JP2007306388A - Program information transmitter and program information receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that there is possibility not to be able to transceive program information in a limited time since a program information transmission amount increases as receiving terminals connected to a communication network increase, when the program information is transmitted using the communication network. <P>SOLUTION: A program acquisition management DB 5 memorizes program acquisition information Iret which shows an acquisition state of program information Ipg in a program information receiver 10. A program information transmitting control unit 6 performs referring to the program acquisition information Iret, scheduling a transmitting data amount and transmitting order of the program information Ipg, based on broadcasting order of the program or the acquisition state of the program information Ipg in each program information receiver 10; and selects a program information receiver 10 which is to distribute the program information by the communication network. As the result, a program information transmitter 1 can effectively distribute the program information Ipg requested by many receivers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program information transmitter and a program information receiver, and more specifically, a program information transmitter that transmits program information via a communication network, and program information that receives program information from the program information transmitter. The present invention relates to a receiving device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic program guide called EPG (Electronic Program Guide) is known in order to provide television program information to a television receiver, a recording device, and the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as “reception device”). In EPG, program information is transmitted between video signals, audio signals, and data streams superimposed on a television broadcast wave (for example, a vertical blanking period). Viewers can view and view the received program information on the screen by operating the receiving device, etc., so it is easy to see what program is broadcast at what time and at what service. I can grasp it.

  However, since transmission of program information using broadcast waves is performed for each broadcast type at a predetermined time, the viewer may not be able to obtain necessary information immediately when necessary.

  Thus, for example, a method of transmitting program information to a receiving device via a communication network, such as iEPG (Internet Electronic Program Guide), has been proposed.

In order to cope with a sudden change or extension of a broadcast program, a system that acquires program information in real time from a broadcast station has been proposed in a program information management center that transmits program information (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-9047

  However, as the number of receiving devices connected to the communication network increases, the amount of program information to be transmitted increases. Therefore, in the conventional system that transmits program information via the communication network, the program is transmitted within the time limit. There is a possibility that the transmission of information cannot be completed. Also, the same problem may occur when all receiving devices connected to the communication network request the server to acquire program information all at once.

  Therefore, the present invention uses the two communication media of the communication network and the broadcast wave to schedule the transmission amount and transmission order of program information from the broadcast order of programs and the program acquisition status of the receiving device, and the requested program. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program information transmitting apparatus capable of efficiently transmitting information and a program information receiving apparatus for receiving program information from the program information transmitting apparatus.

  1st invention is a program information transmitter which transmits the program information containing the information about a broadcast program to the several terminal device connected via a communication network. Each of program information acquisition means for acquiring program information, program information storage means for storing program information acquired by the program information acquisition means, communication control means for communicating with a terminal device via a communication network, and each of the terminal devices And the program information acquisition management means for receiving the program acquisition information indicating the acquisition status of the program information in each of the terminal devices via the communication control unit, and the program acquisition information received by the program information acquisition management means in the terminal Program acquisition information storage means stored for each device, and a program for controlling the transmission data amount and transmission order of program information to be transmitted via the communication control unit based on the program acquisition information stored in the program acquisition information storage means Information transmission control means.

  In this case, the program information may include the creation date and time, and the program acquisition information storage unit may store the creation date and time of the program information for all the programs received by each terminal device.

  Further, the program information transmitting device receives from the communication control unit identification information that is transmitted from the terminal device and includes an identification code that uniquely identifies the terminal device on the communication network and a broadcast type that can be received by the terminal device. The information acquisition means further includes identification information acquisition means, the program acquisition information storage means further stores identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition means, and the program information transmission control means determines that the transmission data amount of the program information to be transmitted is a network. When the amount of transmittable data that can be transmitted within a predetermined time is exceeded, a terminal device that can acquire program information from broadcast waves is identified based on the broadcast type included in the identification information stored in the program acquisition information storage means However, only a part of the information included in the program information may be transmitted to the specified terminal device.

