JP2003224816A - Video information output apparatus and transmission apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus that outputs information to the outside without giving disadvantages to a copyright holder. <P>SOLUTION: In a digital RGB output, information is encrypted or the output is stopped depending on copy control information. The quality such as the resolution is limited in an analog RGB output. A copy control signal is attached to an analog component or composite output. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video information output device and a transmission device for outputting video information, and particularly to output or output information from a device to a recording medium by the authority of a copyright holder or the like. Regarding what to do, it relates to one that deals with video information that is subject to restrictions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of television broadcasting, devices for recording and reproducing the same, and package media such as movie software, digital broadcasting has started, and consumer receivers, display devices, digital receivers corresponding to this have started. Recording / playback devices are on sale. Packaged software used in this device will appear in the near future. Digital broadcasting,
The advantage of the digital recording device is that there is little or no quality deterioration in the information transmission process or the recording / reproduction process. However, when a large number of high quality copies of information are created and distributed in places where the copyright holder does not know, and when the copying is repeated, there is a problem that the profit is not returned to the copyright holder.

US Pat. No. 5,896,454,
A method of attaching 2-bit copy control information to information is disclosed. Depending on the will of the copyright holder and the information creator, this can be done by selecting one of the three: copy prohibition (Copy Never), copy authorization (Copy Free), and copy authorization only for one generation (Copy One Generation). It controls the operation of the recording apparatus. The recording apparatus does not perform the recording operation if the copy is prohibited, but performs the recording operation if the copy is authorized. If the copy is authorized for only one generation, the recording device uses this control information
The recording operation is performed after rewriting the information (No More Copies) that does not allow further copying.

[0004]

The matters disclosed in the above-mentioned prior arts define the operation on the recording device side when given information is supplied to the recording device. However, when receiving at the receiving device or playing from the playback device,
There are further matters to be considered when outputting from the device to the outside.

Needless to say, the output operation to the outside of the device is necessary for supplying information to the display, but it must be considered that it may be used for purposes other than display. It is necessary to consider the case where the above-mentioned copy control information is not accompanied as long as it is output through the device once, but even if it is accompanied, the receiving device does not always operate according to the copy control information. . It may be output as a digital signal or may be output after being converted to analog. For example, in a current PC (Personal Computer), when received by a tuner board and output to a display via a graphic board, it is output as an analog RGB signal and is not accompanied by copy control information.

When these outputs are used for purposes other than displaying on the display, there is a possibility that a copy of them will be made, which is disadvantageous to the copyright holder. This is not mentioned in the above-mentioned publicly known documents.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a device for outputting information to the outside without giving a disadvantage to the copyright holder.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in a video information output device according to the present invention, an output circuit capable of outputting a video signal in a plurality of formats and a format depending on the format It is characterized by having a control circuit for limiting the output video information.

When the format of the video information to be output is digital RGB and the video information to be output is not protected by copyright, the control circuit outputs the control information detected from the input or reproduced video signal. The output of the video information is stopped according to the content.

When the format of the video information to be output is analog RGB, the control circuit limits the quality of the video information to be output according to the content of the detected control information.

When the format of the video information to be output is an analog component or an analog composite, the control circuit sets a copy restriction that disables copying of the video information according to the content of the detected control information. A protection signal for adding is added to the video information or is output in parallel with the video signal.

Further, in the video signal transmission device for transmitting digital video information to an external output device according to the present invention, when the external output device outputs the digital video information to another device, the video information to be output is The external output device outputs the control information to the digital video information for transmitting the control information, and the transmission means for transmitting the digital video information to which the control information is added. The control information indicates that different restrictions are applied depending on the type of video information format to be used.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings as necessary. The present invention particularly relates to an information output device and an information transmission device, and an object of the present invention is to provide a certain limitation to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantage to the copyright holder. The embodiment is mainly shown in FIGS. 4 to 8, but before the description thereof, the whole system to which the present invention is applied will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the entire system used in the present invention, and shows an example of transmitting and receiving information by broadcasting and recording and reproducing. This includes the device to which the invention is applied. 1 is an information providing station such as a broadcasting station, 2 is a relay station, 3 is a receiving device, 4 is a first recording / reproducing device, 5 is a display,
Reference numeral 6 is a second recording / reproducing apparatus. When a broadcast or the like is recorded here, it can be recorded in at least one of the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 6 according to the copy control information attached thereto. The first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 will be described here as a digital recording system built in the receiving apparatus 3. A non-removable medium such as a hard disk can be used as the recording medium. A video disk, a video tape, or other removable device may be used, but the recording / reproducing device built in the receiving device is often used to store information for a relatively short period of time, and thus may be a non-removable one. The second recording / reproducing device 6 will be described here as being externally attached to the receiving device 3. In addition to a hard disk, a removable medium such as a magnetic tape or an optical disk may be used as the recording medium. The present invention can be applied even if either or both of the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 6 do not exist.

