JP2021097297A - Ip-rf conversion device and ip-rf conversion method - Google Patents

Abstract

To transmit broadcasting other than terrestrial digital broadcasting to a television receiver using an existing indoor wiring.SOLUTION: When an IP-RF conversion device 400 receives channel (CH) information from a television receiver 500 via a communication medium, the IP-RF conversion device 400 selects an IP stream corresponding to the CH information of the television broadcast from an IP network 150, allocates terrestrial digital physics CH to the IP stream, and notifies the television receiver 500 of information on the terrestrial digital physics CH via a communication medium to set the frequency of the terrestrial digital physics CH to a tuner of the television receiver 500. The IP-RF conversion device 400 further converts the IP stream into an RF signal having the terrestrial digital physical CH frequency, and outputs the RF signal to the television receiver 500 via a broadcast wave signal transmission medium. As a result, even in the case of broadcasting other than terrestrial digital broadcasting, the television receiver 500 is made to reproduce a broadcast program via the broadcast wave signal transmission medium.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to IP broadcasting that transmits television broadcasting via an IP (Internet Protocol) network, and in particular, RF streams IP streams of a plurality of channels of television broadcasting received from the IP network, which are arranged in front of a digital television receiver. The present invention relates to an IP-RF conversion device and an IP-RF conversion method for converting a signal and transmitting it to a digital television receiver.

As a transmission method for television broadcasting, in addition to the conventional method of transmitting radio waves from broadcasting stations and satellites to antennas installed outdoors in the recipient's home, in recent years, FTTH (Fiber To The Home) systems and other equipment of telecommunications carriers have been used. The method of RF (Radio Frequency) transmission of television broadcasting via optical fibers introduced from the above to each household has become widespread.

For example, Fretz TV provided by NTT East / West is a terrestrial digital broadcast on a large number of RF reception facilities (NTT base stations) nationwide for the three waves of terrestrial digital (hereinafter, simply referred to as terrestrial digital), BS, and CS. , BS broadcasting and CS broadcasting are received, electrical signals in each band are optical-multiplexed and transmitted to each recipient's home via optical fiber, and the VONU device in each recipient's home converts the optical signal into an electrical signal for television reception. It provides a TV broadcasting service for viewing on the machine. In this transmission method, an optical amplifier, a coupler, and a distributor are used to deliver the signal to each receiver's home, and a V-ONU is used in front of the television receiver to return the optical signal to an electric signal. According to such a television broadcasting system, there is an advantage that stable television broadcasting that is not affected by rain and wind or high-rise buildings can be received without using a dedicated antenna for each broadcasting type.

If omitted, satellites such as BS and CS have been developed since the start of terrestrial digital broadcasting, and new broadcasting such as 4K transmission and 8K transmission has started, but modulation methods have been added each time. Along with this, it became necessary to expand the frequency band, and the effect extended to the wiring equipment. In fact, indoor TV wiring was compatible with the UHF band, but since satellite broadcasting was introduced and the frequency band was extended to 2 GHz at once, the coaxial cable used until then transmitted TV broadcasts. It became impossible and the cable had to be replaced. Regarding 4K TV broadcasting, part of the existing BS right-handed reorganization will be broadcast, but there are plans to operate 4K broadcasting for BS left-handed and CS left-handed, which are planned in the future. As a result, the bandwidth used is further extended, and further updating of the indoor wiring is required.

In addition, the operation of an IP broadcasting service that multicasts television broadcasting to the recipient's home via an IP network as a closed network of businesses has also started. According to such IP broadcasting, broadcasting services can be provided to the operator side with general-purpose IP-compatible equipment, so that equipment costs and operating costs can be reduced, but a dedicated antenna is not required on the receiver side. At the same time, there is an advantage that both television broadcasting and communication services can be easily used (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).

"Cable TV video distribution for the 4K / 8K era (institutionalization of IP broadcasting)" Communication Society Magazine No. 49 Summer Issue 2019, pp72-78 "Current Status and Future of Video Distribution Services by Multicast Distribution" Journal of the Institute of Video Information Media Vol. 63, No. 5, pp590-594 (2009)

In order to use the above IP broadcasting, it is necessary to arrange a dedicated set-top box (IP-STB) indoors in the recipient's house. The set-top box comes with a dedicated remote control in addition to the remote control for the TV receiver (TV remote control), which complicates the relationship with the TV remote control. For example, it is possible to change the source between the TV receiver, video recorder (recording / playback device), CATV tuner, etc. using the input switching button of the TV receiver, and select the channel using another remote control. However, the reality is that it is not always easy for users who are unfamiliar with remote control operation. In addition, the remote controller for video recorders, the remote controller for CATV, and the like are provided with main operation buttons for operating the television receiver, but depending on the operation, it is necessary to switch to the remote controller for the television receiver.

Further, when there are a plurality of TV receivers in the receiver's house, there is a problem that an IP-STB must be prepared for each TV receiver.

Obtaining a new digital TV receiver with a built-in IP-STB function will solve these problems, but it will make it impossible to use the existing TV receiver.

Further, in the conventional IP broadcasting service, it is necessary to update the indoor wiring for BS left-handed broadcasting and CS left-handed broadcasting (the band extends to 3.2 GHz). This problem cannot be solved even with a television receiver having a built-in IP-STB function.

The present invention has been made from such a viewpoint, and an object of the present invention is an IP-RF converter and an IP capable of transmitting satellite broadcasting other than terrestrial digital broadcasting to a television receiver using existing indoor wiring. The purpose is to provide a −RF conversion method.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to allow only a specific TV receiver to watch a broadcast program of a specific channel among a plurality of TV receivers connected via the same broadcast wave signal transmission medium. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an RF conversion device and an IP-RF conversion method.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an IP-RF conversion device and an IP-RF conversion method that do not require a dedicated remote controller other than a television remote controller such as a conventional STB remote controller for television viewing operation. It is in.

The IP-RF converter according to the present invention is an IP-RF converter that is arranged in front of a television receiver, converts an IP stream of television broadcast received from an IP network into an RF signal, and transmits it to the television receiver. Then, an IP connection unit that receives a plurality of IP streams of a plurality of channels of television broadcasting from the IP network and a receiver that is connected to the IP connection unit and receives a channel selection request from the television receiver via a communication medium. Correspondingly, the IP stream selection unit that selects a desired IP stream from the plurality of received IP streams and the selected desired IP stream are converted into RF signals of a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel. The information of the first channel conversion unit that outputs via the broadcast wave signal transmission medium and the terrestrial digital physical channel is notified to the television receiver via the communication medium, and the tuner of the television receiver is notified of the terrestrial digital physics. It is provided with a control unit that controls to set the frequency of the channel.

In this configuration, the IP stream selection unit selects a desired IP stream in response to a receiver's channel selection request from the television receiver, and the first channel conversion unit selects the selected desired IP. The stream is converted into an RF signal of a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel and output via a broadcast wave signal transmission medium, while the control unit transmits the information of the terrestrial digital physical channel to the television receiver as a communication medium. By notifying via and controlling the tuner of the television receiver to set the frequency of the terrestrial digital physical channel, the television receiver that issued the channel selection request can watch the broadcast of the channel. Become.

The IP network is typically a wide area multicast network.

The IP-RF converter is connected to the IP connection unit, and for a plurality of predetermined terrestrial digital physical channels for the television receiver, a plurality of IP streams of a 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting channel among the plurality of IP streams. May be further provided with a second channel converter that selects and converts to the corresponding plurality of RF signals and outputs them. With this second channel conversion unit, the receiver can watch a plurality of terrestrial digital broadcasts by the same channel selection operation as before.

In one aspect of this IP-RF converter, among the plurality of prepared terrestrial digital physical channels, the physical channels of the first group are the plurality of 2K in the area of the receiver's house in the second channel conversion unit. Assigned to terrestrial digital channels, the physical channels of the second group are assigned to at least one channel other than the 2K terrestrial digital channels in the area at the first channel conversion unit.

The IP-RF converter receives a registration request for a desired channel from a television receiver, registers the channel in association with the television receiver, and after the registration, the channel from the television receiver. When the selection is received, it is confirmed whether the selected channel is registered for the TV receiver, the output of the channel is permitted when it is registered, and the output of the channel is output when it is not registered. It may further be provided with a viewing restriction means that disallows viewing. As a result, viewing of channels can be restricted for each TV receiver.

