JP2005094100A - Broadcast system and its accumulation type receiving terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a viewer to easily view only the desired information, irrespective of an order of providing information in a broadcast program. <P>SOLUTION: This broadcast system is configured so that a broadcast station 11 divides program content to be provided in an on-line shopping program for each item of merchandise and for each time when the program is produced, merchandise category codes each indicating the attribute of each item of merchandise are added to each of divided content, and the merchandise category information and category codes may be added to EPG information to be multiplexed on the broadcast signals of the program content for the on-line shopping. A receiving terminal device 13 is configured so as to display a list of merchandise category on a display screen on the basis of the EPG information upon receiving an instruction of searching programs, to specify a corresponding merchandise category code in accordance with a merchandise designation of a user, and to automatically tune the program content and to record the divided content matching the specified merchandise category code from among the received content. By configuring in this way, a user can always view only a part of desired merchandise category easily. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcasting system using satellite broadcasting or terrestrial broadcasting, and more particularly to a service for providing an introduction information program such as online shopping and a new music hit chart.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, broadcasting systems for satellite broadcasting or terrestrial broadcasting have provided online shopping programs that introduce various products in programs and accept orders from users by telephone, fax, e-mail, or the like. In addition, an information guide program that introduces new music, new movies, etc. with music clips, video clips, etc. and accepts requests from viewers or download requests is also provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-342594 A

  By the way, in the information providing program as described above, since information related to the order of information provision is not disclosed to the viewer, the viewer must continue to view uninteresting information until the desired information is broadcast. In addition, since such information is uniquely provided for each broadcasting station or channel, information desired by the viewer may be missed.

  Information on the program itself is provided by an electronic program guide or the like, but an outline of the information in the program is separately distributed on an Internet homepage or the like. However, there is insufficient information in the published contents, and it is not possible to coordinate with the recording reservation.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and a broadcasting system and its storage-type receiving terminal capable of easily viewing only desired information on the viewer side regardless of the order in which information is provided in the program. An object is to provide an apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the broadcasting system according to the present invention, when broadcasting a broadcast signal including contents of a plurality of programs from a broadcasting station to an unspecified number of receiving terminal devices, When generating the program content, the program content is divided by time according to the information content, and a classification code indicating the attribute of the information content is added to each divided content. A division in which a classification code corresponding to the designated classification is specified when a classification search / recording instruction is issued, program content including the classification code is automatically received, and the identified classification code is added. Only the contents are searched and recorded.

  In addition, the storage-type receiving terminal device of the broadcasting system according to the present invention, when generating the program content on the broadcasting station side, divides the program content by time according to information content, and divides the content into each divided content. When a classification code indicating an attribute of information content is added, a classification code corresponding to the designated classification is specified in response to a search recording instruction of an arbitrary classification, and program content including this classification code is automatically selected. Only the divided contents to which the specified classification code has been received and added are retrieved and recorded.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to provide a broadcasting system in which only desired information can be easily viewed on the viewer side regardless of the order in which information is provided in the broadcast program, and its storage type receiving terminal device. Can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a satellite broadcasting system. Here, an online shopping program (product introduction program) will be described as an example.

  In FIG. 1, a broadcast station 11 generates a broadcast signal by assigning and multiplexing packet data of program contents to a plurality of channels, modulates the broadcast signal, converts the frequency into an RF band, and sends it out. The broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcast station 11 is relayed by the broadcast satellite 12 and distributed to a predetermined area. The satellite broadcast receiving terminal device 13 is capable of receiving broadcast signals from the broadcast satellite 12, and includes a program management center (including a user management server 151) via a network 14 including a telephone / mobile phone public network and the Internet. It is possible to communicate with the (transmission / reception device) 15.

  In the broadcasting system configured as described above, on the broadcast side, a program code is added to each program content at the time of program production, and the program content provided by the online shopping program is divided into products by time and divided into each divided content. A product classification code indicating product attributes is added in advance. In addition to program information and program codes indicating the broadcast time of each program content, for online shopping programs, an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as “product program information” and class codes indicating product types (bags, clocks, etc.)) is added. EPG) Produce information. This EPG information is regularly distributed during broadcasting, or is always distributed on a specific channel.

