JP2004166078A - Service information distribution system relating to digital broadcasting - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system capable of distributing a service area map and an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) which fit the present receiving state of each receiving terminal in digital broadcasting. <P>SOLUTION: In this service information distribution system consisting of a digital broadcasting station 102, a communication station 109 and a plurality of digital broadcast receiving terminals 103, 104, 105 and 106, the digital broadcasting station 102 transmits digital broadcast, the receiving terminals 103, 104, 105 and 106 transmit to the communication station 109 the locations of the receiving terminals and information 107 about receiving sensitivity of the digital broadcast, and the communication station 109 prepares service information 108 that corresponds to the receiving terminals 103, 104, 105 and 106 on the basis of the information 107 acquired from the receiving terminals 103, 104, 105 and 106 and transmits the service information to the receiving terminals 103, 104, 105 and 106. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a service information distribution system related to digital broadcasting, and in particular, to a receiving system for a stationary digital television receiver equipped with a digital broadcast receiving device, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a mobile phone terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), and the like. The present invention relates to a system for distributing service information according to an environment.
[0002]
Note that the “service information” distributed in the system of the present invention includes a service area map that geographically indicates whether or not each receiving terminal can receive a broadcast, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) for each receiving channel, and an electronic program guide. Shall be included.
[0003]
[Prior art]
Currently, preparations are underway for a new terrestrial digital broadcast to replace the analog terrestrial broadcast that is being watched nationwide. The digital terrestrial broadcasting will start in the three major metropolitan areas of Kanto, Kinki and Tokai in 2003, and is planned to be expanded nationwide in 2006. Along with this, the current analog broadcasting will be abolished in 2011.
[0004]
The terrestrial digital broadcasting technical standard ISDB (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) -T employs OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and reflection), which uses a large number of carriers for the modulation method. For example, ghost interference due to a plurality of propagation paths (multipath) can be suppressed. Further, ISDB-T defines a plurality of transmission modes for defining carrier intervals, a modulation method for each carrier, and a plurality of guard intervals in the time axis direction provided for each effective symbol length. Is acceptable. In practice, an optimum format is selected from these services according to services such as fixed reception and mobile reception.
[0005]
In ISDB-T, one channel (bandwidth of about 5.6 MHz) is divided into 13 segments (1 segment = about 430 kHz), and the modulation method is changed in units of this. Thus, the broadcasting station can arbitrarily determine the signal configuration such as audio broadcasting and high-definition broadcasting, standard fixed broadcasting and mobile broadcasting in one channel.
[0006]
Furthermore, ISDB-T incorporates interleaving in the time axis direction, and the radio waves used are also suitable for transmission to mobiles, so it is stable in mobile receivers such as in-car TVs and mobile terminals such as PDAs and mobile phones. One of the major features is that the reception is possible. In the future, services that assume such mobile reception are also expected to be highly expected.
[0007]
In this regard, mobile receiving devices such as in-vehicle televisions can be equipped with a display having a large display capacity to some extent, do not need to be particularly small and light, and have a sufficient power supply source. It is possible to correspond to.
[0008]
FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing one form of such a terrestrial digital broadcasting service. In FIG. 8, a total of 13 segments including a 1-segment voice reception 803, a 6-segment mobile reception 804, and a 6-segment SDTV (Standard Definition TV, standard television) 805 are allocated to the data segment 801. In the above-described in-vehicle television, a sufficient amount of information can be obtained from such a broadcasting service. Note that the data segment 801 is converted into a transmission spectrum (OFDM segment) 802 on the frequency axis. At this time, a one-segment reception part 806 (layer A) corresponding to the voice reception 803 is added to the center segment of the thirteen segments. It is to be arranged.
[0009]
FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram showing another form of the digital terrestrial broadcasting service. In FIG. 9, 13 segments including a 1-segment portable reception 903 and a 12-segment HDTV reception 904 are allocated to a data segment 901. 8, the data segment 901 is converted into a transmission spectrum (OFDM segment) 902 on the frequency axis. At this time, a one-segment reception part 905 (layer A) corresponding to the portable reception 903 includes: It is arranged in the central segment of the 13 segments.
[0010]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in the data segment 901, all 12 segments other than the mobile reception 903 are allocated to the high-definition TV reception 904, but the 12 segments are divided and allocated to two channels of SDTV reception. Various forms of broadcasting service are conceivable.