The information providing station 1 such as a broadcasting station transmits a signal wave modulated by information via a relay station 2 such as a broadcasting satellite. In addition, transmission by cable,
Transmission by telephone line, transmission by terrestrial broadcasting, etc. may be used. As will be described later, this signal radio wave received by the receiving device 3 on the receiving side is demodulated into an information signal, and then, if necessary, sent to the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 6. The signal is recorded as a signal suitable for recording.
It is also sent to the display 5. Here, the user can directly view the information content. Further, the information reproduced by the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 and the second recording / reproducing apparatus 6 described above is given to the display 5 via the receiving apparatus 3, and the information such as the original video and audio is viewed.

There are various kinds of information to be transmitted,
For example, in the case of television broadcasting as well, when the number of scanning lines is large, there are over 1000 HD (High Definition) broadcastings and about 500 SD (Standard Definition) broadcastings. Therefore, the receiving side will support a plurality of broadcasting systems if necessary. Further, control information indicating which broadcasting system is used may be added to the information and transmitted in the same manner as the above copy control information.

The receiving device 3 is not limited to a device specialized for broadcast reception, for example, a device called STB (Set Top Box). It may be a PC having a tuner board and a graphic board. In that case, the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 corresponds to the hard disk drive and its peripheral circuits. As will be described later, the receiving device 3
It is possible that the display unit itself has a display unit corresponding to the display 5.

When the information is provided as a removable recording medium on which information is recorded in advance, for example, packaged software, the reproduction operation is performed by, for example, the second recording / reproducing device 6 to which the information is attached. In this case, the information providing station 1 and the relay station 2
However, the present invention can still be applied.

Information is often exchanged between the devices in a digital signal format. For example, the receiving device 3
The display 5 and the display 5 may be connected in an analog signal format. It may be connected by a component signal of luminance and two color differences, or a composite signal, or may be connected by an RGB signal like a PC.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the information providing station 1 such as a broadcasting station in the above system. 11
Is a source generation unit, 12 is an encoding circuit for performing compression by the MPEG system, 13 is a scramble circuit, 14 is a modulation circuit, 15 is a transmission antenna, 16 is a management information addition circuit, 1
Reference numeral 7 is an input terminal.

Information such as video and audio generated by the source generating section 11 including a camera and a recording / reproducing apparatus is compressed by the encoding circuit 12 so that the information can be transmitted in a smaller occupied band. If necessary, the scramble circuit 13 performs transmission encryption so that only a specific viewer can view. After being modulated to a signal suitable for transmission by the modulation circuit 14, it is emitted from the transmission antenna 15 as a radio wave toward the relay station 2 such as a broadcasting satellite. At this time, the management information adding circuit 16 adds the above-mentioned copy control information, information indicating the broadcasting system, and the like. Although omitted in FIG. 1, the request information is input from the input terminal 17 via a telephone line or the like.
This is utilized in systems such as video-on-demand that determine the information to be sent in response to the viewer's request.

Actually, a plurality of pieces of information are often multiplexed on one radio wave by a method such as time division or spread spectrum. Although not shown in FIG. 2 for simplification, in this case, there are a plurality of systems of the source generation unit 11 and the encoding circuit 12, and the encoding circuit 12 and the scramble circuit 13 are provided.
A multiplex circuit that multiplexes a plurality of information is placed between and.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the receiving device 3 in the system of FIG. 301 is RF
/ IF conversion circuit, 302 is a demodulation circuit, 303 is an error correction circuit, 304 is a descramble circuit for canceling the transmission code applied to the signal, 305 is the first demultiplexing circuit, 306 is an input / output terminal, and 307 is Second demultiplexing circuit, 308 is decode output circuit, 309A, 30
9D and 310 are output terminals, 311 is a control circuit for controlling the entire receiving apparatus 3, 312 is an information management circuit, 313 is a command input circuit, and 314 is an input terminal. Reference numeral 4 denotes a first recording / reproducing apparatus, which is incorporated in the receiving apparatus 3 as described in FIG. In the figure, the solid line shows the flow of main information such as video and audio, and the dotted line shows the flow of control signal information between each component.