  Further, the program information transmission control means may preferentially transmit program information for a program having a broadcast start time earlier and a large number of terminal devices requesting reception based on the program acquisition information.

  A second invention is a program information receiving apparatus connected to a program information transmitting apparatus that transmits program information including information about a broadcast program via a communication network. The program information receiving apparatus includes: a communication control unit that communicates with the program information transmission apparatus via a communication network; an identification information management unit that holds identification information that can be uniquely identified on the communication network; and a program information transmission apparatus. Program information storage means for receiving the program information to be transmitted from the communication control means and storing the received program information, and program acquisition information indicating the acquisition status of the program information based on the program information stored in the program information storage means And a program acquisition management unit configured to transmit the generated program acquisition information to the program information transmission device via the communication control unit.

  In this case, the identification information management means may hold identification information including an identification code unique on the network and a receivable broadcast type.

  The program information receiving apparatus includes an antenna unit that receives a broadcast wave, a program information separation unit that separates program information from the broadcast wave received by the antenna unit, and a display control unit that controls display on a display screen. Further, the program information storage unit determines whether or not the predetermined information is included in the program information received from the communication control unit, and when the predetermined information is not included in the program information, The display means may be instructed to display a screen indicating that the program information is received from the broadcast wave, and the program information separated by the program information separation unit may be accumulated.

  According to the program information transmitting device and the program information receiving device according to the present invention, the program information can be determined from the broadcast order of the programs and the program acquisition status of the program information receiving device in consideration of the two systems of the program information distribution route of the communication network and the broadcast wave. Since it is possible to schedule the amount and order of transmission of information, it is possible to efficiently transmit and receive program information requested by more receiving terminals.

(Embodiment 1)
1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a program information transmitting apparatus and a program information receiving apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a reception held by the program information receiving apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of apparatus identification information.

  First, the basic concept of the program information transmitting apparatus 1 and the program information receiving apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be briefly described. As a method of distributing program information Ipg including information about a program to a receiving terminal, there are a method of distributing from broadcast station 2 superimposed on broadcast wave Wb, and a method of distributing by data communication through a communication network such as the Internet. . The method by which the receiving terminal obtains program information differs depending on the function of the receiving terminal. That is, a receiving terminal having a function of receiving a broadcast wave Wb can acquire program information by both the broadcast wave Wb and data communication, but a receiving terminal having no function of receiving the broadcast wave Wb It must be acquired by information data communication.

  Therefore, the program information transmitting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment assumes all forms of broadcast program receiving terminals (for example, stationary AV equipment, computers having a TV receiving function, mobile phones, in-vehicle equipment such as car navigation systems, etc.). Then, the function of transmitting the program information Ipg efficiently and without delay is realized by combining both the distribution of the program information Ipg by the broadcast wave Wb and the distribution of the program information Ipg by data communication.

  In the following description, all devices connected to a communication network and receiving program information are collectively referred to as “receiving terminals”.

  Referring to FIG. 1, program information transmitting apparatus 1 is connected to one or more program information receiving apparatuses 10 via a communication network. For example, the program information transmitting apparatus 1 is configured as a server connected to the Internet or the like, and the program information receiving apparatus 10 is configured as at least a part of a television receiver, a recording device, or the like. In FIG. 1, only one program information transmitting apparatus 1 and one program information receiving apparatus 10 are shown for convenience of illustration, but a single program information transmitting apparatus 1 receives a plurality of program information. Device 10 may be connected.

  The program information transmission device 1 includes a program information acquisition unit 3, a program information database (hereinafter referred to as “program information DB”) 4, a communication control unit 9, a reception device identification information acquisition unit 8, and a program acquisition management database ( (Hereinafter referred to as “program acquisition management DB”) 5, a program acquisition management unit 7, and a program information transmission control unit 6.

