JP2003244681A - Two-way program broadcasting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a two-way broadcasting system in which a cable television station device can efficiently collect viewers' answer signals by reducing the congestion of the viewers' answer signals from respective terminal devices. <P>SOLUTION: In this broadcasting system, the cable television station device transmits a broadcast signal for a plurality of channels to a plurality of terminal devices through an downlink data line, and the plurality of terminal devices respectively receive the broadcast signal for a plurality of channels, select one optional channel among a plurality of channels and decodes the broadcast signal of the one channel. The plurality of terminal devices respectively discriminate whether the broadcast program of the one channel is a two-way program or not, and controls an incoming data line to the cable television station by a band control method corresponding to the one channel when the broadcast program of the one channel is discriminated to be a two-way program. <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 bidirectional program broadcasting system for bidirectional TV program broadcasting from a cable TV station device to a terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In digital broadcasting, new services using data broadcasting are provided. Some of these services are interactive ones such as quiz programs, and the programs participating in the viewers can be easily configured by the two-way communication between the broadcasting station and the viewers in real time.

[0003]

However, when two-way communication is performed on a cable television, a large amount of viewer response signals are generated from each terminal device in a specific period in the case of a service such as a quiz program. If the uplink between each terminal device and the cable television station device is not efficiently controlled, congestion will occur and proper collection of the viewer response signal becomes impossible.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an interactive program broadcasting system capable of efficiently collecting the viewer response signal by reducing the congestion of the viewer response signal from each terminal device in the cable television station apparatus. That is.

[0005]

A broadcasting system of the present invention transmits a broadcasting signal for a plurality of channels from a cable television station device to a plurality of terminal devices via a downlink data line, and each of the plurality of terminal devices has a broadcasting signal. A broadcasting system that receives broadcast signals for a plurality of channels, selects any one channel from the plurality of channels, and demodulates the broadcast signal of the one channel, wherein each of the plurality of terminal devices has one channel. Discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the broadcast program is a bidirectional program, and 1 when the discriminating means discriminates that the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program.
And a line control means for controlling an upstream data line to the cable television station apparatus by a band control method corresponding to the channel.

According to the method of controlling an upstream data line of the present invention, a cable television station device transmits broadcast signals for a plurality of channels to a plurality of terminal devices via a downstream data line, and each of the plurality of terminal devices has a plurality of broadcast signals. Control of an upstream data line from each terminal device to a cable television station device in a broadcasting system in which a broadcast signal for a channel is received, any one channel is selected from a plurality of channels, and the broadcast signal of the one channel is demodulated Method,
In each of the plurality of terminal devices, it is determined whether or not the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program. When the result of the determination is that the 1-channel broadcast program is the bidirectional program, the cable is controlled by the band control method corresponding to the 1-channel. It is characterized by controlling the upstream data line to the television station device.

The terminal device of the present invention receives broadcast signals for a plurality of channels transmitted from the cable television station device via the downlink data line in the interactive program broadcasting system, and selects any one channel from the plurality of channels. Is a terminal device for demodulating the 1-channel broadcast signal by selecting the discriminating means and the discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program.
When it is determined that the broadcast program of the channel is a bidirectional program, a line control means for controlling the upstream data line to the cable television station apparatus by a band control method corresponding to one channel is provided.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an interactive program broadcasting system according to the present invention. This broadcasting system includes a television broadcasting station device 1, a cable television station device 2, and a terminal device 3. Between the television broadcasting station device 1 and the cable television station device 2, bidirectional communication via the communication satellite 7 as well as bidirectional communication via the Internet 8 is possible. Bidirectional communication is possible between the cable television station device 2 and the terminal device 3 via the cable 9. Although a plurality of terminal devices 4 and 5 including the terminal device 3 are connected to the cable television station device 2, only the terminal device 3 will be described here. The configurations of the plurality of terminal devices other than the terminal device 3 are the same as the configurations of the terminal device 3 described later.

