JP2001061112A - Display control apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit or inhibit a viewer from reading limited contents according whether the viewer' has reading qualification with out having to input of his password number required by registering and setting previously the age and the biological information of the viewer with relation secured between them, detecting the inputted biological information about the viewer and comparing the age of the viewer with his age limit information to decide whether the viewer can or cannot view the limited contents. SOLUTION: A TV receiver 100 includes the information, to inhibit the viewers of ages under a prescribed age from viewing the programs which are limited by age. A viewer, who uses a remote controller 1, is registered in the controller 1 prior to the viewer actually views a program. At the same time, biological information that can identify the physical features of the viewer is inputted to a biological information input part 2, and also the age of the viewer prescribed by the biological information is inputted to an age input part 3. Thus, the viewer who is prescribed by the biological information inputted to the part 2 and the age information inputted to the part 3 are registered at a registering/setting part 5 with a relation secured between them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display control apparatus and method, and more particularly to a display control apparatus and method for controlling display of content including information on age restriction and viewer restriction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of cable television and the like, programs that can be viewed at ordinary homes have been increasing. In addition, a medium recording a video that can be reproduced by a device such as a VTR or a DVD player has been provided at a low price, and various programs can be viewed at home.

[0003] On the other hand, the spread of personal computers and network environments has made it easier to connect to the Internet even at home, making it possible to browse websites.

[0004] By the way, the contents of the above-mentioned programs and websites (hereinafter referred to as contents) sometimes include images that are not suitable for viewing by persons under a certain age, such as violent scenes and cruel scenes.

For this reason, a receiver for receiving a cable television program, a DVD player, browsing software on the Internet, and the like need to have a function of restricting the viewing of content by a person under the target age.

[0006] Therefore, unless a personal identification number (password) unique to the above-mentioned receiver, DVD player, and viewing software itself is input, it becomes impossible to use these devices and software or to browse age-restricted contents. And so on.

[0007]

However, with the above-described function, if a person who is not qualified to view the content and is under the target age knows the unique password in some way, it can be freely viewed. There was a problem that would.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention makes it possible to browse contents with restricted viewing without inputting a password, and not to browse unqualified contents. It is an object of the present invention to provide a display control device and method.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a display control device for displaying or hiding content including age restriction information for restricting viewing of viewers under a predetermined age, An age input unit 3 for inputting the age of the viewer, a biometric information input unit 2 for inputting the biometric information of the viewer, and registration for pre-registering and setting the age of the viewer and the biometric information of the viewer A setting unit 5 and a biological information detecting unit 4 for detecting input biological information of a viewer;
A recognition unit 6 for specifying the age of the viewer based on the detected biometric information and information from the setting registration unit 5,
Comparing the identified age of the viewer with the age restriction information to determine whether or not the viewer can view the content; and determining when the viewer can view the content. And a display control device for displaying the content.

[0010] Also, a display control method for displaying or not displaying content including age restriction information for restricting viewing of viewers under a predetermined age, wherein the step of inputting the age of the viewer; Inputting the biological information of the viewer, pre-registering and setting the age and the biological information of the viewer in association with each other, detecting the biological information of the viewer, and identifying the detected viewer. Identifying the age of the identified viewer; determining whether the age of the viewer is an age at which the content can be viewed; and determining whether the age of the viewer can view the content. When the age is, the content is displayed, and when the age of the viewer is an age at which the content cannot be viewed, or when the viewer cannot be specified. Provides a display control method comprising the steps, characterized in that it not displayed the content.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a display control apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a display control device according to the present invention. The television receiver 100 can be operated by the remote controller 1 such as turning on / off the power, selecting a program, and the like. The television receiver 100 is capable of viewing programs whose viewing is restricted by age, and such programs include information that prohibits viewing of persons under a predetermined age (hereinafter, referred to as age restriction information). . Then, the television receiver 100 has received the age restriction information.

