JP2010166335A - System for starting broadcast type application - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for starting and ending an application broadcasted by digital broadcasting at optional timing. <P>SOLUTION: A reception system for executing the application broadcasted by digital broadcasting includes a digital broadcasting decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcasting, and an application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application on the basis of the operation control information of the specific application whose decoding is finished, wherein the operation control means includes a time for starting the operation of the specific application or a time for ending the operation of the specific application. Further, the operation control information includes any of information for starting the specific application at a designated time, information for starting the specific application at the designated time every day, information for starting the specific application on a designated day of the week, information of an expiration time of the designated time and the designated day of the week, and information for forcibly ending the specific application by the designated time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for starting and terminating an application broadcast by digital broadcasting at an arbitrary timing.

  Conventionally, as a standard for controlling the operation of an application broadcasted by digital broadcasting (hereinafter referred to as a broadcast application), it is known to broadcast an AIT (Application Information Table) describing control information together with the application (Non-Patent Document). 1). According to this technology, by using a predetermined code stored for each application in the AIT, the broadcast station notifies the receiver of processing related to the life cycle of the application and dynamically changes the life cycle of the application. It is possible to control.

Japan Radio Industry Association, “Dynamic Control of ARIB-J Application”, “Application Execution Environment Standard for Digital Broadcasting (ARIB STD-B23 1.1 Version)”, Part 2, Chapter 10, 10.15 .3. , February 5, 2004

  However, the control information based on the AIT according to the prior art is for an application that is currently being broadcasted, and only starts or ends immediately when an application is received, and controls the future operation of the application. It is not a thing. In addition, since the application is deleted from the memory in the receiver when the broadcast ends, the application can be activated only while the application is being broadcast.

  That is, the application control using the AIT information according to the prior art is limited to the operation of the currently broadcast application. Therefore, flexible execution control at any timing, for example, executing an application at a specific time, servicing using a program or data scheduled to be broadcast in the future, or processing specific data at a fixed time every day I could not.

  As a method for solving such a problem, a method in which the broadcast station broadcasts the application and the AIT together again to the receiver at a specific timing in the future to start the application at a necessary timing can be considered. . However, if the timing at which an application is to be executed differs depending on the usage situation of each user, the broadcast side must always broadcast the application, and the bandwidth limitation of the communication means limits the provision of the application. . On the other hand, in order for the receiver side to receive the application, it is necessary to switch from the channel currently being viewed to the channel for broadcasting the application at the timing of application execution. This operation impairs the convenience of the viewer, and requires a mechanism for setting a viewing reservation for channel switching.

  As another solution according to the prior art, a method in which the application is kept activated for a future service even after the broadcast of the application is finished can be considered. However, this method can occupy the limited resources of the receiver and affect other operations. That is, it is desirable to operate the broadcast type application for a necessary time.

  An object of the present invention is to activate and terminate an application at an arbitrary timing after the end of the broadcast of the application.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving system for executing an application broadcast by digital broadcasting, the digital broadcast decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast, and the decoding is completed. Application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application based on the operation control information of the specific application. The operation control information includes a time for starting the specific application or a time for ending the specific application. A digital broadcast receiving system is provided.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention uses the application operation control means to start or end a specific application at the time when the specific application is started or when the specific application is ended.

  Here, ending a specific application means that the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention controls and ends the operation of the application. For example, in order to terminate the application, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention may issue a termination command to the application and can be designed as appropriate.

  Further, in the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention, the operation control information includes information for starting a specific application at a specified time, information for starting a specific application every day at a specified time, and specifying a specific application on a specified day of the week. It includes any one of information to be started, information on a specified time for a specific application and expiration date of a specified day of the week, and information for forcibly terminating the specific application by a specified time.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention further includes application storage means for storing a specific application, the specific application is broadcasted in one segmented time range of the digital broadcast, and the operation control information is Stores a specific application using the application storage means and launches the specific application at the time of starting the specific application if it contains information to start after the end time of the segmented time range To do.

  The above-mentioned segmented time range may be a predetermined period such as every hour or every 30 minutes, or may be the time from the start time to the end time of one program of digital broadcast, and one program of digital broadcast It may be a partial time range, or may be a part or all of the time during which a plurality of consecutive programs are broadcast. For example, a predetermined period may be set in one program of digital broadcasting, and the period may be associated with the start or end of a specific application as a segmented time. Also, for example, a segmented time spanning a plurality of digital broadcast programs may be defined and associated with the activation or termination of a specific application.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention terminates the specific application in response to the end of the operation of the specific application.