The television broadcasting station device 1 is a television broadcasting transmission source, and includes a program transmission system 11 and a program information generation device 1.
3, a multiplexer 14, an uplink device 15, an internet connection device 16 and a server 17. The program transmission system 11 is connected to the multiplexing device 14 and outputs an MPEG2 transport stream (data string) showing video, audio and data of a broadcast program to the multiplexing device 14 based on a predetermined schedule.

The program information generation device 13 generates program information (for example, EPG data) indicating the genre, performer, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, program content, etc. of each program.
As will be described later, the program information includes distributed processing presence / absence information indicating whether or not the viewer response signal from the terminal device for the interactive program is distributed. The program information generation device 13
Such program information is supplied to the multiplexer 14 and the internet connection device 16. Generation of program information is performed prior to broadcasting of the corresponding program. The multiplexing device 14 multiplexes the program information into a transport stream and outputs the multiplexed transport stream to the uplink device 15. The uplink device 15 includes a modulator, a frequency converter, and a power amplifier, in which the transport stream is superimposed on the RF signal,
After the signal is frequency-converted by the frequency converter, it is power-amplified by the power amplifier and becomes a radio signal from an antenna (not shown) and is transmitted toward the communication satellite 7. The communication satellite 7 receives the radio signal from the television broadcasting station device 1,
The received RF signal is frequency-converted and then wirelessly transmitted to the cable television station device 2.

The internet connection device 16 is connected to the internet 8 and enables communication between each device on the internet 8 including the cable television station device 2 and the server 17 by the TCP / IP protocol. The server 17 performs various processes regarding a response received via the internet connection device 16. The cable television station device 2 is a device that relays the RF signal transmitted from the television broadcasting station device 1 to the terminal device 3 and relays the response signal from the terminal device 3 to the television broadcasting station device 1. The cable TV station device 2 is
The satellite reception device 21, the program information extraction device 22, the band control instruction device 23, the information management device 24, the server 25, the internet connection device 26, and the head end device 27.

The satellite receiving device 21 receives a radio signal transmitted from the communication satellite 7 via an antenna (not shown), frequency-converts the received RF signal, and the program information extracting device 22 and head end. Output to the device 27. The program information extraction device 22 extracts program information from the received RF signal and supplies it to the band control instruction device 23, the information management device 24, and the server 25. The information management device 24 manages the start and end of the interactive program over all broadcast channels according to the program information. In this management, an identification ID is assigned to each broadcast channel. The identification ID is pre-assigned for each channel in each terminal device, and the same identification ID in one channel indicates the broadcast group of the terminal devices. That is, the identification ID is an identification code for grouping the terminal devices on the same channel.

The head end device 27 sends CATV signals consisting of a plurality of channels to the cable 9. That C
The ATV signal includes data of the bandwidth control method instructed by the bandwidth control instructing device 23 and server information indicating the IP address of the server 25 in the downlink data channel, and the MPEG2 transport stream and the program from the receiving device 21 are included. In addition to the RF signal of the transport stream containing information, a plurality of other RF signals (not shown) are included in each television channel. The headend device 27 receives the response signal transmitted from any of the terminal devices including the terminal devices 3 to 5, and supplies the received response signal to the server 25 and the internet connection device 26.

The band control instruction device 23 identifies the program information and the identification I
Set the bandwidth control method from D to the time when bandwidth control is required,
It is output to the head end device 27 as a band control command.
Bandwidth control refers to an upstream data channel from each terminal device such as the terminal devices 3 to 5 to the cable television station device 2.
This means allocating any one of a plurality of time slots (for example, 100 time slots) to each terminal device for data transmission by the DMA method.

The internet connection device 26 is connected to the internet 8 and can communicate with the internet connection device 16 of the television broadcasting station device 1 via the internet 8. The internet connection device 26 obtains the destination and the response content indicated by the response signal sent from the terminal device via the headend device 27, and sends the data indicating the response content to the destination (for example, the server 17). Send via the Internet 8.