In this IP-RF conversion device, a billing means that involves billing for registration of the channel may be provided.

The IP-RF converter further includes decryption means for decrypting the code, and the registration means has means for registering a decryption key for decrypting the code for the IP stream of the channel registered for each television receiver. When an encrypted IP stream is selected from a certain television receiver, the decryption means decrypts the IP stream if the corresponding decryption key is registered for the corresponding channel of the IP stream. May be good. This makes it possible to prohibit viewing of channels registered for each TV receiver other than a specific TV receiver.

The IP-RF converter may further include a viewing history data storage unit that stores the viewed channel and the viewing start date / time information of the television receiver as viewing history data.

As the viewing history data, the viewing history data storage unit may store the viewing end date and time information of the television receiver in addition to the viewing channel and the viewing start date and time information thereof.

When the viewing history data storage unit is connected to a plurality of the television receivers, the viewing history data may be accumulated for each television receiver.

The IP-RF conversion method according to the present invention is an IP-RF conversion method in an IP-RF conversion device arranged in front of a television receiver and connected to an IP network, from the television receiver via a communication medium. A step of receiving a receiver's channel selection request, a step of selecting an IP stream corresponding to the received channel selection request of a television broadcast from the IP network, and a step of assigning a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel to the selected IP stream. , The step of converting the selected IP stream into the RF signal of the terrestrial digital physical channel and outputting it to the television receiver via the broadcast wave signal transmission medium, and the information of the terrestrial digital physical channel to the television receiver. It is provided with a step of notifying via a communication medium and causing the tuner of the television receiver to set the frequency of the terrestrial digital physical channel.

This IP-RF conversion method may further include a step of transmitting information of a plurality of channels to be viewed to the television receiver.

One aspect of the IP-RF conversion method is a step of receiving a registration request for a desired channel from a television receiver and registering the channel in association with the television receiver, and after the registration, the television. When a channel is selected from the receiver, it is confirmed whether the selected channel is registered for the TV receiver, and when it is registered, the output of the channel is permitted, and when it is not registered, the channel is not registered. It may include a step of disallowing the output of the channel.

In another aspect, the IP-RF conversion method may further include a step involving charging for registration of the channel.

At the time of the registration, a step of registering a decryption key for decrypting the encryption for the IP stream of the registered channel for each TV receiver, and when an encrypted IP stream is selected from a certain TV receiver, the IP stream of the IP stream is registered. If the corresponding decryption key is registered for the corresponding channel, the step of decrypting the IP stream may be further provided.

According to the IP-RF conversion device and the IP-RF conversion method of the present invention, broadcasts other than terrestrial digital broadcasting can also be transmitted to a television receiver using existing indoor wiring.

According to another viewpoint of the present invention, it is possible to allow only a specific TV receiver to watch a broadcast program of a specific channel among a plurality of TV receivers connected via the same broadcast wave signal transmission medium. ..

According to still another viewpoint of the present invention, there is provided an IP-RF conversion device and an IP-RF conversion method that do not require a dedicated remote controller other than the television remote controller such as a conventional STB remote controller for television viewing operation. can do.

It is a figure which shows the schematic structure of the whole of the IP broadcast transmission / reception system from the transmission side to the reception side of the television broadcast via the IP network in the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the schematic structure inside the IP-RF conversion apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and also shows the connection relationship between an IP-RF conversion apparatus and two television receivers. It is a figure which shows the internal structure example of the IP connection part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the configuration example of the internal function of the IP stream selection reproduction part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the schematic internal structure of the IP stream selective reproduction part and the terrestrial digital modulation part of the latter stage shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. It is a figure which conceptually shows the function of the 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selection reproduction part in the area shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a functional explanatory diagram of an IP stream selective reproduction unit and a pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit other than the 2K terrestrial digital in the area shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the internal structure example of the channel list shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation method of the IP-RF conversion apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the channel selection flow of the television receiver in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the schematic processing procedure of the IP-RF conversion apparatus in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a specific exchange regarding opening and channel selection of a pipe channel between an IP-RF converter and a television receiver according to the channel selection protocol of the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the schematic structure inside the IP-RF converter in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and shows the connection relationship between the IP-RF converter and a television receiver. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of channel selection by a pipe channel between an IP-RF converter and a television receiver in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the connection relationship between the IP-RF conversion apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention, and a television receiver. It is a figure which shows the internal structure example of the IP-RF conversion apparatus for performing parental control in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the initial registration process of a pay channel by the IP-RF conversion apparatus in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the channel selection process of the parental control channel of the IP-RF conversion apparatus in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the internal structure example of the IP-RF conversion apparatus according to 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing flow of the IP-RF conversion apparatus and each television receiver in 4th Embodiment of this invention.

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

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 shows an overall schematic configuration of an IP broadcast transmission / reception system from a transmission side to a reception side of television broadcasting via an IP network according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

This system includes an IP television broadcasting company 100 as a television broadcasting station, a communication company main station 110, an IP network 150, a relay station 210, an accommodation station 220, a broadcasting receiving facility in a receiver's house 300, and a digital television receiver (hereinafter, hereafter. It is composed of 500 (referred to as TV receivers) 500 (500a, 500b, ...). Broadcast receiving equipment includes an optical network unit (ONU) 310, a router 320, an IP-RF converter 400, a HUB 510, and the like. The TV receivers 500a and 500b are attached with TV remote controls 530a and 530b, respectively.

The IP television broadcasting company 100 sends television broadcasting programs (broadcasting contents) such as terrestrial digital (terrestrial digital) broadcasting station 101, CS broadcasting station 102, BS broadcasting station 103, and CATV station 104 to the IP network 150 as IP streams. It is a television operator equipped with IP broadcasting equipment, and transmits broadcast programs of each channel from its own IP transmission device (not shown) to the communication company main station 110 via a communication medium. The IP network 150 in the present embodiment is typically a wide-area multicast network in which priority control (maintenance and management of transmission quality, etc.) for IP broadcasting as a closed network of business operators is performed.

Specifically, the telecommunications company head office 110 is the head office of four major telecommunications carriers in Japan, and transmits the received broadcast program to relay stations 210 in various places via the IP network 150 by multicast. An IP stream consisting of IP packets such as a transport stream (TS) of a television broadcast program transmitted on the IP network 150 is transmitted from a relay station 210 via a accommodation station 220 in a plurality of areas to each receiver's home 300. Is transmitted to.

Currently, the programs of terrestrial digital broadcasting are different for each area of the recipient's house, but in this embodiment, even if there are restrictions such as reception restrictions, all the broadcast programs of all areas are via the IP network. It is supposed to be transmitted to the area of.

In each receiver's home 300, programs (IP streams) of a plurality of channels of IP broadcasting transmitted via a communication medium such as an optical fiber are input to the IP-RF converter 400 via the ONU 310 and the router 320. .. The ONU 310 may also have the functions of the router 320.

The IP-RF converter 400 converts a program (IP stream) of a channel extracted or selected from a plurality of received IP broadcast channels into an RF signal having a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel frequency, and is a broadcast wave signal transmission medium. It is transmitted to one or more TV receivers 500 (500a, 500b) via (for example, a coaxial cable or the like). The contents of the IP stream are 2K MPEG2-HD stream, H.M. It can vary depending on the compression format, such as 264 streams.

Each television receiver 500 is also connected to the IP-RF converter 400 via a communication medium (eg, LAN). In the example of FIG. 1, the connection to the IP-RF converter 400 is performed via the hub (HUB) 510 so as to support a plurality of television receivers 500. In the present embodiment, the communication medium from the television receiver 500 to the IP-RF converter 400 is used to transmit a control signal from the television receiver 500 to the IP-RF converter 400. Of course, it is also possible to communicate data from the IP-RF converter 400 to the television receiver 500 in the reverse direction via this communication medium.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the inside of the IP-RF converter 400, and shows the connection relationship between the IP-RF converter 400 and the two television receivers 500a and 500b. In the present embodiment, one IP-RF converter 400 can be shared by a plurality of television receivers 500a and 500b in the receiver's home, and different programs can be viewed at the same time.

