JP2003037833A - Information service system linked with broadcast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To monitor content information concerning program contents in broadcasting by a one-touch operation only when necessary, without accessing to a content provider. SOLUTION: A content provider 5 (or 7) multicasts content information and second index information before broadcasting a program, thereby storing them in a user's information memory 342. When a broadcast center 1 broadcasts program broadcast signals involving first index information, an extractor 341 extracts the second index information and stores the information in a memory 342 and a reporter 344 reports the reception. When, in this condition, a user sets on a specified key of a PC terminal 32 (or telephone terminal 33), an information reader 343 reads content information with appended second index information corresponding to the first index information and displays the information on a PC.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information service system linked to a broadcasting system, and more particularly, to content information related to the content of a main broadcast program without temporarily increasing communication traffic. , Information service system that can be provided to the user by one-touch operation of the user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, digitalization of broadcasting is progressing to digital broadcasting using broadcasting satellites, and terrestrial broadcasting is also being digitized. With such digital multiplexing technology accompanying the digitization of broadcasting, it has become possible to embed a large amount of information in a normal program video signal consisting of a video signal and an audio signal and broadcast as a multiplexed signal. Also in analog broadcasting, broadcasting in which data is multiplexed with normal program broadcasting is performed, such as character multiplex broadcasting and VBI system.

As an information service system using such a multiplexed broadcast, the URL of a content provider on the Internet is multiplexed with a broadcast signal for broadcast communication, and the user who receives the signal operates the user's operation. ,
A system has already been proposed that allows the user to visit the web page of the URL. However, in this system, the number of users attempting to access a content provider's web page can increase exponentially, for example, if information about a reputable concert is broadcast. In such a case, there is a problem that equipment such as a server having low processing capacity goes down.

In view of the above problems, the content information itself provided by a content provider on the Internet is multiplexed with a broadcast signal in advance and broadcasted, stored in the user side, and a program related to the content information is broadcast. In the meantime, an information service system has been proposed in which the content information is read out and automatically displayed on the monitor screen of the user. In this system, since the content information itself is stored in advance on the user side, it is not necessary to visit the web page of the content provider when broadcasting the program, and therefore the traffic volume does not increase.

[0005]

However, in the latter information service system, the user who receives the broadcast, whether he likes it or not, is displayed on the monitor screen overlapping with the normal broadcast program. The content information will be automatically viewed. Such automatic display of the content information may cause user discomfort in some cases, and as a result,
There is a risk that it will hinder the spread of such information service systems. Further, it is necessary to multiplex the content information, which is a relatively large amount of data, with a normal program broadcast. Therefore, a large amount of content information is multiplexed on the program broadcast and stored in the user side in advance without broadcasting, so that the stored content information can be viewed and listened only when the user desires, and the operation is performed. The realization of a system that can be performed by a user with one touch is awaited. An object of the present invention is to provide such an information service system.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an information service system linked to a broadcasting system, the content provider delivering content information to a user terminal via the Internet. And a broadcasting center where the content provider distributes the content information to the user terminal via the Internet, and then multiplexes the first index information of the content information into the main broadcast program signal for broadcast communication, and a device on the user side. Therefore, a monitor means for receiving and presenting the main broadcast program signal, a storage means for storing the content information distributed by the content provider, and an extraction for extracting the broadcasted first index information from the broadcast signal Means and
When the extracting means extracts the first index information,
The notifying means for notifying the reception of the first index information corresponding to the content information stored in the storage means, the operating means for one-touch operation by the user, the information presenting means for presenting the content information, and the notifying means are the first. When the user performs one-touch operation on the operating means while notifying the reception of the index information of the content, the content information corresponding to the first index information at that time is read from the storage means and presented on the information presenting means. There is provided an information service system characterized by comprising a user side device including an information reading means.

