WO2005002227A1

WO2005002227A1 - Method for selectively filtering information transmitted to digital broadcasting receiver by user

Info

Publication number: WO2005002227A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/001535
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zino Lee
Original assignee: Alticast Corp.
Priority date: 2003-06-27
Filing date: 2004-06-25
Publication date: 2005-01-06
Also published as: KR20050004305A; KR100570737B1

Abstract

There is provided a method for selectively filtering information transmitted to a digital broadcasting receiver at a side of a user. The method comprises inputting a filtering condition by a user, storing the filtering condition into a memory of a digital broadcasting receiver, identifying meta data of an information transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver, confirming whether the meta data is matched with the filtering condition, and selectively treating the information which matches with the filtering condition and storing the information a storage of the digital broadcasting receiver. The method enables the user to selectively receive the information to be desired such that it provides efficient filtering of the information transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver.

Description

METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY FILTERING INFORMATION TRANSMITTED TO DIGITAL BROADCASTING RECEIVER BY USER

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for selectively filtering information transmitted to a digital broadcasting receiver at a side of a user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As one may know from the word, "internet is a sea of information," various information are exchanged and shared through the internet. Sharing of the information through the internet is performed by two methods: one is a user-oriented sharing of the information and the other is a provider-oriented sharing of the information. Acquisition of the desired information by the search of the user belongs to the former, and mailing service belongs to the latter. Sharing of the information by the latter does sometimes give undesired results. The information (for, example, sexual advertisement) which the user are not willing to receive is transmitted to the user in a form of spam mail and various countermeasures are taken in order to prohibit the problems. For example, repeated distribution of the unwanted information after explicit notice of receipt denial will be punished. Nonetheless, distribution of unlawful spam mails is continuously increasing, and over 600 millions of spam mails are transmitted in a day through the internet. Such a spam mail is one of social problems.

Nonetheless, the sharing of the information through broadcasting is expected to be still more significant than the internet. In a case of the internet, the provider should know an email address of the recipient in order to send spam mails. Therefore, careful management of the email address may prohibit unlawful spam mails. To the contrary, there is no such a restriction to the broadcasting. In a case of the broadcasting, all the users subscribed into broadcasting transmission systems are exposed to the distribution of the unlawful information. Particularly, accompanied with rapid development of bi-directional communications and storage of the information into a storage of a digital broadcasting receiver, the problems which will be caused form the sharing of the information through broadcasting are believed to be still more significant than the internet.

DISCLOSURE TECHNICAL PROBLEM An object of the present invention is to provide a method which provides users with selective receipt of the information transmitted through broadcasting. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for selectively filtering the information transmitted to a digital broadcasting receiver at a side of a user. Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient filtering method in which both selective filtering and hierarchical filtering of the information transmitted through a broadcasting network to a digital broadcasting receiver is accomplished.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION The method according to the present invention comprises inputting a filtering condition by a user, storing the filtering condition into a memory of a digital broadcasting receiver, comparing meta data of the information with the filtering condition, filtering the information which satisfies the filtering condition and storing the information into a storage of the digital broadcasting receiver.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT The method according to the present invention enables users to selectively filter the information transmitted to a digital broadcasting receiver, and it would be very helpful as the transmission of the information to the digital broadcasting receiver is popular. Further, hierarchical filtering of the information with an occupation classification list provides users with schematic classification and easy acquisition of the information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the method in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of an occupation classification list used in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a preferred embodiment in which filtering of information transmitted in a form of a broadcast is performed with an occupation of the occupation classification list shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an user interface displayed on a user's display showing the result of the filtering preformed as shown in FIG. 3.