  The end of the operation of a specific application simply indicates the end of the application. On the other hand, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention terminates the application by issuing an end command to the application, releasing a storage area used by the application, or the storage area for an arbitrary application. May be included as appropriate. That is, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention can perform such an operation of terminating the application independently of the time information for ending the operation of the specific application included in the operation control information.

  Furthermore, in the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention, when a specific application does not end the operation at the time when the operation of the specific application ends, the application is forcibly ended.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention receives the broadcast operation control information at the time when the specific application is activated, and the received operation control information includes information that permits the activation of the specific application. In case, start a specific application.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention terminates the specific application in response to the termination of the specific application.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention forcibly terminates the specific application when the information for starting the specific application is not included in the operation control information during the period in which the specific application is operating.

  Forcibly terminating a specific application may use any technique for forcibly terminating an application known in the art.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention further includes digital broadcast storage means for storing the digital broadcast, and the time at which the specific application is started is greater than the end time of one segmented time range of the digital broadcast. In the later case, the digital broadcast is stored using the digital broadcast storage means, and the specific application and the operation control information are decoded from the stored digital broadcast at the time of starting the specific application.

  Furthermore, the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention terminates a specific application in accordance with information that terminates reproduction of the accumulated digital broadcast or reproduction of the accumulated digital broadcast included in the operation control information at a specified time. .

  Moreover, according to the 2nd aspect of this invention, the digital broadcast receiver provided with the digital broadcast receiving system in any one of the above-mentioned 1st aspects is provided.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for executing an application broadcast by digital broadcasting, wherein the digital broadcast decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast, Application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application based on the operation control information of the specific application that has ended, and the operation control information indicates a time at which the specific application is started or a time at which the specific application is to be ended. By including the above, a program characterized by causing a computer to function as a digital broadcast receiving system is provided.

  Furthermore, the program according to the present invention controls the operation of a specific application based on the digital broadcast decoding means for decoding the specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast, and the operation control information of the specific application for which decoding has been completed. The operation control information includes a time for starting a specific application or a time for ending a specific application, and information for starting a specific application at a specified time, specifying a specific application Information that starts every day at the specified time, Information that starts a specific application on a specified day of the week, Information about the specified time for a specific application and the expiration date of the specified day of the week, Information that forcibly terminates a specific application by the specified time , Either less By including one, making a computer function as a digital broadcast receiving system, characterized by.

  With this configuration, in the digital broadcast receiving system, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus, or the digital broadcast receiving computer program according to the present invention, the operation including the time for starting the operation of the specific application or the time for ending the operation of the specific application By using the control information, the application can be executed not only in the time zone in which the application is broadcast, but also at an arbitrary timing after the broadcast ends. Therefore, an application linked with a program that is normally broadcast only in the same time zone as the program can be executed after the program ends, so the service can be provided without depending on whether the program is being broadcast. It is possible to provide.

  In the digital broadcast receiving system, digital broadcast receiving apparatus, or digital broadcast receiving computer program according to the present invention, since the application (or TS including the application) is automatically stored on the receiver side, Even if the user changes the channel and watches other channels after the end, the application can be executed without switching the channel.

  In a digital broadcast receiver or the like according to the prior art, in order to control functions inherent to the receiver such as a reservation function and a storage function, there is only a method for the user to actually operate the receiver, and control is performed from the broadcast side. I could not. Also for the above application activation example, if there is no reservation function of the present invention, it is necessary for the user to manually accumulate the application and to execute the application manually. However, according to the present invention, the application can be started without the user being aware at the timing determined by the broadcast side. Therefore, various functions of the receiver can be controlled from the broadcast side through the broadcast application.

  Furthermore, in the digital broadcast receiving system, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus, or the digital broadcast receiving computer program according to the present invention, it is possible to distribute the processing load of the receiver in terms of time. Since the resources of the receiver are limited, if you want to perform advanced processing, for example, if you select an available time zone of the receiver instead of the specified time for the application for activation reservation, Can be executed without affecting the operation.