Prior to actual viewing, the remote controller 1 registers a person who will use the remote controller 1. At this time, the age of the person is set together with biometric information by which the person can be identified by physical characteristics. Here, the information that can be individually identified includes fingerprint collation, voiceprint collation, retinal blood vessel pattern collation, handwritten characters, and the like. The biological information is input to the biological information input unit 2 and the age of the person specified by the biological information is input to the age input unit 3. Then, the person specified by the biometric information input from the biometric information input unit 2 and the age information input from the age input unit 3 are registered in the registration setting unit 5 in association with each other. In addition, it is preferable that these registration operations are performed by a person whose program to be viewed by the age restriction information is not restricted, and that the registration operation is performed by a parent or the like at home.

When the program is actually viewed after the registration work is completed, the viewer needs to turn on the power of the television receiver 10 with the remote control 1 and select a desired program. A viewer using the remote controller 1 needs to input his / her biological information to the biological information detecting unit 2. The biometric information input by the biometric information input unit 2 is detected by the biometric information detection unit 4, and is compared with the biometric information registered in the registration setting unit 5 by the recognition unit 6 to specify the input viewer age. I do. As described above, the individual is specified by the viewer's biometric information, the age is specified, and when the program desired by the viewer has an age restriction, the age restriction information 9 is input to the receiving unit 10 of the remote controller 1. Then, the discriminating unit 7 discriminates whether or not the age of the viewer is permitted to view according to the age restriction information 9. For a program that cannot be viewed due to the age of the viewer, the viewer selects a program. However, the program is not displayed on the television receiver 100, and only the viewable programs can be displayed.

Next, a display control method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Before starting this processing, the biological information of the viewer and the age are registered in advance in association with each other.

According to FIG. 2, first, the processing is started (S
1) It is checked whether the program selected by the viewer is an age-restricted program (S2). Here, when the program has no age restriction, the program is displayed (S8), and when the program has age restriction, the biological information is detected (S3).

When the biometric information is detected and the individual is specified (S4), the age registered in advance in association with the biometric information is specified (S5). Then, it is determined whether or not the program is a viewable program based on the specified age (S6). If the program is at the viewable age, the program is displayed (S8). Here, biological information detection (S
3) If the individual cannot be specified (S4) and the age cannot be specified (S5), the program is not displayed (S7). Is not displayed (S7).

In the above-described embodiment, the display control apparatus and method for viewing a program with an age restriction by the combination of the television receiver 100 and the remote controller 1 have been described. When playing media with an age restriction by incorporating the above-mentioned functions in a device such as a VTR or a DVD player, or by using the above-mentioned functions in an input means (keyboard or mouse) of a personal computer. Used when browsing age-restricted content,
It is applicable to various devices.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the display control apparatus and method according to the present invention, when a viewer browses a content including age restriction information, the age is specified by the biological information of the viewer. Is performed, and the content is not displayed when the age is not viewable, so that it is possible to reliably prevent a viewer under a predetermined age from erroneously viewing the content including the age restriction information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a display control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a display control method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote control 2 Biological information input part 3 Age input part 4 Biological information detection part 5 Registration setting part 6 Recognition part 7 Judgment part 8 Transmission part 9 Age restriction information 10 Receiving part 100 Television receiver

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display control device for displaying or hiding a content including age restriction information for restricting viewing of a viewer under a predetermined age, an age input unit for inputting a viewer's age, A biometric information input unit for inputting the biometric information of the viewer, a registration setting unit for pre-registering and setting the age of the viewer and the biometric information of the viewer in association with each other, and detecting the input biometric information of the viewer A biometric information detection unit for performing, a recognition unit that specifies the age of the viewer based on the detected biometric information and information from the setting registration unit, an identified age of the viewer and the age restriction information, And a determination unit that determines whether or not the viewer can view the content, and displays the content when the determination unit determines that the content can be viewed. 2. A display control method for displaying or hiding a content including age restriction information for restricting viewing of a viewer under a predetermined age, comprising the steps of: inputting a viewer's age; Inputting the biometric information of the viewer, pre-registering and setting the viewer's age and biometric information in association with each other, detecting the biometric information of the viewer, and specifying the detected viewer. Identifying the age of the identified viewer; determining whether the age of the viewer is the age at which the content can be viewed; and determining that the age of the viewer can view the content. When the age is, the content is displayed, and when the age of the viewer is an age at which the content cannot be viewed, or when the viewer cannot be specified. Display control method comprising the steps, characterized in that not displayed the content to.