JP2505260Y2 - Coin timer device for CATV system - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention is an improvement of a coin timer device for a CATV system for paying a fee for viewing a TV program in a CATV system mainly installed as a facility in a hotel / inn. Regarding

2. Description of the Related Art In hotels and inns, it is common to install a CATV system as an in-house facility to allow guests to watch TV programs.

In this type of system, in addition to public broadcast programs, independent broadcast programs unique to the system can also be viewed,
All or part of the latter usually pays a viewing fee according to the viewing time and charges the fee, and as a means for this, a coin timer device is attached to the television receiver of each room.

On the other hand, in the case of a self-broadcasting program at a hotel or the like, there are many cases where it is necessary to limit the viewers who should be allowed to watch such as so-called adult movies.

Therefore, in order to realize such a limited function of viewing programs, a prohibition signal is sent from the front device to the coin timer device in each room, and when there is this prohibition signal, the viewer who wants to watch a specific program is selected. It has been proposed that the operation is not accepted (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 64-2229). In this device, a prohibition switch corresponding to each room is provided in the front device, and by connecting the prohibition switch and the coin timer device, a viewer who wants to watch a specific program can watch through the prohibition switch. The selection operation can be invalidated.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention Therefore, according to such a conventional technique, the prohibition switch of the front device must be individually connected to the coin timer device in each room, resulting in a huge amount of cable work and installation. There was a problem of excessive cost.
Also, as a result of the viewer's operation to select a program whose viewing is prohibited being completely ignored, the psychological repulsion of the viewer is great and complaints that the device is broken are likely to occur. The problem was unavoidable.

Therefore, in view of such a problem of the conventional technology, an object of the present invention is to send pattern information designating a program selectable by a viewer to each room by using a transmission path for transmitting the program, By providing a program selection means for selecting a program according to this pattern information, no special cable work is required other than the transmission path for program transmission, and a coin timer device for CATV system in which a device failure is unlikely to occur To provide.

Means for Solving the Problems The structure of the present invention for achieving the above object stores pattern information transmitted from a front device through a transmission path and designating a combination pattern of programs selectable by a viewer. A pattern storage unit, a program selection unit for selecting a program transmitted through a transmission line according to the pattern information from the pattern storage unit, and a timer unit for measuring a viewing time when a pay program is selected by the program selection unit. The point is to have and.

The timer unit may be provided with a charge setting unit that sets the viewable time by referring to the charge information for each program.

With this configuration of the invention, since the pattern information from the front device is transmitted through the transmission path and stored in the pattern storage section, the program selecting means performs the program selecting operation by the viewer. At this time, it is possible to refer to this pattern information and select a program according to the pattern information. Therefore, by designating a combination pattern of programs permitted to be viewed for each room by this pattern information, viewing of programs not included in the combination pattern can be prohibited.

When the timer unit includes a charge setting unit, the charge setting unit sets the viewable time in the timer unit for each selected program. At this time, the charge setting section refers to the charge information stored in advance, and since this charge information can be rewritten by the control signal sent from the front device, the viewing unit price for each program can be easily calculated from the front device. You can change the settings.

Example Hereinafter, an example will be described with reference to the drawings.

The CATV system coin timer device (hereinafter, simply referred to as a coin timer device) 10 includes a pattern storage unit 13, a command output unit 14, an operation unit 14a, a program selection unit including a program allocation storage unit 14b, and a timer unit 19. , And the converter 15 as main members (Fig. 1).

The CATV system consists of the broadcast source device HS and the front device FS.
And a television receiver TV with a coin timer device 10 installed for each of a large number of guest rooms i (i = 1, 2, ... N).
It is connected through (Fig. 2).

Broadcast source device HS includes a public broadcast receiver HS1 having receiving antennas A, connects the voluntary program broadcasting device HS2 to the transmitter HS _3, the output of the transmitter HS3 is connected to one end of the transmission path B . The transmitting device HS3 includes a public broadcast program received by the public broadcast receiving device HS1 and an independent program broadcast device HS.
The independent broadcast program transmitted by 2 is used as a multiplexed video signal in which different carrier waves are associated with each other.
Can be sent on. It should be noted that a plurality of public broadcast programs and independent broadcast programs are simultaneously broadcast, and therefore, all of these programs are transmitted on the transmission path B via different carrier waves.

The front device FS is installed, for example, at the front of a hotel or the like, and is connected to the broadcast source device HS via a bidirectional communication path B1 and is also connected to the transmission path B. The front device FS can control the broadcast source device HS via the communication path B1 and can also monitor its operating state. It is assumed that the front device FS includes a communication control device that has an operation switch (not shown) and sends the operation content of the operation switch as a control signal to the transmission path B.

