JP4041116B2 - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that allows an unspecified number of users to watch a digital broadcast on which viewing is restricted at an accommodation facility such as a hotel or an inn or a hospital facility.

  Television receivers and tuner devices compatible with satellite digital broadcasting that receive BS digital broadcasting and 110 ° CS digital broadcasting have a built-in viewing control system function called CAS (Conditional Access System). If you insert a special IC card (hereinafter referred to as “CAS card”) into a predetermined card slot, you can watch interactive services such as pay-per-view and data broadcasting including pay-per-view. , Can be used.

  In addition, in the near future, terrestrial digital broadcasting is planned to use this CAS card to restrict viewing.

  The personal contract information related to the CAS is stored in the CAS card attached when purchasing a product such as a television receiver or a tuner device. Each CAS card stores a unique encryption key that is a basis for processing such as descrambling, and the broadcaster encrypts the viewer's contract information with this encryption key and transmits it. On the user side receiving this, insertion of a CAS card into the apparatus enables viewing of contracted broadcasts including cancellation of scramble.

Therefore, the CAS card possessed by the user stores the right to view pay broadcasts as purchase history information, and can be used for any device that supports the CAS card. Therefore, considering that it is a kind of IC card and excellent in portability, if it is a place other than the home where a device corresponding to the CAS card is installed, pay broadcasting equivalent to that at home A viewing environment can be realized. The technology relating to the CAS card is described in detail in the following patent documents. (For example, Patent Document 1)
JP 04-138735 A

  There is no problem when a specific user uses a device corresponding to a CAS card in a general home, but for example, a television set for each room in an accommodation facility such as a hotel or an inn or for each bed in an inpatient facility such as a hospital If the receiver is a device that supports a CAS card, a user who already has a CAS card can easily realize a viewing environment equivalent to that at home, but of course, a user who does not have a CAS card Even though the device itself is compatible with pay broadcast reception, it cannot receive the pay broadcast viewing service at all.

  Therefore, a service that prepares a CAS card that allows viewing of a general pay broadcast to some extent on the facility side in advance and lends it to a facility user for a fee or for free is also possible. Considering this, it is expected that the work will be further complicated for those who manage the facilities, which is not very realistic.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is usually within a facility used by an unspecified number of users without burdening the facility management side. Digital broadcast reception that allows users who do not have a CAS card to view a certain amount of digital broadcasts, and can also provide a normal viewing environment to users who normally own and use a CAS card To provide an apparatus.

The invention described in claim 1 is a digital broadcast receiving apparatus installed in a facility and used by an unspecified number of users, for viewing the digital broadcast by a contract with a predetermined digital broadcast provider in advance. A first card mounting unit that fixedly mounts a card that stores the obtained release information, and a second card that detachably mounts a card that stores the release information obtained for viewing any digital broadcast. If the card is mounted on the card mounting unit and the second card mounting unit, the release information stored in the card is stored. If not, the card mounted on the first card mounting unit is not mounted. a card control means for executing the cancellation processing for viewing the digital broadcasting stored release information selectively reads, the communication means via the communication line communicates with the facility outside, the If two cards in the card mounting portion is mounted to be connected to the communication line, if not attached, characterized in that the ingredients Bei and communication control means for cutting off the communication line.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the card mounted on the first card mounting unit cannot be removed in a facility used by an unspecified number of users. After that, users who do not usually have a digital broadcast contract viewing card such as a CAS card can view a certain amount of digital broadcast without incurring any burden on the facility manager. Moreover, in addition to being able to give the usual viewing environment to the user who normally owns and uses the CAS card, the communication line can be used only when the CAS card is installed in the second card installation unit. Can be connected, and the user who possesses the second card can use a data broadcasting interactive service registered based on the card ID number to improve the service. On the other hand, when the second card is not installed, the communication line is cut off uniformly, so that troubles caused by the connection of the communication line when the second card is not installed can be avoided. The burden on the facility management side can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment when the present invention is applied to, for example, a digital broadcast receiving apparatus installed in a hotel facility will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that receives a broadcast signal via a digital television broadcast system in a hotel hall. In the figure, an intermediate frequency signal received by the BS / CS digital broadcasting antenna 1 and frequency-converted by a converter (not shown) and a signal received by the terrestrial digital broadcasting antenna 2 are arranged on the same frequency axis by the mixer 3. After being mixed, the signals are transmitted to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus 5 arranged in each guest room in the hotel hall through the coaxial transmission line 4 constituting the distribution network of this system.

