JP2007082022A - Program information distribution apparatus and mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program information distribution apparatus for distributing program introduction contents optimum to respective viewers to mobile terminals. <P>SOLUTION: The program information distribution apparatus includes: a means (13) for accessing a program rating database (4) for disclosing program ratings of broadcast programs to acquire program rating data; a means (11) for accessing a program information providing server (3) disclosed by broadcast stations to acquire program information; and a priority setting means (18) for placing a priority onto each broadcast program on the basis of the attribute of viewers and the program rating data, and distributes the program information of the broadcast program with higher priority to the mobile terminal (5) as program introduction contents. Since the program information distribution apparatus preferentially distributes the program information of the broadcast program with higher program rating by taking into account the attributes such as sexes and generations or the like of the viewers, the apparatus preferentially distributes only the program information optimum to the viewers, resulting in that defects of distributing unnecessary program introduction contents can be avoided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program information distribution apparatus and a mobile terminal apparatus that distribute program introduction content optimum for each viewer to each viewer's mobile terminal.

  Broadcast program information is fresh information that changes from moment to moment. Therefore, if broadcast program information is provided to many viewers, the convenience of viewers can be further enhanced. For this reason, a broadcasting station provides a web page providing server on the Internet and publishes a home page for a personal computer (PC). Therefore, the viewer can know the content of the broadcast program scheduled to be broadcast, the performer, the broadcast start time, and the like by accessing the homepage via the PC (see, for example, “Patent Document 1”).

  On the other hand, mobile terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) have been widely put into practical use as terminal devices for obtaining various types of information. Therefore, the convenience of many viewers can be further enhanced if the program information can be browsed by accessing the program homepage of each broadcast station via the mobile terminal. In particular, since mobile terminals are worn and used by individuals, if broadcast program information is provided via mobile terminals, the convenience of viewing TV programs for many viewers is further enhanced. It is done.

JP 2003-87769 A

It is also possible to browse a broadcast program home page by accessing a program guide providing server for a PC using a portable terminal. However, if program introduction information for a large number of broadcast programs is transferred to a mobile phone at a time, the transfer capacity becomes large and the cost for the transfer becomes expensive.
In addition, since the display screen of a mobile phone is much smaller than the display screen of a PC, it has been pointed out that the text is difficult to read and the key operation is complicated. In particular, for the elderly, visual acuity often decreases, and it is a major obstacle that the text displayed on the screen is difficult to read. In this case, these problems can be solved if the homepage for mobile terminals is opened independently of the homepage for PCs. However, the creation of a new homepage requires tremendous work and great costs, and generates a large economic burden.

An object of the present invention is to realize a program information distribution apparatus that distributes program introduction content optimum for each viewer to each viewer's mobile terminal.
Another object of the present invention is to realize a program information distribution device capable of distributing program introduction information in a friendly manner to viewers with reduced visual acuity such as elderly people and viewers who are not familiar with the operation of mobile terminals. There is to do.

A program information distribution apparatus according to the present invention is a program information distribution apparatus that is connected to a communication network and distributes program introduction content to a mobile terminal.
A means for accessing audience rating databases that disclose audience ratings of broadcast programs and obtaining audience rating data;
Means for accessing a program information providing server published by a broadcasting station to obtain program information;
Means for providing a priority for each broadcast program based on the viewer's attributes and the audience rating data;
Program information of a broadcast program with a high priority is distributed to a portable terminal as program introduction content.

  In the program information distribution apparatus according to the present invention, the viewer attribute is received and the audience rating database is accessed to obtain the audience rating of each broadcast program, and broadcasting is performed based on the audience rating of the broadcast program and the attributes of individual viewers. Priorities are set for each program, and program introduction contents of high-priority broadcast programs are preferentially distributed to mobile terminals, so that it is possible to distribute optimal program introduction contents to mobile terminals for each individual viewer. it can. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the problem of transmitting program introduction content unnecessary for the viewer to the viewer's mobile terminal. Prior to the distribution of the program introduction content, the content listing a plurality of broadcast programs with higher priority is transmitted to the mobile terminal of the viewer, and the program introduction content of the broadcast program selected by the viewer is distributed. It is also possible. Furthermore, in the present invention, program information of each broadcast program is acquired from the program information providing server of the broadcast station and edited into a script suitable for the screen display of the mobile terminal, so that program introduction content that is friendly to the viewer is provided. As well as opening a new homepage.