[0011]
As described above, terrestrial digital broadcasting adopts a method suitable for mobile reception and portable reception, and is generally affected by various types of radio interference in radio wave transmission paths, resulting in noise, lack of screen, synchronization, etc. Compared to analog television broadcasting in which an abnormality is likely to occur, stable reception is possible without being affected by environmental changes due to movement or the like.
[0012]
However, even in the case of terrestrial digital broadcasting, depending on the reception environment, the reception power of the radio wave may be weak or the superposition of noise may be remarkable, and in particular, fading in which the strength of the reception signal changes with time. In an environment where the influence of the image is large, it may not be possible to reproduce a good image.
[0013]
In order to cope with such deterioration of the reception environment, a method of detecting a reception state in a reception device and automatically switching broadcast contents in accordance with the detection state is adopted. (For example, digital broadcast receiving devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.)
[0014]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-107303
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A-2002-176594
[Patent Document 3]
JP-A-2002-218341
[0015]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The problem here is that, especially in the case of mobile reception by an in-vehicle terminal, a mobile terminal, a PDA, etc., it is necessary to uniformly define the broadcasting service area of each broadcasting station due to changes in the reception environment. That is, it is impossible to provide an accurate service area map or EPG to the viewer. That is, even if a broadcast service is provided in a limited area, the availability of broadcast reception differs depending on the surrounding environment, moving speed, weather conditions of each viewer, and also depending on the type of receiving terminal. Therefore, the service area map and the EPG cannot be uniquely determined.
[0016]
Usually, in order to create a detailed broadcast service area map in accordance with the micro environment of the viewer, a communication station (or a service provider connected via a communication line, a broadcasting station, etc.) is installed, and various actual services are provided. You need to go to a place to do a field test or to do a big simulation. Further, there is a problem that the service area map cannot be strictly defined as one because the environment surrounding the viewer changes from moment to moment and there is a macro environment change such as weather.
[0017]
Also, in digital broadcast receiving devices, there is no intermediate state of the receiving situation such as “moderately reflected” or “hard to see but gradually reflected” as in analog broadcasting. There is also a problem that only one of the two values exists (a clear threshold value exists for the reception possibility).
[0018]
In the case of analog broadcasting, the viewer can check the intermediate state of the reception status as described above.If the video is disturbed, adjust the antenna direction or change the position of the receiving device while watching the screen. Thus, an environment suitable for reception can be searched. However, in the case of digital broadcasting, when the viewer cannot receive the broadcast, it is necessary to determine how much the current reception environment is suitable for broadcast reception, and in what direction to move the place to be able to receive the broadcast. Can't do it.
[0019]
In particular, when a digital broadcast is received by a mobile terminal, the viewer moves while searching for a place where the broadcast can be received, but as described above, the service area is not uniformly defined, There is a problem in that it is not possible to obtain any information serving as a guide for determining which direction to move.
[0020]
In addition, the above-mentioned problem is the same in broadcast reception in a fixed terminal, particularly in a stationary television with an antenna. If reception is not possible even if the device is placed indoors, there is a problem that it is not possible to know whether or not there is a receivable place in the room in the first place, and if so, where it is.
[0021]
In view of such a problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of distributing a service area map according to the current reception status of each receiving terminal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of distributing an EPG according to the current reception status of each receiving terminal.
[0022]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to a service information distribution system related to digital broadcasting, wherein a means for acquiring digital broadcast receiving environment information from a receiving terminal of a viewer, and service information to the receiving terminal based on the digital broadcast receiving environment information. And a means for distributing service information.
[0023]
Further, the present invention is a service information distribution system related to digital broadcasting, including a communication station having service information, and a receiving terminal capable of communicating with the communication station, wherein the communication station has the viewer And a service information distribution system that obtains reception environment information from the reception terminal and distributes service information to the reception terminal based on the obtained reception environment information.
[0024]
The present invention is further a service information distribution system including a digital broadcast station, a communication station, and a plurality of digital broadcast receiving terminals, wherein the digital broadcast station transmits digital broadcasts, and the receiving terminals each include: Transmitting information related to the position of the receiving terminal and the receiving sensitivity of the digital broadcast to the communication station, wherein the communication station sends the information to each of the receiving terminals based on the information obtained from each of the receiving terminals. A service information distribution system, wherein corresponding service information is created and the service information is transmitted to each of the receiving terminals.