In the above-described information service system according to the present invention, the content provider further includes the second index information of the content information, which is the second index information associated with the first index information. It is configured to deliver the second index information together with the information to the user terminal via the Internet, and the user side device is further configured to store the second index information in the storage means, and the second index information is stored in the storage means. It is preferable to include index information reading means for reading the second index information and displaying it on the information presenting means, and selecting means for the user to select one of the displayed second index information. in this case,
When the user selects one of the second index information displayed on the information presenting means by the selecting means, the content information reading means reads the corresponding content information from the storage means and presents it on the information presenting means. Is preferably configured to. Further, the second index information includes the URL of the content provider, and when the user selects one of the URLs presented on the monitor screen by the selection means, the web page of the corresponding content provider is displayed by the user. It is preferable that the user side device is provided with means for automatically causing the terminal to browse.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information service system linked to a broadcast system, wherein the main broadcast program provides content information related to the content of a broadcast program broadcasted via a broadcast network. A content provider that distributes to the user terminal via the Internet, together with index information indicating the time to be broadcasted,
A device on the user side, which includes first monitor means for receiving and presenting the main broadcast program signal, storage means for storing content information distributed from a content provider, and operation means for one-touch operation by the user. Content presenting means for presenting content information, and content to be presented to the information presenting means by reading from the storage means the content information to which the time at that time is added as index information when the user performs one-touch operation on the operating means. There is provided an information service system characterized by comprising a user side device including an information reading means.

Also in this other aspect of the present invention, the user side device is further provided with notifying means for notifying the reception when the broadcast program corresponding to the content information stored in the storage means is broadcast. Is preferred.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows an information service of the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram for explaining the 1st example of a system. In FIG. 1, 1 is a broadcasting center of a broadcasting company, 2 is a broadcasting network, 3 is a user side device, 4 is the Internet, and 5 is content connected to the Internet 4.
Provider, 6 is a telephone network, 7 is a content provider (call,
Center). The user-side device 3 is the Internet 4
And a user terminal connectable to the content providers 5 and 7 via the telephone network 6. The content providers 5 and 7 are information providers of arbitrary organizations such as companies, countries, and local governments (hereinafter, typically referred to as “advertisers”), and users side via the Internet 4 and telephone network 6. The content information is provided to the device 3. The content provider 7 is a provider that delivers only audio information as content information.

As shown in FIG. 1, the user side device 3 has a T
V receiver 31, personal computer (PC terminal)
32, telephone terminal 33, set top box (ST
B) 34 and a line connection device 35 are provided. In addition,
As the user terminal, only one of the PC terminal 32 and the telephone terminal 33 may be provided, and the TV receiver 31
Is equipped with the PC function, it is not necessary to provide the PC terminal 32. Further, the telephone terminal 33 may be a terminal capable of connecting to the Internet, and as the user terminal, P
A DA (Personal Digital Assistant) may be used. The STB 34 is an extraction unit (tuner) 341 that extracts specific information from the broadcast signal received by the TV receiver.
Information storage unit 342, information reading unit 343, and notification unit 34
4 built-in. The STB 34 may be built in the TV receiver 31.

The operation of the information service system described above will be described when the PC terminal 32 is used as the user terminal. A telephone terminal 33 or a PDA may be used as the user terminal, and the TV receiver 31 may be a P terminal.
As described above, the TV receiver may be used as the user terminal as long as it has the C function.

The broadcasting center 1 multiplexes index information (first index information) for retrieving content information in a program broadcast signal into a normal broadcast program signal for broadcast communication. The content provider 5 sends the content information added with the index information (second index information) to the user side device 3 via the Internet 4 before the broadcast program signal is broadcast from the broadcast center 1. It is multicast in advance and stored in the information storage unit 342. As described below, the first and second index information may be the same or different,
It only needs to be associated with each other.

