JP2002010110A - Image signal switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that conventional transmission facilities do not include a method that confirms whether a program to be transmitted is an intended one or not, and cuts off an unintended program. SOLUTION: A metadata read means 6 reads metadata that is superimposed on an image signal. A verification part 7 reads the content to be compared from the metadata for comparing with the preset content to be compared, judges whether a target image signal of is an intended one or not, and outputs the judged result as a comparison result. A gate 8 transmits or cuts off the image signal according to the comparison result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a library system for a broadcasting station such as a digital video archive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional broadcasting station transmission facility, a program to be transmitted is managed on a timeline, and a cart machine or a switcher operates according to a transmission schedule preset in a control terminal, and each device operates and operates as intended. The program is being sent. FIG. 11 shows a simplified example of this. A transmission schedule is set in the control terminal 1 in advance,
The VTR 2, VTR 4, and router 3 are controlled by the instruction of the control terminal 1, and the intended programs are sequentially transmitted.
When the tapes of the program A and the program B are set in the VTR 2 and the VTR 4, respectively, and the transmission schedule is preset in the control terminal 1 so that the transmission is performed in the order of the program A and the program B, the control terminal 1 By the time, VTR2
Is queued up so that program A can be transmitted. Further, the VTR 2 is controlled so that the output of the program A is started from the VTR 2 at the start time of the program A, and at the same time, the output to the router 3 is connected to the input from the VTR 2 at the start time of the program A. When the switching time from the program A to the program B approaches, the control terminal 1 transmits the VT by the start time of the program B.
R4 is queued up so that program B can be transmitted. Further, the VTR 4 is controlled so that the output of the program B is started from the VTR 4 at the start time of the program B, and at the same time, the output to the router 3 is switched to the input from the VTR 4 at the start time of the program B. Recently, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
As in the non-linear video broadcasting system described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 19, there is a system that transmits a small number of internally managed programs based on a transmission schedule using time as a management unit without using a router.

On the other hand, there has been an active movement to store and manage a huge number of programs held by broadcast stations as digital archives and actively exchange programs between stations. In the case of exchanging programs, unlike a normal broadcast transmission, a schedule is not clearly defined in advance, and a program is transmitted as needed. Also,
In order to manage a huge number of programs, the system configuration will be a combination of multiple facilities such as automatic warehouses, cart machines, video servers, etc., including manual entry and exit, registration work to the management system Is more likely to occur when performing a broadcast than when a normal broadcast is transmitted.

[0004]

However, in the conventional transmission equipment, there is no method for confirming whether the transmitted program is intended or not and for interrupting the transmission of the unintended program. In a transmission facility intended for exchanging programs, a mechanism for confirming whether a transmitted program is the intended program and interrupting transmission of an unintended program is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a video signal blocking device for checking whether or not a program to be transmitted is intended at an exit of a transmission facility, and blocking transmission of an unintended program.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a video signal blocking device according to the present invention is characterized in that the collating means reads the content of the collation target from the metadata read from the video signal sent by the parameter reading means. The collation unit collates with a preset collation target, outputs a collation result instructing permission / non-permission of the transmission of the video signal, and the blocking unit transmits and blocks the video signal according to the verification result.

With this configuration, the video signal blocking device of the present invention can block transmission of an unintended program.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first aspect of the present invention is a video signal blocking device for managing the transmission of a video signal, and reads out metadata storing information of the video signal superimposed on the video signal. Metadata reading means, reads the content of the collation target from the metadata, collates it with the content of the collation target set in advance, and outputs a collation result instructing permission / non-permission of transmission of the video signal. A video signal blocking device, comprising: a matching unit and a blocking unit that sends or blocks the input video signal according to the matching result. Is determined as to whether or not the video signal is the intended video signal, and the blocking means transmits or blocks the video signal according to the collation result, whereby the intended video signal can be transmitted.

Further, the collating means can output a result of collation performed a predetermined number of times as a collation result, thereby preventing erroneous determination.