The IP-RF converter 400 includes an IP connection unit 410, a terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 for legacy channels, a terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 for pipe channels, and a control unit (IP stream selection / channel selection control unit) 450.

The IP connection unit 410 is a part connected to the IP network 150 to send and receive data. In particular, in the present embodiment, a function of receiving a large number of IP streams of IP broadcasts from a plurality of broadcasting stations, from the control unit 450. It has a function of extracting a predetermined or selected IP stream from a large number of received IP streams according to control, and a function of reproducing and outputting the corresponding TS.

The pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 is the first channel conversion unit in the present invention, and is an IP stream other than the 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting in the area selected by the IP connection unit 410 (for example, BS, CS110 degree, 4K broadcasting). This is a part that receives the TS (for at least one channel) corresponding to the above and outputs it as an RF signal having a frequency (frequency band) corresponding to an empty channel of the terrestrial digital broadcasting of the television receiver 500. The pipe channel is a name of a terrestrial digital physical channel when the IP-RF converter 400 and the television receiver 500 are RF-connected in the present embodiment. The physical channel corresponds to the channel corresponding to the frequency.

The pipe channel transmits an RF signal to each television receiver 500 in the receiver's home for the selected broadcast channel in response to a request from the receiver. For example, when the BS101 channel is selected on the TV receiver 500 side, the BS101 channel selection information is transmitted to the IP-RF converter 400 instead of setting the frequency information in the BS tuner. The IP-RF converter 400 selects the IP stream of the channel according to the IP address and port number corresponding to BS101 in the channel list described later. Further, the selected IP stream is terrestrial digitally modulated, and the RF output frequency and the terrestrial digital physical channel frequency of the television receiver 50 are set so that only the television receiver 500 can view the selected IP stream.

The number of pipe channels is selected so as to sufficiently correspond to the number of video recording / playback devices such as a television receiver 500 and a video recorder in the receiver's home that can be used at the same time.

The legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 is the second channel conversion unit in the present invention, and is a TS corresponding to the IP stream of the 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting channel in the area selected by the IP connection unit 410 (in this example, for a plurality of channels). ) Is received and output as an RF signal having a frequency corresponding to a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel of the television receiver 500. In the present specification, the "legacy channel" corresponds to a terrestrial digital broadcasting channel in a broad sense, and means a terrestrial digital broadcasting channel in an area in a narrow sense. The same applies to "legacy broadcasting".

For in-area terrestrial digital broadcasting (in-area 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting), RF signals with the same number of frequencies as the number of channels in the area are output. For terrestrial digital channels in the area, by outputting the RF signal at the same frequency as the physical channel frequency of each digital channel in the area, normal channel selection using the channel buttons (number keys and channel change keys) of the TV remote control can be performed. .. The second channel conversion unit is not an essential element in the present invention as described in the second embodiment below.

The RF output of the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 is mixed with the RF output of the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 and transmitted to a plurality of television receivers 500 via the same broadcast wave signal transmission medium.

The control unit (IP stream selection / channel selection control unit) 450 selects the IP stream in the IP connection unit 410 and selects the IP stream in the IP connection unit 410 according to the control signals on the communication media 515a and 515b (for example, LAN) from each television receiver 500. , A part for performing channel selection control in the terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 for the legacy channel and the terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 for the pipe channel.

When a plurality of television receivers 500 are connected to the IP-RF converter 400, one RF output of the IP-RF converter 400 is branched and transmitted to a plurality of TVs. Therefore, regarding RF output, it is not possible to output an RF signal only to a specific TV from the side of the IP-RF converter 400. However, by allocating a unique physical channel (for example, an empty channel of terrestrial digital) between the television receiver 500 and the IP-RF converter 400 that requested channel selection with the use of a pipe channel, the RF output thereof. Can be played by only one television receiver 500 whose frequency is set to the physical channel. This can be regarded as substantially equivalent to outputting the television signal only from the IP-RF converter 400 to the specific television receiver 500. Therefore, by using different pipe channels of one IP-RF converter 400 and using different terrestrial digital physical channels (frequency), broadcast programs of different channels can be simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of television receivers 500. It is possible to watch exclusively. Here, "exclusively" means that a broadcast program output from a certain pipe channel can be viewed only by the television receiver 500 to which the pipe channel is assigned.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the internal configuration of the IP connection unit 410.

The PHY chip 411 is a transmission / reception unit connected to a communication medium (for example, 100M / 1G LAN). The PHY chip 411 separates digital data, identifies the link state and speed (10M / 100M / 1G), and detects DUPLEX (FULL / HALF).

The MAC circuit 412 in the subsequent stage operates accordingly. A unique MAC address is set in the MAC circuit 412, so that all received data in which a MAC address other than itself is described is discarded and is not taken into the inside (in the case of unicast transmission). The MAC circuit 412 also handles broadcast and multicast addresses appropriately. In addition to this, FCS (frame check code) is detected, and if an error occurs in the data in the frame, it is discarded as packet loss.

The latter stage of the MAC circuit 412 has a plurality of 1.5KB buffers 413 and 414 for reception and transmission so that processing is not missed.

An IP stream selection / playback unit 415 is arranged after the buffers 413 and 414. The IP stream selective reproduction unit 415 includes a protocol processing unit 416 and an RTP receiving unit 417.

The protocol processing unit 416 executes ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) processing in IPv4, ICMPv6 (Internet Control Message Protocol) processing in IPv6, IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) processing, and the like as typical processing. IPv4 ARP processing / IPv6 ICMPv6 processing is a protocol for obtaining MAC address information from an IP address, and is used for creating an IP address-MAC address table in the present embodiment, thereby managing the IP address. IGMP processing is a communication protocol for setting a group of hosts participating in multicast and notifying the network in order to perform multicast on an IP network. In the present embodiment, this enables a multicast join to be executed and a stream can be captured. Multicast join means that a multicast receiver joins a group called a "multicast group" so that it can receive data from the multicast network.

The RTP receiving unit 417 is a part that receives and processes an IP stream transmitted according to the RTP protocol. It reacts in the order of UDP packet and RTP packet, reproduces only the registered IP packet, and reproduces the original IP packet. Generates a TS rate and reproduces and outputs TS. RTP is an abbreviation for Real-time Transport Protocol (real-time transport protocol), and is a data communication protocol for delivering data streams such as voice and video in real time.
RTP is used on UDP (User Datagram Protocol), which has a simple configuration and is easy to control.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the internal function of the IP stream selective playback unit 415. This figure shows the configuration per channel (CH).

First, in the stream selection unit 415a, a desired IP stream is selected from a plurality of IP streams corresponding to different channels received in series from the IP network 150, and the subsequent FEC (Forward Error Correction) recovery unit 415b and Output to the rate calculation unit 415e.

The FEC recovery unit 415b checks the selected IP stream for missing RTP sequence numbers. If there is any omission, COLUMN FEC and ROW FEC are checked and FEC recovery is performed. The rate calculation unit 415e calculates the byte rate from the time stamp and the sequence number described in the RTP stream. The TS storage buffer 415c in the subsequent stage of the FEC recovery unit 415b temporarily stores the data after the FEC recovery process. Further, the rate reproduction unit 415d in the subsequent stage reads data from the TS storage buffer 415c according to the output of the rate calculation unit 415e, faithfully reproduces the rate, and outputs it as a TS.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic internal configuration of the IP stream selective reproduction unit 415 and the subsequent terrestrial digital modulation units 430 and 440.

The IP stream selective reproduction unit 415 includes an area 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selective reproduction unit 423 and an IP stream selective reproduction unit 425 other than the area 2K terrestrial digital. In the present embodiment, "other than 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting in the area" typically includes 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting outside the area, BS broadcasting, CS110 broadcasting and 4K broadcasting.

The 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selection / playback unit 423 in the area has a plurality of 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting in the corresponding area based on the area designation information (for example, postal code) 421 of the area in which the television receiver 500 is installed. Select the IP stream of the channel and play back and output the TS of multiple terrestrial digital channels (CH). In this example, a maximum of 8 channels from terrestrial digital CH1 to terrestrial digital CH8 are supported.