  According to the present invention, an AIT including operation control information for starting and ending an application at a predetermined time is prepared, and an application storage unit or a digital broadcast storage unit is used as appropriate, and an arbitrary application after the broadcast of the application is terminated. There is an effect that the application can be activated and terminated at the timing. Further, by using the AIT including the operation control information according to the present invention, the application is executed at a specific time, the service is performed using a program or data scheduled to be broadcast in the future, and the specific data processing is performed at a fixed time every day. It is possible to perform flexible application execution control at any timing, such as. Furthermore, in the present invention, a user who views a digital broadcast can view a broadcast including the application without being particularly aware of an operation procedure for receiving, starting, or ending the application.

It is a conceptual diagram showing operation | movement of the digital broadcast receiving system 100 based on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 100 which concerns on this invention. It is an example of a time chart in which the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention receives metadata and processes the metadata after the broadcast program ends. It is a conceptual diagram showing operation | movement of the digital broadcast receiving system 105 based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 105 which concerns on this invention. It is an example of the time chart which the digital broadcast receiving system 105 which concerns on this invention accumulate | stores TS containing a processing application, reproduces the accumulated TS after a broadcast program ends, and processes metadata. It is an example of the time chart which the digital broadcast receiving system 105 which concerns on this invention controls an application by the update of AIT, without putting stop reservation of TS reproduction | regeneration. It is a flowchart showing the application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 100 based on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the time chart which the digital broadcast receiving system 100 based on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention receives metadata, and processes metadata after the broadcast program is complete | finished.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. These are merely examples, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these.

[Execution control by AIT including extended commands]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A digital broadcast receiving system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a broadcast receiving unit 110, a decoding unit 120, an AIT acquisition unit 130, an application control unit 140, a reservation management unit 150, an application acquisition unit 160, an application storage unit 170, an application execution unit 180, A time acquisition unit 190 and a storage unit 195 are provided.

  The broadcast receiving unit 110 receives a digital broadcast, and the decoding unit 120 decodes a TS (Transport Stream) from the received digital broadcast. In particular, in the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention, the decoding unit 120 extracts an AIT and an application from the TS.

  The AIT acquisition unit 130 acquires an AIT included in the TS and reads reservation information for starting and ending the application.

  When the reservation information acquired by the AIT acquisition unit includes information for automatically starting an application, the application control unit 140 immediately starts the application. This automatic activation information can be represented by using a predetermined character string such as “_AUTOSTART” in the reservation information included in the AIT, for example. Further, when the activation reservation and / or the end reservation are described, the reservation is registered in the reservation management unit 150, and the application storage unit 170 is controlled to store the application. Controls application startup and termination at a specified time. When all the processing of the reserved application is completed, the corresponding reservation is deleted from the reservation list, and the application is controlled to be deleted from the application storage unit 170.

  The reservation management unit 150 holds an application start reservation and / or an end reservation. For example, the reservation management unit 150 may use the storage unit 195 to hold the start reservation and the end reservation as a list having a predetermined data structure. As the storage unit 195, a known storage medium such as an electrical storage unit or a magnetic storage unit can be used.

  The application acquisition unit 160 acquires a broadcast application included in the TS. Under the control of the application control unit 140, the application storage unit 170 stores and deletes applications for which start reservation and / or end reservation are specified using appropriate storage means. The application execution unit 180 executes and terminates the application under the control of the application control unit 140.

  The time acquisition unit 190 informs the application control unit of the current time so that the application control unit can control the application at a specified time.

  The digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention stores the application in which the start reservation and / or end reservation is designated in the application storage unit 170 by cooperating these components, while the broadcast is received from the broadcast. The reservation information included in the acquired AIT can be used by the application control unit 140 to cause the application execution unit 180 to execute and / or terminate the application at a predetermined time.

[Extended command]
Table 1 shows extended commands for the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention. These extended commands can be included in the AIT by extending the specification of the AIT according to the prior art. In the present specification, an AIT including an extended command according to the present invention is simply described as AIT.

  In one embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention appropriately accumulates broadcasted applications using storage means or the like, and starts the designated application and / or according to the AIT including the extended command described above. At the end time, the corresponding application is started and / or ended.