The terminal device 3 is a device owned by a person who has a reception contract with a cable television station, and includes a receiving device 31, a program information extracting device 32, an information management device 33, and a modem device 3.
4, a response generation device 35 and a remote control device 36.
The remote control device 36 is not included in the main body of the terminal device 3 as shown in FIG. 1, but is a part of the terminal device 3. The remote control device 36 is used for selecting and designating a broadcast channel to be demodulated in the terminal device 3 according to a user's operation, and for a response input operation in the case of an interactive program.

A television monitor 37 is connected to the receiving device 31. The receiving device 31 receives the CATV signal transmitted from the cable television station device 2 via the cable 9,
The RF signal of the selected channel is extracted from the RF signals of each TV channel, and the R signal of the selected channel is extracted.
The F signal is demodulated to take out the transport stream, and the MPEG2 transport stream of the desired program is demodulated and supplied to the monitor 37 as a video signal and an audio signal. Meanwhile, the transport stream is supplied to the program information extraction device 32. A program information extraction device 32 and an information management device 33 are further connected to the reception device 31.
The receiving device 31 supplies the transport stream including the program information to the program information extracting device 32, and supplies the information of the channel selected by the receiving device 31 to the information management device 33.

The program information extraction device 32 extracts program information from the transport stream supplied from the reception device 31 and supplies it to the information management device 33 and the response generation device 35. The information management device 33 uses the information of the selected channel supplied from the reception device 31 and the program information extracted by the program information extraction device 32 to determine whether the current broadcast program of the selected channel is a bidirectional program. However, if it is an interactive program, the identification I corresponding to the selected channel
D is generated and band control information determined by the identification ID is supplied to the modem device 34. In each terminal device including the terminal device 3, an identification ID is preset for each channel as shown in FIG.

The response generator 35 obtains the format information of the response from the program information, and in accordance with the instruction from the remote controller 36 in response to the input operation, for example, the response instructed by the viewer response signal indicating the answer of the quiz of the quiz program. Is generated in the form of.
The modem device 34 transmits the viewer response signal generated by the response generation device 35 to the cable television station device 2 via the cable 9 in the upstream data channel using the TDMA method. The timing of transmission of the viewer response signal and the used time slot are instructed by the cable television station apparatus 2 by band allocation as described later.

In the broadcasting system having such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, the server 25 of the cable television station device 2 is used.
Periodically generates server information indicating the IP address and supplies it to the headend device 27. The head end device 27 includes the server information in the downstream data channel of the CATV signal and transmits it to a plurality of terminal devices including the terminal device 3 via the cable 9 (step S1).

When the receiving device 31 of the terminal device 3 receives the server information of the downlink data channel, it supplies it to the information management device 33. The information management device 33 stores the IP address indicated by the server information (step S2). The stored content is updated when the IP address indicated by the server information is changed. In the television broadcasting station device 1, program information is regularly generated in the program information generating device 13 of the broadcasting station device 1. The program information includes start time and end time for each program, and distributed processing presence / absence information indicating whether or not distributed processing of response signals from each terminal device is performed for interactive programs. The distributed processing presence / absence information includes the IP address of the server 17 in the television broadcasting station device 1 as the destination IP address.

The program information is multiplexed into the transport stream in the multiplexing device 14, and the multiplexed transport stream is transmitted as a radio signal via the uplink device 15 (step S3). The wireless signal is relayed by the communication satellite 7 and is transmitted to the cable television station device 2
To be transmitted as a downlink radio signal. When the receiving device 21 in the cable television station device 2 receives the wireless signal from the communication satellite 7, the receiving RF signal is frequency-converted and output to the program information extracting device 22 and the head end device 27. The program information extracting device 22 is the receiving device 2
The program information is extracted from the RF signal output from 1 and stored. In the head end device 27, the RF signal output from the receiving device 21 becomes a CATV signal composed of a plurality of channels together with other RF signals, and the CATV signal is sent to the cable 9 and supplied to the terminal devices 3 to 5.

The terminal device 3 will be described. In the receiving device 31, the cable television station device 2 to the cable 9 are used.
The CATV signal transmitted via the is received. CA
From TV signal, select channel from RF signal of each TV channel (specified by transport ID)
The RF signal is extracted, the transport stream is extracted by demodulating the RF signal, and the MPEG2 transport stream of the desired program is demodulated by the program number and the packet ID. The video signal and audio signal resulting from the demodulation are supplied to the monitor 37. The transport stream including the program information is supplied from the receiving device 31 to the program information extracting device 32.

