JP2016086259A - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital broadcast receiver capable of securing storage capacity by deleting a broadcast managed application which does not have a schedule of going to a use place thereof when acquiring the broadcast managed application.SOLUTION: A digital broadcast receiver 5 comprises: a reception part 10 which receives a digital broadcast; a communication part 31 which downloads a broadcast managed application; an area specification part 51 which specifies a use region of the application; a broadcast managed application management part 54 which manages the application and application information including a use region and a terms of validation thereof; a schedule management part 52 which manages schedule information including a region and a date of a schedule visit; and a storage part 32 which stores the application and respective information. The broadcast managed application management part deletes a broadcast managed application not to be used in a use region within a term of validity from the storage part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver that links digital broadcast and communication.

  A technique for distributing digital television broadcasting using IP (Internet Protocol) (the technique is called IPTV) has been developed. As a specification of the IPTV, a broadcasting / communication cooperation system (hybrid cast system) has been formulated. In this broadcasting / communication cooperation system, a digital broadcasting receiver receives a broadcasting signal by a broadcast wave, outputs broadcasting content (broadcast program) included in the broadcasting signal, acquires communication content via a network, and broadcasts. Synchronized playback of content and communication content. Thereby, it is possible to link broadcasting and communication.

  Specifically, in a broadcasting / communication cooperation system, when a user views a broadcast content program on a digital broadcast receiver, the digital broadcast receiver uses the broadcast signal to transmit an application at a predetermined timing. Get and start. When the communication content ends, the digital broadcast receiver ends the application with the broadcast signal. Thereby, the user can view the communication content provided by the application. An application whose start and end can be controlled by a broadcast signal is called a broadcast managed application.

  In Patent Document 1, a broadcast receiver can hold (cache) a broadcast managed application on the assumption that it is reused, and an expiration date of the application is set in the cache control information. It is described that the application is deleted when the expiration date has passed.

JP 2013-009329 A

  There are two types of program broadcast formats: national net and local broadcast. In the technique of Patent Document 1, when a user temporarily goes to “a certain area”, receives an application of a hybrid broadcast unique to a local program, and caches it in a memory, the user goes to “a certain area” again. It is conceivable that the expiration date will pass by the time you go. In other words, the application received in the area is cached for a certain period without being used, and the memory area is wasted.

  In view of such a situation, the present invention, when acquiring an application for regional broadcasting that links digital broadcasting and communication, deletes the application and secures a storage capacity if there is no plan to go to that region. Is to provide a machine.

The present invention is a digital broadcast receiver of a method for linking digital broadcast and communication,
A receiving unit that receives a digital broadcast; a communication unit that downloads a broadcast managed application; a region specifying unit that specifies a use region where the broadcast managed application can be used; the broadcast managed application; the use region; A broadcast managed application management unit that manages application information including an expiration date of an application, a schedule management unit that manages schedule information including a region and date visited by a user, the broadcast managed application, the use region, and the broadcast managed Application information including the expiration date of the application, and a storage unit that stores the schedule information,
The broadcast managed application management unit is characterized in that, based on the application information and the schedule information, deletes a broadcast managed application that is not used before the expiration date from the storage unit.

  In the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention, the area specifying unit specifies the use area based on the received broadcast station information or GPS position information.

  In the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the broadcast managed application management unit executes the deletion process of the broadcast managed application when the storage capacity of the storage unit becomes a predetermined amount or less. .

  In the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention, the broadcast managed application management unit sets an area that is not deleted in advance.

  In the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention, the broadcast managed application management unit excludes the area of the user's residence from being deleted.

  According to the present invention, if there is no plan to go to the usage area of the broadcast managed application stored in the storage unit within the expiration date, the broadcast managed application used only in the usage area is deleted from the storage unit. The limited storage capacity (area) of the storage unit can be used efficiently.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast communication cooperation system of this invention. It is a figure which shows the screen of the display part in the case of performing residence registration. It is a figure which shows the application information list stored in a memory | storage part. This is schedule information for September 2014 registered by the user. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the application information list stored after the deletion process.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the broadcasting / communication cooperation system of the present invention. In the broadcasting / communication cooperation system, the broadcasting / communication cooperation service provider 3 provides a broadcasting station 1 for providing a broadcasting service using broadcast waves, and the service provider 3 provides a communication service via a communication network such as the Internet. Communication server 2 and a digital broadcast receiver 5 used by a user.