[0025]
According to the service information distribution system of the present invention, a communication station can collect a large amount of sample data as reception environment information from a reception terminal of a viewer who is receiving a digital broadcast, and based on the data, the actual It is possible to easily create and distribute detailed service information according to the reception situation.
[0026]
In the distribution system of the present invention, the reception environment information includes at least one of position information, reception sensitivity information, and terminal model information of the reception terminal.
Further, the receiving terminal has a GPS function, and the position information is provided by the GPS function. As a result, it becomes possible for the viewer to immediately transmit the reception environment information to the communication station without inputting the position information by himself / herself.
[0027]
The position information includes information on at least one of the longitude, latitude, altitude, and moving speed of the receiving terminal. Thereby, regarding the position of the receiving terminal, not only the two-dimensional position determined from the longitude and the latitude, but also the three-dimensional position including the information in the height direction and information on the movement can be obtained. It is possible to distribute service information suitable for the service.
[0028]
For example, even if they are in the same place in two dimensions, the people who are on the roof of the building and those who are underground, and those who are stationary and those who are moving on the Shinkansen, will have different broadcast reception environments Become. As described above, it is possible to provide service information corresponding to a micro environment where each receiving terminal is placed.
The reception sensitivity information includes at least one of an error rate, reception power, and C / N ratio when the receiving terminal receives a digital broadcast.
[0029]
As parameters for measuring reception sensitivity in digital broadcasting, reception power and C / N ratio (Carrier to Noise Rate) are generally known. These values have different lower limits required for reception depending on the modulation scheme and coding rate.
[0030]
Also, in order to transmit a video signal without error (pseudo error free) in digital broadcasting, the value of the BER (Bit Error Rate, error rate) of the RS (Reed-Solomon) code decoding output needs to be 1 × 10 −11 or less. There is. For this purpose, the BER value of the Viterbi decoded output needs to be 2 × 10 −4.
[0031]
For example, in a Gaussian noise environment, the required C / N ratio for a QPSK coding rate of 1/2 is 4.9 dB, and the required C / N ratio for a 16 QAM coding rate of 1/2 is 11.5 dB. is there. As for the required electric field strength of the received power, about 60 dBμV / m is required in the case of fixed reception.
[0032]
The terminal model information includes information on the model of the receiving terminal. Thereby, the communication station can obtain information on the reception performance of the receiving terminal, and can distribute more suitable service information according to the model of each receiving terminal.
[0033]
For example, depending on the type of antenna mounted on the receiving terminal, such as an outdoor antenna or fixed V-shaped monopole antenna of a fixed receiving terminal, a directional antenna or a diversity antenna of a mobile receiving terminal, or a rod antenna of a portable receiving terminal. The receiving performance is different. Further, the reception performance also depends on the performance of the tuner and the demodulation unit. Thus, it is possible to provide service information corresponding to each of the receiving terminals having different receiving performances.
The service information includes a service area map indicating a digital broadcast reception situation near the current location of the receiving terminal.
[0034]
Thus, the viewer can know the area where the broadcast can be received from the service area map, and can check his or her relative position with respect to the service area. For example, if the current reception position is outside the service area and there is a service area in the immediate vicinity, the user is motivated to move from the current location to a receivable location in order to receive the broadcast.
The service information includes an EPG corresponding to a current reception status of the receiving terminal.
[0035]
By providing the EPG corresponding to the viewer's receiving position by the communication station, the viewer can check the currently receivable channel and select a desired broadcast program. In addition, since the broadcast station can be notified of the existence of the broadcast service, it is effective in acquiring more viewers, and the communication station has the advantage that the usage fee of the communication line can be collected from the viewers.
[0036]
In the service information distribution system of the present invention, the receiving terminal is a stationary digital broadcast receiver, a mobile phone terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a mobile information communication terminal, or the like.
[0037]
In particular, since the in-vehicle terminal, the mobile phone terminal, and the mobile information communication terminal are used in various environments, it is conceivable that the availability of broadcast reception varies greatly. According to the service information distribution system of the present invention, it is possible for these receiving terminals to distribute service information in accordance with the current reception environment.