When program information is extracted from the transport stream by the program information extracting device 32, if the program information includes distributed processing presence / absence information, the distributed processing presence / absence information is supplied to the information management device 33. . The information management device 33 saves the distributed processing presence / absence information and notifies the server 25 of the content (step S4). As a result, the server 25 can specify the interactive program in which the viewer response signal from the terminal device is distributed.

In the cable television station apparatus 2, the information management apparatus 24 monitors the start and end of interactive programs over all broadcast channels. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the information management device 24 determines, based on the program information, whether or not the start of the interactive program is started for each broadcast channel (step S31). When the interactive program is started to be broadcast, the identification ID of the broadcast channel is validated (step S32). On the other hand, when the interactive program starts to be broadcast, it is determined based on the program information whether or not the interactive program has ended for each broadcast channel (step S33). When the interactive program has been broadcast, the identification ID of the broadcast channel is invalidated (step S34).

The relationship between the identification ID and the channel is preset as shown in FIG. 4, and the relationship is stored in a memory (not shown). Therefore, when the broadcast of the interactive program is started on any of the broadcast channels, the information management device 24 of the cable television station device 2 validates the identification ID corresponding to the broadcast channel. In the terminal device 3, FIG.
As shown in, the information management device 33 determines, based on the program information, whether or not the program being broadcast on the currently selected channel at a predetermined cycle immediately after the power is turned on is the bidirectional program (step S21).

As a result of the determination in step S21, when the program broadcast on the selected channel is a bidirectional program, an identification ID corresponding to the selected channel is generated (step S22). On the other hand, if the program broadcast on the selected channel is not a two-way program, and if the identification ID has already been generated, the identification ID is deleted (step S23).

FIG. 6 shows time T1 by the cable television station.
It shows generation and deletion of identification IDs in the terminal devices A and B when the interactive program is broadcast on the channel Ch = 31 during the period from T4 to T4. That is, in the terminal device A, the selected channel is Ch = 24 before the time T1. When the selected channel is changed to Ch = 31 at time T2, an identification ID (for example, 0x201F as shown in FIG. 4) is generated at that time. When the selected channel is changed to Ch = 6 at time T3, the generated identification ID is deleted at that time. On the other hand, in the terminal device B, the selected channel is Ch = 31 before the time T1. The identification ID is generated at the time when the interactive program at time T1 is started. After that, the selected channel is Ch =
The identification ID is deleted when the interactive program is continued at 31 and the interactive program at time T4 ends.

In the terminal device 3, the above step S2
When the identification ID is generated in 2, the information management device 33
Causes the bandwidth request to be transmitted to the modem device 34 (step S
24). The modem device 34 transmits a band request to the cable television station device 2 via the cable 9 in response to a command from the information management device 33. The band request includes at least the generated identification ID and the terminal ID for identifying the terminal device, and is received by the headend device 27 of the cable television station device 2 and supplied to the band control device 23.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cable television station device 2 receives the band request (step S4).
1), the band control device 23 generates a band control signal indicating a band control method corresponding to the identification ID (step S42),
The head end device 27 is caused to transmit a band control signal to the terminal device specified by the terminal ID (step S43). The bandwidth control method is, for example, allocation of a time slot for each terminal device that has issued a bandwidth request, and the method may include a use time zone of the allocated time slot.

As the band control signal, the RF signal output from the receiving device 21 in the head end device 27 becomes a CATV signal consisting of a plurality of channels together with other RF signals, and the CATV signal is sent to the cable 9 to issue a band request. Is supplied to the terminal device (for example, the terminal device 3). In the terminal device 3, as shown in FIG. 8, when the modem device 35 receives the band control signal (step S5).
1) According to the data of the band control signal, the modem device 35 uses the TD in the band, that is, the upstream data channel
The used time slot of the MA method is set (step S52).