  The digital broadcast receiving apparatus 5 performs a channel selection operation corresponding to the operation on the remote control pad 6, and the signal sent from the coaxial transmission line 4 is an intermediate frequency signal of BS / CS digital broadcast by the duplexer 11. And the received signal of the terrestrial digital broadcast and sent to a BS / CS digital tuner and a terrestrial digital tuner (not shown) of the digital broadcast receiver 12.

  The digital broadcast receiving unit 12 selects a channel corresponding to the channel selection operation on the remote control pad 6 with the BS / CS digital tuner or the terrestrial digital tuner based on a signal from the control unit 18 to be described later. The transport stream (TS) of the channel to be demodulated is output after being demodulated.

  In the digital broadcast receiving unit 12, the demodulated transport stream is multiplexed by a demultiplexer with MPEG (Moving Picture Coding Expert Group) 2 standard video / audio information and individual information EMM (Entitlement Management Message). Information, program information, and control signal ECM (Entitlement Control Message) information are separated.

  Then, according to the information stored in the CAS card, which will be described later, the scramble of the ECM information is canceled and the video / audio signal is descrambled to reproduce temporally continuous video data and stereo audio data. Data is output from the video output terminal 13 and audio data is output from the audio output terminal 14.

  The video output terminal 13 and the audio output terminal 14 are connected to a video input terminal of a television receiver (not shown) installed in the guest room together with the digital broadcast receiver 5, and the television receiver itself This tuner functions as a digital broadcast monitor output device selected by the digital broadcast receiver 5.

The digital broadcast receiving apparatus 5 further includes a first CAS card slot 15 and a second CAS card slot 16.
The first CAS card slot 15 is used to mount a first CAS card in which the manager of this hotel stores information such as an encryption key based on a contract with a BS / CS digital broadcaster. It is assumed that it is not exposed at all on the outer surface of the digital broadcast receiving device 5 so that it cannot be easily extracted by a user (guest) who uses the guest room.

  On the other hand, the second CAS card slot 16 is inserted so that a CAS card possessed by a user who uses this hotel guest room or a CAS card provided by the hotel manager at the request of the user can be arbitrarily attached and detached. The mouth is formed on the outer surface of the digital broadcast receiving device 5.

  FIG. 2 illustrates the mounting state of the first CAS card slot 15 and the second CAS card slot 16 in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus 5. In the figure, reference numeral 5a denotes a front exterior panel of the digital broadcast receiver 5, and a second CAS card slot 16 is disposed so as to correspond to the card insertion slot 5a1 formed in the front exterior panel 5a. The second CAS card 16a brought by the user can be arbitrarily inserted. On the other hand, a first CAS card slot 15 in which a first CAS card is mounted in advance is also disposed with respect to the second CAS card slot 16.

  As described above, the first CAS card slot 15 is not formed with a CAS card insertion slot at the corresponding position of the front exterior panel 5a as in the second CAS card slot 16, and the CAS card is not installed. It is assumed that the user itself is not recognized, and that the attached CAS card cannot be pulled out by the user.

  The first CAS card fixedly installed in the first CAS card slot 15 is connected with a plurality of digital broadcasting companies considered to be at least necessary for management by the hotel manager. It is assumed that, for example, various encryption keys that can be used for viewing data broadcasts excluding free programs and interactive services, radio programs excluding pay programs, and the like are stored in advance by contract.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the first CAS card slot 15 and the second CAS card slot 16 are both connected to the card controller 17. The card control unit 17 is electrically connected to a terminal portion of each CAS card, which is an IC card mounted in each of the first CAS card slot 15 and the second CAS card slot 16, and is always the first CAS card. Data in the slot 15 is read / written. When the second CAS card 16a is inserted into the second CAS card slot 16, a detection signal from a card detection sensor (not shown) attached to the slot 16 is used. Switching the connection to the second CAS card 16a, reading data stored in the second CAS card 16a and writing data to the second CAS card 16a. Are performed based on the control of the respective CAS cards and the control unit 18.

  The control unit 18 is the digital broadcast receiving unit 12 corresponding to the contents of each CAS card installed in the first CAS card slot 15 and the second CAS card slot 16 and the operation signal from the remote control pad 6. The modem 21 and the remote control light receiving unit 22 are connected in addition to the card control unit 17.

  The modem 21 is connected to the telephone line connection terminal 19 via the telephone line connection unit 20, and based on the control from the control unit 18, pay TV viewing information history including pay-per-view is not shown. When transmitting to the viewing information center or when performing a two-way data broadcasting service, various information is output from the telephone line connection terminal 19 to a telephone line (not shown) via the telephone line connection unit 20.

  The telephone line connection unit 20 selectively performs connection and disconnection between the telephone line connected to the telephone line connection terminal 19 and the modem 21 according to an instruction from the card control unit 17.