First, regarding the components 301 to 310, the flow of information such as video and audio shown by solid lines will be described. Radio waves from a relay station such as a broadcasting satellite are input to the RF / IF conversion circuit 301. Here, the radio waves in the RF band are frequency-converted into the IF band (Intermediate Frequency) and become a signal in a constant band that does not depend on the receiving channel, and the modulation operation performed for transmission by the demodulation circuit 302 is demodulated. Further, in the error correction circuit 303,
After the code error occurred during the transmission is detected and further corrected, the descramble circuit 304 cancels the transmission cipher. Then, the first and second demultiplexing circuit 3
05 and 307. As described above, particularly in the case of digital broadcasting, a plurality of pieces of information are often multiplexed on one channel by a method such as time division or spread spectrum. The demultiplexing circuit separates only the desired information from this. The reason for providing the two demultiplex circuits is not only to enable so-called back program recording but also to use the first demultiplex circuit 305.
This is to remove information that is not worth recording. That is,
In many cases, additional information such as weather forecast and program broadcast schedule is attached to the information, which is good to see at the time of broadcasting, but it is not worth recording and watching at a later date, so remove it here. It is also possible.

The output of the first demultiplexing circuit 305 is given to the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4. The signal is also given to the input / output terminal 306, and signals are transmitted / received to / from the second recording / reproducing device 6 connected thereto. The input / output terminal 306 is a bidirectional terminal, and exchanges information to be recorded / reproduced with the second recording / reproducing apparatus 6 as digital data, for example. Generally, the connection according to the IEEE 1394 standard is often used.

In the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 and the second recording / reproducing apparatus 6, when there is an operation instruction to record information, the copy control information attached to the given information is
If it shows Copy Never or No More Copies, do not record. If this is Copy One Generation, set this to N
o Rewrite as More Copies and record. Copy Free
If it is, the recording is performed as it is. In addition to this, the operation to temporarily record the information that is Copy Never by limiting the period for reproduction and use, and the information that is No More Copies is recorded and moved on condition that the original information source is made unplayable. You may be allowed to do something.

In the second demultiplex circuit 307, the information sent from the descramble circuit 304, the information reproduced by the first recording / reproducing device 4, or the second information from the input / output terminal 306 is input. The information reproduced by the recording / reproducing apparatus 6 is connected, any one of the information desired to be viewed is selected, and further the desired information is separated. In the next decoding output circuit 308, the data compression of the moving image that has been performed before transmission is decoded, and after the processing as described later using FIG. 4 is performed, the output terminals 309A, 309D, 3
It is sent to the external device in a plurality of formats via 10. As will be described later, although the number of output terminals may be one in some cases, the number of output terminals is three in this case. Output terminal 30
9A is an analog RGB signal, 309D is a digital R
Reference numeral 310 of the GB signal is an output terminal for an analog component signal composed of a luminance and a two-color difference signal or a composite signal. In the present invention, these three terminals are not essential, and only one or two of them may be used. With only one terminal, any one of the above three may be selected and output. Here, it is assumed that there are three terminals and one of them is output to the external device, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Next, the control signal shown by the dotted line will be described. The control circuit 311 uses 305, 3
Control signals are exchanged with the respective constituent elements 07 and 308, and the entire receiving apparatus 3 is controlled so as to perform a desired operation. The information management circuit 312 supplies management data when the control circuit 311 performs control in response to a request. For example, information about the reception contract is managed here. When the user specifies a channel to watch, this specification is made on the input terminal 31.
4 and is sent to the control circuit 311 via the command input circuit 313. The control circuit 311 requests the information management circuit 312 for receiving contract information. When it is determined that there is a contract with the channel designated by the user, a control signal is sent to each of the above-mentioned components to instruct the receiving operation of the corresponding channel, and so on.

Further, the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 is the receiving apparatus 3
If it is built in, the recording / reproducing operation is performed according to the user's instruction input from the input terminal 314. Therefore, the output of the command input circuit 313 is supplied. This control signal may be supplied from the control circuit 311.

Next, a method of outputting information, which is the core of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG. These are circuit block diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention, and show the internal configuration of the decode output circuit 308 of FIG. 30801 is an input terminal, 3
0802 is a decoding circuit, 30803 is a control detection circuit,
30804 is an up conversion circuit, 30805 is a down conversion circuit, 30806 is a switch, 30807.
Is a resolution limiting circuit, 30808 is an RGB conversion circuit, 30
Reference numeral 809 is an APS (Analogue Protection System) addition circuit, and 30810 is an information protection circuit. 309A, 30
9D and 310 are output terminals, which are also shown in FIG.

The input from the second demultiplexing circuit 307 of FIG. 3 is applied to the input terminal 30801 of FIG. This is decoded and expanded by the decoding circuit 30802, the data compression of the moving image performed before transmission. The output is given to one terminal of the switch 30806 (hereinafter referred to as A terminal), the up-conversion circuit 30804, and the down-conversion circuit 30805. The output of the up conversion circuit 30804 is supplied to the B terminal of the switch 30806, and the output of the down conversion circuit 30805 is supplied to the C terminal of the switch 30806.