The reproduction TS of each place digital CH is input to the terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 for the legacy channel. The legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 has a plurality of (8 in this example) ISDBT (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial) modulators 431. The reproduction TS of each place digital CH is input to the corresponding ISDB modulation unit 431. The output of each ISDBT modulator 431 is frequency up-converted by the upconverter 439, converted into a terrestrial digital RF signal having a predetermined terrestrial digital physical CH frequency, mixed, and output to the television receiver 500.

The pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 has a plurality of (8 in this example) ISDBT modulators 441, similarly to the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430. Each selected TS (up to 8 in this example) selected by the IP stream selective playback unit 425 other than the 2K terrestrial digital in the area is input to the corresponding ISDBT modulator 441 and modulated. The modulation output from each ISDB modulation unit 441 is up-converted by the upconverter 449, converted into a terrestrial digital RF signal having a terrestrial digital physical CH frequency different from the above, mixed, and output to the television receiver 500.

Currently, due to the restrictions of terrestrial digital broadcasting, transmission beyond the area is not possible. Therefore, as conceptually shown in FIG. 6, the 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selection / playback unit 423 in the area is selected based on the area designation information 421. A channel list 424 in which the IP address, port number, etc. to be connected to each terrestrial digital channel are set is prepared, and the IP stream is identified, acquired, and reproduced according to the channel list 424, and the broadcast signal (TS) of each digital channel Output as. The number of effective in-area digital channels varies depending on the area, and may be, for example, 5 channels or 8 channels.

In the present embodiment, eight channels (CH) are prepared for terrestrial digital broadcasting in the area as the processing channel capacity in the IP-RF converter 400 to support legacy broadcasting, and the remaining eight channels are connected to pipe channels (detailed below). I have prepared it for you.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, for the in-area terrestrial digital broadcasting, all the television receivers 500 connected to the IP-RF converter 400 can view any in-area terrestrial digital channel, and other than the in-area terrestrial digital broadcasting. Regarding broadcasting channels (out-of-area digital broadcasting, BS broadcasting, CS110-degree broadcasting, etc.), it is possible to have a maximum of eight televisions according to the number of pipe channels watch different channels simultaneously and exclusively.

FIG. 7 shows a functional explanatory diagram of the IP stream selection reproduction unit 425 and the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 other than the 2K terrestrial digital in the area, and the flow of pipe channel selection will be described.

The protocol analysis unit 445 in the control unit 450 receives a command (pipe channel command) related to the pipe channel according to the present embodiment as an uplink control signal from the television receiver 500 via the HUB 510 (FIG. 1). .. Actually, the pipe channel command sent is analyzed while controlling the protocol of a normal network device (ARP, ICMP, IGMP, etc.). When a command to open a pipe channel is received, the physical channel (physical CH) of the pipe channel is determined, that physical channel is set to the upconverter 449 corresponding to the pipe channel, and via the downlink, the physical channel is set to the upconverter 449. Notify the television receiver 500 of the determined physical CH frequency. In FIG. 7, only one channel is shown in the terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 for the pipe channel.

In channel selection (network channel selection) using the IP-RF converter 400, the IP-RF converter 400 includes a "pipe" including designation (channel information) of, for example, the receiver's desired channel "BS101" from the television receiver 500. When the command "channel open BS101" is received, the physical CH frequency of the pipe channel that transmits the BS101 is notified to the television receiver via the communication medium (LAN). Further, the control unit 450 in the IP-RF converter 400 confirms the IP address and the port number assigned to the BS 101, acquires the IP stream by the IP connection unit 410, and starts the reproduction of the TS. .. The channel selection function 425a refers to the channel list 424 for the out-of-area terrestrial digital broadcasting, terrestrial digital broadcasting 4K, BS, CS110, and new channels according to the channel information received by the protocol analysis unit 445, and the IP address and port number thereof. Select and output. That is, these IP addresses are multicast IP addresses, and join the router of the nearest accommodating station 220 (FIG. 1) by using the IGMP command. As a result, the IP-RF converter 400 receives the IP stream of the corresponding BS101, calculates the TS rate, and starts the reproduction of the TS. Further, the TS is input to the ISDBT modulator 441 for modulation, and the upconverter 449 frequency-upconverts the TS according to the frequency of the physical CH and outputs the RF.

The television receiver 500 that has performed the channel selection sets the terrestrial digital physical CH frequency of the pipe channel of the BS101 notified from the IP-RF converter 400 to the terrestrial digital tuner, and waits until the RF signal is received. The ISDBT output modulation delay is about 300-400 ms. This delay is almost the same as the tuner setting delay, so you do not have to be aware of the broadcast delay.

Network channel selection by the same mechanism is possible for channels other than BS. In addition, "new channel" means a channel that can be newly defined, and includes from community channel independent broadcasting to overseas channels.

The above "IP address and port number" can be used to select a desired broadcast program from broadcast programs (IP streams) transmitted by multicast from a broadcast station (host server), or to access a specific server. It is a component of the channel list 424 used in the application. Preferably, the channel list 424 is pre-registered in the IP-RF converter 400 and is automatically updated sequentially from the host server. Every time the channel list 424 in the IP-RF converter 400 is updated, the channel list of the television receiver 500 (video recording / playback device such as a video recorder) is also updated.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the internal configuration of the channel list 424 shown in FIG. As an example, the channel list 424 shows how the IP addresses and port numbers of eight channels of terrestrial digital 4K broadcasting, a plurality of channels of BS, and a plurality of channels of CS are included.

The transmission of the channel list 424 to the television receiver 500 can be performed by, for example, a communication medium (LAN) according to the IP protocol. If the software itself in the TV receiver 500 has already been rewritten, as soon as the main power of the TV receiver 500 is turned on, the connected IP-RF converter 400 is searched for, and BS / CS broadcasting, if any, is performed. Instead of selecting a channel, the IP-RF converter 400 is selected. The channel list 424 is stored in the non-volatile memory in the television receiver 500. Instead, data equivalent to the channel list 424 may be embedded in the software.

The channel list 424 is transmitted to the television receiver 500 by using, for example, data broadcasting in the RF signal of the initial setting channel frequency, which is one of the legacy terrestrial digital channels described later, without communication. It is also possible.

The operation method of the IP-RF converter 400 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

<Operation method of IP-RF converter>
The initial operation for using the IP-RF converter 400 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 9A, the IP-RF converter 400 receives data for initial setting from the host server 115 by a predetermined TS (data broadcast), and receives this as data broadcast of the initial setting channel on a television. RF output to machine 500.
1) Therefore, first, each television receiver 500 performs an initial search for an RF channel to receive a normal terrestrial digital channel and an initial setting channel.
2) Network setting of the TV receiver 500 Next, the network connection setting of the TV receiver 500 is set according to the operation of the user. This allows the television receiver 500 to access the external network.
3) Reception of Initial Setting Channel The television receiver 500 receives a predetermined initial setting channel and displays the data broadcasting screen. This data broadcasting screen starts automatically.

On the data broadcasting screen, the internal information of the television receiver 500 is output to the IP-RF converter 400 in the initial menu. The data broadcast includes the IP address and port number of the IP-RF converter 400, which is the transmission destination. The IP-RF converter 400 sends the received internal information of the television receiver 500 to the host server 115.

Examples of the internal information of the television receiver 500 include the following.
A) B-CAS card number
B) IP address of the TV + port number
C) TV manufacturer
D) Model number
E) Playable video format.

The host server can check whether the TV can be updated with software through a series of processes.

Next, let them approve the download of the update code.
4) Download the software (control program) that has the function of connecting to the IP-RF converter 400.

As shown in FIG. 9B, for example, SDTT (Software Download Trigger Table) is used to update the software so that the television receiver 500 can select a network channel. That is, TS (SDTT) is transmitted from the host server 115 at a predetermined timing, and this is RF output to the television receiver 500 by the IP-RF converter 400. As a result, the software of the television receiver 500 is updated. The ACK signal is returned from the television receiver 500 to the IP-RF converter 400, and further, the ACK signal is returned from the IP-RF converter 400 to the host server 115.

<Example of data broadcasting menu on the default channel>
In order to use the IP-RF converter according to the present embodiment, it is necessary to perform the initial setting. In this initial setting, the user of the television receiver 500 inputs necessary information according to a menu displayed based on the data broadcasting provided by the IP-RF converter 400 on the initial setting channel.

