JP2003070042A - Communication system, and device and method for controlling service providing situation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication system which enables the user to see the continuation by changing the terminal to receive contents during delivery of contents, according to the situation of a viewer. SOLUTION: This system comprises different terminals 10 and 60; terminal connection devices 20 and 50, which are connected to correspond to the above terminals 10 and 60, respectively; a service offer device 40 which provides the above terminal with service, being connected to each terminal connection devices 20 and 50 described above; and a service offer situation controller 30 which controls the offer situation of the service, so that providing of service may be possible continuously between the different terminals 10 and 60.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system capable of continuing services between different types of terminals, and a service provision status management device and method used in the communication system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in communication capacity, content distribution services such as video are becoming popular. At present, however, the content is generally viewed from the beginning to the end on the same terminal. Therefore, it is not possible to flexibly change the terminal or the like according to the situation such as the movement of the viewer.

In addition, in the technology currently considered, it is possible to flexibly change the content format such as the content delivery format, the screen resolution, the moving image frame rate, etc., according to the size and communication capacity of the terminal. But
It does not support real-time terminal changes.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and changes the terminal that receives the content during the distribution of the content according to the situation of the viewer (mobile phone, portable information terminal, high A communication system, a service provision status management device, and a service provision status management device that enable the user to see the following after changing to a different type of terminal such as an image quality terminal), that is, as if the content moved between different terminals. The purpose is to provide a method.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a communication system of the present invention comprises different terminals X and Y, terminal connecting devices respectively connected to the terminals X and Y, and each of the terminal connecting devices. A service providing device which is connected to a terminal connecting device and provides a service to the terminals X and Y, and a terminal X, which is different from the service providing device.
It is characterized by comprising a service provision status management device that manages the provision status of the service so that the service can be continuously provided between Ys.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that, in the communication system, the terminals X and Y and each terminal connecting device are terminals and terminal connecting devices of different types.

The present invention is also characterized in that, in the communication system, a wireless network or a wired network is provided between the terminal and the terminal connecting device.

The present invention is also characterized in that, in the communication system, the service can be continued between different terminals such as the terminal X to the terminal Y by an operation from the terminal.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that a video content distribution service is used as a service in the communication system.

The service provision status management device of the present invention has a subscriber ID, a password, a content ID, a terminal type, and a distribution path status, and manages the service provision status for each service subscriber. A database, a subscriber authentication means for authenticating a subscriber from a subscriber ID and a password, and a communication band or image resolution different for each terminal is recognized as a terminal type, and the image and frame rate of the content are converted according to the terminal type. And a delivery path control means for controlling connection, disconnection, and switching of the delivery path of the content.

In the service provision status management method of the present invention, the subscriber ID, the password, and the content I are sent from the terminal.
D, receiving information including the terminal type, authenticating the subscriber from the subscriber ID and password, recognizing the terminal type if the authentication is successful, and providing the content ID as a service Sending to a device to request content distribution, receiving content from the service providing device, connecting a content distribution path to a terminal to distribute content, and connecting a content distribution path to another terminal After the content is distributed, the step of disconnecting the distribution path with the original terminal and switching the content distribution terminal is performed.

In addition to a terminal that receives a service, a terminal connection device connected to the terminal, and a service providing device that provides the service, a service providing status management device that manages the service providing status is provided.

The service provision status management device manages the service provision status such as the content distribution status for each service subscriber, manages the terminals to be service-provided and the correspondence between two different terminals, and supports the different formats for each terminal (content. Format conversion) and control of the distribution path when switching terminals.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