On the other hand, the output of the decoding circuit 30802 is also given to the control detection circuit 30803, where each control information including the above-mentioned copy control information and control information indicating the broadcasting system is detected, The result determines the connection of the switch 30806 and the like. Here, the control detection circuit 30803 is shown to be uniquely provided in the decode output circuit 308 so as to complete the drawing. However, for example, the control circuit 311 in FIG. 3 is provided with this detection function, and a control signal is supplied from here. Is also good. The connection of the switch 30806 will be described later.

The output of the switch 30806 is converted into an RGB signal by the RGB conversion circuit 30808, and the information protection circuit 30
It is given to the output terminal 309D via 810 and outputted to an external device as a digital RGB signal. The output of the RGB conversion circuit 30808 is further output by the resolution limiting circuit 30.
It is also applied to 807, the horizontal resolution is limited if necessary according to the control signal, converted into an analog signal and applied to the output terminal 309A, and output to an external device as an analog RGB signal. Also, the previous switch 308
The output of 06 is added with a signal as described later in the APS adding circuit 30809 as necessary, converted into an analog signal and given to the output terminal 310, and outputted as an analog component signal or a composite signal to an external device. It

According to the control signal, the switch 30806, the resolution limiting circuit 30807, the APS adding circuit 30809,
A method for switching the operation of the information protection circuit 30810 will be described below.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in outputting information from a device in a plurality of formats to the outside, this is diverted to a purpose other than the display on a display so that the copyright holder is not disadvantaged. The digital information to be output is protected by encrypting it according to the output format and the added control information. In addition, when the operation according to the control information is not performed, a limitation is given so that this information is not output to the outside as needed.

Further, the quality of the output analog RGB information, the number of pixels, the resolution, etc. are changed to limit the quality. HD system information is the number of scanning lines,
Since there are many horizontal pixels, a high quality image can be reproduced. At the same time, if this is used for an unintended purpose, for example, duplicates etc. will be able to maintain a certain level of quality and will pass,
It may cause the disadvantage to the copyright holder. On the other hand, if the quality is the conventional SD system or lower, such a problem is unlikely to occur. As one guideline, if there are 520,000 pixels or less per frame, for example, if the number of effective scanning lines is 480 and the number of horizontal pixels is 720 to 960, there is no problem. Therefore, it is advisable to limit the quality for protecting information as necessary and output the information from the device to the outside. Further, control information for instructing whether or not to limit the output RGB signals is given by the management information giving circuit 16 of FIG. 2 together with the above-mentioned copy control information, information showing the broadcasting system, and the like. Control detection circuit 308
It is also possible to determine whether or not to limit this quality by performing detection at 03. Further, whether or not to limit this quality may be determined by combining with other control information such as copy control information.

Further, a signal is added to the output analog component or composite information,
Another feature is that the recording operation in an external analog recording device is restricted.

First, the case of outputting digital RGB information from the output terminal 309D to an external device will be described. In this output information, if the above-mentioned copy control information is added and the output destination device is a device that operates according to the copy control information, it is not necessary to perform the above-mentioned quality limitation. The method of knowing what kind of device the output destination device is, though not described in detail here, uses a means called device authentication. This is to know the other device by exchanging a key signal between both devices. Although the signal flow is not shown, depending on the authentication result,
Control information is output from the control circuit 311 to the control detection circuit 30803, and the switch 30806 and the like are controlled. If the authentication is established and the output destination is the above-mentioned device, the switch 30806 sends the information of the A terminal to the RGB conversion circuit 30808, which is provided to the output terminal 309D via the information protection circuit 30810. The information is S
When it is D information, it may be required to be converted so as to be apparently HD information. In this case, the switch 30806 converts the information of the B terminal into the RGB conversion circuit 30808.
And output the information via the up-conversion circuit 30804.

Further, in the information protection circuit 30810, an operation for protecting the output information is performed as necessary. For example, scrambling is performed using a number unique to the device using the information, a user identification number, or the like. In this way, the risk that the output information will be used for purposes other than the intended purpose will be further reduced. The detected copy control information is Copy Free
If not, scrambling is not performed, and in other cases, scrambling is performed to enhance protection.
The operation may be switched according to the control signal from 03.

Next, a case will be described in which the output destination device is a device that does not operate according to the copy control information while the above-mentioned copy control information is added, or when the output is performed in the state where the copy control information is not added. . In this case, if the detected copy control information is Copy Free, the information is output, but if it is other than this, the output of the information protection circuit 30810 is stopped and no information is given to the output terminal 309D. Originally, Copy Free means that the producer does not strongly claim the right, so there is no problem in outputting, but in other cases, there is a problem in the right, so output in a form in which the copy control information does not work. Does not. This has the effect of preventing output information from the device from being used for purposes other than creating a copy.

