JPH11220444A - Device and method for acquiring program selection history information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit selection history information while reducing its data amount by transmitting the selection history information, which is composed of plural pieces of selection information stored at every plural selection timing, to the destination to report at prescribed transmission timing. SOLUTION: A broadcasting entrepreneur (broadcasting station) 2 transmits video data and audio data to a communication satellite 3. An antenna 6 provided at a user's house 4 receives transmission data D2 from the communication satellite 3 and transmits a reception data stream D3 to reception equipment (IRD) 5. The IRD 5 restores the video data and audio data of a program, displays images and outputs sounds. At such a time, the IRD 5 stores program rating data as the selection history information of the program selected and viewed by the user in an internal memory. Then, program rating data D4 for one day are automatically transmitted everyday in the prescribed time band through a public telephone line network 7 to a sum-up center 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[Table of Contents] The present invention will be described in the following order.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention Means for Solving the Problems Embodiments of the Invention (1) Overall Configuration of Audience Rating Survey System (FIG. 1) (2) Receiving Device Configuration (FIGS. 2 to 5) (3) Operation and Effect of Embodiment (4) Other Embodiment Effect of the Invention

[0003]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program selection history information acquiring apparatus and method, and more particularly to a program selection history information acquiring apparatus and method for storing and transmitting audience rating data of television programs in satellite broadcasting. It is suitable.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the audience rating of a television program broadcasted from a broadcasting station has been investigated by a specific audience rating survey system based on, for example, a sample number of about 500 to 600 households. The audience rating survey system stores audience rating data consisting of channel number information and time information indicating a selected time at predetermined time intervals by a specific storage device attached to a television receiver of a viewer. Then, the audience rating data is aggregated by transferring the audience rating data to a predetermined aggregation center for each storage device. And the aggregation center
A rating result for each program is calculated based on the rating data thus aggregated, and this is notified to a broadcaster or a program production company.

[0005] The broadcaster considers the continuation or termination of a program based on the rating result of each program, and reports the rating result to a sponsor company that broadcasts commercials between programs. In addition, the sponsor contract will be continued, and a sponsor company that newly broadcasts commercials will be discovered based on the rating results. Further, the program production company judges the degree of popularity of the program based on the audience rating result, and examines the content of a new program to be produced next.

[0006] As described above, the rating result is a very important factor for broadcasters and program production companies, and the rating result is calculated based on the rating data of as many viewers as possible. Is desired.

For example, in recent years, satellite broadcasting using communication satellites has been realized, and an IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) is referred to as receiving a television signal digitized by such satellite broadcasting. There is a receiving device. The IRD is adapted to selectively receive, via a communication satellite, a large number of programs that are encoded and broadcast from a broadcasting station by a predetermined image compression method, and are selected by a user. The program is displayed on a monitor by decoding the program via an internal decoder.

[0008]

By the way, in the IRD having such a configuration, the audience rating data is stored at a predetermined timing (for example, every one minute) by a specific storage device attached to the main body of the IRD. As a result, the data amount of the audience rating data becomes enormous. Therefore IR
D has a problem that a large-capacity memory is required and the communication cost borne by the counting center when transmitting an enormous amount of audience rating data is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to propose a program selection history information acquiring apparatus and a method thereof which can transmit the selection history information while reducing the data amount.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in order to obtain the selection history information of a program selected from a plurality of channel programs, the present invention provides a method for selecting a program at a selection timing. Information is stored, and selection history information including a plurality of pieces of selection information stored at each of a plurality of selection timings is transmitted to a notification destination at a predetermined transmission timing.

[0011] By storing selection history information consisting only of a plurality of selection information at a plurality of selection timings when a program is selected, the selection history information of the program selected at a predetermined time interval is stored. The data amount can be significantly reduced as compared with the case.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Configuration of Audience Rating Investigation System In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an overall audience rating investigation system, and a broadcaster (broadcasting station) 2 encodes video data and audio data into a predetermined code such as MPEG2. A transport stream is generated by compressing and encoding each of the data to form a packet. Subsequently, the broadcaster 2 performs packet multiplexing on the generated transport streams for a plurality of channels, modulates the resulting multiplexed bit stream by a predetermined modulation method, and uses this as transmission data D1, for example, 10 [ GHz] frequency band
Send to

The communication satellite 3 receives the transmitted transmission data D1, amplifies the transmission data D1 to a predetermined level by a transponder (not shown), and converts the transmission data D1 to a frequency band of, for example, 1 GHz. The transmission data D2 is generated by the conversion, and this is transmitted to each of the user's homes 4A to 4A on the ground.
Send to 4Z.