[0038]
In the present invention, the communication station has a database that stores the reception environment information acquired from the reception terminal.
In the present invention, the service information is distributed for each digital broadcast channel. Thus, when a desired program cannot be received, the viewer can receive another channel by acquiring service information on a plurality of channels.
In the present invention, the digital broadcast is a terrestrial digital broadcast.
[0039]
Further, the present invention provides a digital broadcast receiving terminal capable of communicating with a communication station, comprising: means for transmitting reception environment information to the communication station; means for requesting service information from the communication station; An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiving terminal including means for receiving information and means for displaying the received service information.
[0040]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As an embodiment of the service information distribution system of the present invention, a service information distribution system in digital terrestrial broadcasting is exemplified, but the system of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be implemented in satellite digital broadcasting and the like. is there.
[0041]
The first embodiment of the service information distribution system of the present invention is a system for distributing a service area map to a receiving terminal incorporating a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the service area map distribution system of the present embodiment.
[0042]
In FIG. 1, it is assumed that a radio tower 102 for broadcasting a terrestrial digital broadcasting service covers an area A 101. A viewer in the area A 101 can use the on-board terminal 103, the mobile phone terminal 104, the stationary digital television receiver 105, the PDA 106, and the like as terminals for receiving terrestrial digital broadcasting. Further, a mobile PC or a desktop PC (not shown) having a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving function can be used.
[0043]
The service area map distribution system of the present embodiment is typically provided by a communication station 109 that can communicate with each of the above terminals. The function of the communication station 109 may be provided by various telecommunications carriers, broadcasting stations, and the like, depending on the type and form of each receiving terminal.
[0044]
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication station 109 includes a control unit 110 and a database 113. The control unit 110 can perform communication with each terminal and control the database 113. It is assumed that the database 113 includes data and the like necessary for distributing the service area map according to the present embodiment. Note that such a function of the communication station 109 can be realized by a server computer having a database management system or the like.
[0045]
Hereinafter, the configuration of the receiving terminal that receives the service area map distribution according to the present embodiment will be described using the mobile phone terminal 104 as an example. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device built in a mobile phone terminal capable of receiving a service area map distributed in the system of the present embodiment.
[0046]
In the mobile phone terminal having such a configuration, a terrestrial digital broadcast signal received by the antenna 201 is restored to an audio signal and a video signal via the tuner 202, the OFDM demodulator 203, and the decoder 204, and the audio signal is reproduced. Is reproduced by the speaker 217 via the audio signal processing unit 215, and the video signal is input to the video signal processing unit 218 and displayed on the display 219.
The mobile phone communication signal received from the antenna 210 is reproduced by the microphone 216 and the speaker 217 through the w-CDMA processing unit 212 including the RF processing unit 211, the baseband processing unit 213, and the telephone voice processing unit 214.
[0047]
When the mobile phone terminal connects to the Internet through a mobile phone communication signal, communication information included in the mobile phone communication signal is transmitted from the baseband processing unit 213 to the decoder unit 204 and the video signal processing unit 218 to be displayed. Displayed at 219. Similarly, when receiving the distribution of the service area map of the present embodiment, it is assumed that data is received by communicating with the communication station 109 of FIG. 1 via the antenna 210.
The control unit 209 controls each component of the mobile phone terminal.
[0048]
The components other than those described above are the same as those of the conventional terrestrial digital broadcast receiver. Although not shown, the receiving terminal of the present embodiment preferably has a GPS (Global Positioning System) function.
[0049]
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an internal configuration of the OFDM demodulator 203 of the mobile phone terminal. 3, a broadcast signal converted to an IF signal by the tuner 202 of the mobile phone terminal shown in FIG. 2 is digitized and input to the quadrature demodulation unit 301.
[0050]
The broadcast signal input to the quadrature demodulation unit 301 is input to the detection unit 305 via the phase correction unit 302, the FFT unit 303, and the frame synchronization unit 304. The detection unit 305 detects a parameter related to a C / N (Carrier to Noise) ratio of the broadcast signal, and outputs the parameter to the C / N ratio output unit 313.