The items displayed on the setting menu screen of the television receiver 500 related to the IP-RF converter 400 include the following items.
-Zip code: Entered by the user (or the person in charge of installing the IP-RF converter) as area designation information.
-UPLINK IP ADDRESS: The IP address of the IP-RF converter, which is notified by data broadcasting from the IP-RF converter 400 as described above and automatically set. Alternatively, it may be input by the user (or the person in charge of installing the IP-RF converter).
-MY IP ADDRESS: The IP address of the TV receiver 500, which is entered by the user (or the person in charge of installing the IP-RF converter).
-MY NET MASK: Information attached to the IP address of the TV receiver 500, which is input by the user (or the person in charge of installing the IP-RF converter).
-DEFAULT GATEWAY ADDRESS: This is the default gateway address and is entered by the user (or the person in charge of installing the IP-RF converter).

In addition, as information on the television receiver 500, information such as a manufacturer name, a model number, a serial number, and whether or not network support is available is displayed.

For items that have not been set, input is solicited by displaying, for example, "---.--- .---.---". A solicitation message such as "The network settings have not been made. Please set from the TV setting menu." May be displayed.

As the channel list 424 used in this embodiment, NIT (Network Information Table) included in SI (Service Information) including program information in the MPEG-2 System standard defined by ARIB STD-B10 is used. be able to. The SI contains information about the transmitting network, such as the channel number, modulation method, and guard interval.

<Overview of network channel selection>
In this embodiment, direct channel selection for terrestrial digital broadcasting is still supported as a legacy channel selection method. Channel selection such as BS and CS is performed using the opened pipe channel. The channel list 424 that can be selected can be received via the Internet. On the TV receiver 500 side, a function of always inquiring the latest channel list 424 to the host server is implemented.

In addition to menu channel selection, direct channel selection using a combination of BS button or CS button and number keys is possible even for channel selection using a pipe channel based on a change in the software of the TV receiver 500. .. For example, when the BS button is pressed, the last channel is instantly evoked, and when it is notified to the IP-RF converter 400, the IP-RF converter 400 tunes to the last channel of the BS. The last channel is a function provided in the existing TV receiver 500, and is linked with the broadcast type switching buttons of terrestrial digital broadcasting, BS, CS1 and CS2, and the channel that was viewed immediately before is stored as the last channel. , It is a function to automatically select the last channel when the broadcast type switching button is pressed. Of course, if the number key is pressed after the broadcast type switching button, the channel is switched to that channel.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a channel selection flow of the television receiver 500 according to the present embodiment. The process of FIG. 10 is executed according to the channel selection operation by operating the TV remote controller or the like.

When the channel selection operation is terrestrial digital channel selection (terrestrial digital channel in the area) (S31), the normal terrestrial digital channel selection process provided in the television receiver 500 is performed (S37).

If not, it is checked whether or not there is a channel list 424 for the IP-RF converter 400 according to the channel selection operation (S32). If it does not exist, the BS / CS channel selection process provided in the television receiver 500 is performed (S36).

When there is a channel list 424 for the IP-RF converter 400 according to the channel selection operation (S32, Yes), a pipe channel allocation request and a desired channel selection (channel selection) for the IP-RF converter 400. (S33). After receiving the pipe channel allocation response from the IP-RF converter 400 (S34), the frequency of the terrestrial digital physical CH corresponding to the pipe channel is set in the tuner of the television receiver 500 (S35).

Following steps S35, S36, and S37, decoding of the broadcast program of the selected channel is started.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a schematic processing procedure of the IP-RF converter 400 according to the present embodiment.

When the power of the IP-RF converter 400 is turned on, the IP-RF converter 400 first reads out the area designation information 421 (FIG. 5) of the installation location (S11).

After that, the IP-RF converter 400 first performs an initial process of registering a terrestrial digital channel in the area. That is, the IP address and port number of terrestrial digital CH1 are acquired from the 2K terrestrial digital channel list in the area (S12), multicast join is performed to this connection destination, and IP-RF conversion of this channel is performed to perform the terrestrial digital. RF output is performed at the channel frequency (S13). This IP address is a multicast IP address. More specifically, use the IGMP command to join the router of the nearest accommodation station.

The channel number is updated (here, incremented by 1) (S15) until the initial processing is completed for all the terrestrial digital CH stations in the area (S14), and the process returns to step S12.

After the initial processing for all terrestrial digital CH stations in the area is completed (S14, Yes), the process shifts to the processing related to the pipe channel.

In the pipe channel-related process, the reception of the pipe channel request from the television receiver 500 is awaited (S16). A pipe channel request is a pipe channel open request or a pipe channel close request.

Upon receiving the pipe channel request, the IP-RF converter 400 identifies from which television receiver 500 the request comes from (S17). For the identification, the requester's TV reception is based on the TV receiver 500's identification information (TV identification information) such as the received source IP address (sender's TV receiver 500) or B-CAS card number. The machine 500 is recognized and a pipe channel is assigned to the TV receiver 500. The terrestrial digital physical CH frequency assigned to the pipe channel is assigned to the one that is not used at that time.

If the pipe channel request is not "pipe channel open", that is, the pipe channel is closed (S18, No), the pipe channel is abandoned (S23), the multicast is released (leave) (S24), and an open ACK response is made. (S25). Then, the process returns to step S16. Multicast release is performed by multicast leave (IGMP command) to the IP address.

If the pipe channel request is "pipe channel open" (S18, Yes), the pipe channel is secured and a physical CH allocation response is performed to the television receiver 500 (S19). That is, a free physical channel of terrestrial digital is assigned. Since the frequency of the terrestrial digital CH in use is determined for each area, a free physical CH is selected by referring to the terrestrial digital CH in use in another pipe channel.

Then, the previous multicast to the television receiver 500 is released (S20). Further, the IP address and the port number are acquired from the channel list (S21), multicast join is performed, IP-RF conversion of this channel is performed, and RF output is performed at the physical channel frequency (S22). Then, the process returns to step S16.

In the case of multicast, the IP stream arrives at the router of the nearest accommodation station, and the IP stream can be extracted from it by multicast join. To retrieve another IP stream, first leave the one you are currently joining and then join again with a different IP address.

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram illustrating a specific exchange regarding opening of a pipe channel and channel selection between the IP-RF converter 400 and the television receiver 500 according to the channel selection protocol of the present embodiment. The television receiver 500 may include a plurality of television receivers 500a, 500b.

Now, for example, based on a user operation using a TV remote controller for the screen for network channel selection of the TV receiver 500, a pipe channel open request (channel selection request) specifying BS101 is converted from the TV receiver 500 to IP-RF. It is assumed that the device is sent to the device 400 (S51). At this time, the TV identification information is also transmitted from the TV receiver 500.

On the other hand, the IP-RF converter 400 secures a vacant pipe channel (S41a), allocates BS101 to the physical CH1 which is one of the vacant channels of the terrestrial digital channel, and notifies the television receiver 500. Returns an ACK signal (S41b). Further, IP-RF conversion for terrestrial digital modulation of the broadcast program of BS101 is started (S42), and RF output is started with the assigned terrestrial digital physical CH1 (S43). If there is no physical channel to allocate, a NACK signal is returned to the television receiver 500.

The television receiver 500 sets the frequency of the received physical CH1 in its own tuner (S52), receives the RF output, and starts reproduction. During the playback, the television receiver 500 periodically (for example, at 1-second intervals) transmits a status indicating that the BS101 (physical CH1) is being viewed on the pipe channel to the IP-RF converter 400. (S53). The IP-RF converter 400 returns an ACK signal to the television receiver 500 each time (S44).

The IP-RF converter 400 automatically closes the pipe channel when no channel is specified for a predetermined period of time. Therefore, the television receiver 500 periodically transmits the status accompanied by the channel designation. If the designated channel is the same as the previous one, the IP-RF converter 400 continuously transmits the program of the same channel.

After that, it is assumed that the television receiver 500 selects a channel to be changed to the 4K1 channel (S54). In response to this, the IP-RF converter 400 maintains the same pipe channel (S45a), notifies the television receiver 500 of the 4K1 channel to the same physical CH1, and returns an ACK signal (S45b). The television receiver 500 maintains the setting of the frequency of the received physical CH1 to its own tuner (S55), receives the RF output, and continues the reproduction. The IP-RF converter 400 starts IP-RF conversion for terrestrial digital modulation of a 4K1 channel broadcast program (S46), and outputs RF with the assigned terrestrial digital physical CH (S47).