MODE FOR INVENTION FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the method in accordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a user (3) inputs a filtering condition using an input device (for example, a remote control or a wireless keyboard) (not shown), and the filtering condition inputted is stored into a memory (102) of a digital broadcasting receiver (1). If a certain information is transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver (1), a signal processing and control unit (101) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1) confirms whether the received information satisfies the filtering condition stored into the memory (102), and stores the information which is matched with the filtering condition into a storage (103) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1). Thereafter, in response to user's request, the information is delivered and displayed on a user's display (2) and the user (3) views the information.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of an occupation classification list used in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, occupations (10) can be classified into a public servant (11), a specialist (12), a technician (13), an office worker (14), a sales man (15), an agricultural, forestry or fishing producer (16), an artisan (17), a service worker (18), a laborer (19), and so on. The public servant (11) can be classified into a central public servant (111) and a local public servant (112), and the local public servant (112) can be also classified into an administrative officer (1121), a fire officer (1122), a policeman (1123), and so on. Further, the fire officer (1122) can be subcategorized into a Seoul-fire officer (11221), a Kyunggi-fire officer (11222), a Kangwon-fire officer (11223), and so on. Herein, suppose that the user is a fire officer (1122) and the user would like to filter the information transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver (1) with the occupation "a fire officer" (1122). Then, the user inputs "a fire officer" as a filtering condition using an input device, and the filtering condition is treated by the signal processing and control unit (101 of FIG. 1) and stored into the memory (102 of FIG. 1) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1). If certain information is transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1), the signal processing and control unit (101 of FIG. 1) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1) confirms whether the received information satisfies the filtering condition stored into the memory (102 of FIG. 1), and stores the information which is matched with the filtering condition into a storage (103 of FIG. 1) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1). Confirmation of the matching is performed in the following procedures: the signal processing and control unit (101 of FIG. 1) firstly analyzes meta data of the received information, and then compares the meta data with the filtering condition stored into the memory (102 of FIG. 1). hi a case that a user (3 of FIG. 1) inputs "a fire officer" (1122 of FIG. 2) as a filtering condition, the information which satisfies exactly the same filtering condition, the information which satisfies an upper class of the filtering condition, and the information which satisfies a lower class of the filtering condition can be treated by the signal processing and control unit (101 of FIG. 1) and stored into the storage (103 of FIG. 1) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1). In response to user's request, these information are displayed onto a user's display (2 of FIG. 1). Specifically, in the occupation classification list shown in FIG. 2, an information which targets a public servant (11), an information which targets a local public servant (112), an information which targets a fire officer (1122), an information which targets a Seoul-fire officer (11221), an information which targets a Kyunggi- fire officer (11222) and an information which targets a Kangwon-fire officer (11223) is treated by the signal processing and control unit (101 of FIG. 1) and stored into the storage (103 of FIG. 1) of the digital broadcasting receiver (1 of FIG. 1). To the contrary, the information which targets the occupation other than the public servant (11) is disregarded. Further, the information which targets the central public officer (111) of the public servant (11), or the information which targets the occupations of the local public servant excluding the fire officer (1122) is also disregarded.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a preferred embodiment in which filtering of information transmitted in a form of a broadcast is performed with an occupation of the occupation classification list shown in FIG. 2. If a user inputs "a fire officer" as a filtering condition (SI 00), the filtering condition is stored into a memory of a digital broadcasting receiver (S200). Thereafter, if transmission of certain information to the digital broadcasting receiver is detected (S300), the signal processing and control unit of the digital broadcasting receiver examines meta data of the received information (S400), and then compares the meta data with the filtering condition stored into the memory (S500). Decision whether the received information is matched with the filtering condition is judged by the conformation whether the received information satisfies exactly the same filtering condition, the received information satisfies an upper class of the filtering condition, or the information satisfies a lower class of the filtering condition. More preferably, the matched information is filtered by a series of judgments: Does the received information satisfy exactly the same filtering condition? (S501). If not, does the received information satisfy an upper class of the filtering condition? (S502). If not, does the information satisfy a lower class of the filtering condition? (S503). After a series of decisions have been performed, the matched information are hierarchically stored in a storage of the digital broadcasting receiver (S600), and the information are displayed onto a user's display in response to user's request.

FIG. 4 is an user interface displayed on a user's display showing the result of the filtering preformed as shown in FIG. 3. "A fire officer of a local public servant" in the occupation classification list was used as a filtering condition, and the filtered information was displayed depending on categories to which the information belongs. Specifically, an information which satisfies exactly the same filtering condition (501), an information which satisfies an upper class of the filtering condition (502), and an information which satisfies a lower class of the filtering condition (503) were classified according to the categories to which the information belongs and displayed on a user's display in a hierarchically separated form. The user can consult the detailed contents by clicking the displayed items.

hi the above embodiment, the filtering with the occupation classification list is exemplified. Such an embodiment is a preferred one. The filtering with the occupation classification list is a model adequate for the transmission of government information through a television. But, the filtering condition is not limited thereto. Goods or services may also be used. For example, with a good classification list, the information can be filtered in a filtering condition of "a refrigerator of electronic goods" or "Samsung refrigerator," or with a stock classification list, the stock information can be filtered.

The filtering method according to the present invention can be applicable to various digital broadcasting receivers. Examples include a set top box and portable terminals such as DMA which treat broadcasting signals. Preferably, the digital broadcasting receiver is a set top box and display is a digital television.

Claims

1. A method for selectively filtering information transmitted to a digital broadcasting receiver at a side of a user, comprising: a) performing an input of a filtering condition by a user and storing the filtering condition into a memory of a digital broadcasting receiver; b) identifying meta data of an information transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver; c) confirming whether the meta data is matched with the filtering condition; and, d) selectively treating the information which matches with the filtering condition and storing the information a storage of the digital broadcasting receiver.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the matching of the step c) is performed by a hierarchical filtering in which an information which satisfies exactly the same filtering condition, an information which satisfies an upper class of the filtering condition, and an information which satisfies a lower class of the filtering condition is separately filtered, and the filtered information is category-dependently displayed on a user's display in response to user's request.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the filtering condition is a member selected from an occupation classification list in which occupations are hierarchically classified.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the digital broadcasting receiver is a set top box and the treated information is displayed on a digital television.