  In another embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention can describe the extended command described above in a predetermined format using a table other than the AIT. The predetermined format may be a script that includes a script language processing function or the like in the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention and describes each of the above-described extended commands.

[Application control]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention accumulates applications, and starts and / or starts the corresponding application according to the specified application start time and / or end time according to the AIT including the extended command. Or, it means to end.

  Specifically, the application control illustrated in FIG. 2 includes the following steps.

  In step S10, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 receives a broadcast. Typically, the broadcast is received as a TS (Transport Stream).

  In step S12, the received TS is decoded and an AIT is obtained.

  In step S14, it is determined whether the acquired AIT has an activation reservation. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S16, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S34.

  In step S16, the application decrypted from the received TS is stored.

  In step S18, the application decrypted from the received TS is registered in the reservation management unit 150.

  In step S20, the application decrypted from the received TS is activated at the reservation time included in the decrypted AIT.

  In step S22, it is determined whether there is an end reservation in the acquired AIT. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S24, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S26.

  In step S24, the application decrypted from the received TS is forcibly terminated at the end time included in the decrypted AIT.

  In step S26, the application decrypted from the received TS is terminated after the operation ends.

  In step S28, it is determined whether or not there is a next activation reservation in the acquired AIT. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S20, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S30.

In step S30, the application decrypted from the received TS is discarded.
In step S32, the application decrypted from the received TS is deleted from the reservation management unit 150.

  In step S34, the application decrypted from the received TS is discarded after the broadcast ends.

  Thus, in the application control of the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention, it is possible to start and end an application for which start reservation and / or end reservation is specified at a predetermined time. . In addition, the application that is started next in the execution environment such as a set-top box with limited resources by forcibly terminating the application after the end of broadcasting or when there is an end reservation, and discarding the terminated application It is possible to automatically secure resources for

[Example of application startup]
FIG. 3 shows an example of a time chart in which the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention receives metadata and processes the metadata after the broadcast program ends. The term “term AIT (revised)” shown in the figure indicates an AIT including an extended command that can be used by the receiving system according to the present invention.

  In the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention, an example of an application that requires activation reservation is a system that has already been devised by the inventors (for example, JP2007-305054 or JP2008-236373). . In these content reception systems or metadata generation apparatuses, metadata for referring to broadcast data can be used. In these, the metadata of each topic constituting the news program is generated on the receiver side.

  Generally, since the resource of a receiver is used to generate metadata for each topic, it is possible to reduce the calculation cost of the receiver by broadcasting after calculating on the broadcast side. However, in the case of a live broadcast such as a news program, since the metadata can be created only at the end of the program, the receiver may not be able to complete the metadata processing during the program.

  Therefore, in the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention, the metadata is received by the metadata receiving application just before the end of the program by the method shown in FIG. 3, and the metadata processing is performed at the designated time after the end of the program. Process metadata with the app.

  The horizontal axis in FIG. 3 represents the progress of time. In the exemplary embodiment, the metadata broadcast 220 is broadcast just before the end time of the news program broadcast 210. The receiving application 230, the processing application broadcast 280, and the processing application AIT broadcast 290 are continuously broadcast during the news program broadcast 210. The metadata reception 250 occurs during a period in which the metadata broadcast 220 is broadcast.

  The AIT 260 of the receiving application can be updated before and after the metadata broadcast. Specifically, in the period before the metadata broadcast 220 is broadcast, the AIT 260 for the reception application does not include information for automatically starting the application. In a period during which the metadata broadcast 220 is broadcast, the AIT broadcast 270 of the reception application can include information for starting the application.

  At the time of the time chart illustrated in FIG. 3, when the news program broadcast 210 ends at 19:30, the broadcast of the reception application 230 also ends, and thus the reception application 230 ends execution.

  In one embodiment, the AIT of the application for processing metadata included in the AIT broadcast 290 of the processing application does not automatically start the application but starts after a predetermined time elapses, such as 5 minutes after the program ends. Information 288 and information 288 that the application is forcibly terminated if the process has not been completed by 15 minutes after activation. The digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention only accumulates the application during the broadcast of the news program broadcast 210, and automatically starts the application 283 when the time reaches 19:35. The application automatically terminates at the application execution end 287 after performing processing such as metadata analysis / accumulation, but the process must be completed at 19:50, 15 minutes after the start. Can be forcibly terminated.