At the quiz response time, in response to the user's operation of the remote control device 36, a response generation device 35 generates a viewer response signal indicating a quiz response, and the viewer response signal is stored in the transmission queue of the modem device 35. To be done. When generating this viewer response signal, as shown in FIG. 9, the content of the distributed processing presence / absence information that has already been acquired is determined (step S61), and if distributed processing is present, it is obtained from the server information. The IP address of the server 25 of the cable TV station device 2 is set as the destination address (step S6).
2) If there is no distributed processing, the IP address of the server 17 of the television broadcasting station device 1 included in the distributed processing presence / absence information is set as the destination address (step S63).

When the designated use time zone is reached (step S53), the modem device 35 sends a viewer response signal indicating the answer to the quiz stored in the transmission queue to the cable television station device 2 via the cable 9 (step S53). S5
4). When the head end device 27 of the cable television station device 2 receives the viewer response signal, if the destination address of the viewer response signal is the IP address of the server 25, the head end device 27 sends the viewer response signal to the server 25. Supply. A viewer response signal is supplied to the server 25 from a terminal device that has selected a broadcast channel of an interactive program and has performed a response operation with the remote controller 36. As shown in FIG. 2, since the server 25 previously specifies the interactive program to be distributed and processed by the instruction from the information management device 24, the server 25 receives and processes the viewer response signal from each terminal device (step S11). The reception processing includes, for example, counting response contents and checking quiz answers, and is performed over a predetermined processing period including a response period of an interactive program. When the reception process is completed, the server 25 supplies the Internet connection device 26 with the processing result (for example, information about the correct answerer of the quiz answer) organized into necessary response information. The internet connection device 26 transmits the processing result to the server 17 of the television broadcasting station device 1 via the internet 8 and the internet connection device 16 (step S12). The server 17 of the television broadcasting station device 1 receives the distributed processing result by the server 25 (step S1).
3).

On the other hand, if the destination address of the viewer response signal is the IP address of the server 17, the head end device 27 supplies the viewer response signal to the internet connection device 26. The internet connection device 26 transmits the viewer response signal to the internet 8 and the internet connection device 16.
To the server 17 of the television broadcasting station device 1 via.
In this case, the receiving process is executed in the server 17.

In the above-mentioned broadcasting system, the band control method designated by the cable television station device is different for each broadcast group if the broadcast channel of the same interactive program has a different identification ID in each broadcast group. Therefore, the congestion of the viewer response signal from each terminal device can be reduced. In addition, in the above-described broadcasting system, the server of the cable television station device can perform the distributed processing on the viewer response signal. Is not sent in a concentrated manner, and since the television broadcasting station receives the result of the distributed processing of the viewer response signal in the cable television station device, the data processing load on the television broadcasting station device is reduced, and It is possible to efficiently collect the response contents of the viewer in the program.

In the above-described embodiment, if the cable television station device also notifies the terminal device of the band control method for each identification ID in advance by including it in the program information,
There is no need to send a bandwidth request. At that time, if the band control method for each identification ID is different for each broadcast group, the congestion of the viewer response signal from each terminal device can be reduced.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the viewer response signal from each terminal device can be efficiently collected while reducing the congestion in the cable television station device during the interactive program broadcasting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of each of the television broadcasting station device, the cable television station device, and the terminal device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of an information management device in the cable television station device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between broadcast channels and identification IDs.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the information management device in the terminal device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing generation and deletion times of identification IDs in the terminal devices A and B.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of the cable television station device in response to a band request.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of transmitting a viewer response signal in the terminal device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a destination address setting operation in the terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 TV broadcasting station equipment 2 Cable TV station equipment 3-5 Terminal device 7 communication satellites 8 Internet 13 Program information generator 23 Band control instruction device 24, 33 Information management device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 7/08 7/081 7/10 (71) Applicant 000102728 NTT DATA Corporation Tokyo 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku (71) Applicant 000005821 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 1006, Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka (72) Inventor Kazushi Tahara 2-31-19 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Communication and Broadcasting Organization (72) Inventor Yoshinori Rokugo, Communication & Broadcasting Organization, 2-31-19 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Hiroshi Nakamoto 2-31-19-19, Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Communication, Broadcasting Equipment (72) Invention Takeo Matsuura 2-31-19 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo F-Term in Communication and Broadcasting Organization (Reference) 5C063 AA01 AB03 AB05 AB09 AB11 AC01 AC05 AC10 CA23 CA36 DA01 DA03 DA05 DA07 DA13 DB10 5C064 BA01 BB10 BC18 BC20 BD03 BD08 BD09 BD09