An embodiment of the content distribution service according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, when there is a content distribution request from a specific terminal, the terminal (terminal 1
0) shows the procedure from the content distribution request to the content distribution. Note that the terminal 10 and the terminal connection device 20 are described as an image of a wired network, but a wireless network is also conceivable. As the service, a video content distribution service or the like can be used.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the service provision status management DB 31 provided in the service provision status management device 30. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the content management DB 41 provided in the service providing device 40. Figure 4
[Fig. 6] is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure for content distribution. FIG. 5 shows that when the content is distributed to the terminal as in the case of FIG. 1, the terminal 20 continues to continue the content being viewed on the terminal 10 by an operation from another terminal (terminal 60) owned by the same subscriber. It is the block diagram which showed the procedure at the time of switching a content delivery terminal in the case of seeing. In addition, here, the terminal 10 and the terminal 60 are shown as different types of terminals and connected to different types of terminal connection devices. When the terminal 10 and the terminal 60 are terminals of the same type, they are only connected to the same terminal connection device, and the access examples are the same, so description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a procedure for changing the service provision status management DB 31 when switching the content distribution terminals. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure when switching the content distribution terminal.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the content distribution service is provided by using the communication system having the configuration shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, this communication system includes terminals 10, 60, terminal connection devices 20, 50, a service provision status management device 30, and a service provision device 40.

Between the terminal 10 and the terminal connection device 20,
The image between the terminal 60 and the terminal connection device 50 is described as a wired network, but a wireless network is also conceivable.

The terminal 10 and the terminal 60 are owned by the same subscriber. These are shown as different types of terminals and connected to different types of terminal connection devices. When the terminal 10 and the terminal 60 are terminals of the same type, they are only connected to the same terminal connection device, and the access examples are the same, so description thereof will be omitted.

Although FIG. 1 is described on the premise that one subscriber has two types of terminals, in reality, many subscribers may have more than two types of terminals. Regarding the devices, two terminal connection devices and one service provision status management device and one service provision device are shown.
In an actual communication system, for example, the service provision status management device and the service provision device may be degenerated into one device, or conversely, the number may be more than that shown in the figure.

Arrows shown in FIG. 1 deliver a content delivery request from the terminal 10 in a communication system providing a content delivery service, and the content is actually delivered to the terminal 10.
Connection procedure until delivery to A → B → C → D → E → F →
It shows G → H → I → J.

The terminal connection device 20 of FIG. 1 has an address recognition function 21, a service provision status management device communication function 22, and a terminal connection function 23. The service provision status management device 30 includes a service provision status management DB 31, a subscriber authentication function 32, a content format (resolution, frame rate) conversion function 33, and a distribution path control (connection, disconnection,
A switching function 34 is provided. Service providing device 40
Includes a content management DB 41 and a content distribution function 42
Is equipped with. Since the terminal connection device 50 is functionally similar to the terminal connection device 20, description thereof will be omitted. Terminal 1
The same applies to 0 and the terminal 60.

The address recognition function 21 provided in the terminal connection device 20 of FIG. 1 is a function of recognizing the request destination address (service provision status management device 30) received from the terminal 10. The service provision status management device communication function 22 is a function for communicating with the service provision status management device 30. The terminal connection function 23 is a function for communicating with the terminal 10.

The service provision status management DB 31 provided in the service provision status management device 30 of FIG. 1 is a database for managing the service provision status and holds information as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the subscriber ID is “111
A subscriber who has the password "ABC123" and the content ID "222222222" has the terminal ID "123.45.67.89" and is "I".
This indicates that the terminal is being viewed (the distribution path is “connecting”) from the “MT mobile phone” terminal. The subscriber authentication function 32 is a function of authenticating a subscriber from the subscriber ID and password. The content format conversion function 33 is a function of recognizing a communication band or image resolution different for each terminal as a terminal type, and converting an image or frame rate of content according to the terminal type. The distribution path control function 34 is a function for controlling connection, disconnection, and switching of the distribution path of the content.

The content management DB 41 provided in the service providing apparatus 40 of FIG. 1 is a database for managing the distribution status of contents, and holds information as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the content ID “22222222
2 ”indicates that“ delivering ”.

Next, a communication procedure for delivering contents using the communication system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The communication procedure shown in FIG. 4 shows the procedure from the terminal 10 making a content distribution request to receiving the content distribution.

The terminal 10 transmits the service provision status management device address, the subscriber ID, the password, the requested content ID, the terminal ID, and the terminal type (the above is the information S) to the terminal connection device 20 (procedure A). .