For example, an antenna 6A provided in the user's home 4A receives the transmission data D2 and transmits a reception data stream D3 obtained by demodulating the transmission data D2 to the reception device (IRD) 5. The IRD 5 restores the video data and audio data of the program by demultiplexing and decoding the received data stream D3, displays the video via a monitor (not shown), and displays the audio via a speaker (not shown). Is output.

At this time, the IRD 5 stores the audience rating data as selection history information of the program selected and listened to by the user in the internal memory, and stores the audience rating data D4 for one day.
Is stored in the audience rating aggregation center 8 via the public telephone network 7 in a predetermined time zone.
4 is automatically transmitted every day. Here, the audience rating data D4 is the time information (t1) and the channel number (CH _NO ) of the program that the user has listened to.

The counting center 8 calculates the audience rating result for each program based on the audience rating data D4 for all the sampled households (in this embodiment, 15,000 households) for one day. The rate result data D5 is immediately notified to the broadcaster (broadcasting station) 2.

(2) Configuration of Receiving Device As shown in FIG. 2, a receiving device (IRD) 5 having a program selection history information acquiring device according to the present invention is first connected to an AC outlet (not shown) via a plug. Power is supplied from the power supply circuit 10 and the CPU (Central Process
g Unit) 22 is started, the CPU 22 executes a process according to the operation of the remote controller 27 by the user.

The CPU 22 controls a user's remote control 27.
Signal S representing the channel number output from
1 is received by the remote control signal light receiving section 28, and this is input as a remote control signal S2. The CPU 22 generates a channel selection signal S3 according to the input remote control signal S2, and supplies this to the front end unit 11.

The front end unit 11 receives the received data stream D3 received via the antenna 6, and converts the received data stream D3 into a channel selection signal S3 of the received data stream D3 transmitted from a transponder (not shown) of the communication satellite 3. Only the received data stream D3 of the corresponding program is sent to the demultiplexer 12.

The demultiplexer 12 temporarily stores the received data stream D3 in the buffer memory 13 and then reads out the encryption key information of the contract channel stored in the IC card 21 connected via the card interface (IF) 20. When the encryption key information matches the encryption key information of the program of the selected channel number, the received data stream D3 stored in the buffer memory 13 is converted into a plurality of packet data based on a clock signal generated inside the CPU 22. To separate.

The demultiplexer 12 extracts only the packet data of the program of the channel number corresponding to the channel selection signal S3, supplies the packet data D10 comprising the video data portion thereof to the MPEG2 video decoder 14, and comprises the audio data portion. The packet data D11 is transferred to the MPEG audio decoder 15
To supply.

Incidentally, in addition to the encryption key information, the IC card 21 stores billing information according to the trial listening time of the program that the user has listened to. The billing information is stored in the CPU 22 in response to a transfer request from the tallying center 8. Is read by
Aggregation center 8 via modem 26 and public telephone network 7
To be sent to.

The MPEG2 video decoder 14 temporarily stores a plurality of packet data D10 composed of video data portions in the memory 16 and then decodes the packet data D10 according to the MPEG2 system based on a clock signal generated inside the CPU 22, thereby providing a compression code. Is converted to video data D12 before conversion, and this is converted to NTSC (National Television System
itee) is sent to the converter 18.

The NTSC converter 18 converts the video data D12
Is converted into a video signal composed of a luminance (Y) signal, a color (C) signal, and a composite signal and output to a monitor (not shown), thereby displaying the program of the selected channel number on the screen of the monitor.

The MPEG audio decoder 15 temporarily stores a plurality of packet data D11 composed of audio data portions in the memory 17, and then stores the data in the MPEG2 video decoder 1.
In the same manner as in 4, the video signal is decoded by the MPEG system based on the clock signal generated inside the CPU 22 to convert it into audio data D13 before compression encoding, and sends it to the digital / analog converter 19.

The digital / analog conversion unit 19 performs a digital / analog conversion process on the audio data D13, thereby converting the analog L (left) audio signal and the R
(Right) Generate an audio signal and use it as a speaker (not shown)
And output as stereo sound via.