Next, the analog R from the output terminal 309A
The case of outputting GB information to an external device will be described. Here, information having a certain quality limitation is output as necessary. That is, when the copy control information is Copy Neve
If r, Copy One Generation, No More Copies, the switch 30806 sends the information of the C terminal to the RGB conversion circuit 30808, and the down conversion circuit 30805.
The number of scanning lines is reduced by, the number of horizontal pixels is reduced by the resolution limiting circuit 30807, and information about 520,000 pixels or less per frame is given to the output terminal 309A.
Since this is not high-quality information such as HD information, for example, even if the information output to the outside is used for an unintended purpose, there is an advantage that the copyright holder is not disadvantaged. If the SD information is originally of this quality, this quality limitation may not be necessary. Copy control information is Copy F
If it is ree, the switch 30806 sends the information of the A terminal to the RGB conversion circuit 30808, and the resolution limiting circuit 30807 is instructed by the control detection circuit 30803.
Information is output to the output terminal 309A without limiting the resolution.

Further, the case where the analog component or composite information from the output terminal 310 is output to an external device will be described. Here, a signal having a copy restriction function is added to the analog information signal as needed. The switch 30806, like the above-described example, transmits the information of the A terminal or the B terminal to the APS adding circuit
Send to 809. Here, the copy control information is Copy Never, Copy One Gen according to the instruction from the control detection circuit 30803.
If it is eration, No More Copies, the signal for this copy restriction is added, and if it is Copy Free, it is not added and the information is output from the output terminal 310. The signal for copy restriction is, for example, CGMS-A (Co
There is a signal called py Generation Management System Analogue) or APS (Analogue Protection System). The former is a signal to which four kinds of designations similar to the above-mentioned copy control information are added as they are with a code or transmitted in parallel. The latter is disclosed in JP-A-61-288582.
As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-242242, it is a pulse signal added to cause the recording circuit to malfunction during, for example, the blanking period of an image.
By doing so, it is possible to prevent a duplicate of information having a right problem from being created.

In addition to the copy control information, when output from the device to the outside, it is possible to send control information indicating whether or not encryption or quality restriction for protecting the above-mentioned information is performed ( EPN; Encryption Plus Non-asse
called rtion). Even if this instructs to perform encryption or quality limitation, the resolution limiting circuit 3080
7, APS addition circuit 30809, information protection circuit 3081
It is preferable to handle the operation in the same manner as described above, including the operation of 0.

Further, it is possible to send control information for instructing whether or not to limit the RGB signal to the information. Since RGB signals are frequently used in PCs as described above, there is a risk that image processing will be performed. For this reason,
There is a need for control information to manage RGB signals.
When instructed to limit the RGB signals, the control is performed as follows, for example. The information of digital RGB is, for example, encrypted and output if the environment in which the copy control information is functional, but is not output unless it is the environment in which it functions. The quality of the analog RGB information is limited and output. When there is no limit instruction, the data is output without encryption and quality limitation. Also, when the copy control information indicates Copy Free even when instructed to perform the restriction, the operation may be determined in combination with other control information such as output without encryption or quality restriction. .

In the above description, the case where information is output to the outside from any one of the three output terminals according to the device connected to the outside has been described as an example. this is,
The current PC graphic board shows that there is only one output. Of course, the present invention can be applied to the case where a plurality of outputs are performed.

By the above operation, the output terminal 309 of FIG.
An example of the output information obtained by A, 309D and 310 is shown collectively in FIG. On the output terminal 309D side that is a digital RGB output, when the copy control information functions, the control information for instructing the EPN and the RGB
Information is output in a state where restrictions such as encryption are applied, including the case where there is control information for instructing restrictions on signals. If it is Copy Free, there is no need to limit it. If the copy control information does not work, Copy Free
If this is the case, information may be output without this limitation, but otherwise it will not be output.

On the other hand, on the side of the output terminal 309A which is an analog RGB output, in the case of Copy Free, the information is output without quality limitation, but in other cases, the number of scanning lines and the horizontal resolution are output. And the like, and the information in which the number of pixels is limited to 520,000 pixels or less is output. On the output terminal 310 side which is an analog component or a composite output, in the case of Copy Free, information is output without restriction, but in other cases,
A copy control signal such as CGMS-A or APS is added and output.