[Execution control using accumulated TS]
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. A description of portions common to FIG. 1 is omitted. The digital broadcast receiving system 105 shown in FIG. 4 includes an AIT acquisition unit 135, an application control unit 145, a TS acquisition unit 310, a TS storage unit 320, and a TS playback unit 330. Typically, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 is capable of accumulating the entire TS, then performing a reservation for playing the TS, and executing an application acquired from the played TS.

  In one embodiment, the AIT acquisition unit of the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention acquires the AIT included in the TS, and reads reservation information for reproduction start and / or stop of the TS. When the reservation information acquired by the AIT acquisition unit 135 is “AUTOSTART”, the application control unit 145 executes the application when the broadcast is received, and the reservation for starting and / or stopping the reproduction is described Registers the reservation in the reservation management unit 155 and stores the TS using the TS storage unit 320. The reservation management unit 155 may store the registered reservation using the storage unit 195. Furthermore, the information for reservation stored in the storage unit 195 may be accumulated as a reservation list using an arbitrary database format. The reservation list may be stored when the AIT is first acquired, or may be stored when the TS is reproduced.

  The application control unit 145 controls the reproduction start and / or stop of the TS at a designated time. For example, when the AIT includes “AUTOSTARTLAYING”, the application is automatically started when the accumulated TS is played back. However, when the AIT includes “NOPICTURE PLAYING”, the video and audio are not output to the user during reproduction, and the application is executed in the background. After all of the reserved TSs have been played, the corresponding reservation is deleted from the reservation list, which is information for reservation stored in the storage unit 195, and the corresponding TS is deleted by controlling the TS storage unit 320. .

  The reservation management unit 155 uses the storage unit 195 to store reservations for TS playback start and / or stop as a reservation list. As the storage unit 195, a known storage medium such as an electrical storage unit or a magnetic storage unit can be used.

Table 2 shows extended commands for the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention. These extended commands can be used by including them in the AIT by extending the specifications of the AIT according to the related art, similarly to the extended commands for the digital broadcast receiving system 100 described above.

  In one embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention accumulates TS broadcasted using storage means or the like as appropriate, and starts the designated application and / or according to the AIT including the extended command described above. At the end time, the corresponding application is started and / or ended.

  In another embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention can describe the above-described extended command in a predetermined format using a table other than the AIT. The predetermined format may be a script that includes a script language processing function or the like in the digital broadcast receiving system according to the present invention and describes each of the above-described extended commands.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention. In FIG. 5, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention accumulates TS, and according to the AIT including the extended command shown in Table 2, the application corresponding to the designated application start time and / or end time is shown. Represents starting and / or ending.

  Specifically, the application control illustrated in FIG. 5 includes the following steps.

  In step S40, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 receives the broadcast. Typically, the broadcast is received as a TS.

  In step S42, the received TS is decoded and an AIT is obtained.

  In step S44, it is determined whether the acquired AIT has an activation reservation. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S46, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S64.

  In step S46, the received TS is accumulated.

  In step S48, the activation summary is registered in the reservation management unit 155.

  In step S50, reproduction of the accumulated TS is started at the reserved time included in the acquired AIT. The AIT and application are decoded from the reproduced TS.

  In step S52, it is determined whether there is an end reservation in the AIT. The AIT may be an AIT decoded from a received TS or a reproduced TS. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S54, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S56.

  In step S54, the application is forcibly terminated at the reservation time included in the AIT.

In step S56, the application is automatically terminated when the reproduction ends.
In step S58, it is determined whether or not there is a next activation reservation in the AIT. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S60, and if it is false, the process proceeds to step S50.

  In step S60, the TS is discarded.

  In step S62, the TS is deleted from the reservation management unit 155.

  In step S64, the application is discarded after the broadcast ends.

  In this way, in the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention, it is possible to reproduce a TS for which activation reservation is specified at a predetermined time and to decode the AIT and application included in the TS. . Furthermore, if the application is forcibly terminated after the end of the broadcast or if there is an end reservation, the TS is discarded, so that even in an execution environment such as a set-top box with limited resources, It is possible to automatically secure resources.

[Application launch by TS playback]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a time chart in which the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention stores TS including a processing application, and plays back the stored TS after the broadcast program ends to process metadata. Descriptions of parts common to those in FIG. 3 are omitted.