When the user side device 3 receives the first index information broadcast from the broadcasting center 1, the first index information is detected by the extraction unit 341 of the STB 34,
The information is stored in the information storage unit 342. At the same time, the notification unit 3
44, the content information related to the content currently being broadcast is already stored in the PC terminal 32, and the PC
The terminal 32 is informed that reproduction is possible. Notification unit 3
The notification of the content reproducible state by 44 is performed by causing a display to appear in the right corner of the screen of the TV receiver 31, or a lamp provided in a place other than the screen of the TV receiver 31 or a lamp provided in the STB 34. May be turned on. Depending on the case, you may notify by voice. It should be noted that the information reading unit 343 may be configured to drive the notification unit 344 after confirming that the second index information corresponding to the first index information is stored in the information storage unit 343. Good.

When the user pushes a preset content presentation button (eg, "#" key) of the PC terminal 32 while the notification unit 344 is informing, the information reading unit 343 causes the information storage unit 342 to operate. To the latest first index information stored in, and
The information storage unit 342 stores the content information added with the second index information corresponding to the first index information.
Read out from the computer, transferred to the PC terminal 32, and displayed on the screen. Therefore, the user can view the content information related to the content of the program currently being broadcast by performing a one-touch operation, and the content information is previously distributed to the user-side device 3 via the Internet 4 and stored. Therefore, even if a large number of users are interested in the content information and obtain the content information, problems regarding traffic do not occur.

The user can also operate the PC terminal 32 after the related broadcast program is broadcast,
It is also possible to read the content information from the information storage unit 342 and reproduce it at any time. In this case, a list of the second index information of the content information stored in the information storage unit 342 is displayed on the screen of the PC terminal 32, the index list is viewed, and the content that the user desires to reproduce is displayed. It is preferable that the information can be selected appropriately. Therefore, it is preferable that the second index information multicast via the Internet 4 also includes an outline of the content information.

Further, the user selects a certain index information from the index list and provides the corresponding content information on the web of the content provider 5.
In order to be able to visit the page, it is preferable to include the URL of the content provider 5 in the second index information which is multicast with the content information via the Internet 4. Also,
When the index list is displayed on the PC terminal 32,
As soon as the user selects the URL in the list, the U
It is preferable to allow the user to visit the web page corresponding to the RL. This allows the user to
A web page can be visited without inputting L from the keyboard, and for example, an application for purchasing a product can be made on the web page. Furthermore, the URL in the second index information may be automatically registered as a bookmark in the PC terminal 32.

The second index information, which can be adopted in the present invention and is multicast together with the content information via the Internet 4, is composed of the following data, for example. <index stream = "tv: // nhk" region = "jpn" uri = " http://www.mediagram.co.jp/cgi-bin/nhk " type = "text / html" start = "Sat Jul 14 00:00:00 2001 "expires =" Sun Jul 15 00:00:00 2001 "comment =" Program-linked data broadcasting from Mediagram "/>

Note that the first index information which is multiplexed with the program broadcast signal and is broadcast via the broadcast network 2 may be the same as the second index information which is multicast via the Internet 4. Good but
It is not necessary to include all the data of the above-mentioned second index information as long as it is associated. Also, the association information may be in a completely different form.
Further, the above-mentioned data may be adopted as the first index information, and the corresponding information may be used as the second index information.

In the above, the content information and the second
The example has been described in which the index information of (1) is multicast to the user side via the Internet 5, and only the first index information is multiplexed with the program broadcast signal for broadcast communication. However, as described above, the first index information is not necessarily multiplexed into the program broadcast by including the item related to the time (expiration date) when the program related to the content information is broadcast as the second index information. No need to broadcast. FIG. 2 shows the first
2 shows a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the information service system according to the present invention, in which it is not necessary to multiplex the index information of FIG.

In the second embodiment, the broadcasting center 1
Communicates in advance to the content providers 5 and 7 the programming information including the time when the program related to the content information is broadcast. The content provider 5 generates index information including the time (effective time) in which the program related to the content information is broadcast based on the received programming information. Then, the index information is added to the content information, distributed in advance to the user side device 3 via the Internet 4, and stored in the information storage unit 342. For example, it is preferable that the content information + index information be multicast to the user side and automatically stored during a time period when the user does not use the PC terminal 32 (for example, in the early morning of the program broadcast day).