Next, the receiving device 3 of FIG.
The case of having a display unit corresponding to the function of will be described. An example of the decode output circuit 308 in this case is shown in the circuit block diagram of FIG. Here, 7 is a display unit built in the receiving device 3. That is, the decoding circuit 3080
The output of 2 is given to the display unit 7. If necessary, this and the output of the up-conversion circuit 30804 may be switched and given. Since this connection is performed inside the receiving device 3, it is not necessary to apply the quality limitation as described above. On the other hand, the output from the output terminals 309A, 309B, and 310, which is so-called monitor output, is supplied to the outside of the apparatus, and thus the above-mentioned limitation is performed.
In this case, the receiving device 3 can be called a receiving / display device with a recording or storing function, but of course the first recording / reproducing device 4
It can also be applied to cases where there is no record function built in.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the receiving device 3 may be a PC having a tuner board and a graphic board. This case will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

In FIG. 7, 8 is a PC, 801 is an input terminal, and 80
2 is a tuner board, 803 is a graphic board,
804 is a CPU board, 80401 is a CPU (Microcomp
uter), 80402 is a flash memory, 80403 is a RAM (Random Access Memory), 80404 is an interface circuit, 805 is an input terminal, 806 a hard disk drive, and 807 is an output terminal.

The first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 in FIGS. 1 and 3 corresponds to the hard disk drive 806 in FIG. 7 and its peripheral circuits. The components 301 to 307 in FIG. 3 are on the tuner board 802, and the components 308 to 310 are on the graphic board 803. Output terminal 309
Each of A, 309D, and 310 or any one of them corresponds to the output terminal 807. The control circuit 311 is the CPU 8
In 0401, the information management circuit 312 corresponds to the readable / writable flash memory 80402. A RAM 80403 is also provided as an external memory of the CPU.
The command input circuit 313 and the input terminal 314 are a mouse,
It corresponds to an interface circuit 80404 such as a keyboard and its input terminal 805. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to the graphic output of the PC. This example will be described with reference to the circuit block diagram of FIG.

FIG. 8 corresponds to FIG. 4 above,
I / O terminal 30811 and authentication circuit 30813 are added,
Further, the control function of the control detection circuit 30803 is different from that of the control circuit 311 of FIG. 3 in that the detection result is given from the input terminal 30812. Furthermore, the control from the input terminal 30812 is not necessarily limited to hardware such as a control signal, and software control may be used. Each component of FIG. 8 is on the graphic board 803 of FIG. 7 as described above. When the cutouts are changed and the decoding circuit 30802 is placed on the tuner board 802 in the same manner as the components 301 to 307 in FIG. 3, the broken line in the drawing is the cutout of both boards.

These operations will be described with reference to FIG. Prior to outputting information from the output terminals 309A, 309D, or 310, the control circuit 311 of FIG. 3 first sends an authentication key for authenticating this board to the authentication circuit 30813 via the input / output terminal 30811. Authentication circuit 3081
3 sends back the authentication key to the control circuit 311 if this authentication key matches a predetermined one. The key sent back does not have to be the same as the key received, but of course what is sent is predetermined. Control circuit 31
If the key received in 1 is a predetermined key, this graphic board can be authenticated as a board that performs the expected operation. If the key is different and nothing is sent back, the authentication fails. The expected operation is the encryption of the information to be output, the quality restriction, the addition of the copy restriction signal, and the like described above with reference to FIGS.

If the authentication is successful, the control circuit 3 continues.
11 requests the authentication circuit 30813 to notify the type of information to be output, and receives this. The type of information indicates whether to perform digital RGB output to which control information is added, digital RGB output to which control information is not added, analog RGB output, analog component or composite output. If necessary, it is confirmed whether the information protection circuit 30810 can protect the information, the resolution restriction circuit 30807 can limit the resolution, and the APS addition circuit 30809 can add the signal.

In response to this, the control circuit 311 controls the operation as follows. If control information such as copy control information is added to the digital RGB output, for example, Copy
Free information is output as it is, and other information is output after being encrypted to protect it. When control information is not added, only the information of Copy Free is output. As for the analog RGB output, the information of Copy Free remains as it is, and the other information is output with quality limited to about 520,000 pixels or less by reducing the number of scanning lines and horizontal resolution. Analog component or composite output is Copy F
The information of ree is unchanged, and other information is, for example, C
A copy restriction signal such as GMS-A or APS is added and output.

If the authentication is not successful, digital,
Do not output any information other than Copy Free information in either analog. Further, when the control information for instructing the output limitation of the EPN and RGB signals is added, Copy F
Information other than ree may be used.

By doing so, it is possible to prevent the information output from the graphic board from being used for purposes other than the intended purpose. Further, in the PC, the board is designed so that the user can arbitrarily replace it, but even if it is replaced, there is no fear that these output methods will not be obeyed.