During its playback, the television receiver 500 periodically (for example, at 1-second intervals) transmits a status indicating that the 4K1 channel (physical CH1) continues to be viewed on the pipe channel to the IP-RF converter 400. (S56). The IP-RF converter 400 returns an ACK signal to the television receiver 500 each time (S48).

After that, when the power of the television receiver 500 is turned off (S57), the transmission of the status is interrupted, so that the IP-RF converter 400 determines that the viewing of the channel is stopped when the status is not received for a predetermined time. The IP-RF converter 400 closes the pipe channel (S49). Along with this, the multicast of the IP stream is also released.

Such an automatic closing determination of the IP-RF converter 400 can occur not only when the power of the television receiver 500 is turned off, but also when switching to a channel that does not use the pipe channel occurs.

In addition to such an automatic close determination, the television receiver 500 may be able to explicitly issue a pipe close instruction to the IP-RF converter 400 for a specific physical CH.

If a pipe channel is opened without being closed, another pipe channel (physical channel) is selected. A television receiver 500 or the like may be equipped with two or three tuners for so-called back recording. In such a case, it is possible to deal with it by opening a new pipe channel without closing the once opened pipe channel.

The television receiver 500 having a function of decoding 4K broadcasts can reproduce 4K broadcasts in the terrestrial digital frequency band using a pipe channel if the received IP stream contains a 4K TS stream. The 4K TS stream has the same structure as the 2K TS stream. What is limited by the pipe channel is a rate that includes 4K, only that the maximum transmission rate is 21 Mbps.

According to the first embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

(A) For in-area terrestrial digital broadcasting, all TV receivers 500 connected to the IP-RF converter 400 can view any in-area terrestrial digital channel, and broadcasts other than in-area terrestrial digital broadcasting (outside area). For channels (digital broadcasting, BS broadcasting, CS110 degree broadcasting, etc.), it is possible to allow a plurality of televisions according to the number of pipe channels to simultaneously and exclusively watch different channels.

(B) The same channel selection as before is supported for 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting within the area via the IP network, and terrestrial digital broadcasting for 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting outside the area, BS broadcasting, and CS110 broadcasting via the pipe channel. It is possible to watch a desired television broadcast with a conventional digital television receiver 500 equipped with a tuner.

(C) The initial setting and channel selection (channel selection) operation for the IP-RF converter 400 can all be operated only by the TV remote controller.

(D) One IP-RF converter 400 at each receiver's home can support a plurality of television receivers 500 and video recording / playback devices such as a video recorder. The same applies to video recording / playback devices such as video recorders instead of “television receivers” regarding the allocation of pipe channels.

(E) Since one pipe channel can be selectively assigned to a plurality of IP streams, it is possible to support broadcasting of 200 to 300 channels in the future without difficulty. That is, theoretically there is no limit to the additional channels. This makes it possible to directly watch overseas TV programs.

(F) By using only the UHF band of the terrestrial digital, the bands such as BS left-handed and CS left-handed are not required, and the television broadcast signal can be transmitted by the conventional UHF cable (coaxial cable).

(G) It is possible to deal with the conventional digital television receiver 500 with a minimum of software modification.

<Second embodiment>
Depending on the conditions of network billing, it may be practically difficult for the IP-RF converter 400 to always request multicast for all channels in the area for legacy channels. In such a case, it is possible to deal with the legacy channel only by the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 without providing the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430.

In the first embodiment, both the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 and the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 are provided, and the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 simultaneously performs 2K terrestrial digital channels (for example, 8CH) in a plurality of areas. An example is shown in which digital modulation is performed to support legacy broadcasting, and the remaining 8 channels are used for pipe connection by the terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 for a pipe channel. However, in theory, by using at least one pipe channel, the television receiver 500 can be made compatible with all of terrestrial digital broadcasting, BS, CS, and channels newly registered in the future. That is, in the conventional television receiver 500, it is basic that the frequency is selected by the tuner and a specific channel is received. However, if the transmitting side and the receiving side agree on the selected channel, it is not necessary to use a large number of frequency bands. By using the pipe channel, it is possible to selectively receive a plurality of channels even in only one frequency band (CH).

FIG. 13 shows a schematic configuration of the inside of the IP-RF converter 400a according to the second embodiment, and shows the connection relationship between the IP-RF converter 400a and the television receiver 500. Similar to the first embodiment, this figure shows two television receivers 500a and 500b. B-CAS cards 550a and 550b are attached to the television receivers 500a and 500b, respectively. In addition, TV remote controls 530a and 530b are attached, respectively.

The second embodiment does not have the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430, but includes only the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 440. Theoretically, it is possible to support broadcasting of all channels in one frequency band. However, although the number of pipe channels may be one for one TV receiver 500, in practice, there are a plurality of pipe channels in order to support a plurality of TV receivers 500 or a video recording / playback device such as a video recorder. It is preferable to prepare a pipe channel of.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the 2K terrestrial digital channel in the area is also viewed via the pipe channel. Therefore, in addition to the above contents, the channel list includes 2K terrestrial digital channels in the area, and the receiver selects a desired channel from the channels.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure of channel selection by a pipe channel between the IP-RF converter 400a and the television receiver 500 in the present embodiment. In the television receiver 500, a plurality of television receivers 500a and 500b may be involved in this process in parallel.

Now, when the television receiver 500 receives a channel selection (CH instruction) based on a user operation using a television remote controller for, for example, a screen for network channel selection of the television receiver 500 (S1), the communication medium (LAN) A pipe channel open request (channel selection request) is transmitted to the IP-RF converter 400a via the channel (CH) along with the desired channel (CH) information (S2). At this time, the TV identification information is also transmitted from the TV receiver 500.

Upon receiving this pipe channel open request, the IP-RF converter 400 secures and allocates a pipe channel that is vacant at that time to the IP stream of the desired CH (S3), and physically allocates the pipe channel via the communication medium (LAN). Notify the CH to the television receiver 500 (S4). Further, the IP stream of the desired CH is selected (S5).

Upon receiving the notification of the physical CH, the television receiver 500 sets the frequency of the physical CH in the built-in terrestrial digital tuner (S7).

On the other hand, the IP-RF converter 400 starts IP-RF conversion of the selected IP stream using the pipe channel (S6), and transmits the RF output of the terrestrial digital physical CH frequency to the broadcast wave signal transmission medium. It is sent to the TV receiver 500 via (coaxial cable) (S8).

The television receiver 500 receives the transmitted RF signal and starts reproducing the physical CH (S9).

Even if there are a plurality of television receivers 500 to which the same broadcast wave signal transmission medium (coaxial cable) is connected, only the television receiver 500 in which an appropriate physical CH frequency is set can reproduce the broadcast.

This process is substantially the same as the procedure for channel selection of the pipe channel in the first embodiment, except that the target of network channel selection includes the 2K terrestrial digital channel in the area.

According to the second embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained except for the effect obtained by the terrestrial digital modulation unit 430 for the legacy channel. In addition to this, according to the second embodiment, wasteful billing for network billing is eliminated by supporting only the pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation section 440 without providing the legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation section 430. be able to.

<Third embodiment>
FIG. 15 shows the connection relationship between the IP-RF converter 400b and the television receiver 500 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the above, a plurality of television receivers 500 can be connected to one IP-RF converter 400b. This figure shows two television receivers 500a and 500b. B-CAS cards 550a and 550b are attached to the television receivers 500a and 500b, respectively. In addition, TV remote controls 530a and 530b are attached, respectively.

In this third embodiment, the IP-RF converter 400b is provided with a parental control unit 460. The parental control unit 460 has a function of restricting viewing for each channel to the television receiver 500 connected to the IP-RF converter 400b. In addition, when a plurality of television receivers 500 are connected, it is possible to restrict viewing of channels for each television receiver 500. For example, it is possible to control that only the channels registered in advance for each television receiver 500 can be viewed for paid channels.

Therefore, for example, a pay channel registration screen may be provided on the television receiver 500, and a purchase button as an instruction means for purchase may be mounted on the screen.