[0051]
A TS (Transport Stream) signal output from the detection unit 305 includes a frequency / time deinterleaving unit 306, a bit deinterleaving unit 307, a Viterbi decoding unit 308, a byte deinterleaving unit 309, an energy spreading unit 310, a TS reproducing unit 311, Through an RS (Reed-Solomon) decoding unit 312, a parameter related to a BER (Bit Error Rate, error rate) is transmitted to a control unit 209 of the mobile phone terminal shown in FIG. 2 through a BER output unit 314, and a TS signal is transmitted through a TS output unit 315. The signals are output to the decoder units 204, respectively.
[0052]
Here, the BER outputs a value when the RS decoding is turned off, and when this value satisfies the reference value, it is also possible to set so that the RS decoding is turned on and the TS is output. Also, when the received video and the receiving sensitivity are simultaneously displayed as described later, the C / N ratio and the BER after the RS (Reed-Solomon) decoding are detected, and the TS must always be transmitted to the decoder unit 204. Is also possible.
[0053]
Note that the components in the OFDM demodulator 203 shown in FIG. 3 are configured similarly to those included in the conventional OFDM demodulator, and a description of each component will be omitted.
A mechanism for distributing the service area map to the receiving terminal of the viewer in the service area map distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
[0054]
In FIG. 1, a viewer in a region A 101 covered by a radio tower 102 can receive broadcasts of a plurality of channels. The viewer can confirm a receivable program by switching the channel at the receiving terminal. Alternatively, if the program to be watched is known, only the channel can be selected and received.
[0055]
Here, when the broadcast reception sensitivity of the channel desired to be viewed is low, the viewer considers to move to a location with good reception sensitivity. At this time, the viewer can request the communication station 109 to transmit the service area map of the channel. Alternatively, even when the user simply wants to know the service area of each channel, he can request transmission of the service area map in the same manner.
To request the transmission of the service area map, the viewer transmits a service area map request 107 to the communication station 109 through a communication line using a communication function built in the receiving terminal.
[0056]
It is assumed that the service area map request 107 includes position information of a viewer (receiving terminal), reception sensitivity information, terminal information, and the like. The position information is, for example, the latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and the like of the receiving terminal. The reception sensitivity information is, for example, BER, C / N ratio, reception power, and the like in the currently selected channel. The terminal information is information such as the model of the receiving terminal.
[0057]
Here, the viewer's position information may be directly input by the viewer from a GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the display screen of the receiving terminal. More preferably, the position information of the viewer may be automatically acquired using a GPS function mounted on the receiving terminal.
[0058]
Note that the communication station 109 may acquire the reception sensitivity information in various forms. For example, when a viewer requests a service area map request, it is possible to oblige the receiving terminal to scan the reception sensitivity information of all receivable channels and to transmit to the communication station 109 as reception sensitivity information of each channel. Alternatively, the viewer may be required to transmit only the reception sensitivity information of the channel for which the service area request has been requested.
[0059]
Further, the communication station 109 does not acquire the reception sensitivity information from the reception terminal of the viewer who has requested the service area request, but acquires the reception sensitivity information from the reception sensitivity monitors arranged in various places in advance, or The reception sensitivity information may be constantly obtained from the reception terminal of a predetermined viewer, and the service area map may be distributed based on the reception sensitivity information. In this case, the distribution service of the service area map may be charged, and the viewer may be required to perform user registration with the communication station in advance.
[0060]
The control unit 110 of the communication station 109 that has received the service area map request 107 from the viewer's receiving terminal via the communication line performs data update / search 111 on the database 113. Here, updating data means recording data such as position information, reception sensitivity information, and terminal information transmitted from the receiving terminal in the database 113. In addition, the data search refers to searching the database 113 for information on reception sensitivity and the like near the current location of the receiving terminal (for example, in the area A 101) based on the current position information of the receiving terminal that has requested the service area map. It is to be.
[0061]
The database 113 is a database configured from position information, reception sensitivity information, terminal information, and the like of each receiving terminal included in the service area map request 107 transmitted from many other receiving terminals in the same manner as described above.
The control unit 110 creates a service area map of the receiving terminal based on the search result 112 searched from the database 113, and returns 108 to the receiving terminal.
[0062]
Subsequently, a display form of the service area map distributed from the communication station in this manner will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example on a mobile phone terminal of a service area map distributed in the system of the present embodiment.