As another method, the authentication circuit 3081
The case where the authentication function is not provided in 3 and only the function of notifying the type of information to be output is provided will be described. At this time, the control circuit 311 controls the operation as follows.

First, when the type of information can be known, when the digital RGB output is added with control information such as copy control information, the Copy Free information remains unchanged, and the other information protects the information. It is encrypted and output. When control information is not added, only the information of Copy Free is output. Analog RGB output is Copy Fre
The information of e is output as it is, and the other information is output with its quality limited to, for example, about 520,000 pixels or less. For the analog component or composite output, Copy Free information remains unchanged, and for other information, a copy restriction signal such as CGMS-A or APS is added and output.
If you do not know the type of information, recognize it as a non-standard board and copy it, whether digital or analog.
Only the Free information is output.

If the control information for instructing the output limitation of the EPN and RGB signals is added, Copy Free.
Information other than the above may be applied. In this case, since the authentication key is not used, the security is weaker than the previous example, but this is generally sufficient.

The device of the present invention is a digital RG.
It is not necessary to have all the information output functions of B, analog RGB, analog component, or composite. For example, even if there is only an output function of analog RGB,
It is applicable to that output and is within the scope of the present invention.

In the above description, when the output from the output terminal of the apparatus is not performed, nothing may be output to the display unit, and character information indicating that no output may be output. Of course, the character information will be output only for the specified time at the beginning,
You may erase it afterwards. OSD (On Screen Di
A splay) circuit is further provided and is controlled by the control circuit 311 or the like to output character information.

The control information sent together with the digital video information will be described. FIG. 9 shows an example of the structure of the control information signal in the present invention. The type 101 indicates attribute information such as whether the information is sold, rented, self-made, or broadcast.

The copy control 102 indicates whether or not the information can be recorded on the medium. Copy Never,
Copy One Generation (Copy authorization for only one generation), Copy
One of Free (copy authorization) is decided by the copyright holder such as the creator of the information. In broadcasting, it is often given by the management information giving circuit 16 shown in FIG. When showing Copy One Generation when recording,
As a general rule, rewrite it as No More Copies (one that has been copied once with Copy One Generation, and copying is prohibited anymore) and record it. If the information software is provided on a recording medium, the right holder shall record it at the time of creation. That is, Copy N
ever, Copy One Generation, No More Copies, Copy Fr
Since there are a total of four states such as ee, 2-bit information can be transmitted. Copy Never is (1,1), Copy One Gene
ration is (1,0), No More Copies is (0,1), Co
py free is (0,0) or the like.

The APS 103 is copy control information for the analog recording device. By using this, the recording operation in the analog recording device can be controlled separately from the copy control information.

RGB 104 indicates whether or not the above-mentioned RGB output information is restricted. When doing this, "1",
When it is not performed, it can be transmitted as 1-bit information such as "0".

The time 105 is, for example, the current time at the time of broadcasting given by the management information giving circuit 16 of FIG. It is used when there is a limit to the viewing time.

The broadcasting system 106 is HD information (HD; High).
Definition; High definition), SD information (SD; Standard De)
finition; standard definition), etc., indicating the broadcasting system used by the information.

The EPN 107 is for instructing whether or not to protect the above-mentioned information. Various other control information may be added, but most of the information shown in FIG. 9 is the most important in the present invention.

Next, a method for limiting the quality of output information by limiting the number of scanning lines and horizontal resolution will be described. When the control information is changed in the middle of broadcasting, the format of the analog RGB signal output to the display device or the like changes, and, for example, the cycle of the sync signal suddenly changes. The display device automatically detects this and switches the scanning method, but it is common to switch the scanning method after repeatedly confirming the detection over several fields so as not to be affected by interference noise and the like. Therefore, the screen may be disturbed when switching is performed, and there is a problem that it is annoying when switching frequently.

For this reason, the above-mentioned quality limitation is solved by converting the number of scanning lines and the number of horizontal pixels by half so that the period of the synchronizing signal does not substantially change even if the scanning method changes. it can. This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 shows an HD signal of the interlaced scanning 1080 system (1080i), which is progressive scanned 5
It is a schematic diagram which shows the method of converting into a 40-line system (540P) SD signal, (a) has shown the scanning line of an odd field, (b) has shown the even field.

In order to convert the scanning lines A and B of the odd field according to the 1080i system into the scanning line M according to the 540P system, M = (3A + B) / 4 is weighted and averaged. In the same manner, M ′ = (3B + C) / 4 and N = (3C + D) / 4. Similarly in the even field, T ′ = (G + 3H) / 4 and U = (H + 3I) / 4. The horizontal resolution may be limited by averaging two adjacent pixels.