As a difference from the application activation example shown in FIG. 3, the end time of the processing application broadcast 280 and the processing application AIT broadcast 290 is 19:15, which is the end time of the news program broadcast 210. It is before 30 minutes.
The AIT included in the processing application AIT broadcast 290 does not activate the application during the broadcast of the news program broadcast 210, and activates the application in the background (ie, without outputting video and audio) only during TS playback. Information to be specified, information to start after a lapse of a predetermined time such as 5 minutes after the end of the program, and information 288 to forcibly terminate the application if the processing has not been completed by 15 minutes after the start.

  At the time of the time chart illustrated in FIG. 6, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the embodiment of the present invention only accumulates TS during the broadcast of the news program broadcast 210, and the time reaches 19:35. The stored TS is automatically played back (283). After processing (285) such as metadata analysis and storage by the processing application decrypted from the reproduced TS, the processing automatically ends at the end of application execution (287), but 15 minutes after the start. If the process has not been completed at 19:50, it can be forcibly terminated (288).

[Application control by updating AIT]
FIG. 7 shows an example of a time chart in which the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention controls an application by updating the AIT without making a reservation for stopping TS playback. Descriptions of parts common to those in FIG. 6 are omitted.

  Similar to the above-described example shown in FIG. 6, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention executes the TS reproduction start 350 at 19:35 after the end of the news program broadcast 210. As a result, the processing application included in the TS is activated in the background (that is, without outputting video and audio). When the metadata processing 285 is finished, the execution of the application is also finished. However, in this example, since the time length of the TS is 30 minutes, which is the same as the news program broadcast 210, the TS playback continues until the TS playback end 380, May reach 20:05. However, the AIT is updated 15 minutes after the start of the news program broadcast 210, that is, 19:15. That is, the AIT included in the AIT broadcast 295 of the processing application is used after 19:50. In this updated AIT, by instructing not to start the application even during recording / playback, if the application is being executed at 19:50, the TS is forcibly terminated at the end of playback of the TS.

[Embodiment referring to AIT being broadcast]
A receiving system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The above-described digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention or the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the second embodiment of the present invention further refers to the AIT being broadcast. It is possible to control the operation of the application.

  In one embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the present invention executes and / or terminates the application stored in the application storage unit 170 according to the reservation information included in the AIT acquired from the broadcast. Even during a period in which the application is reserved and activated, it is possible to refer to the AIT broadcast during that period.

  In another embodiment, the digital broadcast receiving system 105 according to the present invention stores a TS using the TS storage unit 320 and executes an application that can be a part of the TS stored in the TS storage unit 320. In addition, it is possible to refer to the AIT broadcast during the execution of the application.

That is, the receiving system (digital broadcasting receiving system 100 or digital broadcasting receiving system 105) according to the present invention can also operate as follows.
First, the receiving system may determine at any point in time whether an application may be executed. That is, the receiving system can start the application when it receives the broadcast AIT and the received AIT includes information that allows the application to be started.
Second, the receiving system may cancel the application reservation even within the validity period specified by RESERVEILL included in the extended command shown in Table 1.
Third, the receiving system determines that the expiration date of the application has been invalidated based on not receiving the AIT within a predetermined period for an application for which the predetermined expiration date has not been set. Also good. In other words, a broadcasting station or the like (not shown) that broadcasts an application to the receiving system may not set the expiration date of the application at the time of broadcasting.
Fourth, the receiving system may newly accept subsequent activation reservations when the application is activated.

  Such a broadcasting system that broadcasts a broadcast including an application to the receiving system according to the present invention broadcasts the AIT during a period in which the application is activated, in addition to broadcasting the AIT when the application is broadcast. You may broadcast. The band or broadcast channel for broadcasting the AIT may be only the band or broadcast channel for broadcasting the application, or may be all bands or broadcast channels. Even when a broadcasting system or the like broadcasts an AIT using all bands or broadcasting channels, the receiving system according to the present invention receives a TS that does not include reservation activation information of the application. The application can be activated in accordance with the broadcast AIT.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing application control in the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Descriptions of parts common to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 are omitted. Application control according to the third embodiment includes the following operations.