  The broadcasting station 1 includes broadcasting facilities (not shown) for general digital broadcasting, and transmits broadcast waves. The broadcast station 1 includes a storage device (not shown) that stores a computer program that can be executed by a computer, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) that reads and executes the computer program. The broadcasting station 1 generates a broadcast signal in which a broadcast program, data broadcast, application control information (Application Information Table: AIT), and the like are multiplexed. The broadcast station 1 modulates the broadcast signal into a broadcast wave, and transmits the broadcast wave via the broadcast antenna.

  The broadcast signal is defined by ARIB (registered trademark) (Association of Radio Industries and Broadcast) standard. Various data such as video and audio provided by digital broadcasting are stored in TS packets (transport stream packets) defined by the international standard MPEG-2 Systems and multiplexed and transmitted in a time division manner. In the TS packet, PSI (Program Specific Information) / SI (Service Information) is defined for the section. PSI / SI includes information indicating the type of data stored in the TS packet and information indicating the type of content. The information indicating the type of data includes transmission information (Program Map Table: PMT) for transmitting data for data broadcasting and AIT.

  Data broadcasting is content linked to a broadcast program. As a description language for data broadcasting, a BML (Broadcast Markup Language) document is used, and BML is formulated by ARIB (registered trademark). The PMT includes activation priority control information for designating whether or not the activation of data broadcasting is given the highest priority in the additional_arib_bxml_info () of the data encoding scheme descriptor related to the component that transmits the data broadcasting. When the activation priority control information indicates the highest priority, the data broadcast is activated by the digital broadcast receiver 5.

  AIT is information for managing a broadcast managed application. A broadcast managed application is other content linked to a broadcast program, and a data format such as a description language is different from data broadcasting. As a description language for a broadcast managed application, an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) document is used. In addition, the AIT includes an application ID for identifying a broadcast managed application and location information (Uniform Resource Locator: URL) indicating the location of the broadcast managed application. The PMT includes activation priority control information for designating whether or not to give priority to activation of a broadcast managed application in ait_identifier_info () of a data encoding scheme descriptor related to a component that transmits an AIT. When the activation priority control information indicates the highest priority, the broadcast managed application is activated by the digital broadcast receiver 5.

  The communication server 2 is a computer that is communicably connected to the equipment of the broadcasting station 1 and distributes a broadcast managed application. The communication server 2 includes a storage device (not shown) in which a computer program that can be executed by a computer is stored, and a CPU (not shown) that reads and executes the computer program. The communication server 2 distributes the broadcast managed application via the communication network in response to the application acquisition request.

  The digital broadcast receiver 5 includes a receiving unit 10, an output unit 20, a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, and a control unit 50. The communication unit 31 is a communication interface that communicates with the communication server 2 via a communication network. The control part 50 consists of CPU, for example, and controls each part. The storage unit 32 stores a computer program executable by the computer and various data, and the control unit 50 reads and executes the computer program.

  The receiving unit 10 includes a tuner unit 11 and a broadcast wave receiving unit 12.

  The broadcast wave receiving unit 12 receives a broadcast wave broadcast from the broadcast station 1 via the tuner unit 11 in response to a broadcast program viewing instruction for viewing a broadcast program. The broadcast wave receiving unit 12 demodulates the broadcast wave and extracts a broadcast signal, that is, a TS packet from the broadcast wave. The broadcast program presentation function of the broadcast wave receiving unit 12 refers to the PSI / SI of the TS packet and outputs the broadcast program (video data and audio data) included in the TS packet to the output unit 20. Also, the broadcast program presentation function of the broadcast wave receiving unit 12 extracts PMT and AIT from the TS packet and stores them in the storage unit 32 in accordance with a predetermined transmission method.

  The output unit 20 includes an audio control unit 21, a video control unit 22, a speaker 23, and a display unit 24. The audio control unit 21 outputs the audio data from the broadcast wave receiving unit 12 to the speaker 23 while synchronizing with the video data controlled by the video control unit 22. The video control unit 22 displays the video data from the broadcast wave receiving unit 12 on the display unit 24 in synchronization with the audio data controlled by the audio control unit 21.