  The remote control light receiving unit 22 receives an infrared modulation signal corresponding to an operation on the remote control pad 6 by a light receiving sensor such as a phototransistor, and sends an operation signal obtained by demodulating the received light signal to the control unit 18. .

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 shows the processing contents corresponding to the most basic CAS card mounting state executed by the card control unit 17 and the control unit 18 of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus 5 installed in each hotel room.

  At that location, the card control unit 17 determines whether or not a CAS card is installed in the second CAS card slot 16 (step S01), and determines that the second CAS card is not installed by the user of the guest room. Then, viewing control based on the stored contents of the first CAS card that is fixedly attached to the first CAS card slot 15 is executed (step S02).

  At this time, the telephone line connection unit 20 blocks between the telephone line connection terminal 19 and the modem 21 according to an instruction from the card control unit 17, and is in a state in which any signal cannot be transmitted through the telephone line.

  When the remote control pad 6 is operated in this state, the operation signal is received and demodulated by the remote control light receiving unit 22 and the operation content is sent to the control unit 18.

  If the operation on the remote control pad 6 is an instruction to send request information in a data broadcasting interactive service or the like, even if the control unit 18 sends a corresponding signal from the modem 21, it is connected to the telephone line. Since the connection to the telephone line is blocked by the unit 20, no actual call is made.

  If the operation of the remote control pad 6 designates a BS digital broadcast channel number, the control unit 18 selects the channel by the BS / CS digital tuner in the digital broadcast reception unit 12 and demodulates the channel. The transport stream is separated into the video / audio signals by a demultiplexer, and the program contract information and the encryption key information are analyzed.

  The control unit 18 obtains the contract information stored in the contract information memory of the first CAS card that is fixedly installed in the first CAS card slot 15 through the card control unit 17 and the analyzed program contract information. The collation is performed and only when the contract is made, the video / audio signal is unscrambled based on the encryption key, and the video data and the audio data are reproduced by the AV decoder. The reproduced video data and audio data are each subjected to predetermined processing and then output from the video output terminal 13 and the audio output terminal 14 to a television receiver (not shown).

  As described above, the control unit 18 repeatedly executes the processes of steps S01 and S02 while performing viewing restriction based on the contents of the first CAS card fixedly installed in the first CAS card slot 15. Then, it waits for the second CAS card brought by the user to be inserted into the second CAS card slot 16.

  Therefore, when the user brings the second CAS card slot 16 or when the second CAS card provided by the hotel administrator is installed at the request of the user, the card detection attached to the second CAS card slot 16 is detected. The sensor detects this and sends a detection signal to the card control unit 17, and the card control unit 17 that receives this signal notifies the control unit 18.

  The control unit 18 determines this in step S01 based on the notification from the card control unit 17, and this time performs viewing control based on the stored contents of the second CAS card newly installed in the second CAS card slot 16. At this time, the card control unit 17 can temporarily cancel the disconnection between the telephone line and the modem 21 via the telephone line connection terminal 19 in accordance with an instruction to the telephone line connection unit 20 and connect the telephone line. (Step S03).

  By repeatedly executing the process of confirming that the second CAS card has not been removed from the second CAS card slot 16 (step S04) while maintaining the state of step S03. , And waits for the second CAS card to be removed.

  Even in this state, the control unit 18 receives the operation signal from the remote control pad 6 in the same manner as when the second CAS card is not attached, and determines the viewing of the channel, but this time the second CAS card is used. Viewing restriction is performed based on the contract information stored in the contract information memory.

  Here, for example, when a pay-per-view contract is made for the second CAS card and a pay program is viewed on the channel, the card control unit 17 purchases the purchase history for the second CAS card. However, there is no inconvenience for the hotel because the individual user who possesses the second CAS card has only to pay the fee for the broadcaster.

  Further, since the telephone line can be connected, when the user instructs the remote control pad 6 to send the request information for the data broadcasting interactive service, the control unit 18 sends a signal corresponding thereto to the modem 21. From the telephone line connection unit 20 and the telephone line connection terminal 19, the telephone line is surely transmitted.

  Thus, when the second CAS card is removed from the second CAS card slot 16, the control unit via the card control unit 17 is detected by a detection signal from a card detection sensor attached to the second CAS card slot 16. 18 determines this in step S04.

  At this time, the card control unit 17 immediately cuts off the connection between the telephone line and the modem 21 by the telephone line connection unit 20 and switches and selects the first CAS card slot 15 instead of the second CAS card slot 16. Then (step S05), the viewing restriction state is restored based on the content of the first CAS card that is fixedly attached to the first CAS card slot 15 from step S01.