In a preferred embodiment of the program information distribution apparatus according to the present invention, the means for acquiring the program information acquires the home page of the program information providing server, and the program information distribution apparatus further includes a program of a specific broadcast program from the acquired home page. Means for extracting an information script; means for converting the extracted program information script into a screen display script adapted to the screen display of the mobile terminal; and extracting text information contained in the extracted script to generate a voice And a means for converting to a file, and delivering a broadcast program screen display script and an audio file determined based on the priority order to the portable terminal as program introduction contents.
In this example, in addition to the screen display including the characteristic images and text of the broadcast program, the program information is transmitted by voice, so the program information can be confirmed both visually and auditorily, and is more friendly to the elderly A program information distribution server can be constructed.

  In the present invention, the priority order is determined based on the audience rating of the broadcast program and the attribute of the user, and the program introduction content of the broadcast program having a higher priority is distributed to the mobile terminal. The problem of sending is solved. Furthermore, in the present invention, since program information is acquired from a program information providing server published by a broadcasting station, it is possible to distribute program introduction content optimum for the viewer without opening a new home page.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an information content distribution system using a program information distribution apparatus according to the present invention. A program information distribution apparatus (server) 2 according to the present invention is connected to a communication network 1 such as the Internet or Ethernet (registered trademark). Connected to the network 1 are an HTTP server 3 which is a web page providing server for providing program guide information to viewers by a broadcasting station, and an audience rating database 4 for publishing audience rating data relating to broadcast programs. Furthermore, a large number of mobile phones 5 a to 5 n are connected to the network 1. The program information distribution apparatus 2 accesses the HTTP server 3, acquires a program information homepage, creates program introduction content for mobile terminals from the acquired program homepage, and creates the created program introduction content via the communication network 1. Deliver to mobile phones 5a-5n. Furthermore, the program information distribution server 2 also accesses the audience rating database 4 to acquire audience rating data of each broadcast program, and determines the priority order of the program information to be distributed to each portable terminal using the audience rating data. In this example, the program information distribution / delivery device 2 is connected to the HTTP server 3 via the network. However, the program information distribution / delivery device 2 can be directly connected to the HTTP server, or can be integrally provided as a device incorporated in the HTTP server. Is possible.

  The program information distribution apparatus 2 can transmit program introduction content in a push type or a pull type to a standby application of a mobile phone. For example, a user of a mobile phone can be registered in advance in the program information providing device 2, and program introduction information can be transmitted from the program information distribution device 2 to the registered mobile phone on a regular basis. If program information is provided from the program information distribution device 2 on a regular basis, it is possible to construct a system that is friendly to elderly people who often view television programs. In addition, the viewer can access the program information providing apparatus 2 from the mobile phone 4 and make a transfer request for the program information, and the program information distribution apparatus 2 can transfer the program introduction content in response to the transfer request. . In this case, the mobile phone standby application can automatically make a periodic request. Note that the port number and IP address can be used as the user address when the TCP / IP protocol is used.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the program information distribution apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the program information distribution apparatus. The program information distribution apparatus 2 has a communication interface 10, receives access from a mobile phone via the communication interface 10, and distributes program introduction content to the mobile phone. The communication protocol of the communication interface 10 may be TCP / IP, and Ethernet (registered trademark) may be used as the data link layer and physical layer interface.

  The program information distribution device 2 includes a homepage acquisition unit 11. The homepage acquisition unit 11 accesses the HTTP server 3 via the communication interface 10 and the communication network 1 and acquires an HTML script describing a homepage of a broadcast program provided from the HTTP server 3. The acquisition timing may be acquired at regular intervals, for example, every hour, or may be acquired at regular time intervals, or may be when program information in the web page is updated.

  The acquired HTML script is supplied to the script extraction unit 12. The script extraction unit 12 is a means for extracting an HTML script describing program introduction contents of each broadcast program from an HTML script describing a program homepage. As an example of the extraction method, the word “program information start” and “program information end” are described in the comment text of HTML data in advance before and after the extracted script, for example. By extracting the sandwiched script, a program introduction script for each broadcast program can be extracted. The extracted script includes, for example, image information displaying a highlight scene of each broadcast program and text information describing a performer, a synopsis, and the like.

  Furthermore, the program information distribution apparatus 2 has an audience rating data acquisition unit 13 and accesses the audience rating database 4 to acquire the audience rating of the broadcast program. As a specific example of audience rating data, data in which an audience rating is associated with each broadcast program by gender, generation, and region is used. The acquired audience rating data is supplied to the lookup table generation unit 14, and the audience rating data acquired from the audience rating database 4 is classified and tabulated based on viewer attributes. A specific example of the lookup table is shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, age and gender are used as viewer attribute factors, and the audience rating is classified in association with age and gender. The numerical values in FIG. 4 represent the audience rating as a percentage. The generated lookup table is stored in the lookup table storage unit 15. The lookup table can be created by creating a lookup table for every day, every week, or every month, and classifying audience rating data of broadcast programs on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. it can.