The collating means outputs a collation result indicating that the transmission of the video signal is not permitted when the content of the collation object cannot be read from the metadata even after a predetermined time has elapsed. The processing can be prevented from falling into an infinite loop.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a delay means for delaying a video signal inputted to the cutoff means is provided, and the delay means determines whether or not the result of comparison with the video signal to be transmitted is higher than that of the matching means. Until output to the blocking means, is a video signal blocking device characterized by delaying the input of the video signal to the blocking means, until the matching means is output to the video signal of the delay means, By delaying the input of the video signal, it is possible to prevent the head of the video signal to be output from being lost or the head of the video to be cut off from flowing out.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a video signal blocking device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a control terminal for controlling the VTRs 2 and 4, the router 3, and the video signal cut-off device 5 according to a transmission schedule. 2 and 4 denote VTRs for reproducing a program recorded on a tape. 5 is a video signal blocking device for blocking unintended programs, 6 is a metadata reading unit that reads metadata from programs output from the router 3, and 7 is output from the router 3. A collation unit 8 for collating whether the selected program is the intended program, and a gate 8 serving as a blocking unit that outputs the program only when the program output from the router 3 is the intended program.

The operation of the video signal cut-off device configured as described above will be described below.

In the present embodiment, tapes of program A and program B are set in VTR2 and VTR4, respectively.
It is assumed that the transmission schedule is preset in the control terminal 1 so that transmission is performed in the order of the program B. In the video signals recorded on the tapes of the programs A and B, metadata storing information of the programs is recorded in a superimposed manner. FIG. 2 shows the contents of the recorded metadata. As shown in FIG. 2, the metadata includes a program name, a program identifier, a creation date, and a copyright indication. In the present embodiment, the program identifier is used for collation.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the relationship between the video and the metadata superimposed on the video signal output from the VTR. FIG.
Indicates that a series of metadata is completely transmitted during the video period of each frame, and FIG. 4 illustrates that there is no metadata in some frames.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a collation record in the collation table managed by the collation unit 7. The collation record includes a transmission start time, a transmission end time, an item name to be collated, and an item permitted to be transmitted. The collation record of the collation unit 7 of the video signal blocking device 5 is set by the control terminal 1. FIG. 6 shows a comparison table. in this case,
It is assumed that the fields in the collation record are set as shown in FIG. The record on the first line is the collation information of program A,
The record on the second line is the verification information of the program B. In each record, the program identifier is specified as an item name to be compared.

The mechanism for supplying the video signal to be input to the video signal blocking device 5 is the same as in the conventional example, and the program B is input after the program A. The video signal is input to the metadata reading unit 6 and the gate 8. The metadata reading unit 6 reads the metadata from the video signal,
To pass the read metadata. The collating unit 7 identifies the record to be collated at the current time, identifies the item to be collated as the program identifier from the information of the record, reads the contents of the program identifier from the metadata,
The collation is performed, and an instruction to the gate 8 is determined. In the present embodiment, the transmission permission is output as true and the non-permission is output as false as the collation result. The instruction to the gate 8 is determined from the collation result. In order to prevent a reading error or an erroneous determination when no metadata exists as shown in FIG. Confirm. If the collation target item cannot be read even after a predetermined time has elapsed, the collation result is determined to be false, and the instruction to the gate 8 is determined.
Hereinafter, a series of operations of the collating unit will be described along a series of determination procedures in the collating unit of FIG.

After the initialization (S01 in FIG. 7), the collating unit 7 enters the processing of an infinite loop. First, reading of a predetermined item of metadata is attempted within a preset timeout period (S02). If the time-out has been reached, false is substituted for the collation result, the collation result is transmitted to the gate, and the metadata is read again (S03 to S0).
5). If the timeout has not been reached, a record to be collated in the current time zone is searched from the collation table based on the current time (S03, S06). If the corresponding record exists in the matching table and the content of the item name to be matched of the record matches the content of the predetermined item of the read metadata, substitute true for the determination result, and so on. Otherwise, substitute false for the determination result (S0
7 to S10). If the determination result matches the provisional result, 1 is added to the determination count (S11, S12). Otherwise, 1 is substituted for the determination count and the determination result is substituted for the provisional result, and the process returns to S02 (S13). When the determination result reaches a predetermined count, the provisional result is substituted for the collation result, 1 is subtracted from the determination count, and the process proceeds to S05 (S14, S1).
5).

FIG. 8 shows how the collation result and the permission (pass) or non-permission (block) instruction for the gate 8 change. As shown in FIG. 8, before the start of the program A and after the end of the program B, no video signal is input to the video signal blocking device 5, so that the comparison result is false, and the gate 8 is instructed to block, Since the programs A and B are supplied during the broadcasting of the programs A and B, the collation result becomes true and the programs A and B pass through the gate 8 and the programs can be transmitted according to the transmission schedule. Also, when the program C is supplied to the video signal blocking device 7 during a time zone different from the time when the programs A and B are being broadcast, the gate 8 is blocked and the video signal is not output to the outside.

