal from broadcast waves, a decoder section for descrambled signals scrambled by decoding information supplied from means other than broadcast waves" And a tuner unit for extracting a scrambled signal from broadcast radio waves, which is a reception device characterized by storing the supplied decoding information via radio waves. , Scrambled by decoding information supplied by means other than broadcast waves Device having a decoder unit for descrambling the signal, characterized in that the supplied decoding information is stored via the optical communication means ". .

[0023]

A pay program viewer who uses the receiving apparatus according to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure can decode the decoding information, which is the viewing permission code received by contracting with the billing center, through the public telephone line. The program is stored in the receiving device according to the present invention via the means, and the scramble is descrambling by this decoding information to view the program.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As described above, in the conventional pay program receiving system, the scramble decoding data for descrambling is given to the receiving device in advance through the same radio waves as the broadcast program, and the decoding information given to this receiving device in advance. Descramble by.

To this end, the conventional receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 11 has a tuner / decoder section including a tuner section, a decoder section, and a decoder control section. The tuner unit of the conventional apparatus having such a configuration extracts a signal from the received broadcast radio wave. In the decoder control unit, the decode information given in advance through the same radio wave as the broadcast program is stored and supplied to the decoder unit. The decoder section descrambles the scrambled program using the decoding information supplied from the decoder control section, and outputs the descrambled program to a display device or the like.

On the other hand, the receiving apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 has a tuner section, a scramble decoder section and a decoder control section in the tuner / decoder section, and a public telephone is provided outside the receiving apparatus. A data communication device connected to the line and communicating with the billing center is provided. In the receiver of the embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, the tuner section extracts a signal from the received broadcast radio wave. The decoder section descrambles the scrambled program using the decoding information supplied from the decoder control section, and outputs the descrambled program to an output device such as a display device or an audio device.

In the conventional receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 11, the decoding information given in advance through the same radio wave as the broadcast program is sent from the tuner section to the decoder control section for storage, whereas in the conventional receiving apparatus shown in FIG. In the receiving device according to the present invention, the decoding information provided from the billing center via the public communication telephone line via the data communication device,
An online or offline input means for accepting from the data communication device is provided.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, a display phone is used as a data communication device. However, as the data communication device, a touch-tone telephone such as a touch-tone telephone or a portable telephone and a personal computer, It is also possible to use a modem connected to a device such as a word processor.

As online input means from this data communication device, communication means using a cable such as RS232C can be used as wired input means, and communication means such as radio waves, light and ultrasonic waves can be used as wireless input means. An IC card, a flexible disk, or the like can be used as the offline input means. PDA (Pe
If an electronic device called rsonal Digital Assistants) that can be connected to a public telephone line and has an optical communication function is used, the decoding information is received from the billing center and supplied to the receiving device. Can be done with a single device. If this PDA device has the function of an FM receiver, it can be used as a receiver for FM text multiplex broadcasting.

The above-described receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is provided with an external data communication apparatus which receives decoding information from the billing center via the public telephone line, whereas FIG. The receiver is provided inside. With this configuration, although the configuration of the receiving device is somewhat complicated, it is easy to accept the decoding information, and errors are less likely to occur.

4 and 5 are block diagrams of a tape / disk recording / playing apparatus such as a video tape recorder with a tuner according to the present invention. The tape / disk recording / playing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 includes a tuner section, a decoder section, a decoder control section, and a recording / reproducing section. The signal extracted from the broadcast radio wave in the tuner section is a data communication device in the decoder section. Descrambling is performed using the decoding information supplied from the decoder control unit via the, and the descrambling signal is recorded in the recording unit and reproduced in the reproducing unit and output to an output device such as a display device or an audio device. Is output. Further, the tape / disk recording / playing device shown in FIG. 5 is provided internally while the data communication device in the device of FIG. 4 is provided externally.

The receiver shown in FIG. 6 has the same components as the receiver shown in FIG. 4, but the arrangement between the components is different, and therefore the signal processing is also different. In the recording unit of this receiving device, the signal extracted from the broadcast radio wave in the tuner unit is recorded while being scrambled without passing through the decoder control unit, and is descrambled by passing through the decoder during reproduction. With such a configuration, it is possible to record a plurality of programs to be broadcast at midnight or the like without performing reservation work and to descramble any of the recorded broadcast programs, so to speak, turning on pay-per-view. It can be demanded. Further, the tape / disk recording / playing device shown in FIG. 7 is provided inside while the data communication device in the device of FIG. 4 is provided outside.

Although the device shown in FIG. 8 does not have a tuner and is therefore not included in the concept of a receiving device, the system shown in FIG. 6 or 7 is a technical extension of the tape / disk recording / playing device. And the device. This system
It is composed of a tape / disk recording device and a tape / disk playing device. In the tape / disk recording device, an original signal such as audio or video is supplied in a scrambled state stored in a tape or a disk. .

On the other hand, in the tape / disk playing device, the scrambled signal is descrambled by decoding information stored in a means such as an IC card supplied separately from the tape or the disk, and the reproduced signal is reproduced. Is output to an output device such as a display device or an audio device. By using the system and apparatus configured as described above, it is possible to record a plurality of programs on a tape or a disk and sell or rent them so that only specific programs among them can be auditioned.

The apparatus of the embodiment described above has the tuner section and the decoder section integrated except for the apparatus shown in FIG. However, the device used in the current general pay-view device system has a tuner and a decoder separately. FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a decoder separate from this tuner. The tape / disk recording / playing device shown in FIG. 10 is provided internally while the data communication device in the device of FIG. 9 is provided externally.

In the above-described embodiments, the devices used in the charging system for TV broadcasting or audio broadcasting have been described, but these devices are required to charge for each program. Data broadcasting
The present invention can also be applied to broadcasting / communication means such as data communication, or various broadcasting / communication means using ground waves such as data broadcasting / data communication such as TV multiplex broadcasting or FM multiplex broadcasting.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the configurations of the respective inventions of the present application, it is possible to provide a receiving apparatus for charging a scrambled broadcast program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a tuner / decoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the tuner / decoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a tape / disk recording / playing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the tape / disk recording / playing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of still another embodiment of the tape / disk recording / playing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of still another embodiment of the tape / disk recording / playing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a tape / disk recording / playing system and apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a decoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a decoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a conventional tuner / decoder.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a conventional tape / disk recording / playing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 satellite TV broadcasting system 2 CATV system 3 character multiplex broadcasting system 4 billing system

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A receiving apparatus comprising: a tuner section for taking out a scrambled signal from broadcast radio waves; and a decoder section for descrambling a signal scrambled by decoding information supplied from means other than broadcast radio waves. A receiving device characterized in that the decoded information is stored via radio waves. 2. A receiving device having a tuner section for taking out a scrambled signal from broadcast radio waves, and a decoder section for descrambling a scrambled signal according to decode information supplied from a means other than broadcast radio waves. A receiving device, characterized in that the decoded information is stored via optical communication means. 3. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a signal recording / playing unit. 4. The receiving apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the signal recording / playing unit is a magnetic tape recording / playing unit. 5. The receiving device according to claim 3, wherein the signal recording / playing unit is an optical disk recording / playing unit. 6. The receiving apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the signal recording / playing unit is an optical-magnetic disk recording / playing unit. 7. The receiving device according to claim 3, 4, 5 or 6, wherein the signal recording / playing unit records and plays the scrambled signal.