  The receiving terminal device 13 receives a broadcast signal from the broadcast satellite 12 by the antenna 131, converts the frequency by the tuner 132, demodulates by the CDM demodulator 133, extracts the packet data, and extracts the program contents by the decoder unit 134. The video / audio / data and the program data are decoded and appropriately reproduced by a reproduction processing unit (not shown). Further, the receiving terminal device 13 selectively stores the program content obtained by the decoder unit 134 in a divided content unit, and when the program data is obtained by the decoder unit 134, the program data is received. A program data storage unit 136 for automatic storage is provided. Each of the processing units 132 to 136 is generally controlled by the control unit 137 in accordance with a user instruction input from the operation input unit 138.

  The receiving terminal device 13 further includes a communication modem 139 and an IC card interface (I / F) unit 1310. An IC card interface (I / F) unit 1310 is for reading an IC card 16 in which a terminal ID for identifying its own device is sent by mail from the program management center 15. The control unit 137 acquires the terminal ID from the IC card 16 through the IC card I / F unit 1310 and stores it in an internal memory (not shown). When an instruction to purchase a product in an online shopping program is input, product purchase information including a specified product code and terminal ID is generated and notified to the program management center 15 through the communication modem 139.

  In the above configuration, the terminal ID is recorded on the IC card and distributed to the user. However, the terminal ID may be sent online to the receiving terminal device 13 through the network 14.

  With the above configuration, a broadcasting system capable of online shopping is realized. In this system, the search recording and reproduction function of the receiving terminal device 13 which is a feature of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the search recording function by the control unit 137. When the user inputs an instruction for online shopping search recording from the viewing menu (step S11), the search recording control program is activated and the following processing is executed (step S12).

  First, EPG information is read from the program data storage unit 136 (step S13), and a list of product categories shown in the product category information in the EPG information is displayed together with a search menu on the display screen (step S14). When the user specifies a product according to the search menu (step S15), the corresponding product classification code is extracted from the product classification information, and the program code of the program content including the corresponding product classification code is extracted from the EPG information ( Step S16). Then, the corresponding channel is selected at the broadcast time of the program content specified by the extracted program code (step S17), and the match with the product classification code added to the program content obtained by the decoder 134 is monitored (step S17). S18). If a code match is detected (step S19), the divided content to which the code is added is recorded in the program content storage unit 135 (step S20). Thereafter, the processes of steps S16 to S20 are repeated until the end of search recording is instructed (step S21).

  In the above processing, the selection of the product classification is not limited to one, and a plurality of selections may be possible. In this case, if a folder is created for each product category and recorded separately, it can be played back for each product category during playback.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the search / playback function by the control unit 137. When the user inputs an instruction to reproduce the online shopping search record from the viewing menu (step S31), the control program for the search record reproduction is activated and the following processing is executed (step S32).

  First, the divided contents are sequentially read out from the program content storage unit 135 and reproduced (step S33). At this time, if an expiration date is added to the divided content, it is determined whether or not the expiration date is compared with the current time (step S34). If the expiration date is expired, “expired” is displayed during content reproduction. (Step S35). Thereafter, the processes in steps S33 to S35 are repeated until all the recorded contents are reproduced (step S36).

  In step S35, the expiration date exceeded is displayed, but the reproduction of the divided content may be skipped. Moreover, you may make it erase | eliminate the division content which passed the expiration date beforehand. Furthermore, the user may be allowed to select display of the expiration date and skip erasure. If each recorded content is recorded separately for each product category, the recorded product category is presented first, and only the divided content of the product category selected by the viewer is played back. Also good.