  In this way, in a facility used by an unspecified number of users, such as a hotel, the CAS card mounted in the first CAS card slot 15 cannot be easily removed. Once the digital broadcast receiving device 5 is installed in each guest room, users who do not usually have a digital broadcast contract viewing card such as a CAS card without any burden on the facility management side. However, it is possible to view a certain amount of digital broadcasts by a contract on the facility management side, and it is also possible to provide a normal viewing environment to a user who normally owns and uses a CAS card.

  In addition, only when the second CAS card is installed in the second CAS card slot 16, the telephone line connection unit 20 releases the block between the modem 21 and the telephone line connection terminal 19 to make the telephone line. Can be connected.

  This makes it possible to use a data broadcasting interactive service registered by the user holding the second card on the basis of the card ID number, and can further improve the service. In the case where the second card is not installed, troubles due to the connection of the telephone line can be avoided in advance, and the burden on the facility management side can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, this is determined when the second CAS card is inserted into the second CAS card slot 16 of the digital broadcast receiving device 5, and is automatically stored in the second CAS card. However, in addition to the detection of the insertion of the second CAS card, for example, in advance corresponding to a key operation on the remote control pad 6 at an arbitrary timing in advance. The viewing restriction state may be changed by switching between the first CAS card and the second CAS card that are fixedly mounted.

  In this way, a user who has installed the second CAS card in the second CAS card slot 16 can easily operate not only the viewing environment he / she normally uses but also the viewing environment prepared by the facility manager. Can be easily migrated.

  In the above embodiment, both the first CAS card that is fixedly installed in the first CAS card slot 15 in advance and the second CAS card that the user arbitrarily installs in the second CAS card slot 16 are both used. Although only one case has been illustrated, the present invention is not limited to this, and a multiple slot configuration in which at least one of the first CAS card slot 15 and the second CAS card slot 16 can mount a plurality of CAS cards is possible. It is good also as what has.

  In this way, it is possible not only to easily add a CAS card and increase the number of digital broadcasts that can be viewed, but also for future digital broadcasts such as CAS cards for free viewing campaigns during the test period. It will be possible to respond to various service developments that can contribute to the spread of the service.

  Furthermore, although the above embodiment has been described on the assumption that a CAS card is simply used as a card for restricting viewing of digital broadcasting, specifically, a B-CAS card for BS / CS digital broadcasting is conceivable. The present invention can be easily applied to a digital broadcast card that restricts viewing other than the card.

  In the above-described embodiment, the telephone line is connected to the digital broadcast receiving device 5 and the two-way communication or the like is appropriately realized. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the communication means is wired and wireless, LAN It is assumed that various communication lines, network networks, and the like can be applied in the same manner, regardless of whether they are (private network network) or WAN (wide area network network).

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment, at least one of the problems described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and described in the column of the effect of the invention. In a case where at least one of the obtained effects can be obtained, a configuration in which this configuration requirement is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

1 is a block diagram mainly showing a configuration of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view which illustrates the mounting state of each 1st and 2nd CAS card slot which concerns on the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the basic processing content of viewing restrictions of the digital broadcast which the control part which concerns on the embodiment performs.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... BS / CS digital broadcast antenna, 2 ... Terrestrial digital broadcast antenna, 3 ... Mixer, 4 ... Coaxial transmission line, 5 ... Digital broadcast receiver, 5a ... Front exterior panel, 5a1 ... Card insertion slot, 6 ... Remote control Pad 11, branching filter 12 digital broadcast receiver 13 video output terminal 14 audio output terminal 15 first CAS card slot 16 second CAS card slot 16 a second CAS card, 17 ... card controller, 18 ... controller, 19 ... telephone line connection terminal, 20 ... telephone line connection part, 21 ... modem, 22 ... remote control light receiving part.

Claims (1)

A digital broadcast receiver installed in a facility and used by an unspecified number of users,
A first card mounting unit that fixedly mounts a card in which release information obtained for viewing of the digital broadcast is stored in advance by a contract with a predetermined digital broadcaster;
A second card mounting section for detachably mounting a card storing release information obtained for viewing an arbitrary digital broadcast;
Release information stored in the second card mounting portion when the card is attached, and release information stored in the card attached to the first card attachment portion when the card is not attached. Card control means for selectively reading information and executing a release process for viewing the digital broadcast ;
A communication means for communicating with the outside of the facility via a communication line;
Communication control means for enabling connection of the communication line when a card is mounted in the second card mounting section, and blocking the communication line when the card is not mounted. A digital broadcast receiver.

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