The CPU 22 has a RAM (Ramdom Access).
Memory) 23, flash memory 24 and EEPROM
(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memo
ry) 25, and executes various processes by using the RAM 23 as a work area.
A part of the area of the AM 23 can be used to store the audience rating data D4 for one day of trial listening by the user. Here, the area where the audience rating data D4 is stored in the RAM 23 is provided with a margin so that the audience rating data D4 for two days or more can be provided.
Has enough capacity to store

The flash memory 24 stores program information for displaying an initial setting screen and an identification number input screen, which will be described later, and for causing the CPU 22 to perform processing corresponding to a command selected and input by the user based on the menu screen. It is a nonvolatile memory in which the program contents are rewritten when new program information is received from the communication satellite 3.

The EEPROM 25 is also a non-volatile memory, and stores final channel number information when the power supply of the IRD 5 is turned off and a volume (volume) state at that time. When is turned on again, by reading the data content stored in the EEPROM 25, the same channel number and volume state as when the power is turned off can be reset.

In the IRD 5, when the plug is inserted into the AC outlet for the first time after purchase, the power supply circuit 10 is started up. When power is supplied by the power supply circuit 10, the CPU 22 firstly operates the flash memory. By reading the program information stored in the monitor 24, an initial setting screen 51 as shown in FIG.
Is displayed. If the user intends to apply for a rating, the user enters a 5-digit password specified in advance from the counting center 8 into the password input field 52 of the initial setting screen 51.
To enter.

In this case, when the CPU 22 recognizes that the five-digit password designated by the tallying center 8 has been entered in the password entry field 52, the CPU 22 then displays the screen shown in FIG.
Is displayed as shown in FIG. The user inputs the telephone number of the home connected to the public telephone network 7 from the street code into the telephone number input field 54 of the identification number input screen 53, and finally confirms the audience rating application with the “Yes” icon 55. Alternatively, one of the icons 56 of “No” is selected.

The CPU 22 responds "No" to the user.
When the icon 56 is selected, the processing is stopped because the user does not intend to apply for a rating, but when the icon 55 of "Yes" is selected, the inputted telephone number is identified by the user identification of the application for the rating. The number is transmitted to the counting center 8 via the modem 26 and the public telephone network 7.
By registering the transmitted user identification number in the counting center 8, the registration of the setting for automatically storing the audience rating data D 4 for one day that the user listened to in the IRD 5 and automatically transmitting the data to the counting center 8 is completed. .

Thus, the counting center 8 transmits the audience rating data D transmitted from the IRD 5 together with the user identification number.
When the user ID number 4 and the user identification number registered at the time of applying for the rating are matched, the rating data D4 is received, and when they do not match, the rating data D4 is not accepted.

In this case, the IRD 5 receives the remote control signal S1 transmitted by the remote control 27 via the remote control signal receiving section 28, and the CPU 22 converts the remote control signal S2 transmitted via the remote control signal receiving section 28 into the remote control signal S2. By controlling the processing of the front-end unit 11 and the demultiplexer 12 based on this, the channel number information of the program that the user is listening to and the time information indicating the selected time are always recognized.

Accordingly, the CPU 22 controls the channel number information when the power supply is turned on by operating the remote controller 27 and the time information at that time, and the channel number information when the power supply is turned off. And the time information at that time, the channel number information at the time when the program being previewed is changed, and the time information at that time are stored in a partial area of the RAM 23 as audience rating data D4.

Accordingly, if the channel number is not changed at all, only the time information at the time of turning on and off the power and one type of channel number information are stored as the audience rating data D4. That is, the CPU 22 reduces the amount of data to be stored by storing only the channel number information at the selection timing indicating the change point where the channel number is changed and the time information at that time as the audition rate data in the RAM 23 except when the power is turned on and off. It is made to let.

Further, the CPU 22 registers the video reservation information including the channel number information and the recording start and end times in the RAM 23 in accordance with the remote control signal S2 transmitted from the remote control 27 and the remote control signal light receiving section 28, so that the recording is performed. When the start time comes, a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) connected via the video interface 30
der) 29 is controlled to record the video signal and the audio signal supplied from the NTSC converter 18 and the digital / analog converter 19.

In this case, the CPU 22 stores in the RAM 23 as audience rating data D4 to which recording start and end time information is added as additional information in addition to the channel number information recorded by the timer, and transmits the audience rating data D4 to the totaling center 8. The counting center 8 can determine whether the audience rating data D4 is data that has been sampled only once or data that is likely to be repeatedly audited several times due to being recorded on a video tape. It can be tabulated as highly accurate audience rating data D4.