  With the above search and record and playback functions, an online shopping program that introduces a product category specified in advance by the user is automatically received, and the divided content corresponding to the specified product is automatically transmitted regardless of the channel. Search, record and play. As a result, the user can view only the introduction part of the desired product from a large number of online shopping programs at a time when he / she likes, and he / she does not have to view the introduction of the undesired product. Never miss an introduction. In addition, since there is no restriction on the broadcast time zone, the possibility of being watched even when the broadcast time is low, such as late at night, increases, leading to an increase in the product introduction effect, and also for the program provider side Meaningful.

  In the above embodiment, online shopping has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, by genre in news programs, by players in baseball programs, by performers in variety programs, new music and new movies It is also possible to search and record by the genre of the introduced program. The search process can be freely set by changing the classification code and classification information on the broadcast side, and it is not necessary to add a new function on the receiving terminal apparatus side.

  Furthermore, if the classification code specified at the time of search recording is automatically notified to the program management center as a viewing record, the center classifies the contract user information into address (region), gender, age (age), etc. It is possible to add up the audience rating and preference. This is extremely useful information especially in online shopping.

  In addition, the search recording and playback function of the present invention can be applied to various applications.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a broadcasting system according to the present invention. The flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the program search recording function in the receiving terminal device of the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the program search reproduction | regeneration function in the receiving terminal device of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Broadcasting station, 12 ... Broadcasting satellite, 13 ... Receiving terminal device, 131 ... Antenna, 132 ... Tuner, 133 ... CDM demodulation part, 134 ... Decoder, 135 ... Program content storage part, 136 ... Program data storage part, 137 ... Control unit, 138 ... Operation input unit, 139 ... Communication modem, 1310 ... IC card I / F unit, 14 ... Network (including telephone / mobile phone public network, Internet), 15 ... Program management center, 151 ... User management Server, 16 ... IC card.

Claims (12)