Then, the user sees the mark put on the program broadcast table of newspapers, magazines or the like, or hears the report from the announcer or the like during the program broadcast, and the content information related to the program is already in his or her own. It is possible to know that the information is stored in the information storage unit 342. Further, the notification user is notified that the content information related to the program can be acquired by the function of the notification unit 344 during the valid time included in the index information stored in the information storage unit 342. Therefore, when the user performs a one-touch operation on the content presentation button set on the PC terminal 32 while watching the program, the function of the information reading unit 343 adds index information indicating the effective time including the operation time point. The content information is read from the information storage unit 342 and presented on the PC terminal 32. In the second embodiment, the first
All the items of the second index information described with reference to the embodiment may be included in the index information, or only the items regarding the effective time may be included in the index information. In the former case, as described above, it becomes easy to search the stored content information even after the program is broadcasted, and the web page of the corresponding content provider can be visited by one-touch operation. Is preferred.

In the above description, the content information is P
The case of presenting to the C terminal 32 has been described, but if the telephone terminal 33 can connect to the Internet, the telephone terminal 3
3 may be presented. If the content information is only voice information, the voice content is transmitted from the content provider 7 connected to the telephone network 6 to the telephone terminal 33.
May be delivered to. In this case, the audio content is stored in the storage unit of the telephone terminal 33. Further, when the broadcast is an anime program, the content information may be reproduced from a stuffed animal (robot) of a character (animal) in the program or a robot. In this case, as the content information, the voice of the character (animal) of the anime program is pre-distributed from the content provider 5 or 7 to the user terminal via the Internet 4 or the telephone network 6, and the content presentation button is used as the stuffed animal of the character. Alternatively, the audio information stored in the user terminal can be played back by the playback device in the stuffed toy by placing it on the robot and turning on the content presentation button on the stuffed animal by the child who is the viewer of the anime program.

In the first embodiment described above, the broadcasting center 1 which broadcasts the program broadcasting signal via the broadcasting network 2 may be a TV broadcasting station or a radio broadcasting station, The broadcast signal may be a digital signal or an analog signal as long as the index information can be multiplexed. Also in the second embodiment, the broadcasting center 1 may be a TV broadcasting station or a radio broadcasting station, and since it is not necessary to multiplex the index information with the program broadcasting signal, the type of the signal Do not choose. Further, it is conceivable that the Internet 4 will be used as a broadcasting network in the future, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to that case as well.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a third embodiment of the information service system according to the present invention. In the third embodiment, an A / V stream reproducing apparatus is used in the second embodiment. A DVD reproducing device 36 and a second extracting unit 37 are added. In the third embodiment, the content provider 5 is, for example, a provider that distributes content information related to the contents of a plurality of DVDs that will be released within the next month. Prior to the release of the DVD, the content provider 5 shall display relevant content information in its A / V
Along with the index information for specifying the stream information, it is multicast to the user via the Internet 4, and the content information and the index information are stored in the storage unit 342 on the user side. In this state,
The user purchases a DVD, and the DVD player 36
When the reproduction is started, the A / V stream information for specifying the title of the DVD video is extracted by the second extracting unit 37 and supplied to the information reading unit 343.