Here, the audience rating data D4 is divided into a header portion 61 and a data portion 62 as shown in FIG. 5, and the header portion 61 is stored with an identification number information area 63 representing a user's telephone number in 40 bits. The date and time information area 64 representing the date of the audience rating data D4 in 16 bits, and the number of samples of the stored audience rating data D4 (that is, the audience rating data D4 obtained when the power supply is turned on and off and every time the program is changed). Sample information area 6 representing the number of
5. Further, the data portion 62 stores the channel number information when the power supply is turned on and / or off and the time information at that time, and the channel number information and the time information at that time changed by the user to listen to the desired program. Expressed in bits.

The CPU 22 stores the selection information of such a data structure for one day (for example, from PM23: 00: 00 of the previous day to PM2 of the current day).
2:59:59) After accumulating and storing in RAM 23, PM2 of the day
Between 3:00:00 and AM07: 00: 00 the next morning, audience rating data D4 as selection history information including a plurality of pieces of selection information for one day.
Is automatically transmitted by free dial via the modem 26 and the public telephone network 7. In this case, the CPU 22 stores the audience rating data D4 in the PM having the free line.
By transmitting between 23:00:00 and AM07: 00: 00 the next morning, line congestion can be avoided.

Here, the CPU 22 has a random number generation unit 2 therein.
2A, and 150 by the random number generation unit 22A.
By generating a random number unique to all of the IRDs 5A to 5Z for the 00 households and allocating a one-minute transmission time zone corresponding to the random number to each user's telephone number (identification number), the audience rating data D4 is stored at PM23: 00. When transmitting between: 00 and AM07: 00: 00, calls for 15,000 households can be transmitted efficiently without overlapping.

In this case, IRDs 5A to 5 for 15,000 households
Z transmits the audience rating data D4 in the individually assigned transmission time zone of one minute, so that the totaling center 8 collects all the audience rating data D4 for 15,000 households in 5 hours by using the 50 lines owned by Z. be able to. Thus, the aggregation center 8 can reliably and easily aggregate the audience rating data D4 for 15,000 households without individually transmitting a data transfer request as in collecting billing information.
Based on the audience rating data D4 for 15,000 households, the audience rating result data D5 for one day is calculated, and this can be immediately notified to the broadcaster 2.

In the IRD 5, the power supply circuit 1
0, a power failure detection circuit 10A detects a power failure (that is, power is not supplied by the power supply circuit 10), and then the power failure detection circuit 10A When the CPU 22 detects that power has been supplied, the CPU 22 resets the audience rating application once set and registered, and displays the initial setting screen 51 (FIG. 3) again.

That is, the IRD 5 always removes the plug from the AC outlet whenever the main unit is transferred between users. In this case, the CPU 22 detects that power is not supplied, and then the plug 22 When the power is supplied from the power supply circuit 10 after being inserted into the AC outlet, the initial setting screen 51 is displayed again on the monitor.

Thus, the user to whom the main body of the IRD 5 has been transferred sees the initial setting screen 51 and determines whether or not to input a password for rating application. At this time, if the user on the transfer side intends to apply for a rating, he / she inputs the 5-digit password specified by the counting center 8 and displays the identification number display screen 53 (FIG. 4) displayed next. The user inputs his / her own telephone number in the identification number input field 54. At this time IR
D5 recognizes, for the first time, that the transferred user has applied for a rating, and performs setting registration for storing and automatically transmitting the rating data D4.

As a result, in the counting center 8, the audience rating data D4 to which the identification number of the transferred user is added is transmitted to the IR
When transmitted from D5, the registered identification number is compared with the identification number given to the audience rating data D4, and when the identification numbers match, the audience rating data D4 is received,
When the identification numbers do not match, by not receiving the audience rating data D4, only the audience rating data D4 of the user who has applied for the audience rating is totaled.

(3) Operation and Effect of the Embodiment In the above configuration, the IRD 5
The channel number information and the time information at the time of the selection timing indicating the change point when the power supply is turned on / off or the program is changed by operating the program are stored as the audience rating data D4 in a partial area of the RAM 23. Accordingly, the amount of data to be stored can be significantly reduced as compared with the case where the audience rating data is stored at predetermined time intervals, for example, at one-minute intervals.

At this time, if the program is not changed, the IRD 5 continues to listen to the program of the channel as it is, so that only the channel number information and the time information at the timing of the change point when the program is changed are stored. By storing it as audience rating data D4, it is possible to store it as highly accurate audience rating data D4, as in the case of storing audience rating data at predetermined time intervals.