  The program information acquisition unit 3 acquires program information Ipg including information about a broadcast program from a plurality of broadcast stations 2. The program information Ipg includes information such as a program name, program content, broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast time, channel, and program information creation date. The program information acquisition unit 3 may acquire the program information Ipg provided from the broadcast station 2 by wired communication or wireless communication, or may acquire it via a recording medium. The program information acquisition unit 3 stores the acquired program information Ipg in the program information DB 4.

  The communication control unit 9 controls communication with each of a plurality of program information receiving apparatuses 10 connected via a communication network.

  The receiving device identification information acquisition unit 8 receives the identification information Iid transmitted from each of the plurality of program information receiving devices 10 from the communication control unit 9, and stores the received identification information Iid in the program acquisition management DB 5. The contents of the identification information Iid transmitted by the program information receiving apparatus 10 will be described later.

  The program acquisition management unit 7 receives the program acquisition information Iret transmitted from each of the plurality of program information receiving devices 10 from the communication control unit 9, and for each serial number included in the received program acquisition information Iret, the program acquisition information Iret Are stored in the program acquisition management DB 5. Further, the program acquisition management unit 7 reads the identification information Iid and the program acquisition information Iret from the program acquisition management DB, and outputs the read information to the program information transmission control unit 6. The program acquisition information Iret will be described later.

  The program information transmission control unit 6 controls transmission of the program information Ipg to the communication network based on the identification information Iid and the program acquisition information Iret output from the program acquisition management unit 7. More specifically, first, the program information transmission control unit 6 determines the transmission order and transmission data amount of the program information Ipg based on the program acquisition information Iret of each program information receiving device 10. Next, the program information transmission control unit 6 performs transmission so that the program information can be efficiently transmitted to the program information receiving apparatus 10 within the range of the transmission performance of the communication network based on the determined transmission order and transmission data amount. The program information Ipg to be determined is determined. Then, the program information transmission control unit 6 creates distribution information Idtb including the program information Ipg to be transmitted among the program information Ipg stored in the program information DB 4, and sends the created distribution information Idtb to the communication network. .

  When the program information transmission control unit 6 determines that the program information Ipg to be transmitted can be transmitted within a predetermined time, the distribution information Idtb is connected to the communication network at a certain time. All of the program information Ipg requested from the receiving terminal is included. On the other hand, when the program information transmission control unit 6 determines that the program information to be transmitted cannot be transmitted within a predetermined time, the distribution information Idtb is received from the receiving terminal connected to the communication network at a certain time. A part of the requested program information Ipg is included. Further details of the control processing by the program information transmission control unit 6 will be described later.

  On the other hand, the program information receiving device 10 includes a communication control unit 11, a receiving device identification information management unit 12, a program information storage unit 13, and a program acquisition management unit 14.

  The communication control unit 11 controls communication with the program information transmission device 1 via a communication network.

  The receiving device identification information management unit 12 manages the identification information Iid of the program information receiving device 10. Specifically, the receiving device identification information management unit 12 combines the serial number that can uniquely identify the program information receiving device 10 on the network and the broadcast type that can be received by the program information receiving device 10 into FIG. The identification information Iid as shown is created. The serial number only needs to be a value that can uniquely identify the program information receiving apparatus 10 on the communication network. For example, the serial number may be an address on the network or a value given in advance when the program information receiving apparatus 10 is manufactured, It may be a value provided by an IC card or the like attached to the program information receiving apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the broadcast type means the type of terrestrial analog broadcast or digital terrestrial broadcast tower, and the receivable broadcast type is, for example, the input of the broadcast wave of each broadcast type. It can be obtained by detecting the signal level or the like.

  The program information storage unit 13 receives the distribution information Idtb transmitted from the program information transmission device 1 from the communication control unit 11, and stores the received distribution information Idtb in a storage device (not shown) such as a memory. In addition, the program information storage unit 13 outputs the stored distribution information Idtb to the program acquisition management unit 14.