[0063]
In the type 1 of the service area map display form shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the service area 403 and the non-service area 402 are differentiated and displayed on a peripheral map where the current location 401 of the receiving terminal is arranged at substantially the center. are doing. In addition, a channel icon 404 is displayed at the bottom of the display screen, and when a viewer selects a desired channel, a service area map of the channel can be displayed.
[0064]
In type 2 of the service area map display form shown in FIGS. 4C to 4F, the reception status 405 of each of the surrounding receiving terminals is displayed on a surrounding map where the current location 401 of the receiving terminal is arranged substantially at the center. . Further, a channel icon 404 similar to the above is displayed at the lower part of the display screen.
[0065]
For example, in the service area map of FIG. 4A, it can be seen that the viewer cannot receive the broadcast at the current position, but can receive the broadcast a short distance from the current position. It is known that such a reception situation occurs when the viewer is in a city with many buildings such as buildings.
[0066]
Next, when the viewer selects channel 4 with the channel icon 404 on the screen of FIG. 4A, the service area map shown in FIG. 4B is displayed. According to this service area map, the viewer cannot receive the broadcast at the current position, but can receive the broadcast by moving in the lower right direction on the map.
[0067]
As described above, according to the type 1 service area map, when the viewer is currently out of the service area, it is possible to easily know in which direction and how much to move to receive the broadcast. .
[0068]
In the service area maps shown in FIGS. 4 (c) to 4 (f), for each receiving terminal near the viewer, the receiving sensitivity is set to ◎: good reception, ○: receivable, ×: unreceivable. Displayed in stages. Further, the values of these reception sensitivities can be displayed in a contour line.
[0069]
According to these service area maps, the viewer can know whether he is in a place where he can receive the channel he wants to watch, and where he should move to if he cannot.
[0070]
The service area map distributed in the system of the present embodiment corresponds to a special environment of each viewer. For example, the service area maps shown in FIGS. 4 (e) and 4 (f) are for a viewer moving by car or train, and include the other receptions that are also moving at high speed. Only the terminal is displayed. On the other hand, the service area maps shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D show only the receiving terminals that are almost in a stationary state.
[0071]
By the way, in high-speed mobile reception, strictly speaking, the traveling direction and the speed also pose a problem, and there is also a problem in the case of moving across a service area. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a direction in which a viewer 503 in a car traveling on a highway travels toward a radio tower A 501 is defined as a path 1 504, and a direction 2 505 toward a radio tower B 502 is defined as a course. In such a case, even if the service area map is acquired at the same reception position, the contents are likely to be different. In direction 1, the broadcast from the radio tower B 502 can be received without any problem, but the broadcast from the radio tower A 501 can hardly be received. In the direction 2, the opposite may occur. Therefore, as a system for distributing a more accurate service area map, not only the position of the receiving terminal but also information on altitude, moving speed, and moving direction is included in the service area map request as an environment variable of the receiving terminal, and this is used as a service. It is preferable to refer to it when creating an area map.
[0072]
As described above, even in the same region, the receiving environment varies widely, and the service area map becomes complicated. Also, the macro reception environment such as the weather of the day, the micro environment such as the altitude and moving speed of the receiving position of the viewer, and the type of the receiving terminal also affect the receiving sensitivity. May vary from case to case.
By applying the service area map distribution system of the present embodiment to such a problem, it is possible to distribute a service area map adapted to each viewer.
[0073]
A second embodiment of the service information distribution system according to the present invention will be described. The present embodiment is a system that distributes an EPG (EPG is simply information on whether or not each channel can be received) to a receiving terminal having a built-in terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device.
[0074]
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the EPG distribution system of the present embodiment.
6, consider viewers 605 to 608 (A to D, respectively) in an area covered by a radio tower A 601 and a radio tower B 602 for broadcasting terrestrial digital broadcasting services. It is assumed that a building area 603, a park 604, and the like exist in the reception area.
[0075]
Note that the EPG distribution system of the present embodiment has the same configuration as the service area map distribution system of the first embodiment, and the EPG of the present embodiment is distributed together with the distribution of the service area map of the first embodiment. It may be. In this embodiment, the receiving terminal of each viewer can communicate with a communication station similar to the communication station 109 shown in FIG. 1 and receive an EPG distribution corresponding to the receiving environment of each viewer. I have.