The signal thus obtained has 54 scanning lines.
Although there are no SD signals, the periods of the horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals are almost unchanged from the stage of the HD signal before the limitation, so that the screen disturbance due to the above switching can be eliminated without any problem.

Further, there is also a method in which the scanning method is kept at 1080i, and two pixels in each of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction are weighted as needed for every four pixels in total, and the average is given, and the same contents are given to these four pixels. .

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the problem that the information outputted from the device to the outside is used for an unintended purpose, which is disadvantageous to the copyright holder, can be solved. If applied to a PC board, there is an effect of eliminating the fear that the output method will not be obeyed by the replacement. R
It is also possible to independently limit the GB signal.

Further, when switching the presence / absence of the limitation, by performing the resolution conversion in which the number of horizontal and vertical pixels is reduced by half while the horizontal synchronization period and the vertical synchronization period are substantially equal, it is possible to suppress the disturbance of the screen.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an entire system to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information providing station 1 such as a broadcasting station in FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a receiving device 3 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a decode output circuit to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a table for explaining output information according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a decode output circuit and a display unit to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a PC to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a graphic board to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a control information signal in the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a method of the present invention for converting 1080i scanning lines into 540P.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ・ ・ Information stations such as broadcasting stations 16 ... Management information addition circuit 2 ... Relay station 3 ... Receiving device 308 ... Decode output circuit 311 ··· Control circuit .. Control detection circuit 30805 ··· Down conversion circuit 30806..Switch 30807 ... Resolution limiting circuit 30808 ··· RGB conversion circuit 30809 ... APS addition circuit 30810 ·· Information protection circuit 30813 ... Authentication circuit 4 ... First recording / reproducing device 5 ... Display 6 ... Second recording / reproducing device 7 ... Display 8 ・ ・ PC 802 ... Tuner board 803 ... Graphic board 804 ... CPU board 80401 ... CPU 80402 · · Flash memory 80403 ... RAM 80404 · Interface circuit 806 ... Hard disk drive

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Nobuaki Ko             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Digital Media Development Book             Department (72) Inventor Jiro Owase             4-6 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi, Ltd. Digital Media Group             In the loop (72) Inventor Atsushi Yoshioka             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Digital Media Development Book             Department F-term (reference) 5C052 AA01 AC10 CC01 DD10                 5C053 FA13 FA17 FA20 FA21 FA23                       GB06 HA40 JA21 LA06 LA07                       LA11                 5D044 AB05 AB07 BC01 CC04 DE45                       DE50 FG18 GK12 HL08 JJ07

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A video information output device for outputting input digital video information or digital video information reproduced from a storage medium, the output circuit being capable of outputting video signals in a plurality of formats. A video information output device comprising a control circuit for limiting video information to be output according to the type of format. 2. The video information output device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit gives the above-mentioned restriction when the video information to be output is of a format of a type that is not protected by copyright. . 3. The video information output device according to claim 2, wherein the control circuit carries out the above limitation when the format of the video information to be output is digital RGB. 4. The video information output device according to claim 2, wherein the control circuit performs the above-mentioned limitation when the format of the video information to be output is analog RGB. 5. The control circuit detects at least one type of control information from the input digital video information or the digital video information reproduced from a storage medium, and according to the content of the control information, the above-mentioned limitation. The video information output device according to claim 1, wherein 6. The control circuit, when the format of the video information to be output is digital RGB and the video information to be output is not protected by copyright, according to the content of the detected control information, The video information output device according to claim 5, wherein the output of the video information is stopped. 7. The control circuit limits the quality of the output video information according to the content of the detected control information when the format of the output video information is analog RGB. The video information output device according to claim 5. 8. The control circuit, when the format of the video information to be output is an analog component consisting of a luminance signal and two color difference signals, or when the luminance signal is multiplexed with a subcarrier orthogonally modulated by the two color difference signals. In the case of the analog composite, the protection signal for the copy restriction that makes it impossible to copy the video information is added to the video information or is added in parallel with the video signal according to the content of the detected control information. The video information output device according to claim 5, wherein the video information output device outputs the video information. 9. A video signal transmission device for transmitting digital video information to an external output device, wherein when the external output device outputs the digital video information to another device, the output video information is restricted. It has an addition means for adding control information for giving to the digital video information to be transmitted, and a transmission means for transmitting the digital video information to which the control information is added, and the control information is output by the external output device. A video information transmission device, which is control information indicating that different restrictions are applied according to the type of video information format. 10. The restriction applied to the video information is characterized in that the horizontal synchronization cycle and the vertical synchronization cycle of the video information are substantially unchanged, and resolution conversion is performed to reduce the number of horizontal pixels and the number of vertical pixels by half. Item 1. The video information output device according to Item 1.