The information reading unit 343 searches the information storage unit 343, and when the index information corresponding to the supplied A / V stream information is stored, the notification unit 344.
Informs the user that content information related to the DVD video that has started to be reproduced is available. In such a state, the user can use the PC terminal 32 (or the telephone terminal 33).
If you turn on the preset content provision button above,
The information reading unit 343 reads the content information to which the index corresponding to the extracted A / V stream information is added from the storage unit 342, and provides it to the PC terminal 32.
In this way, the content information relating to the DVD video can be obtained by a one-touch operation only when the user wants it. In addition, the A / V stream information extracted by the second extracting unit 37 is used as the content provider 5
The content / provider 5 and related content information and index information to be distributed to the user so that the user can monitor the PC terminal 32 or the like by one-touch operation together with the method of multicasting the content information in advance. Good.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the user can view the content information related to the program broadcasting by performing a one-touch operation, and the content information can be viewed via the Internet. Since it is pre-distributed and stored by the content provider, it does not increase the traffic to the content provider's web page. In addition, since the content information is pre-distributed via the Internet without being multiplexed with the program broadcast signal, even if the user is not watching the TV or the like at the time of distributing the content information, an arbitrary TV
The content information can be stored on the user side while watching the channel (that is, watching the channel not related to the content information).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of an information service system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the information service system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a third embodiment of the information service system according to the present invention.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] March 25, 2002 (2002.3.2)
5)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

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Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An information service system linked to a broadcasting system, the content provider delivering content information to a user terminal via the Internet, and the content provider delivering the content information to the user terminal via the Internet. After that, a broadcast center that multiplexes the first index information of the content information into the main broadcast program signal and broadcasts it, and a monitor unit that is an apparatus on the user side and that receives and presents the main broadcast program signal, Storage means for storing the content information distributed from the content provider; extraction means for extracting the broadcasted first index information from the broadcast signal; and, when the extraction means extracts the first index information,
The notifying means for notifying the reception of the first index information corresponding to the content information stored in the storage means, the operating means for one-touch operation by the user, the information presenting means for presenting the content information, and the notifying means are the first. When the user performs one-touch operation on the operating means while notifying the reception of the index information of the content, the content information corresponding to the first index information at that time is read from the storage means and presented on the information presenting means. An information service system, comprising: a user-side device including information reading means. 2. The information service system according to claim 1, wherein the content provider further includes second index information of the content information, the second index information being associated with the first index information. It is configured to be delivered to the user terminal via the Internet together with the content information, and the user-side device is further configured to store the second index information in the storage means, and to be stored in the storage means. Index information reading means for reading the displayed second index information and displaying it on the information presenting means, and selection means for the user to select one of the displayed second index information. Information service system to do. 3. The information service system according to claim 2, wherein the content information reading means further selects one of the second index information displayed on the information presenting means by the selecting means, An information service center, which is configured to read corresponding content information from a storage means and present it on an information presenting means. 4. The information service system according to claim 3, wherein the second index information includes a URL of the content provider, and the index information reading means is included in the second index information stored in the storage means. An information service system configured to display a URL on an information presenting means. 5. The information service system according to claim 4, wherein when the user selects one of the URLs presented on the monitor screen by the selection means, the user-side device is associated with the corresponding content provider. An information service center comprising means for automatically browsing a web page on a user terminal. 6. An information service system linked to a broadcast system, wherein content information related to the content of a broadcast program broadcast via a broadcast network is broadcasted at the time when the main broadcast program is broadcast. Content information to be distributed to the user terminal via the Internet, index device indicating the index information, first monitor means for receiving and presenting the main broadcast program signal, which is a device on the user side, and distributed from the content provider. The storage means for storing the content information, the operation means for one-touch operation by the user, the information presenting means for presenting the content information, and the time at that time as index information when the user performs one-touch operation on the operation means. The added content information is read from the storage means, and the information presentation means Information service system characterized in that it comprises a user device comprising the presentation content information reading means. 7. The information service system according to claim 6, wherein the user-side device further notifies when the broadcast program corresponding to the content information stored in the storage means is broadcast. Information service system characterized by having means 8. The information service system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a notification unit, an operation unit, an information presenting unit, and a content information reading unit of the user side device is connected to the Internet. An information service system characterized in that it also serves as a means included in a connectable user terminal. 9. The information service system according to claim 1, wherein the monitor means and the information presenting means are the same information presenting means.