[0076]
In FIG. 6, the viewer A 605 is located near the radio tower A 601 and has a good view, the viewer B 606 is in the building area 603, the viewer C 607 is moving by car, and the viewer D 608 is And the radio tower A 601 and the radio tower B 602 are located in a park 604 which is relatively far away from the radio tower A 601 and the radio tower B 602. Also, it is assumed that viewers A, B, and D use mobile phone terminals capable of receiving terrestrial digital broadcasting, and that viewer C uses an in-vehicle terminal.
[0077]
Now, it is assumed that channels 1, 2, 4, 7, 9 and 11 are being broadcast from radio tower A 601 and channels 3 and 10 are being broadcast from radio tower B. Note that channel 11 is a three-segment broadcast, and all others are one-segment broadcasts assuming reception at a mobile terminal.
[0078]
EPGs 609 to 612 displayed on the receiving terminals of the viewers A to D are shown in the figure.
The viewer A can receive all of the one-segment broadcasts broadcast from the tower A, and the viewer A's EPG 609 can receive all five channels (1, 2, 4, 7, and 9). It is displayed that there is.
[0079]
Since the viewer B is in a building area, it is possible to receive only a broadcast of a channel having a small amount of information but strong error resilience. EPG 610 of the receiving terminal of viewer B indicates that two channels can be received. Such a robust broadcast service should be broadcast content that is more convenient or necessary for viewers in a city with many shields such as buildings and poor reception environments, or simply broadcast content with a small amount of information. Is assumed.
[0080]
Audience D is in a suburban park and can receive broadcast waves from both radio tower A 601 and radio tower B 602, but broadcast from radio tower A 601 with poor visibility has some channels. Only reception is possible. The EPG 612 of the viewer D indicates that two channels from the radio tower A 601 and two channels from the radio tower B 602 can be received.
[0081]
It is generally known that the broadcast reception in a park is affected by the weather. This is because when the leaves of trees become wet with rain, the effect of radio wave interference occurs. Also, the reception state changes depending on the humidity and wind speed, and the EPG adapted to this changes.
[0082]
The viewer C is receiving the broadcast in the moving vehicle and can receive some channels broadcast from the radio tower A. The EPG 611 of the viewer C indicates that one 3-segment broadcast channel (or 12-segment broadcast) channel can be received in addition to the three 1-segment broadcast channels. In this three-segment broadcast channel, traffic information for drivers is broadcast, and this channel is displayed only for the EPG particularly distributed to the in-vehicle terminal. As described above, since the EPG differs depending on the model and performance of the receiving terminal, in the system of the present embodiment, it is preferable to transmit not only the position information of the receiving terminal but also the receiving terminal information such as the model to the communication station.
[0083]
As described above, even in the case where viewers are in the same area, their reception environments vary widely, so it is impossible to uniformly define the EPG for many viewers. Also, the macro reception environment such as the weather of the day, the viewer's altitude and moving speed, and the micro environment such as the type of receiving terminal also affect the reception sensitivity, so the channels that can be received at the same place differ depending on the case. There are cases. By applying the EPG distribution system of the present embodiment to such a problem, it becomes possible to distribute an EPG adapted to each viewer.
[0084]
Note that the display form of the EPG on the display screen of the receiving terminal is not limited to the above, and various other forms are conceivable. In general, a display form similar to a television column of newspaper is convenient. is there. However, when the display size is limited to a small size such as a mobile phone terminal, it is preferable that the channel name and the contents of the broadcast program be briefly described as in EPG 609 to 612 shown in FIG. On such a display screen, a viewer can receive a broadcast by selecting a channel name, and an application example in which a detailed program introduction can be browsed through the Internet when a broadcast program is selected. Conceivable.
[0085]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a form in which broadcast content received by a mobile phone terminal is displayed. In FIG. 7, the display screen is divided into upper and lower parts, and a received image 701 is displayed on the upper side and a channel icon 702 is displayed on the lower side. On such a display screen, the viewer can change the channel to be displayed by operating the channel icon 702.
[0086]
The embodiments of the service information distribution system of the present invention have been described above. However, the system of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is possible to join.