  In step S19, it is determined whether there is an AIT at the reservation time. That is, it is determined whether or not the AIT associated with the application that is the target of operation control is broadcast at the reservation time. If the determination result is true, the process proceeds to step S36. If the determination result is false, the process proceeds to step S28, and step S28 is performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

  In step S36, the AIT associated with the application that is the target of operation control is referred to. Therefore, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 can perform operation control on the application that is the target of operation control in accordance with the referenced AIT. For example, when the AIT includes information for automatically starting an application that is a target of operation control, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 may automatically start the application. Even if a description about the application is not included in the AIT, or there is other information (setting by the user, etc.) that disables the automatic activation of the application even if it is included, the activation reservation may be canceled Good.

  In step S21, it is determined whether or not the AIT being broadcast has a next activation reservation. If the result of the determination is true, the process proceeds to step S35, and the next and subsequent activation reservations are registered in the reservation management unit 155 in step S35. If the determination result is false, the process proceeds to step S22, and step S22 is performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 described above, it is indicated that the process proceeds to step S20 if the determination result in step S28 is true. In the third embodiment of the present invention, if the determination result in step S28 is true, the process proceeds to step S19, and step S19 can be performed. That is, in the third embodiment of the present invention, operation control for an application can be performed in accordance with the broadcast AIT.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of a time chart in which the digital broadcast receiving system 100 according to the third embodiment of the present invention receives metadata and processes the metadata after the broadcast program ends. Descriptions of parts common to the time chart shown in FIG. 3 are omitted. The difference from the time chart shown in FIG. 3 is that the AIT associated with the application whose operation is to be controlled is received both when the processing application is broadcast and when it is executed, and the digital broadcast receiving system 100 The predetermined operation control is performed according to the AIT referred to at the time after the end of broadcasting (19:35). The AIT may be received both when the processing application is broadcast and when it is executed, and reception of the AIT in other periods is not limited. That is, in the example of FIG. 9, the AIT broadcast 290 of the processing application is used as the AIT broadcast 290-1 of the processing application during the period from 19 o'clock 19:30 when the processing application is broadcast, and at the time of execution. It may be received as the AIT broadcast 290-2 of the processing application during the period from 19:35 to 19:50. Note that the broadcasting station or the like may appropriately broadcast the processing application AIT broadcast 290 in other periods.

  In the example of the time chart shown in FIG. 9, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 refers to the AIT associated with the application that is the target of operation control at 19:35, which is the activation reservation time. That is, the AIT reference 284 in FIG. 9 indicates that, when an AIT associated with an application that is a target of operation control is broadcast, the AIT is referred to. The AIT reference 284 enables the digital broadcast receiving system 100 to perform operation control on the application that is the target of operation control according to the referenced AIT.

  For example, when the AIT includes information for automatically starting an application that is a target of operation control, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 can automatically start the application. If the application process is completed during the period in which the AIT is automatically started and before the end reservation time, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 can automatically end the application. However, the digital broadcast receiving system 100 forces the application when the application is being executed and the automatic activation is invalidated before the end reservation time or when the AIT broadcast no longer exists. Can end.

  In the digital broadcast receiving system 100 or 105 according to the present invention, the application can be executed not only in the time zone during which the application is broadcast, but also at an arbitrary timing after the broadcast ends. If the application is linked to a program, it is usually broadcast only at the same time as the program, but the execution timing can be set after the program ends, so the service can be provided without depending on whether the program is being broadcast. Can be provided.

  In the digital broadcast receiving system 100 or 105 according to the present invention, since the application (or TS including the application) is automatically stored on the receiver side, the user changes the channel after the program ends and the other Even when watching a channel, the application can be executed without switching the channel.

  In a digital broadcast receiver or the like according to the prior art, in order to control functions inherent to the receiver such as a reservation function and a storage function, there is only a method for the user to actually operate the receiver, and control is performed from the broadcast side. I could not. Also for the above application activation example, if there is no reservation function of the present invention, it is necessary for the user to manually accumulate the application and to execute the application manually. However, according to the present invention, the application can be started without the user being aware at the timing determined by the broadcast side. Therefore, various functions of the receiver can be controlled from the broadcast side through the broadcast application.