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A cable television station device transmits broadcast signals for a plurality of channels to a plurality of terminal devices via a downlink data line, and each of the plurality of terminal devices receives the broadcast signals for the plurality of channels. In the broadcasting system, an arbitrary one channel is selected from the plurality of channels and a broadcast signal of the one channel is demodulated. And a determination means for determining whether the broadcast program on channel 1 is a two-way program, and when the determination means determines that the broadcast program on channel 1 is a two-way program, the band control method corresponding to channel 1 is used to enter the cable television station device. An interactive program broadcasting system comprising: a line control means for controlling a data line. 2. The line control means, after the discriminating means discriminates that the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program, the discriminating means determines that the 1-channel broadcast program is not a bidirectional program. 2. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein the control of the upstream data line is stopped when the determination is made. 3. The line control means determines a storage means that stores a preset identification code for each of the plurality of channels, and the determination means determines that the broadcast program of the one channel is a bidirectional program. The identification code setting means for setting the identification code corresponding to the one channel in accordance with the stored contents of the storage means and the band request including the identification code set by the identification code setting means. And a means for transmitting to the terminal device that has transmitted the band request, the cable television station device, when receiving the band request, the band control method corresponding to the identification code included in the band request to the terminal device that transmitted the band request. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting to the interactive program broadcasting. 4. The determining means determines whether or not the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program according to program information transmitted from the cable television station device to a plurality of terminal devices. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 5. Each of the plurality of terminal devices generates a viewer response signal according to an input operation when the determination unit determines that the broadcast program of channel 1 is an interactive program, 2. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits the viewer response signal to the cable television station device through the upstream data line controlled by the line control unit. 6. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein the band control method indicates a time slot for transmitting the viewer response signal by a TDMA method using the upstream data line. . 7. The transmission means is any one of the cable television station apparatus and the television broadcasting station apparatus for broadcasting the interactive program, in accordance with distributed processing presence / absence information included in the program information, as a destination of the viewer response signal. 6. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 4, wherein the interactive program broadcasting system is set to one. 8. The cable television station apparatus processes the contents of the received viewer response signal when the destination is the cable television station apparatus when the viewer response signal is received, and the destination sends the television broadcast. 8. The interactive program broadcasting system according to claim 7, wherein in the case of a station device, the received viewer response signal is relayed to the television broadcasting station device. 9. A broadcast signal for a plurality of channels is transmitted from a cable television station device to a plurality of terminal devices via a downlink data line, and each of the plurality of terminal devices receives the broadcast signals for the plurality of channels. A method of controlling an upstream data line from each of the terminal devices to the cable television station device in a broadcasting system for selecting any one channel from the plurality of channels and demodulating the broadcast signal of the one channel. In each of the plurality of terminal devices, it is determined whether or not the broadcast program of the 1-channel is an interactive program, and when the determination result is that the broadcast program of the 1-channel is the interactive program, it corresponds to the 1-channel. Upstream data characterized by controlling an upstream data line to the cable television station apparatus by a band control method Line control method. 10. An interactive program broadcasting system, wherein a broadcast signal for a plurality of channels transmitted from a cable television station device via a downlink data line is received, and one channel is selected from the plurality of channels. A terminal device for demodulating the 1-channel broadcast signal, wherein the determining means determines whether or not the 1-channel broadcast program is a bidirectional program, and the 1-channel broadcast program is bidirectional by the determining means. And a line control means for controlling an upstream data line to the cable television station device by a band control method corresponding to the one channel when it is determined to be a program.