  The program acquisition management unit 14 creates or updates the program acquisition information Iret based on the distribution information Idtb output from the program information storage unit 13, and transmits the program acquisition information Iret via the communication control unit 9. Send to. The program acquisition information Iret includes information for specifying unacquired program information among the program information requested to be distributed by the program information receiving apparatus 10 and information for identifying the program information receiving apparatus 10 on the network (for example, a serial number, , Address, etc.).

  Further, the program information receiving apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes an antenna 15 for receiving a broadcast wave Wb, a tuner 16, a program information separating unit 17 for separating the program information Ipg superimposed on the broadcast wave Wb, A display control unit 18 that generates screen data based on the program information output from the program information storage unit 13 and the program information separation unit 17 and controls the display of the screen data on the monitor 19 is provided.

  That is, the program information receiving apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 has a function of receiving a broadcast wave Wb, for example, like a television receiver or a video recorder. It is also possible to obtain from. However, in the case of configuring a receiving apparatus based on the assumption that a program is received only from a communication network, the antenna 15, the tuner 16, and the program information separating unit 17 in the configuration illustrated in FIG. Absent.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of program acquisition information stored in the program acquisition management database shown in FIG.

  As described above, in the program information receiving apparatus 10, the program acquisition management unit 14 creates or updates the program acquisition information Iret based on the distribution information Idtb received and stored by the program information storage unit 13, and the generated program acquisition information Iret is transmitted to the program information transmitting apparatus 1 via the communication control unit 11.

  In the program information transmitting apparatus 1, the program acquisition management unit 7 receives the program acquisition information Iret transmitted from all the program information receiving apparatuses 10, and stores it in the program acquisition management DB 5 based on the received program acquisition information Iret. The program acquisition information Iret is updated. As shown in FIG. 3, the program acquisition information Iret is information for identifying unreceived program information (for example, broadcast station ID, broadcast type, program date, program number, serial number of the program information receiving apparatus 10). A program (event) ID, a program information creation date and the like are associated with each other. The program information creation date and time is a value included in the program information Ipg provided from the broadcast station 2.

  The program information transmission control unit 6 determines program information to be transmitted to the program information receiving device 10 based on the program acquisition information Iret stored in the program acquisition management DB 5 and the receiving device identification information Iid. The control process executed by the program information transmission control unit will be described below.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the program information transmission control unit shown in FIG. 1 in association with the processing executed by the program information receiving device, and FIG. 5 shows the reception of program information shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which an apparatus displays on a monitor.

  Referring to FIG. 4, program information transmission control unit 6 acquires program acquisition information Iret stored in program acquisition management DB 5 from program acquisition management unit 7 (step S1). Thereby, the program information transmission control part 6 can acquire all the program information requested to be distributed.

  Next, the program information transmission control unit 6 sorts the program acquisition information Iret in the order of program broadcast times (step S2). Further, the program information transmission control unit 6 sorts the program acquisition information Iret in the order of the number of requests that the program information receiving device 10 requests for distribution (step S3). By the processing in steps S2 and S3, the program information transmission control unit 6 has the closest broadcast start time (however, the broadcast that has ended is excluded from the target) and the number of receiving terminals that request acquisition is the highest. Many programs can be identified.

  Next, the program information transmission control unit 6 calculates the total information amount of the program information for the program specified by the processes in steps S2 and S3 (step S4). The program information transmission control unit 6 determines whether or not data having the total amount of information calculated within a preset time limit can be transmitted based on the transmission speed of the communication network (step S5).

  When the program information transmission control unit 6 determines that transmission is possible within the time limit (YES in step S5), the program information transmission control unit 6 transmits the program information via the communication control unit 9 (step S8). In this case, the distribution information Idtb including the requested program information Ipg is created for each receiving terminal regardless of whether or not the receiving device has a function of acquiring program information from broadcast waves. Each of Idtb is transmitted via the communication control unit 9.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, in the program information receiving apparatus 10, the program information storage unit 13 receives the distribution information Idtb via the communication network (step S9). The program acquisition management unit 14 updates the program acquisition information Iret based on the acquired distribution information Idtb (step S10), and sends the updated program acquisition information Iret to the program information transmission device 1 via the communication control unit 11. Send.