FIG. 9 shows a comparison result and an instruction to the gate 8 when the program C is input in a time zone in which the program A should pass due to some mistake. As shown in FIG. 9, since the program identifier of the program C does not match the program identifier of the program A, the collation unit 7 sets the program C
Is cut off by the gate 8 and is not output to the outside.

(Embodiment 2) In the first embodiment, since the instruction to the gate 8 cannot be made in time for the video from which the metadata has been read due to the configuration, the passage of the gate 8 and the process of shutting off the gate 8 are slightly delayed. Therefore, it is inevitable that the head of the video to be passed is missing or the head of the video to be cut off is leaked. In program exchange, the beginning of each program is
Although it is a problem that can be avoided by an operation such as inserting a continuous video of a black screen that does not cause a problem even if it is lost, in the present embodiment, a delay circuit that delays the video signal input to the gate 8 is inserted. A video signal blocking device for preventing the head of a video to be passed from being lost or the head of a video to be blocked from flowing out will be described.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the video signal blocking device according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 10, the same reference numerals are given to components performing the same operation as in the first embodiment, and description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 9 denotes a video signal blocking device 5.
Is a delay circuit for delaying the video signal input to the CPU for a predetermined time.

The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment resides in that a delay circuit 9 is arranged before the gate 8. Therefore, only the operation of the delay circuit 9 will be described in the present embodiment. The delay circuit 9 delays the input of the video signal input from the router 7 to the gate 8 until the comparison unit 7 outputs the comparison result to the gate 8. When the matching result is output from the matching unit 7 to the gate 8, the delay circuit 9 outputs a video signal to the gate 8, and the gate 8 passes or blocks the input video signal according to the matching result.

As described above, in the present embodiment, by inserting the delay circuit adjusted so that the instruction to the gate 8 is given to the image from which the metadata has been read, the beginning of the image to be passed is lost. It is possible to prevent the beginning of the video to be cut off or leaked.

In the present invention, the collation for permitting transmission is performed. However, the collation for which transmission is not permitted may be performed.

Instead of a management method using a record that defines the transmission start time and the transmission end time, a collation method in which transmission is always permitted and transmission is not always permitted can be performed. This management method is generally effective for preventing the outflow of programs that are not used for program exchange.

In the present invention, the item to be compared is a program identifier, but is not limited to this. Further, one or more items to be collated may be used.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the exit of the transmission facility, it is checked whether or not the program to be transmitted is intended, so that only the intended program is transmitted and other programs are transmitted. A remarkable effect of blocking is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a video signal blocking device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing contents of recorded metadata.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transmission form of metadata that is completely transmitted during a video period of each frame.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a transmission mode in which metadata does not exist in some frames.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a collation record of a collation table managed by a collation unit 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a collation table set in a collation unit 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of collation in the collation unit 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a comparison result and an instruction for a gate 8;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a comparison result and an instruction to a gate 8 when an unintended program is input;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a video signal blocking device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

And FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the operation of the transmission control of the conventional transmission equipment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control terminal 2, 4 VTR 3 Router 5 Video signal cut-off device 6 Metadata reading part 7 Matching part 8 Gate 9 Delay circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A video signal blocking device for managing transmission of a video signal, comprising: metadata reading means for reading metadata storing information of the video signal superimposed on the video signal; Reading means for reading out the contents of the object, checking the contents of the object to be checked in advance, and outputting a result of instructing permission or non-permission of transmission of the video signal; And a blocking means for sending or blocking the video signal. 2. The video signal blocking device according to claim 1, wherein the collating means outputs a result of collating a predetermined number of times as a collation result. 3. The collating means outputs a collation result indicating that video signal transmission is not permitted when the content of the collation target cannot be read from the metadata even after a predetermined time has elapsed. The video signal blocking device according to claim 1, wherein 4. A delay means for delaying a video signal inputted to the blocking means, wherein the delay means outputs the video signal until a matching result for the video signal to be transmitted is output from the matching means to the blocking means. 2. The video signal blocking device according to claim 1, wherein an input to the blocking unit is delayed.