The terminal connection device 20 receives the information S from the terminal 10 by the terminal connection function 23. Therefore, the address recognition function 21 determines the destination address as the service provision status management device address (procedure B), and the service provision status management device communication function 22 transmits the information S to the service provision status management device 30 (procedure C).

Upon receiving the information S from the terminal connection device 20, the service provision status management device 30 authenticates the subscriber from the subscriber ID and password included in the information S by the subscriber authentication function 32. If the authentication is successful (OK), the terminal type included in the information S is recognized (procedure D). Further, the content ID included in the information S is recognized and whether the content can be distributed from the subscriber ID is checked (a minor check, etc.). This is a function for subscribers whose distribution contents are restricted such as minors. If there is no problem, the service provision status management DB 31 is written, and the content ID is transmitted to the service providing device 40 to make a content distribution request (procedure E).
Upon receiving the content distribution request, the service providing apparatus 40 searches for the corresponding content (procedure F), and if there is the corresponding content, writes the content ID state change indicating that the content is being distributed to the content management DB 41,
The content is transmitted to the service provision status management device 30 (procedure G).

The service provision status management device 30 having received the content connects the content distribution path to the terminal.
Also, from the terminal type acquired earlier, determine whether content conversion is required and the content conversion method when converting,
If necessary, after converting the content format (procedure H), the content is distributed to the terminal connection device 20 (procedure I). Terminal connection device 2 that received the content
0 distributes the content to the terminal 10 (procedure J), and the terminal 10 receives the content.

Content distribution to the terminal is performed by the above procedure.

Next, switching of content terminals will be described.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a case where the continuation of the content is provided to the terminal 60 in response to a request from the terminal 60 for the content being distributed to the terminal 10. The apparatus and the function are the same as those in FIG. Is. Also, the alphabet in the figure is the procedure K for switching content distribution terminals →
Although L->M->N->O->P->Q-> R is shown, it should be noted that it does not match that of FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of changing the service provision status management DB 31 when switching terminals.

A communication procedure for delivering contents using the communication system of FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

A content distribution request is issued from the terminal 60 during content distribution between the terminal 10 and the service providing apparatus 40. The terminal 60 informs the terminal connection device 50 of the service provision status management device address, subscriber ID, password,
The terminal ID and the terminal type (the above are the information S ') are transmitted (procedure K). In this case, the content currently being viewed continues, so that the content ID is not transmitted, unlike FIG.

The terminal connection device 50 receives the information S'from the terminal 60 by the terminal connection function 23. Therefore, the address recognition function 21 determines the destination address as the service provision status management device address (procedure L), and the service provision status management device communication function 22 transmits the information S ′ to the service provision status management device 30 (procedure M). .

Upon receiving the request information S'from the terminal connection device 50, the service provision status management device 30 authenticates the subscriber from the subscriber ID and password included in the information S'by the subscriber authentication function 32. If the authentication is successful (OK), the terminal type included in the information S ′ is recognized. After determining the necessity of content conversion and the content conversion method for conversion from the terminal type and converting the content format if necessary, the service provision status management DB 31
And connect the content distribution path (procedure N). In this case, data obtained by adding the data of the ADSL connected TV when the terminal 60 is connected, as shown in FIG. 6B, to the data of the IMT mobile phone being delivered by the terminal 10 before the change shown in FIG. 6A. Is written in the service provision status management DB 31.

The service provision status management device 30 delivers the content to the terminal connection device 50 (procedure O). Upon receiving the content, the terminal connection device 50 delivers the content to the terminal 60 (procedure P), and the terminal 60 receives the content. At this time, between the terminal 10 and the terminal 60 (although there is a difference in appearance due to content format conversion)
Content with the same content is delivered at the same time. If the content distribution to the terminal 60 is normally performed, the path disconnection request is transmitted from the service provision status management device 30 to the terminal connection device 20 (procedure Q), and the terminal connection device 20 receiving the path disconnection request transmits to the terminal 10. By transmitting the path disconnection request (procedure R) and the terminal 10 receiving the path disconnection request,
The distribution path with the terminal 10 via the terminal connection device 20 is disconnected. In this case, in the service provision status management DB 31, the data of the IMT mobile phone is deleted when the terminal 10 shown in FIG. 6C is disconnected, and the terminal 6 after the change shown in FIG.
Only the data of the ADSL connected TV being delivered to 0 is written.