[0087]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the service information distribution system of the present invention, it is possible to collect a lot of sample data on the positions, reception sensitivities, and terminal models of various receiving terminals that are receiving terrestrial digital broadcasts. Thus, it is possible to easily create and distribute a detailed service area map or EPG according to the actual reception status of each receiving terminal.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of a service area map distribution system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a digital terrestrial broadcast receiver incorporated in the mobile phone terminal shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an internal configuration of an OFDM demodulator of the mobile phone terminal shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which a service area map distributed by the system of the present invention is displayed on the mobile phone terminal shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a broadcast reception environment of a viewer moving at high speed.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of an EPG distribution system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram showing a mode of displaying broadcast content received by a mobile phone terminal by the EPG distribution system shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing one mode of a terrestrial digital broadcasting service.
FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating one mode of a terrestrial digital broadcasting service.
[Explanation of symbols]
102 Radio Tower
103 In-vehicle terminal
104 mobile phone terminal
105 Stationary Digital TV Receiver
106 PDAs
107 Service Area Map Request
109 communication station
110 control unit
113 Database
201 antenna
202 Tuner
203 OFDM demodulator
204 decoder section
205 Secondary storage medium
206 Main memory
207 memory
208 timer
209 Control unit
210 antenna
211 RF processing unit
212 w-CDMA processing unit
213 Baseband processing unit
214 telephone voice processing unit
215 Audio signal processing unit
216 microphone
217 Speaker
218 Video signal processing unit
219 Display
301 Quadrature demodulator
302 Phase correction unit
303 FFT section
304 frame synchronization unit
305 detector
306 Frequency / time deinterleave section
307 bit deinterleave section
308 Viterbi decoding unit
309 byte deinterleave part
310 Energy diffusion unit
311 Reproduction unit
312 Decoding unit
313 C / N ratio output unit
314 BER output section
315 TS output unit
501 Radio Tower A
502 Radio Tower B
503 Viewers in the car
601 Radio tower A
602 Radio Tower B
603 Building Area
604 Park
605,606,607,608 Audience
609,610,611,612 EPG delivered to each viewer
701 Received video
702 Channel icon

Claims (15)

A service information distribution system related to digital broadcasting, comprising: means for acquiring digital broadcast receiving environment information from a receiving terminal of a viewer; Service information distribution system including A service information distribution system related to digital broadcasting,
A communication station having service information;
A receiving terminal capable of communicating with the communication station,
A service information distribution system, wherein the communication station acquires reception environment information from a reception terminal of the viewer and distributes service information to the reception terminal based on the acquired reception environment information. A service information distribution system including a digital broadcasting station, a communication station, and a plurality of digital broadcast receiving terminals,
The digital broadcasting station transmits a digital broadcast,
The receiving terminal transmits information related to the position of the receiving terminal and the reception sensitivity of the digital broadcast to the communication station,
The communication station creates service information corresponding to each of the reception terminals based on the information acquired from each of the reception terminals, and transmits the service information to each of the reception terminals. Service information distribution system. The service information according to claim 1, wherein the reception environment information includes at least one of position information, reception sensitivity information, and terminal model information about the reception terminal. Delivery system. The service information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the receiving terminal has a GPS function, and the position information is provided by the GPS function. The service information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the position information includes information on at least one of a longitude, a latitude, an altitude, and a moving speed of the receiving terminal. The service information distribution according to claim 4, wherein the reception sensitivity information includes at least one of an error rate, reception power, and a C / N ratio when the receiving terminal receives a digital broadcast. system. The service information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the terminal model information includes information on a model of a receiving terminal. The service information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the service information includes a service area map indicating a reception status of a digital broadcast near a current location of the receiving terminal. The service information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the service information includes an EPG corresponding to a current reception status of the receiving terminal. The service information according to claim 1, wherein the receiving terminal includes at least one of a stationary digital broadcast receiver, a mobile phone terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal, and a mobile information communication terminal. Delivery system. The service information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the communication station includes a database that stores the reception environment information acquired from the reception terminal. The service information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the service information is distributed for each digital broadcast channel. 14. The service information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the digital broadcast is a terrestrial digital broadcast. A digital broadcast receiving terminal capable of communicating with a communication station,
Means for transmitting reception environment information to the communication station,
Means for requesting service information from the communication station;
Means for receiving service information from the communication station;
Means for displaying the received service information;
A digital broadcast receiving terminal comprising:

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