In a broadcasting system that broadcasts a broadcast signal including a plurality of program contents from a broadcasting station to an unspecified number of receiving terminal devices,
When the broadcast station generates the program content, the program content is divided by time according to information content, and a classification code indicating an attribute of information content is added to each divided content,
The receiving terminal device specifies a classification code corresponding to the designated classification when a search recording instruction of an arbitrary classification is given, automatically receives program content including the classification code, and is identified. A broadcasting system that searches and records only divided contents to which a classification code is added. The broadcasting station
In addition to the classification code, a program code is added to all program contents, and program information indicating the broadcast time of each program content, the program code, classification information according to the information content, and electronic program guide information including the classification code And means for multiplexing the broadcast signal independently of the program content,
The receiving terminal device
Receiving signal processing means for receiving the broadcast signal and extracting the program content and electronic program guide information;
Program content recording / reproducing means for selectively recording and reproducing the program content in units of the divided content;
Electronic program guide information storage means for automatically storing electronic program guide information extracted from the broadcast signal;
An instruction input means for receiving a search recording instruction of an arbitrary classification, and a reproduction instruction of the divided content searched and recorded;
In response to the search record instruction input, display the classification according to the information content shown in the classification information, select the search target classification, extract the classification code corresponding to the selected classification from the electronic program guide information, The program code of the program content including the extracted classification code is extracted from the electronic program guide information, the channel corresponding to the broadcast time of the program content corresponding to the extracted program code is selected, and reception is started. Search and recording means for searching for the divided content having the same code and recording it in the program content recording and reproducing means;
2. A search-recorded content playback unit that sequentially plays back the divided content recorded by the search / recording unit from the program content recording / playback unit in response to a playback instruction input of the searched / recorded content. The described broadcasting system. When there are a plurality of classification designations, the search recording means records the divided contents separately for each classification,
3. The broadcasting system according to claim 2, wherein the search record content reproduction means reproduces only the divided content of the designated category by the designation of the category. The broadcast station divides the online shopping program by introducing the program content by dividing the time, and adds a classification code indicating the attribute of the product to each divided content,
When there is an instruction to search and record an arbitrary product introduced in the online shopping program, the receiving terminal device identifies a classification code to which the designated product belongs, and program content of the online shopping program including the classification code 2. The broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein only the divided contents that are automatically received and to which the specified classification code is added are searched and recorded. Further, the broadcasting station adds expiration date information of product information to the divided content,
The receiving terminal device determines expiration from the expiration date information added to the searched and recorded divided content, and when it is determined that it has expired, displays the expiration during reproduction or skips reproduction of the expired divided content 5. The broadcasting system according to claim 4, further comprising an expiration processing means for executing one of the following processing: deleting or deleting the divided content at the time of expiration.   The expiration processing means includes a mode for displaying an expiration at the time of reproduction, a mode for skipping reproduction of an expired divided content, and a mode for deleting the divided content at the time of expiration as processing when it is determined that the expiration has occurred. 5. The broadcasting system according to claim 4, wherein the processing mode is switched by selection. In a receiving terminal device of a broadcasting system that receives a broadcast signal including a plurality of program contents broadcast from a broadcasting station,
When the program content is generated on the broadcast station side, the program content is divided into pieces of information by time, and a classification code indicating an attribute of information content is added to each divided content.
A classification code corresponding to the designated classification is identified in response to a search / record instruction for an arbitrary classification, program content including the classification code is automatically received, and the identified classification code is added. A storage-type receiving terminal device for a broadcasting system, wherein only the divided contents are searched and recorded. On the broadcast station side, a program code is added to all program contents separately from the classification code, program information indicating the broadcast time of each program content, the program code, classification information by information content, the classification code When producing electronic program guide information including and multiplexing to the broadcast signal independent of the program content,
Receiving signal processing means for receiving the broadcast signal and extracting the program content and electronic program guide information;
Program content recording / reproducing means for selectively recording and reproducing the program content in units of the divided content;
Electronic program guide information storage means for automatically storing electronic program guide information extracted from the broadcast signal;
An instruction input means for receiving a search recording instruction of an arbitrary classification, and a reproduction instruction of the divided content searched and recorded;
In response to the search record instruction input, display the classification according to the information contents shown in the classification information, select the search target classification, extract the classification code corresponding to the selected classification from the electronic program guide information, The program code of the program content including the extracted classification code is extracted from the electronic program guide information, the channel corresponding to the broadcast time of the program content corresponding to the extracted program code is selected, and reception is started. Search and recording means for searching for the divided content having the same code and recording it in the program content recording and reproducing means;
8. A search / record content reproduction unit for sequentially reproducing the divided contents recorded by the search / recording unit from the program content recording / reproduction unit in response to a reproduction instruction input of the search / recorded content. A storage-type receiving terminal device of the broadcast system described. When there are a plurality of classification designations, the search recording means records the divided contents separately for each classification,
9. The storage-type receiving terminal device for a broadcast system according to claim 8, wherein the search record content reproduction means reproduces only the divided content of the designated classification according to the designation of the classification. On the broadcast station side, the time is divided into products for introducing online shopping program content, and a classification code indicating product attributes is added to each divided content,
When there is an instruction to search and record an arbitrary product introduced in the online shopping program, the classification code to which the designated product belongs is specified, and the program content of the online shopping program including the classification code is automatically received. 8. The storage-type receiving terminal device for a broadcast system according to claim 7, wherein only the divided contents to which the specified classification code is added are searched and recorded.   Furthermore, when the expiration date information of the product information is added to the divided content on the broadcast station side, the expiration date is determined from the expiration date information added to the searched and recorded divided content, and the expiration date is determined. In such a case, it is provided with an expiration processing means for executing one of the following processes: displaying an expiration at the time of reproduction, skipping the reproduction of the expired divided content, or deleting the divided content at the time of expiration The storage-type receiving terminal device for a broadcasting system according to claim 10.   The expiration processing means includes a mode for displaying an expiration at the time of reproduction, a mode for skipping reproduction of an expired divided content, and a mode for deleting the divided content at the time of expiration as processing when it is determined that the expiration has occurred. 12. The storage type receiving terminal apparatus for a broadcast system according to claim 11, wherein the processing mode is switched by selection.

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