  The control unit 50 includes an area specifying unit 51, a schedule management unit 52, a broadcast managed application execution unit 53, and a broadcast managed application management unit 54. Although the control part 50 is provided with another function, the part regarding a broadcast managed application is shown in the figure.

  The broadcast managed application execution unit 53 receives an application acquisition request (including at least an identifier for identifying the digital broadcast receiver 5 and the application ID and URL of the AIT described above) based on the AIT stored in the storage unit 32. The broadcast managed application is acquired from the communication server 2 by transmitting to the communication server 2 via the communication unit 31. The broadcast managed application execution unit 53 activates the broadcast managed application and presents it on the output unit 20. The acquired broadcast managed application is managed by the broadcast managed application management unit 54.

  The area specifying unit 51 acquires position information and specifies an area where the broadcast managed application can be used. For example, when the broadcast managed application is downloaded, this use area is specified by information on the broadcasting station and GPS (Global Positioning System) position information about the received location.

  The schedule management unit 52 manages schedule information input by the user through the schedule management application. A schedule management application is installed in advance in the digital receiver, and the user performs schedule management using this application. The schedule management unit 52 stores the date input according to this application, the visited area, and the like in the storage unit 32 as schedule information.

  The broadcast managed application management unit 54 stores and manages application information including an application ID, an expiration date, and a use region together with the acquired broadcast managed application data. Then, unnecessary broadcast managed applications are deleted from the storage unit 32.

Next, the management operation of the broadcast managed application of the digital broadcast receiver will be described.
First, the digital broadcast receiver 5 stores the information in the storage unit 32 by performing the following processing before performing the management operation.

  First, the user performs his / her residence registration with respect to the digital broadcast receiver 5. This is because even if there is a plan to go out in the vicinity of the residential area, it is often not purposely registered in the schedule, and the broadcast managed application stored in that area is excluded from the deletion target.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a screen of the display unit 24 in the case of performing residence registration.
The screen 61 is a screen showing a residence area selection, and a selection is made from the displayed areas of Japan. Here, “Kanto” is selected. The screen 62 is a screen showing selection of the Kanto region, and selects from the displayed Kanto regions. Here, it is assumed that “Tokyo” is selected. On the screen 63, the message “You have selected Tokyo as your residence area” is displayed to inform the user that registration is complete. In this way, when the residential area is set to “Tokyo”, the Kanto region may be within the normal range of action, so broadcast managed apps stored in the Kanto area are not subject to deletion. There are several methods for determining the surrounding area, such as prefectures classified in the same area (prefectures shown in Fig. 2), or within a radius of 100km from neighboring prefectures and residential areas. Conceivable.

  The digital broadcast receiver 5 stores data related to the broadcast managed application in the storage unit 32. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a list of application information stored in the storage unit 32.

  When the broadcast wave receiving unit 12 receives a hybrid cast broadcast, and the broadcast managed application execution unit 53 downloads a broadcast managed application from the communication server 2 via the communication unit 31, the region specifying unit 51 includes information on a broadcasting station (for example, In the case of a TV station in Tokyo, “Tokyo”, and in the case of a Saitama TV station, “Saitama”), or the location where the broadcast managed app is received is determined from position information that can be acquired by GPS. The broadcast managed application management unit 54 stores the application ID, the expiration date of the application, and the use area specified by the area specifying unit 51 in the storage unit 32 together with the acquired broadcast managed application data, as shown in FIG. To do.

  The schedule management unit 52 reads the schedule information illustrated in FIG. 4 from the storage unit 32. FIG. 4 shows schedule information for September 2014 registered by the user. Such date and visited area data are stored in the storage unit 32.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the digital broadcast receiver 5 according to the present invention.
The broadcast managed application management unit 54 acquires a list of application information of broadcast managed applications stored in the storage unit 32 (step S11). This list is shown, for example, in FIG. Next, the schedule management unit 52 acquires the user schedule stored in the storage unit 32 by the schedule management application and sends it to the broadcast managed application management unit 54 (step S12). For example, the schedule shown in FIG.

  The broadcast managed application management unit 54 checks whether or not an unchecked broadcast managed application remains in the acquired application information list (step S13).