  On the other hand, when the program information transmission control unit 6 determines in step S5 that all transmission candidate program information cannot be transmitted within the time limit (NO in step S5), the program information transmission control unit 6 performs program acquisition management. The identification information Iid stored in the DB 5 is acquired from the program acquisition management unit 7 (step S6). When the broadcast type included in the identification information Iid for a certain receiving terminal includes the broadcast type of the transmission candidate program, the program information transmission control unit 6 uses the program information Ipg as information to be transmitted to the certain receiving terminal. Among them, the distribution information Idtb including only the broadcast station ID and the broadcast type is created, and the amount of transmission information is reduced (step S7).

  As shown in FIG. 4B, in the program information receiving apparatus 10, the program information storage unit 13 includes a broadcast station ID and a broadcast type only in the distribution information Idtb received from the communication control unit 11. The channel number is specified based on the broadcast station ID and the broadcast type. Then, in order to acquire the program information, the display control unit 18 is instructed to display a message prompting the viewer to select the specified channel.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the display control unit 18 includes a message prompting the user to select a specified channel and a button for selecting whether or not to select a channel according to an instruction from the program information storage unit 13. A screen is displayed on the monitor 19. When the user selects the channel selection (selects the “Yes” button shown in FIG. 5), the tuner 16 selects the specified channel. The program information separation unit 17 separates the program information from the signal output from the tuner 16, and outputs the program information Ipg obtained from the broadcast wave Wb to the program information storage unit 13 (step S11). After acquiring the program information Ipg, the tuner 16 re-selects the channel before selecting the specified channel. The program acquisition management unit 14 updates the program acquisition information Iret based on the program information Ipg stored in the program information storage unit 13 (step S12). Thereafter, the program information transmitting device 1 and the program information receiving device 10 repeat the same processing.

  As described above, the program information transmitting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment determines the transmission data amount and transmission order of the program information Ipg based on the broadcast order of programs and the program acquisition status of each program information receiving apparatus 10. Schedule. Therefore, according to the program information transmitting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently transmit the program information Ipg requested by more receiving terminals. Further, the program information receiving apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment transmits two types of program information acquisition paths (broadcast wave and communication network) by transmitting the identification information Iid and the program acquisition information Iret to the program information transmitting apparatus 1. It is possible to efficiently acquire program information Ipg when necessary.

  In the above embodiment, the program information transmission control unit determines the program information transmission order based on the broadcast start time of the program and the number of receiving terminals that request the program information. The transmission order of program information may be determined based on this information. For example, a priority may be further added to the program acquisition information, and the program information transmission control unit may determine the transmission order of the program information based on the priority. Alternatively, the order in which the program information receiving apparatus requests acquisition of the program information may be further added to the determination criteria for determining the order in which the program information is transmitted.

  In the above embodiment, the program information transmission control unit reduces the data amount of the distribution information based on the identification information transmitted from the receiving terminal. Only the scheduling of the distribution order may be executed. In this case, the program information transmitting apparatus can adjust the amount of data to be transmitted at a time based on a certain standard (for example, broadcast start time), so that traffic on the communication network can be reduced.

  Furthermore, the functional blocks (FIG. 1) of the program information transmitting apparatus and the program information receiving apparatus according to the above embodiments cause the computer to execute the above-described processing procedure stored in the storage device (ROM, RAM, hard disk, etc.). It can also be realized by causing a computer to execute a program that can be executed. This computer is a concept including a computer incorporated in an AV device such as a television receiver. In this case, the program may be executed after being stored in the storage device via the recording medium, or may be executed directly from the storage medium. Moreover, the functional block (FIG. 1) according to the above embodiment may be realized as an integrated circuit.