  The lookup table additional data input unit 16 is means for inputting audience rating data of a broadcast program that could not be acquired from the audience rating database manually or automatically via a keyboard. Specifically, audience rating data can be obtained because scheduled programs are broadcast weekly or daily, but data on the audience rating database for special programs broadcast on a spot or unexpected broadcast programs such as disasters. Is not stored, it is automatically obtained from the program database in the broadcast station and entered into the lookup table. Although the audience rating does not exist for a special program or the like, an arbitrary numerical value is input for convenience. For example, an unexpected numerical value is input for an unexpected program so as to increase the priority according to the situation.

  Attribute data representing attributes such as the gender and age of the viewer is received by the attribute data receiving unit 17. The attribute data can be transmitted as additional information when the viewer accesses the distribution apparatus, or can be registered in advance in the mobile terminal and transmitted as additional information at the time of access. Note that, for a mobile phone registered in advance in the program information distribution apparatus, the attribute data of each viewer is held in the distribution apparatus.

  The viewer attribute data is supplied to the priority determination unit 18, and program information of a broadcast program to be distributed is determined based on the viewer attribute data. That is, the priority determination unit 18 has a determination criterion for determining the priority order of broadcast programs to be distributed from a plurality of broadcast programs, and determines a broadcast program to be distributed based on the determination criteria. In this example, it is defined that a broadcast program having the highest audience rating is distributed as a criterion. Therefore, for example, when there is a request for transferring program introduction information from a male viewer in their 20s, the priority determination unit 18 accesses the lookup table storage unit 15 and creates the information shown in FIG. Search the lookup table shown. Program B is searched as a search result.

  The search result by the priority determination unit 18 is sent to the content editing unit 19. The content editing unit accesses the script extraction unit 12 and acquires program information of the broadcast program specified as the search result. And it edits to the program introduction content for mobile phones. That is, since the display screen of the mobile phone is small, it has been pointed out that the text is difficult to read and the key operation is complicated. In particular, for the elderly, visual acuity often decreases, and it is a major obstacle that the text displayed on the screen is difficult to read. Therefore, in this example, the script of each broadcast program is edited so as to match the screen display of the mobile terminal. For example, as an example of editing, with respect to program information of a broadcast program preferred by an elderly person with low vision, the text information included in the program information can be edited into a larger character. By editing in this way, a more friendly program information distribution server can be constructed.

  The created program introduction content is transmitted to the communication network 1 by the content providing unit 20 via the communication interface 10 and distributed to the mobile terminal that has requested transfer and the pre-registered mobile terminal.

  Next, a portable terminal used in the information distribution system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the mobile phone 5, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone. Note that the mobile phone has the functions or means shown in FIG. 5 in addition to the functions of a normal mobile phone. The mobile phone 5 has a communication interface 21 and is connected to the communication network 1 via the communication interface. The communication protocol of the communication interface 21 can be TCP / IP, and PPP / IPCP (Primary Domain Controller) can be adopted as the data link layer and physical layer interface.

  The mobile phone 5 has an attribute input unit 22 for inputting viewer attributes. The audience rating attributes can be classified into, for example, age, sex, area of residence, occupation (agriculture, self-employed, housewives, etc.), school year (elementary school, junior high school, high school, etc.), hobbies and preferences. The input viewer attributes are stored in the attribute storage unit 23. The stored viewer attributes are transferred by the attribute transfer unit 24 together with the program information transfer request to the program information distribution apparatus. This transfer request is executed by operating the trigger unit 25. The trigger unit can be used as a trigger unit by pressing a key button attached to the mobile phone, and can be triggered at a preset time interval or a preset time.

  The program introduction content distributed from the program information distribution device 2 is received by the content acquisition unit 26. The received content is sent to the screen display processing unit 27 as a script. The screen display processing unit 27 processes information content for screen display based on the script and supplies it to the display screen 28. The screen display processing unit 27 may be a general web browser or may drive a dedicated browsing program.

  Next, a modification of the content editing unit of the program information distribution apparatus will be described. In this example, the content editing unit forms a script suitable for the screen display of the mobile terminal, and extracts text information included in the script to form an audio file. Then, the screen display script and the audio file are distributed to the mobile terminal as program introduction contents. In the portable terminal, program information is displayed on the screen from a screen display script, and an audio file is reproduced, and text information is output by voice through a speaker.