  When an unchecked broadcast managed application remains, the broadcast managed application management unit 54 confirms whether or not there is a plan to go to the area within the expiration date of the broadcast managed application based on the application information and the schedule information ( Step S14).

  If there is no plan to go to the area, the broadcast managed application management unit 54 confirms whether the use area of the broadcast managed application matches the residential area (step S15).

  If they do not match, the broadcast managed application management unit 54 deletes the broadcast managed application (application data and related data) from the storage unit 32.

  In the case of Yes in steps S14 and S15, and when step S16 ends, the process returns to step S13. If no unchecked broadcast managed application remains in step S13, the process ends.

This process will be specifically described with reference to FIGS.
In the application ID = 0x0001 in FIG. 3, 2014/09/03 is the expiration date, and the usage area is “Aichi”. As shown in FIG. 4, this application is deleted because it does not go to Aichi by 2014/09/03.
In the application ID = 0x0002 in FIG. 3, 2014/09/05 is the expiration date, and the usage area is “Osaka”. Looking at FIG. 4, we will go to Osaka on 2014/09/03, so this application will not be deleted.
In the application ID = 0x0003 in FIG. 3, 2014/09/10 is the expiration date, and the usage area is “Iwate”. In FIG. 4, this application is deleted because it will not go to Iwate by 2014/09/10.
In the application IDs = 0x0004 and 0x0005 in FIG. 3, the usage areas are “Tokyo” and “Chiba”. As shown in FIG. 2, the user's residence area is “Tokyo”, and the entire Kanto area is not subject to deletion, so this application is not deleted.
In the application ID = 0x0006 in FIG. 3, 2014/09/30 is the expiration date, and the usage area is “Niigata”. In FIG. 4, this application is deleted because it will not go to Niigata by 2014/09/30.

  As a result, the broadcast managed applications with application IDs = 0x0001, 0x0003, and 0x0006 are deleted, and the remaining ones are the broadcast managed applications shown in FIG.

  As described above, if there is no plan to go to the use area of the broadcast managed application stored in the storage unit 32, the broadcast managed application used only in the use region is deleted from the storage unit 32. It is possible to efficiently use the limited storage capacity (area).

In addition, although it was set as the area | region with a residential area that it is excluded from deletion object, it does not necessarily restrict to this. For example, if the place of work is in a different area or there is an area that is visited regularly, it can be set in advance as not to be deleted.
Alternatively, the remaining amount of storage stored in the storage unit 32 may be detected, and the broadcast managed application deletion process shown in FIG. 5 may be performed only after the remaining amount of storage is equal to or less than a predetermined amount.

  As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and the invention may be changed in design without departing from the gist of the present invention. Is also included.

1: Broadcasting station 2: Communication server 3: Service provider 5: Digital broadcast receiver 10: Reception unit 11: Tuner unit 12: Broadcast wave receiving unit 20: Output unit 21: Audio control unit 22: Video control unit 23: Speaker 24: Display unit 31: Communication unit 32: Storage unit 50: Control unit 51: Area specifying unit 52: Schedule management unit 53: Broadcast managed application execution unit 54: Broadcast managed application management unit

Claims (5)

In digital broadcasting receivers that link digital broadcasting and communications,
A receiver for receiving digital broadcasting;
A communication unit for downloading a broadcast managed application;
An area specifying unit for specifying an available use area of the broadcast managed application;
The broadcast managed application, and a broadcast managed application management unit that manages application information including an expiration date of the use area and the broadcast managed application;
A schedule management unit that manages schedule information including the region and date visited by the user;
A storage unit that stores the broadcast managed application, application information including an expiration date of the use area and the broadcast managed application, and the schedule information;
With
The broadcast managed application management unit deletes a broadcast managed application that is not used before the expiration date from the storage unit based on the application information and the schedule information.   The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the area specifying unit specifies the area to be used based on received broadcast station information or received position information.   The digital broadcast reception according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the broadcast managed application management unit executes a deletion process of the broadcast managed application when a storage capacity of the storage unit becomes a predetermined amount or less. Machine.   The digital broadcast receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the broadcast managed application management unit sets an area that is not deleted in advance.   The digital broadcast receiver according to claim 4, wherein the broadcast managed application management unit excludes the area of the user's residential area from being deleted.

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