The following methods can be considered as a method for selecting a channel to be newly registered. For example, the enter button on the TV remote controller can be used for the channel selection. When data broadcasting is not displayed in the video display, pressing the enter button will display the channel selection menu common to all TVs. Channel selection can be achieved by moving the cursor.

The following can be considered as the channel selection menu on the pay channel registration screen.
1) Playlist 2) 2K area terrestrial TV station 3) BS TV station 4) CS1 CS2 TV station 5) Sky Perfect TV station 6) 2K area outside terrestrial TV station 7) Terrestrial digital 4K TV station

This channel selection menu can be downloaded through the IP network. Various known formats can be used as the format, and the format is not particularly limited.

For channels other than terrestrial digital broadcasting in the area, the receiver can select from the playlist by registering the channel once selected in the playlist.

FIG. 16 shows an example of the internal configuration of the IP-RF converter 400b for performing such parental control.

In this example, the IP-RF converter 400b includes an IP stream selection unit 415a, a parental control unit 460, a terrestrial digital modulation unit 440, and an IP stream selection / channel selection control unit 450. The terrestrial digital modulation unit 440 is the above-mentioned pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit, and may further include a legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 430. The IP stream selective playback unit 415 has a cryptographic decoding function (decryption unit) in addition to the function of the IP stream selective playback unit 415 of FIG. 3 described above.

The parental control unit 460 includes a channel registration unit 461, a parental control unit 462, a billing processing unit 463, and a storage unit 464. As the parental control unit 460, a known security chip or the like can be used.

The channel registration unit 461 has a function (initial channel registration function) of receiving a desired channel registration request from the television receiver 500 and registering the channel in association with the television receiver 500. A decryption key (for example, a viewing license key) for decrypting the IP stream of the channel registered for each television receiver 500 is also registered in the channel registration unit 461 for the channel on which the IP stream is encrypted. In the present specification, "channel registration" may include registration of a channel program unit.

Note that this IP stream encryption is different from the scrambled channel of satellite broadcasting, and is an encryption that the broadcasting station independently sets for the pay channel. For example, a cipher as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-116127 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-220886) relating to the applicant of the present application can be used.

When the viewing restriction control unit 462 receives a channel selection (channel selection) from the television receiver 500 after channel registration, the viewing restriction control unit 462 confirms whether the selected channel is registered for the television receiver 500 and registers the selected channel. It has a function to allow the output of the channel when it is set to, and to disallow the output of the channel when it is not registered.

The billing processing unit 463 is a part that performs a predetermined billing process when registering a pay channel, and constitutes a billing means. In this example, it is performed by accessing a predetermined server online.

In this example, the storage unit 464 non-volatilely stores the area designation information, the TV identification information, and the viewing restriction information, and the viewing restriction is performed based on these. The area designation information can be used to allow viewing of terrestrial digital broadcasting channels within the area without imposing parental control (free of charge) and on the condition that terrestrial digital channels outside the area are charged (charged).

As described above, the TV identification information is information for identifying each TV receiver 500, and is assigned to, for example, the B-CAS card number mounted on the TV receiver 500 or the TV receiver 500. IP address. In this embodiment, an example using the B-CAS card number will be described. The TV identification information is, in a narrow sense, identification information of a television receiver, but in a broad sense, it may also include identification information of a video recording / playback device to which a B-CAS card is mounted. In this sense, the TV identification information can be said to be device identification information. Parental control information is information on permitted channels set for each TV identification information.

Channel registration can be performed using the data broadcasting screen on the initial setting channel as described above. The method of activating the initial channel registration is not particularly limited, but for example, it may be performed by using the enter button of the TV remote controller. The enter button is convenient because it has no meaning when the data broadcasting is not driven. Note that some elements in the parental control unit 460 may belong to another block such as the control unit 450.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the initial registration process of the pay channel by the IP-RF converter 400b.

The IP-RF converter 400b waits for a channel registration request from the television receiver 500 (S60).

When a channel registration request is received from the TV receiver 500 (S60Yes), a predetermined server (registration server) is accessed via the network to receive the data broadcast, the TV receiver 500 is displayed on the data broadcast screen, and the data broadcast screen is displayed there. Display all channels that can be selected. At this time, in addition to the text, a picture or a still image representing the channel can be included.

When a channel is selected from the TV receiver 500, the TV identification information and the channel information (CH information) desired by the receiver are confirmed (S61), and the information is sent to the registration server (S62). .. The registration server may be provided inside or outside the telecommunications company main office 110 shown in FIG.

If there is no problem in the registration in response to the recipient's manifestation of purchase intention (for example, pressing the purchase button) (S63, Yes), the billing process is performed (S64). If there is a problem, a predetermined NG message is output (S65), and the process returns to the first step S60.

In the billing process, for example, by accepting the credit card information of the recipient, the registration procedure of the pay channel is completed. In response to this, the registered channel information, the viewing license key, and the like are received, and are stored (registered) internally in association with the TV identification information (S67). Next, a message indicating that the registration acceptance has been completed is output (S68), and the process returns to the first step S60.

If there is a problem in the billing process (S66, No), a predetermined NG message is output (S69), and the process returns to the first step S60.

Until now, parental control of satellite broadcasting and the like has been lifted, for example, by sending an EMM stream periodically transmitted from satellite broadcasting to a B-CAS card mounted on a television receiver 500. This method took a considerable amount of time. In the case of the present embodiment, the channel registration and the parental control release can be performed extremely quickly because the TV receiver 500 can directly access the host server via the IP-RF converter 400b.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of channel selection processing of a parental-controlled channel of the IP-RF converter 400b. This process can be performed by operating the TV remote controller from the network channel selection screen using the IP-RF converter 400b in the TV receiver 500.

The IP-RF converter 400b waits for an instruction of the channel desired by the receiver from the television remote controller (S80). If there is a channel instruction, it is checked whether the channel is charged (S81).

If there is no charge, the process proceeds to step S89, and RF output of the channel is performed by the same process as in the first or second embodiment (S89).

If there is a charge, the TV identification information of the TV receiver 500 that issued the channel instruction is confirmed, and the registration contents of the channel corresponding to the TV identification information are confirmed (S82). At that time, also confirm the existence of the viewing license key.

If the channel corresponding to the TV identification information is not registered (S83, No), an NG message for rejecting the channel selection is output (S90), and the process returns to the first step S80.

If the channel corresponding to the TV identification information is registered (S83, Yes), a pipe channel is opened for the channel for the TV identification information (S84). If a pipe channel is already secured, such as when switching channels, the pipe channel is temporarily closed and a new pipe channel is opened. Instead, only the IP stream to be sent to the pipe channel may be switched while the pipe channel is secured.

Following step S84, it is checked whether the IP stream of the channel is uniquely encrypted (S85). If not, the process proceeds to step S88. If the original encryption is performed, it is checked whether or not the viewing license key (decryption key) is stored (S86). If it has not been saved, an NG message to that effect is output (S91), and the process returns to the first step S80.

If the viewing license key (decryption key) is saved, the IP stream is decrypted using the key (S87). Then, RF output using the pipe channel is performed on the selected channel (S88), and the process returns to the first step S80.

<Fourth Embodiment>
FIG. 19 shows an example of the internal configuration of the IP-RF converter 400c according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The same components as above are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description will be omitted. This embodiment includes a viewing history data storage unit 470 that stores viewing history data using the IP-RF converter 400 (including 400a and 400b) described above. The viewing history data storage unit 470 is also connected to the IP stream selection / channel selection control unit 450, and views the history data each time the channel selection operation (channel designation and channel change) of each TV receiver 500 is performed. Accumulate as historical data. This viewing history data is taken out from an external host server or the like at a desired time for measurement of the audience rating data or the like, or transmitted to the host server or the like. The identification information of the IP-RF converter 400 is also added to the viewing history data at that time.

FIG. 20 shows an example of the processing flow of the IP-RF converter 400c and each television receiver 500 according to the fourth embodiment.