In the coin timer device 10, the identification unit 12, the pattern storage unit 13, the command output unit 14, and the converter 15 are cascaded to the output of the demodulator 11 connected to the transmission path B, and the television receiver TV is connected to the output of the converter 15. (Fig. 1).

A bypass line L10 for the video signal is provided between the demodulator 11 and the converter 15. Also,
In addition to the operation unit 14a and the program allocation storage unit 14b, the command output unit 14 is additionally provided with a timer unit 19 having a coin inspection unit 19a.
Further, the output of the command output unit 14 is the display unit 18, the timer unit 19
It is also branched and connected.

The demodulator 11 of the coin timer device 10 has a transmission line B.
The multiplexed video signal existing above and the control signal sent from the front device FS are demultiplexed, and the former is sent to the converter 15 via the bypass line L10, while the latter is sent to the identification unit 12. You can

The converter 15 extracts one wave from the multiplexed video signal from the demodulator 11 corresponding to the program selection number N output from the command output unit 14 and transfers it to the television receiver TV.
That is, the television receiver TV has its channel selection mechanism fixed so as to receive only a specific one-wave video signal, and the converter 15 sets the arbitrary one-wave corresponding to the program selection number N to the television. The frequency is converted to a frequency channel that can be received by the receiver TV (hereinafter referred to as a specific channel) and then output. Therefore, by changing the program selection number N given to the converter 15, the television receiver TV can select and broadcast an arbitrary program for viewing.
It should be noted that the converter 15 individually converts only those of the multiplex video signal supplied via the bypass line L10, which are related to the independent broadcast program, to specific channels, and those of the public broadcast program, without frequency conversion. , All of them may be passed through the television receiver TV. At this time, the selection of one wave in the public broadcast program depends on the channel selection mechanism of the television receiver TV.

The identification unit 12 identifies the control signal from the demodulator 11, and only when the control signal corresponds to the passenger room i in which the coin timer device 10 is installed, the content is stored in the pattern storage unit 13. Forward. That is, now, the front device FS sends as a control signal a pair of identification information for identifying the passenger room i and pattern information P set for the passenger room i via the operation switch of the front device FS. As a result, the identification unit 12 determines the latter only when the room number instructed by the former indicates the own room.
The pattern storage unit 13 sends the pattern information P to the pattern information P.
Is stored. As the pattern information P, for example, a one-digit number can be used.

The operation unit 14a has a plurality of program selection switches (not shown). Further, the command output unit 14 corresponds to the program selection switch operated by the operation unit 14a, and corresponds to the program allocation storage unit 14
Referring to the program allocation information previously stored in b and the pattern information P stored in the pattern storage unit 13,
The program selection number N is determined and output to the converter 15.

The program allocation information is a list of public broadcast programs and independent broadcast programs for each program selection switch, and a list of prioritized programs for selection of which program among the independent broadcast programs (third program). Figure). For example, in the figure, the first program selection switch is for a self-broadcasting program, the first order allocation is program A, the second order allocation is program C, and the third and fourth order allocations are program B, respectively. , D. The same applies to the second and third program selection switches, and the first to fourth order allocations thereof are the programs B, C, B and E, and the programs C and C, respectively.
C and F. The fourth program selection switch is for public broadcasting programs, and no special ranking is assigned to it.

Therefore, for example, when the pattern information P is the number 1, the command output unit 14 responds to the selection operation of the first to third program selection switches by the first order of each program selection switch. Program selection numbers N = Na, Nb, and Nc are determined so that the allocated programs A, B, and C are selected, and these are output to the converter 15. When the pattern information P is the number 2, the command output unit 14 outputs the program selection numbers N = Nc, Nc, Nc so as to select the programs C, C, C of the second-order allocation, and so on. In this case, the combination pattern of programs that the viewer can watch on the television receiver TV can be uniformly defined by the pattern information P.

For the program selection number N = No when the fourth program selection switch is operated, the converter 15 operates so that the video signals of all public broadcast programs are passed through, and at this time, the television receiver One of them can be viewed via the channel selection mechanism of the TV. When the converter 15 selectively frequency-converts one wave of a public broadcast program into a specific channel, a plurality of fourth program selection switches may be provided for each program included in the public broadcast program. Good.

The display unit 18 displays the program selection numbers N = No, Na, Nb ... Output from the command output unit 14 to the converter 15 in this way.

The timer unit 19 determines that the independent broadcast program has been selected by the program selection number N, measures the viewing time t thereof, and, with respect to the viewable time T corresponding to the amount of money put into the coin checking unit 19a, Command output unit 14 when t ≧ T
Send the time-up signal to. On the other hand, the command output unit 14 forcibly interrupts the viewing of the independent broadcast program by automatically changing the program selection number N to N = No,
You can switch to public broadcast programs. However, it is assumed here that all independent broadcast programs are pay programs and all public broadcast programs are free programs.