  Furthermore, it is possible to disperse the processing load of the receiver in terms of time. Since the resources of the receiver are limited, if you want to perform advanced processing, for example, if you select an available time zone of the receiver instead of the specified time for the application for activation reservation, Can be executed without affecting the operation.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention described in the claims.・ Change is possible. For example, the comment visualization device of the present invention can be applied not only to the audience rating of broadcast programs, but also to various uses such as various questionnaires and support rate surveys that need to consider temporal transitions.

100, 105 Digital broadcast receiving system 110 Broadcast receiving unit 120 Decoding unit 130, 135 AIT acquisition unit 135
140, 145 Application control unit 150, 155 Reservation management unit 160 Application acquisition unit 170 Application storage unit 180 Application execution unit 190 Time acquisition unit 210 News program broadcast 220 Metadata broadcast 230 Application broadcast for reception 240 Application activation 250 Metadata reception 250
260 AIT broadcast of reception application 270 AIT broadcast 280 Processing application broadcast 283 Application activation 285 Metadata processing 287, 297, 360 End of application execution 290, 295 Processing application AIT broadcast 293, 350 TS playback start 298, 370 Force application End 310 TS acquisition unit 320 TS storage unit 330 TS playback unit 380 TS playback end

Claims (14)

A receiving system for executing an application broadcast by digital broadcasting,
A digital broadcast decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast;
Application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application based on the operation control information of the specific application for which the decoding has been completed,
The digital broadcast receiving system, wherein the operation control information includes a time to start the specific application or a time to end the specific application.   The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 1, further comprising: starting or ending the specific application at the time of starting the specific application or ending the specific application using the application operation control unit. . The operation control information is
Information for starting the specific application at a specified time;
Information to launch the specific application every day at a specified time;
Information for launching the specific application on a specified day of the week;
Information on the expiration time of the specified time and the specified day of the week for the specific application;
Information for forcibly terminating the specific application by a specified time;
The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 1, comprising at least one of the following. An application storage means for storing the specific application;
The specific application is broadcast in one segmented time range of the digital broadcast;
When the operation control information includes information for starting the specific application after an end time of the segmented time range, the specific application is stored using the application storage unit, and the specific application is stored. The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 1, wherein the specific application is activated at a time when the application is activated.   5. The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 4, wherein the specific application is terminated in response to the operation of the specific application being terminated.   The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 4, wherein the specific application is forcibly terminated when the specific application is not terminated at a time at which the specific application is terminated.   The specific application is received when the broadcasted operation control information is received at the time of starting the specific application, and the received operation control information includes information that allows the specific application to be started. The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 4, wherein:   5. The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 4, wherein the specific application is terminated in response to termination of the specific application.   5. The digital broadcast reception according to claim 4, wherein if the information for starting the specific application is not included in the operation control information during a period in which the specific application is operating, the specific application is forcibly terminated. system. A digital broadcast storage means for storing the digital broadcast;
When the time at which the specific application is started is later than the end time of one segmented time range of the digital broadcast, the digital broadcast is stored using the digital broadcast storage means,
The digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 1, wherein the specific application and the operation control information are decoded from the stored digital broadcast at a time when the specific application is activated.   The specific application is terminated according to information for ending reproduction of the accumulated digital broadcast or information for ending reproduction of the accumulated digital broadcast included in the operation control information at a specified time. Digital broadcast reception system. A digital broadcast receiver comprising the digital broadcast receiving system according to claim 1. A program for executing an application broadcast by digital broadcasting,
A digital broadcast decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast;
Application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application based on the operation control information of the specific application for which the decoding has been completed,
The operation control information includes a time at which the specific application is activated or a time at which the specific application is terminated, thereby causing the computer to function as a digital broadcast receiving system. A program for causing a computer to execute an application broadcast by digital broadcasting,
A digital broadcast decoding means for decoding a specific application and operation control information from the digital broadcast;
Application operation control means for controlling the operation of the specific application based on the operation control information of the specific application for which the decoding has been completed,
The operation control information includes a time to start the specific application or a time to end the specific application,
Information for starting the specific application at a specified time;
Information to launch the specific application every day at a specified time,
Information for launching the specific application on a specified day of the week;
Information on the expiration time of the specified time and the specified day of the week for the specific application;
14. The program according to claim 13, wherein the computer is caused to function as a digital broadcast receiving system by including at least one of information for forcibly terminating the specific application by a specified time.

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