With the above procedure, the content distribution terminal is switched.

Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

(1) Effects from the perspective of the user (owner of the terminal) It is possible to receive the same content from different terminals at a resolution and frame rate suitable for that terminal.

Further, continuous content is possible between two terminals (both of the same type and different types are possible), and when the content is viewed while moving and returns to the home, the usable terminal Even if the situation changes, you can view the content according to the situation.

(2) Effect from the point of view of the business operator (network business operator, content business operator) In the past, it was general that the content business operator prepared content with different formats for each terminal. However, for example, when the network provider provides the service provision status management device and the content provider provides the service providing device for contents and the like, the content provider performs the content format conversion on each terminal. There is no need to prepare content in different formats, which improves the efficiency of content production and management.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the terminal for receiving the content is changed during the distribution of the content according to the situation of the viewer (a different type such as a mobile phone, a mobile information terminal, a high quality terminal, etc.). It is possible to provide a communication system, a service provision status management device and a method that allow a user to view the following after changing (including changes to other terminals), that is, to see the contents as if they moved between different terminals. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing a communication system in the case of delivering contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a service provision status management DB according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a content management DB according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure when performing content distribution according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration block diagram showing a communication system when switching content distribution terminals according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a procedure for changing the service provision status management DB when switching the content distribution terminals according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure when switching content distribution terminals according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 terminal 20 terminal connection device 21 address recognition function 22 service provision status management device communication function 23 terminal connection function 30 service provision status management device 31 service provision status management DB (database) 32 subscriber authentication function 33 content format conversion function 34 distribution path Control function 40 Service providing device 41 Content management DB (database) 42 Content distribution function 50 Terminal connection device (a different type from the terminal connection device 20 because it is connected to a terminal of a different type from the terminal 10, but a function provided) Is the same as the terminal connection device 20.) 60 terminal (a different type from the terminal 10)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C064 BA07 BB10 BC06 BC18 BC23                       BD02 BD08 BD09                 5K030 GA18 HA08 HB02 HC01 JT04                       KA01 KA05                 5K067 BB21 DD17 DD52 FF02 GG01                       GG11 HH17 HH23 HH24

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Different terminals X and Y, terminal connecting devices respectively connected to the terminals X and Y, and service provision for providing services to the terminals X and Y connected to the respective terminal connecting devices. A communication system, comprising: a device; and a service provision status management device that manages a service provision status so that services can be continuously provided between different terminals X and Y. 2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the terminals X and Y and each terminal connecting device are different types of terminals and terminal connecting devices. 3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a wireless network or a wired network is provided between the terminal and the terminal connection device. 4. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a service can be continued between different terminals such as terminal X to terminal Y by an operation from the terminal. 5. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a video content distribution service is used as a service. 6. Subscriber ID, password, content I
D, a terminal type, and a distribution path status, a service provision status management database that manages the service provision status for each service subscriber, a subscriber authentication means that authenticates the subscriber from the subscriber ID and password, and a terminal A content format conversion unit that recognizes different communication bands and image resolutions as terminal types and converts content images and frame rates according to the terminal type, and distribution that controls connection, disconnection, and switching of content distribution paths. A service provision status management device comprising: a path control means. 7. A step of receiving information consisting of a subscriber ID, a password, a content ID, and a terminal type from a terminal; a step of authenticating a subscriber from the subscriber ID and a password; Recognizing the terminal type, transmitting the content ID to the service providing apparatus to request content distribution, receiving content from the service providing apparatus, and connecting the content distribution path to the terminal to distribute the content And a step of connecting the content delivery path to another terminal to deliver the content, and disconnecting the delivery path with the original terminal to switch the content delivery terminal. Method.