In this way, by sending the control signal from the front device FS and setting the pattern information P for a specific guest room i, the viewer of the guest room i can view the combination pattern specified by the pattern information P. Only from inside will you be able to select and view independent broadcast programs. For example, the third
In the figure, when the pattern information P is set to correspond to the first-order allocation, the viewer can view the programs A, B, C in the independent broadcast program.
Only the combination of can be selected and viewed, and programs D, E and F cannot be viewed at all. When set to correspond to the second rank allocation, only program C can be viewed and other programs cannot be viewed. For the third and fourth rank allocations,
A combination of programs B, C and programs D, E, F can be viewed.

In this system, when the pattern information P is set to correspond to the second rank allocation, the television receiver TV broadcasts the program C regardless of which of the first to third program selection switches is selected. However, even at this time, for example, if the operated program selection switch is also displayed on the display unit 18, the display on the display 18 can be changed each time the program selection switch is operated, When the program selection number N = Nc is re-outputted to the converter 15,
By suspending the screen of the TV receiver TV for a moment, the psychological repulsion of the viewer can be minimized.

Other Embodiments The timer unit 19 of the coin timer device 10 includes a charge setting unit 21
May be attached (Fig. 4). The charge setting unit 21 is interposed between the output of the command output unit 14 and the timer unit 19, while the charge setting unit 21 branches and inputs the output of the identification unit 12 via the charge information storage unit 21a.

From the front device FS, the viewing unit price of each pay program of the self-broadcasting program is transmitted as a control signal, and is stored as the charge information in the charge information storage unit 21a via the identification unit 12. In addition, the viewing unit price at this time is, for example, the available viewing time To corresponding to the unit amount of money put into the public inspection unit 19a.
It is convenient to represent with. The charge setting unit 21 is a command output unit
The pay selection program selected by the viewer is specified by the program selection number N from 14, and the pay information stored in the charge information storage unit 21a is checked and the timer unit 19 is adapted to the selected pay program. Output the available viewing time To. Therefore,
The timer unit 19 uses this viewable time To to
Calculate the viewing time T corresponding to the amount of money put into 19a,
The viewing time of the selected pay program can be controlled.

In the above description, the pattern information P for each guest room i set by the front device FS is, for example, by checking out the guest room i, programs A, B for the general public,
The C combination pattern can be automatically changed to a value corresponding to the first rank assignment. Further, a clock device may be incorporated in the front device FS, and the pattern information P may be automatically changed to the general public at an appropriate predetermined time, provided that the guest in the room i does not continuously stay.

Further, the pattern information P may be simply two types of numbers 0 and 1, one of which may correspond to the first rank allocation in FIG. 3 and the other may correspond to the second rank allocation. The first rank allocation at this time corresponds to the case where no restriction is applied to the program selection operation of the viewer, and the second rank allocation corresponds to the case where the restriction is added to this.

Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the pattern storage unit, the program selection unit, and the timer unit are provided, and the pattern storage unit stores the pattern information transmitted through the transmission path. The program selecting means allows the selective viewing of the program only from the combination pattern of the programs specified by the pattern information, so that the pattern information is transmitted to each guest room by using the transmission path for transmitting the program. Since it can be sent out, no special additional cable work is required between the front device and the program selection operation by the viewer is accepted and displayed to that effect, and then specified by the pattern information. Since it is easy to prohibit viewing of programs other than the combination patterns described above, there is little psychological repulsion of the viewer, and the excellent effect that complaints about device failure are unlikely to occur. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment, FIG. 1 is an overall system diagram, FIG. 2 is an overall system configuration diagram, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory example diagram of program allocation information. FIG. 4 is a main part system diagram showing another embodiment. FS …… Front device B …… Transmission path P …… Pattern information To …… Viewable time 10 …… Coin timer device for CATV system 13 …… Pattern storage unit 19 …… Timer unit 21 …… Charge setting unit

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A pattern storage unit for storing pattern information transmitted from a front device via a transmission line and for designating a combination pattern of programs selectable by a viewer, and a pattern storage unit according to the pattern information from the pattern storage unit. A coin timer device for a CATV system, comprising: a program selecting means for selecting a program transmitted via a transmission path; and a timer section for measuring a viewing time when a pay program is selected by the program selecting means. 2. The CA according to claim 1, wherein the timer section includes a fee setting section for setting a viewable time by referring to fee information for each program.
Coin timer device for TV system.