Each television receiver 500 monitors the presence or absence of a channel designation or channel change operation by the viewer using a television remote control or the like (S101), and if there is such an operation, the television is connected to the IP-RF converter 400c. Notify the designated or changed channel information together with the TV identification information of the receiver 500 (S102). Upon receiving this notification, the IP-RF converter 400 accumulates viewing history data in association with the TV identification information for the TV receiver (S203). Specifically, when the IP stream selection / channel selection control unit 450 receives such a notification, the viewing history data is the time-series data in which the designated channel or the change destination channel is associated with the date and time information. It accumulates in the storage unit 470. As a result, the IP-RF converter 400 can obtain history information of channel designation and update in time series. Although not particularly shown, the IP-RF converter 400 has a clock function.

When the channel is changed or the power of the TV receiver 500 is turned off (S202, Yes), the date and time when the power of the TV receiver 500 is turned off is also included in the viewing history data (S203). The IP-RF converter 400 can detect the power-off of the television receiver 500 by the method described above. The date and time information may be confirmed on the television receiver 500 side and included in the notification for transmission.

The above-mentioned pipe channel request can also serve as the notification of the specified channel or the channel to be changed from the television receiver 500 to the IP-RF converter 400. In this sense, this embodiment is suitable for the second embodiment. However, in the first embodiment, when the legacy channel is selected at least in the television receiver 500, the presence or absence of the channel change is confirmed at a predetermined cycle (for example, 1 second), and when the channel change is confirmed, the change destination is confirmed. This embodiment can also be applied to the first embodiment by taking measures such as transmitting channel information to the IP-RF converter 400 via a communication medium (LAN). Further, instead of this measure, the information of the currently selected channel is always transmitted from the television receiver 500 to the IP-RF converter 400 at a predetermined cycle (for example, 1 second) regardless of whether or not the channel is changed. You may do it. In this case, the presence or absence of the channel change can be determined on the side of the IP-RF converter 400.

As the viewing history data, instead of or in addition to the time-series data in which the specified channel or the change destination channel is associated with the date and time information, the viewing start date and time information and the viewing end date and time information for each channel are obtained. It may be accumulated. The date and time when the channel is specified or changed becomes the viewing start date and time. When the channel is changed or the power of the television receiver 500 is turned off, it is determined that the viewing of the channel that has been viewed up to that point has ended, and the date and time at that time becomes the viewing end date and time for that channel. The time from the end start date and time of a set of a certain channel to the end start date and time may be calculated as one viewing time and accumulated together.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various modifications and changes can be made in addition to those described above.

For example, the configuration, number, operation, processing details, processing order, etc. of the entire system and each part described above do not necessarily have to be as described above, and can be modified and changed within a range that does not hinder.

Although the IP network 150 has been described by taking a wide area multicast network as an example, the IP network 150 is not necessarily limited to this, and may be another communication network as long as a function substantially equivalent to the above can be realized. It does not exclude the use of 5th generation (5G) networks, which are expected to become widespread in the future. Further, although the communication method has been described as "multicast", it does not necessarily exclude the use of other communication methods such as unicast.

100 Television broadcaster 101 Terrestrial digital (terrestrial digital) broadcast station 102 CS broadcast station 103 BS broadcast station 104 CATV station 110 Communication company main station 115 Host server 150 Network 210 Relay station 220 Accommodation station 300 Recipient home 320 Router 400, 400a, 400b, 400c IP-RF converter 410 IP connection 411 PHY chip 412 MAC circuit 413,414 Buffer 415 IP stream selection playback unit 415a Stream selection unit 415b Recovery unit 415c Storage buffer 415d Rate reproduction unit 415e Rate calculation unit 416 Protocol processing unit 417 RTP receiver Receiver 421 Area designation information 423 Area 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selection playback unit 424 Channel list 425 Area other than 2K terrestrial digital IP stream selection playback unit 425a Channel selection function 430 Legacy channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 431 ISDBT modulation Instrument 439 Upconverter 440 Pipe channel terrestrial digital modulation unit 441 ISDBT modulator 445 Protocol analysis unit 449 Upconverter 450 Stream selection / channel selection control unit 460 Viewing restriction unit 461 Channel registration unit 462 Viewing restriction control unit 463 Billing processing unit 464 Storage unit 470 Viewing history data storage unit 500, 500a, 500b TV receivers 515a, 515b Communication media 530a, 530b TV remote control 550a, 550b B-CAS card

Claims (15)

An IP-RF converter that is placed in front of a television receiver and converts an IP stream of television broadcasting received from an IP network into an RF signal and transmits it to the television receiver.
An IP connection that receives multiple IP streams from multiple channels of television broadcasting from an IP network,
An IP stream selection unit that is connected to the IP connection unit and selects a desired IP stream from the plurality of received IP streams in response to a receiver's channel selection request from the television receiver via a communication medium. When,
A first channel converter that converts the selected desired IP stream into an RF signal of a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel and outputs it via a broadcast wave signal transmission medium.
A control unit that notifies the television receiver of information on the terrestrial digital physical channel via a communication medium and controls the tuner of the television receiver to set the frequency of the terrestrial digital physical channel.
IP-RF converter equipped with. The IP-RF converter according to claim 1, wherein the IP network is a wide area multicast network. A plurality of IP streams of a 2K terrestrial digital broadcasting channel selected from the plurality of IP streams corresponding to a plurality of predetermined terrestrial digital physical channels connected to the IP connection unit and for the television receiver. The IP-RF conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a second channel conversion unit that converts and outputs an RF signal. Of the plurality of prepared terrestrial digital physical channels, the physical channels of the first group are assigned to the plurality of 2K terrestrial digital channels in the area of the recipient's house in the second channel conversion unit, and the second group The IP-RF converter according to claim 3, wherein the physical channel is assigned to at least one channel other than the 2K terrestrial digital channel in the area in the first channel conversion unit. A registration means for registering the channel in association with the television receiver in response to a registration request for the desired channel from the television receiver.
After the registration, when a channel is selected from the TV receiver, it is confirmed whether the selected channel is registered for the TV receiver, and when it is registered, the output of the channel is permitted. , A viewing restriction means that disallows the output of the channel when it is not registered,
The IP-RF converter according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The IP-RF conversion device according to claim 5, further comprising a charging means that involves charging for channel registration. Further equipped with decryption means for decrypting the cipher,
The registration means has a means for registering a decryption key for decrypting the code for the IP stream of the channel registered for each television receiver.
The decryption means will decrypt the IP stream if the corresponding decryption key is registered for the corresponding channel of the IP stream when the encrypted IP stream is selected from the TV receiver. 6. The IP-RF converter according to 6. The IP-RF conversion device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a viewing history data storage unit that stores the viewed channel and the viewing start date / time information of the television receiver as viewing history data. The IP-described in claim 8, wherein the viewing history data storage unit stores the viewing end date / time information of the television receiver as the viewing history data in addition to the viewing channel and its viewing start date / time information. RF converter. The IP-RF conversion device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the viewing history data storage unit stores the viewing history data for each TV receiver when connected to a plurality of the TV receivers. It is an IP-RF conversion method in an IP-RF converter located in front of a television receiver and connected to an IP network.
A step of receiving a receiver's channel selection request from the television receiver via a communication medium, and
A step of selecting an IP stream corresponding to the received channel selection request of a television broadcast from the IP network and assigning a predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel to the selected IP stream.
The step of converting the selected IP stream into an RF signal of the predetermined terrestrial digital physical channel and outputting it to the television receiver via a broadcast wave signal transmission medium and the information of the terrestrial digital physical channel are transmitted to the television receiver. A step of notifying via a communication medium and causing the tuner of the television receiver to set the frequency of the terrestrial digital physical channel.
IP-RF conversion method including. The IP-RF conversion method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of transmitting information of a plurality of channels to be viewed to the television receiver. A step of receiving a registration request for a desired channel from a TV receiver and registering the channel in association with the TV receiver.
After the registration, when a channel is selected from the TV receiver, it is confirmed whether the selected channel is registered for the TV receiver, and when it is registered, the output of the channel is permitted. The IP-RF conversion method according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising a step of disallowing the output of the channel when it is not registered. The IP-RF conversion method according to claim 13, further comprising a step involving charging for registering the channel. At the time of the registration, the step of registering the decryption key for decrypting the code for the IP stream of the registered channel for each TV receiver, and
A claim further comprising a step of decrypting the IP stream if the corresponding decryption key is registered for the corresponding channel of the IP stream when an encrypted IP stream is selected from a television receiver. The IP-RF conversion method according to 13 or 14.

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