  The program information transmitting apparatus according to the present invention can be used in, for example, a system that distributes information about broadcast programs. Moreover, the program information receiving apparatus according to the present invention can be used for, for example, a television receiver, a recording device, an in-vehicle receiving apparatus, and the like.

1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a program information transmitting device and a program information receiving device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the receiver identification information which the program information receiver shown by FIG. 1 hold | maintains The figure which shows an example of the program acquisition information stored in the program acquisition management database shown by FIG. The flowchart which matches and shows the process which the program information transmission control part shown by FIG. 1 performs, and the process which a program information receiving apparatus performs The figure which shows an example of the screen which the program information receiver shown in FIG. 1 displays on a monitor

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Program information transmitter 2 Broadcast station 3 Program information acquisition part 4 Program information database (DB)
5 Program acquisition management database (DB)
6 Program information transmission control unit 7 Program acquisition management unit 8 Reception device identification information acquisition unit 9 Communication control unit 10 Program information reception device 11 Communication control unit 12 Reception device identification information management unit 13 Program information storage unit 14 Program acquisition management unit 15 Antenna 16 Tuner 17 Program Information Separation Unit 18 Display Control Unit 19 Monitor

Claims (7)

A program information transmitting device that transmits program information including information about a broadcast program to a plurality of terminal devices connected via a communication network,
Program information acquisition means for acquiring the program information;
Program information storage means for storing program information acquired by the program information acquisition means;
Communication control means for communicating with the terminal device via the communication network;
Program information acquisition management means for receiving program acquisition information transmitted from each of the terminal devices and indicating the acquisition status of the program information in each of the terminal devices, via the communication control unit;
Program acquisition information storage means for storing the program acquisition information received by the program information acquisition management means for each terminal device;
Program information comprising: program information transmission control means for controlling the transmission data amount and transmission order of program information to be transmitted via the communication control unit based on the program acquisition information stored in the program acquisition information storage means Transmitter device. The program information includes the creation date and time,
The program information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program acquisition information storage unit stores the creation date and time of the program information for all the programs received by each of the terminal apparatuses. Identification information acquisition received from the communication control unit identification information that is transmitted from the terminal device and includes an identification code that uniquely identifies the terminal device on the communication network and a broadcast type that can be received by the terminal device Further comprising means,
The program acquisition information storage means further stores the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition means,
The program information transmission control unit is an identification stored in the program acquisition information storage unit when the transmission data amount of the program information to be transmitted exceeds the transmittable data amount that can be transmitted within a predetermined time in the network. A terminal device capable of acquiring program information from broadcast waves is specified based on the broadcast type included in the information, and only a part of the information included in the program information is transmitted to the specified terminal device. The program information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The program information transmission control means preferentially transmits program information for a program whose broadcast start time is early and the number of terminal devices requesting reception is large based on the program acquisition information. The program information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1. A program information receiving apparatus connected to a program information transmitting apparatus for transmitting program information including information about a broadcast program via a communication network,
Communication control means for communicating with the program information transmitting device via the communication network;
Identification information management means for holding identification information uniquely identifiable on the communication network;
Program information storage means for receiving program information transmitted from the program information transmission apparatus from the communication control means and storing the received program information;
Based on the program information stored in the program information storage means, program acquisition information indicating the acquisition status of the program information is created, and the created program acquisition information is transmitted to the program information transmission device via the communication control means. A program information receiving apparatus comprising:   6. The program information receiving apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the identification information managing means holds identification information including an identification code unique on the network and a receivable broadcast type. Antenna means for receiving broadcast waves;
A program information separator for separating program information from broadcast waves received by the antenna means;
A display control unit for controlling display on the display screen;
The program information storage unit determines whether or not predetermined information is included in the program information received from the communication control unit, and when the predetermined information is not included in the program information, 6. The display unit according to claim 5, wherein the display unit is instructed to display a screen indicating that the program information is received from the broadcast wave, and the program information separated by the program information separation unit is accumulated. The program information receiving device described.

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