  Specifically, the content editing unit has a text extracting unit, and text information included in the script extracted by the script extracting unit 12 is extracted by the text extracting unit. The extracted text information includes channel names such as BS1 and BS2, program names, broadcast start and end times, program outline and highlights, and performer names. Then, the extracted text information is converted into an audio file in a general format (for example, wav format) that can be reproduced on the portable terminal by the audio file generation means. Then, a screen display script and an audio file are distributed from the program information distribution apparatus to the portable terminal as program introduction contents. In this case, since the program introduction is performed by voice presentation in addition to the screen display of the program information, it is possible to construct a program information distribution server that is more friendly to the viewer.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made. For example, it is possible to distribute program introduction content of a broadcast program selected by the viewer. That is, when a transfer request is received from the viewer's mobile terminal, the content listing a plurality of broadcast program names with higher priorities is transmitted prior to the distribution of the program introduction content. The viewer selects a program name to be viewed from the received broadcast program list display by key operation and sends it back to the program information distribution apparatus. The program information distribution device distributes the program introduction content of the broadcast program specified by the viewer to the mobile terminal. If comprised in this way, the program introduction content which considered the viewer's hope can be delivered.

Further, although HTML has been described as an example of a script format for describing content, it is not limited to HTML, but may be in XML format. Further, when the data broadcast content is the source content to be extracted, BML may be used. BML can be used in a terminal device having a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving function.
Furthermore, as a mobile terminal, it can be used for mobile terminals such as mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and car navigation systems.

It is a diagram which shows an example of the program information delivery system by this invention. It is a diagram which shows an example of a program information delivery apparatus. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of a program information delivery apparatus. It is a diagram which shows an example of a lookup table. It is a diagram showing an example of a mobile phone according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of a mobile telephone.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Communication network 2 Program information delivery apparatus 3 HTTP server (program information provision server)
4 viewer databases 5a to 5n mobile phone 10 communication interface 11 home page acquisition unit 12 script extraction unit 13 audience rating data acquisition unit 14 lookup table generation unit 15 lookup table storage unit 16 lookup table additional data input unit 17 attribute data reception Unit 18 priority determination unit 19 content editing unit 20 content providing unit 21 communication interface 22 attribute input unit 23 attribute storage unit 24 attribute transfer unit 25 trigger unit 26 content acquisition unit 27 screen display processing unit 28 display screen

Claims (6)

A program information distribution device that is connected to a communication network and distributes program introduction content to a mobile terminal,
A means for accessing audience rating databases that disclose audience ratings of broadcast programs and obtaining audience rating data;
Means for accessing a program information providing server published by a broadcasting station to obtain program information;
Priority order setting means for setting a priority order for each broadcast program based on viewer attributes and the audience rating data;
A program information distribution apparatus for distributing program information of a broadcast program having a high priority to a portable terminal as program introduction content.   2. The program information distribution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the priority setting means creates a look-up table in which a relationship between a broadcast program and an audience rating is classified for each item of viewer attributes, Means for determining priority based on height, and a program information distribution apparatus.   3. The program information distribution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the viewer attribute includes at least one factor of a viewer's sex, age, area of residence, occupation, and hobby. A program information distribution apparatus. 4. The program information distribution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for acquiring the program information acquires a home page of a program information providing server,
The program information distribution device further extracts a program information script of a specific broadcast program from the acquired homepage, and converts the extracted program information script into a screen display script adapted to the screen display of the mobile terminal. And means for extracting text information contained in the extracted script and converting it into an audio file,
A program information distribution apparatus for distributing a screen display script and an audio file of a broadcast program determined based on the priority order to a portable terminal as program introduction contents. A program information distribution device that is connected to a communication network and distributes program introduction content to a mobile terminal,
Means for accessing an audience rating database that discloses audience ratings related to broadcast programs and obtaining audience rating data;
Means for accessing a program information providing server published by a broadcasting station to obtain program information;
Means for providing a priority for each broadcast program based on viewer attributes and the audience rating data;
A means for creating a list of a plurality of broadcast program names with higher priorities,
A content that displays a list of the plurality of broadcast programs is transmitted to the viewer, identification information of the broadcast program selected by the viewer is received, and the program introduction content of the broadcast program selected by the viewer is transmitted to the mobile terminal. A program information distribution apparatus characterized by being distributed to A portable terminal device for browsing program introduction content distributed from the program information distribution device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Means for storing attributes of viewers who are users of the mobile terminal;
Means for accessing the program information distribution device and requesting transfer of program introduction content;
Means for receiving program introduction content distributed from the program information distribution device;
Means for displaying the received program introduction content on the screen,
A portable terminal device that, when accessing a program information distribution device, transmits the program introduction content transfer request together with the viewer's attribute information and receives the program introduction content optimum for the viewer's attribute.