Further, the IRD 5 can reduce the area for using the RAM 23 by an amount corresponding to the reduction of the audience rating data D4 as compared with the conventional one, so that the processing capacity of the CPU 22 does not need to be reduced, and the memory capacity of the entire RAM 23 can be reduced. Therefore, the size of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, the IRD 5 reduces the data amount of the audience rating data D4, so that the counting center 8 outputs the audience rating data D4.
The communication cost can be reduced by the reduced amount of data.

According to the above configuration, the IRD 5 uses the channel number information and the time information at the time of selection indicating the change point when the power supply is turned on and off or when the program is changed as the audience rating data D4, as part of the audience rating data D4. By storing the data in the area, the data amount of the audience rating data D4 to be stored can be significantly reduced as compared with the related art.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the audience rating data D4 is stored using a partial area of the RAM 23 provided inside the IRD 5. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a memory that stores only the audience rating data D4 may be separately provided, and the audience rating data D4 may be stored therein.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the channel number information and the time information at the time of power supply ON / OFF and when the channel number is changed are stored in the RAM 23 as audience rating data D4. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When the transmission data stream D2 is received from two or more supply destination broadcasters 2, the identification information indicating the type of the broadcaster 2 is also included in the audience rating data. The identification information of the menu screen and the time information at the time when the menu screen is changed to a menu screen in which the program name, the channel number and the contents are written in order to change the program may be stored as D4. You may make it memorize | store as data D4. In this case, the IRD 5 has higher-accuracy audience rating data D.
4 can be stored and transmitted.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the program selection history information acquiring apparatus of the present invention is provided inside the IRD 5, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the apparatus is provided outside and the IRD 5 is provided. You may make it connect and use.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the program selection history information acquiring device of the present invention is used as an RA as storage means.
Although the description has been given of the case where the configuration is made up of the M23 and the CPU 22, and the modem 26 and the CPU 22 as transmission means, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is made up of various other storage means and transmission means. May be.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the program selection history information acquiring apparatus of the present invention is applied to a digital satellite broadcasting receiving apparatus (IRD) 5 which stores and automatically transmits audience rating data D4. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is applied to a television receiver for ordinary terrestrial broadcasting, a television receiver for cable television, or a radio receiver for receiving audio information and text information. You may do it.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention, selection history information consisting of only a plurality of pieces of selection information at each selection timing at which a program is selected is stored, so that the selection history information is stored at predetermined time intervals. A program selection history information acquiring apparatus and method capable of greatly reducing the data amount as compared with the case of storing selection history information of a selected program and thus transmitting the selected history information with a reduced data amount. realizable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an audience rating survey system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an IRD according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an initial setting screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an identification number input screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data structure of audience rating data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Audience Rating Survey System 2 ... Broadcaster 3 ...
Communication satellite, 5: IRD, 7: Public telephone network, 8: Aggregation center, 10: Power supply circuit, 11: Front end unit, 12: Demultimexer, 22: CPU, 23
... RAM, 26 ... Modem, 27 ... Remote control, 28
...... Remote control signal receiver.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A program selection history information acquiring apparatus for acquiring selection history information of a program selected from a plurality of programs of a plurality of channels, a storage means for storing selection information at a selection timing when the program is selected, A transmission means for transmitting the selection history information including the plurality of pieces of selection information stored for each of the plurality of selection timings to a notification destination at a predetermined transmission timing. 2. The program selection history information acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection information comprises channel number information of the selected program and time information indicating a selected time. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection timing is a timing at which the program is changed. 4. The storage means stores the identification information of the supply destination and the selection information at a change timing when the supply destination of the program is changed by selecting the program. Item 2. A program selection history information acquisition device according to item 1. 5. A program selection history information acquisition method for acquiring selection history information of a program selected from a plurality of programs in a plurality of channels, wherein the selection information at a selection timing when the program is selected is stored. A method for acquiring program selection history information, comprising transmitting the selection history information including a plurality of pieces of selection information stored for each selection timing to a notification destination at a predetermined transmission timing. 6. The program selection history information acquisition method according to claim 5, wherein said selection information comprises channel number information of said selected program and time information indicating a selected time. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the selection timing is a timing at which the program is changed. 8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the selection information is stored together with the identification information of the supply destination at a change timing when the supply destination of the program is changed by selecting the program. The program selection history information acquisition method described.